This is an OUAT canon-compliant 8th (and final) season: ensemble cast (but CS - Captain Swan/Captain Sweet centered) in 2 post-canon parts encapsulating '22 episodes'.
The Sweet Suite
8x01: Suite N.1 - The Awakening (Opus 1&2)
8x02: Suite N.2 - The Call (Opus 1&2)
8x03: Suite N.3 - The Dream (Opus 1&2)
8x04: Suite N.4 - The Reach For (Opus 1&2)
8x05: Suite N.5 - The Acceptance (Opus 1&2)
8x06: Suite N.6 - The Guidance (Opus 1&2)
8x07: Suite N.7 - The Finding (Opus 1&2)
8x08: Suite N.8 - Melody Of Love & Extra Bonus
Body And Soul
8x09: Body And Soul
8x10: Go To Hell
8x11: Cry Me A River
8x12: Nobody's Fault But Mine
8x13: If Dreams Come True
8x14: The Nearness Of You
8x15: I Put A Spell On You
8x16: Stormy Weather
8x17: Wild Is The Wind
8x18: Summertime
8x19: At Last
8x20: Feeling Good
8x21: God Bless The Child
8x22: Dream A Little Dream Of Me
❤️❤️The Sweet Suite❤️❤️
This is the first part of a hypothetical canon-compliant eighth and final season of Once Upon a Time.
It went unnoticed, but the Split-Evil Queen's wish to a lamp genie cursed to a lonely life a lost princess and a redeemed pirate. To free themselves from their solitude they must find each other through the magic of Love & Music in an epic journey evolving as a suite, a collection of musical pieces played one after another. The pieces alternate as dance movements when the dancers’ hearts are magically connected by True Love.
These magic songs reveal the path of self- and mutual discovery undertaken by Emma and Killian, both from the Wish Realm. The Sweet Suite is an ode to the eternal love of Killian Jones and Emma (Swan) Nolan: in any version and in any context they might appear their love will always transcend all space-time barriers.
❤️❤️Body and Soul❤️❤️
This is the second part of a hypothetical canon-compliant eighth and final season of Once Upon a Time.
In possession of an ancient scroll and an ancient book stolen by Cruella in the Underworld, deceased souls conspire with alive villains. They aim at cutting the gods' immortality and killing all inhabitants of the United Realms and Mount Olympus after having cloned their bodies for hosting the rebel souls.
From the core of a frantic whirlwind, two couples [Killian and Emma in their nonwish- and wish- (realm) versions], allied to inhabitants of the Underworld, Olympians and souls from Elysium (a Greek mythology conception of Heaven), lead the United Realms resistance in a confrontation that involves romance, adventure, magic, science, art, spirituality and... hope for a future with a healthier humankind in a healed world.
Alright y’all!!!! Get ready!!!! Sounds like there’s still PLENTY of interest in another year of the Captain Swan Supernatural Summer!!! I have to admit, I’m AMAZED AND SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!
THANK Y’ALL SO MUCH!!!!!
So here are the deets…
Sign ups will be open from February 20- March 1.
Get To Know Me’s will start dropping in late April or early May.
Posting Dates will be in July, stretching into August if needed.
For those new shipmates not familiar with the Captain Swan Supernatural Summer, this is an event I created back in 2018 to address the woeful lack of Werewolf Killian fics. And we have succeeded many times over!!! The event is open to everyone. The only requirement is the fic or artwork has to be CS focused and supernatural in nature. In past years we’ve had werewolf, vampire, fae, selkie, soulmate, shapeshifter, witch, ghost, and many, many others!!
All of the past years fics can be found on ao3 here.
Any fic length is fine, from a 100 word Drabble to a 250,000 word epic MC. Any rating is fine. Any type of artwork is fine, from using traditional mediums of paint and drawing, to digital artwork to videos to gifs. Artists can elect to do their own original artwork and/or they can be paired with a fic writer to do artwork for the fic being written. And we certainly hope to have enough artists sign up that we can pair every author with an artist that wants to be paired. So please! SPREAD THE WORD!!!
Signups open a week from tomorrow, and this post will be reblogged daily on this blog as well as this years mods’ blogs in order for the most people to see the announcement!!
Any questions, you can leave an ask here, or get in touch with me or one of our other mods- @kmomof4 @winterbaby89 @jrob64 @ultraluckycatnd @stahlop - either on Tumblr or discord.
Come join us!!! It’s gonna be another great SUPERNATURAL SUMMER!!!!
Tagging all former participants to help spread the word!!! Under the cut unless Tumblr ate it.
I will never forgive the OUAT writers for not giving us a Killian and Milah reunion. That man spent literally 200 years to avenge her and he was in the process of moving on. He deserved at least 1 minute of closure. Not to mention that a couple of episodes prior Emma and Neal got that 1 minute of closure.
Hi, if you have the patience to read a long 2-part story that I wrote a couple of years ago, I tried to fix this and other problems I thought deserved a better approach. The series is called The Final Season, it is supposed to be the eight and final season of OUAT, written with the challenge of keeping the canon status of everything up to the seventh season. The series has 3 parts because I thought it would be interesting if I published the third part as a text only compilation of the two others because they are heavy in illustrations and song links and some people prefer to read-only. You can find them here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1472651
The solution of the Milah problem is partially fixed on the first part, "The Sweet Suite", but it is on the "Body and Soul" story that the reunion happens (and other reunions but I won't spoil too much). There is a lot of other stuff covered, in case you go there, I hope you like it!
So excited to be a part of the CSSNS event for my first time this year!!! This story got away from me a little, so what was once intended as a one-shot has been broken up a bit. I'm sure others can relate...
The heartiest of thanks to @freechoicedreamer for doing the art for this piece! You’ve been so lovely to work with and I’m so thrilled and grateful that you were able to breathe an additional bout of life into this through your beautiful art!!
lets get kraken 🦑
Summary:
As the princess of Misthaven, Emma has always known her fate: she was born to live and die a hero. But when this fate leads her to the legendary Kraken, she comes face to face with the reality of the hero's journey—and a strange pirate who helps her along the way.
Rating: M (for language)
Read on AO3
Part 1
*****
It is not the good that become legends.
It may be true that legends are borne of the brave, but the brave are not all heroes. Legends are borne of the power-hungry; the vengeful; the rash. To be a legend is to be cursed—or else, it is to live until you become a curse itself.
Killian Jones was once cursed, and he lives now as a legend.
Killian Jones is not a good man.
*****
And Emma Swan, daughter of heroes, fair of heart as she is of beauty, has always been good.
It was because of goodness that she was now alone as she was, holding tight to the mast as the winds threatened to billow her into the sea, whispering prayers under her breath to the gods—gods she thought might really only be legends, but that sort of philosophizing was moot while just on the verge of drowning.
Her people knew her as a good ruler, and maybe even a good hero—and right now, she begrudged nothing more.
Heroes tend to die; she always knew this, always accepted it as her eventual fate. Even her parents had warned her so, lucky to be alive as they were. But face to face with the true weight of it now, she was beginning to feel that goodness had its misgivings.
To be fair, she wasn’t even supposed to be here in the first place; the sea was a foreign land to her. She was never meant to be the hero of this particular journey, and her parents had told her as much. But here she was, anyway—for if not her, who else?
Who else would be willing to put their life at risk for her people like this, all to try to lift that veil of fear that had been tormenting the Enchanted Forest for all these years now?
Who, if not her, would be willing to slay the Kraken?
And so she held on with her white-knuckle grip, muttering spells in a futile attempt to still the waves. Her magic was strong, sure—but it was a pitiful match for an ocean.
A well-timed rhyme in a language she could barely pronounce steadied her feet just as they began to fumble over the current. One second later, and she would’ve been done for; it was a thought that kept the adrenaline pumping as the rope burned her palms.
It was her tenth night out on the water, waiting to catch sight of it, and the stormiest by far. An omen, she figured. Or that was what the books said, anyway; stormy nights, when the moon waned dim—because, of course, heroism could never be easy.
She cursed under her breath. If it didn’t appear soon, she’d capsize with the storm before she could even make her attack.
What she did have, at least, was an advantage: a sort of medallion, with a carefully altered locator spell—something that would alert her of the Kraken’s presence before it knew of hers. And as she yanked it out from under her cloak, her stomach dropped. It was glowing, and glowing bright.
Shit. She hid it back away, afraid of the attention the light might draw, and immediately started rehearsing her most potent curses in her head as she narrowed her eyes to the ocean expanse. Her heart was pounding, and she hoped to the gods that she was the only one that could hear it.
It had to be here—maybe even right under her feet.
And that was when she saw it.
Almost a thing of awe, only a few feet out; massive and glistening, eyes like glowing embers against the thunderous sky. Almost more beautiful than horrific—and yet she stood paralyzed at the sight, her mind blank in the sudden wash of raw fear.
The fucking Kraken. So it was real, after all.
And real enough, apparently, to thrash a massive arm to the water; real enough to send her reeling, cursing and casting all in one breath.
It was easy to see why a monster like this had the kingdom in a chokehold of fear. Even with all of her magic, she’d need to do all she could just to keep from drowning.
She’d come in with a plan, obviously. She’d done the research, memorized the spells, sharpened her harpoon. But here, now, face to face? How small she felt, and how unsteady on her feet?
She was going to die, she was sure of it—and the only question was whether or not she could take this thing down with her.
Before she could give in to the doubts, she sent a fiery pulse of magic hurling towards its eye. But it was quick to notice, and ducked below the water before it could hit. Shit. She’d hoped that she could use its size to her advantage, assuming it would be a slow-moving target; but it was clearly quicker than she—and all her books—gave it credit for.
She narrowed her eyes, looking for its shadow beneath the ocean surface, and readied her hands as she caught sight. She wanted to tell herself that it was fine, that she was in control, but the way her hands shook betrayed her fear.
She swallowed, clenching and unclenching a fist. She had to stay stable; her own magic depended on it.
What was the plan again? Wound, stun, harpoon. That simple.
And she was on step one: wound. So she focused her whole mind on that single task. It was the only way she was going to be able to make it through this without succumbing to the panic.
Wound. All she had to do was wound it. And the second that she noticed it rear its head above the water, she punched a strong blast of magic out from her palms.
And it actually hit that time—she nearly tipped over from the relief. It was only an arm, a single tentacle rising above the ocean surface; but it was something . And the Kraken, in all its writhing glory, dove below the water once again.
Just a few more hits, and it would be over. She took a deep breath, shaking out her hands, pulsing them with the adrenaline high. A mite of hope bubbled up in her chest; she might just survive this.
She scanned the water again, readying herself for another spell. This one, if she did it right, would be draining—but it should be enough to bring the monster down for the final few blows. Another deep breath, and another, as she waited for it to reappear.
But a few too many seconds passed without catching sight of it, and she was starting to feel the anxiety brewing once again. Was it gone? Was that it? Did she miss her chance, would it be all healed by the time she found it again—
A sudden upwards crash lurched her across the deck, and she slammed into the hard wood with a painful thud. Fucking hell. That’s why she couldn’t see it—it was underneath the boat.
She didn’t have time to feel afraid; she had to act. So she muttered the first few spells that came into her head—something that would steady her boat, and then a curse at the Kraken to temporarily weaken its arms—praying that they could keep her afloat before she made her next move.
But the boat lurched again. Did her spell not work? Was this monster just too big to feel an impact?
And as she whipped her head, casting a burst of raw energy from her palms, she knew that she was done for. It barely flinched at the hit; it simply used a few different arms, and began to slowly crush her boat as the wood splintered and whined.
And even though she knew that it would do nothing, she cast another burst of magic, and then another; but it did nothing but quiver a heavy arm. And in one reeling motion, the whole boat lurched up and out of the water—and this time, she wasn’t quick enough to steady her feet.
She careened down, colliding into the railing, but the boat lurched again; and it all happened so fast. And next she knew, she was gasping for air in the middle of the ocean current.
Heroes die. It was the thought playing through her head on loop as she thrashed her arms at the water’s surface, as she watched her boat slowly crumble under the Kraken’s grip. Heroes die, she thought, as the world went dark around the edges, and I never got to be one.
*****
She woke up with a cough, sputtering as the fiery burn of saltwater rose up in her throat.
Remembering how to breathe was her first thought; figuring out if she was alive or dead was the second.
“Awake, are we?”
She blinked, eyes languid and heavy, to the sight of a man—a strange man, handsome in that renegade sort of way. Sharp, debonair, and looming, leaning back in his chair with an eyebrow raised. At first glance, her addled brain didn’t even question it; but after another blink, her senses began roaring back.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Hm. Gratitude not your forte, is it?”
“What?”
“Neither is sailing, apparently…so what are you good for?”
“Excuse me?”
“Money, perhaps? Or maybe you’ve always coasted by on your looks?”
Groggy, disoriented, and suddenly feeling the splitting pain of at least a dozen misused muscles, she could only rub her eyes and blink in response. But at least one thing seemed to be clear—her body felt painfully alive.
“Where are my manners, love ? Killian’s the name. Killian Jones.” He lifted a hand to hers, and she pointedly ignored it.
“Why—what the… shit, where’s my boat?”
“Ah…your boat.” He looked askance, a wry sort of smile on his lips. “It, ah…well, it might be salvageable for parts, I’ll give it that much.”
She felt a thrum of nausea, even as she’d seen the wreck with her own eyes; she was lucky to be alive as it was. But she rubbed a weary hand across her face all the same. “Oh, fuck me…”
“Pity, really. It was a beautiful thing, however small…”
“Did it…where is it? Did my…oh god, all my stuff is… shit.”
“Well, if it means anything to you, the cabin remains intact…so perhaps you should count yourself as lucky?”
She let out a breath in an unsteady puff. That was good news—miraculous, really—but somehow, it didn’t make the situation feel a whole lot better. “Shit…”
“You may be a terrible sailor, love, but you sure swear like one—”
“You would too if you just lost your fucking boat!”
“Hm…touché.” He smiled, so calm that it felt almost patronizing; she groaned in return.
“Okay, so…fuck. Where am I, then?”
“Ah. You’re on my ship now, actually.”
“Oh…” She took a look around, the reality of the situation finally sinking in—the surprisingly comfortable bed she now sat in; the wide, wooden interiors; glinting candelabras; a menagerie of odd trinkets and treasures. It would be almost nice, if the circumstances were better. “I suppose that I should thank you.”
“Ah, yes! I suppose that you should!” He leaned in, a glint in his eye. “I did go through some of your things, by the way. Call it a tax; a minimal price to pay for your life, I think. And I couldn’t help but notice a few things that might do well in terms of…payment.”
Payment? She narrowed her eyes, speaking almost under her breath. “You’re a pirate, aren’t you?”
“Oh, was that not obvious from the start?”
“Of course it had to be pirates…”
“Beggars can’t be choosers, love.”
“Yeah, whatever.” She rubbed at her eyes again, still a little scratchy from the saltwater, and sighed. “I do appreciate it, by the way. Truly. I’m just…I don’t know, drowning sort of fucks with your head a little.”
“This was clearly only your first time overboard, then.” He extracted a flask from the lining of his coat and took a swig before offering it to her, and she took it before she could begin to second guess. “What was a rich thing like you doing out on the sea all alone, anyway?”
She took a long drag, coughing a little as it went down. “I’m trying to kill a Kraken.”
His smile dropped—so sudden, she almost flinched. “You’re mad.”
“It’s my duty.”
“Your duty? Why the hell is it your duty?”
She shrugged. “Someone has to do it.”
“Gods, though, that’s a fool’s errand!” He stood up in a sudden motion, and she couldn’t help but notice his height—he could’ve cut an intimidating figure, if frustration and pain weren't clouding her better judgment. “The bloody—may I remind you that you nearly just died?”
“Yeah, I know—and if I die killing it, I’ll save hundreds of lives in turn—”
“You won’t kill it, though. Nothing can kill a Kraken.”
“Well, obviously something can. Everything dies.”
“Legends don’t die, love.” His voice turned surprisingly sincere, and it was enough of a shock that she dropped her voice in turn.
“Yeah, well…heroes do.” She smiled, hollow, playing at the sheets beneath her fingertips. She had a second chance, now; the weight of that realization thrummed in her chest. “And that’s kind of my thing.”
He narrowed his eyes and took the flask from her outstretched palm, shaking his head a little before throwing back another swig. “Of course, the one time I try to save someone’s life, they’ve got a bloody death wish…”
“No, I—” She sat up, wincing at the pain in her ribs. “I’m just trying to do something good!”
“Good? Look where good has gotten you so far.”
“Look, I’m doing this whether you like it or not, so,” she swung her heavy feet over the side of the bed, “thank you for everything. But I’ve gotta assess the damage to my boat.”
“Why are you getting up? You’re in no position to—”
“I’m fine.” She grit her teeth, feeling the pain of a thousand knives to her every muscle—and she wouldn’t dare let this guy see it get to her.
“Bloody heroes with their complexes—”
“Can you show me to my stuff? I need to pay you.”
And he grinned, back in a wink to the pirate he’d been. “Thought you’d never ask.”
She launched herself unsteadily to her feet, waving an arm to him to lead the way.
“You’re sure you’re good enough to walk?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” A lie; but she’d done more through worse.
“Hm.”
“Hey, are you okay?” She was surprised to see that he was limping ahead of her—doing a poor job to hide it, but the bandage around his calf made it all the more obvious.
“What? Why?”
“Your leg.”
“Oh, that?” He smiled, just a little too wide—a reaction she recognized all too well. “Aye, I’m fine. Just a scratch.”
“That looks worse than a scratch to me.”
“Well, you don’t look much better yourself, love.”
“Ouch, okay—”
“What? Hey, if you think it’s mussed up that nice face of yours, you’re fine—but you’re not so good at hiding the fact that you’re about to keel over with one wrong step.”
She couldn’t dispute it; but she could resent it. So she followed him in silence for a minute, noting her surroundings as they climbed above deck. There were a few more people up here—the crew, she figured—and they all stopped what they were doing to watch as she limped her way across the ship. She ignored it as best she could; their curiosity was the least of her worries right now.
“Hey, uh…did you get hurt when you, uh…when you rescued me?”
Killian turned around for a brief moment before shaking his head. “Battle accident. Don’t worry, you can absolve that guilt of yours.”
“Oh…still, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I deserved it.”
And as she racked her brain for something to say—anything that a pirate might appreciate in the way of comfort—she saw it: her boat, as was now clear before her eyes, was completely totaled.
*****
She couldn’t help but feel a pang, walking down to the wreckage. It’s not like she loved it or anything, not really—but it had been a home away from home for all this time. Her ticket to heroism, to carving her own path; and it was hard not to feel like those dreams were splintering with the wood at her feet.
Even Killian grimaced at the sight. “Oh, it’s even worse than I remembered…”
She scrambled into the wreckage, and he followed suit—he seemed to know which boards to lift, and she wasn’t feeling so proud as to deny the help.
“Jeez, I can barely recognize anything in here.”
“That’s what the Kraken will do to your bones if you go back after it, by the way.”
She ignored his words, and yanked the jutted door to the cabin. He’d been right; by some miracle, she hadn’t lost her stuff.
The spell books, the potions mixed for the most dangerous sorts of battle—they were all here. And she let out a breath of hope; she could still do this. All she needed was another chance, and maybe a better boat.
“What’s that?” Killian pointed to her medallion, glowing bright even in the darkness of the hull.
“Oh, I need that!” She grabbed it, throwing it quickly around her neck, and turned it over in her palm. How it got here, she couldn’t fathom—but she didn’t have the energy to care. “It’s got a locator charm on it, so I know where the Kraken is.”
“Ah…how does it work?”
“It’s supposed to glow brighter when it gets close.”
He narrowed his eyes. “It must be busted.”
“What? Why?”
“Look, it’s glowing now.”
“Yeah, but…” She furrowed her brows, tilting it in her hand as her heart started beating quick. “Shit, maybe it’s by us right now—”
“Doesn’t make a difference anyway, though, does it? We’re on land now.”
“No, wait, we’ve got to warn people—”
“You’d put so much confidence in that thing to shut down a whole port?”
“I mean, it’s better to have a false alarm than for people to die—”
“Look.” He took a step backwards, and—curiously—the glow began to subside. “It’s dimming down when I move away from it. Do I look like an angry fish to you?”
“The Kraken isn’t just a—” She trailed off, watching the light ebb and flow to his movement. “Shit, I must’ve done the spell wrong…”
“Sorry to burst your ego, love, it’s just—wouldn’t it be bad to put everyone in a panic for nothing?”
She raised the medallion to the level of her eye, a feeble attempt to assess where she went wrong. “This worked when I found it last night, though…”
“Maybe my great-grandmother was part squid?”
She flashed a glare his way, and started stuffing books and trinkets into the satchel that she found in a heap in the corner. “Here.” She pulled out a coin purse, and counted a few out in her palm. “Will this do for payment?”
He frowned. “You really value your own life that little?”
“Seriously?” She shook her head, counting out a few more. “Happy?”
“Hm. Better, I suppose.”
“Here.” She pulled the medallion over her neck and dropped it into the pile with a clang. “Like you said, this is busted. But maybe you can convince someone it’s worth something, I don’t know.”
“Ah, you think like a pirate.” He grinned as he took the offering, clattering it all together in his palm before pocketing the goods. “Hey, uh…I think we might’ve gotten off on the wrong foot, by the way. I understand you’re coming out of a near-death experience and all, but—”
“You’re right.” She shrugged, hoisting the satchel onto her shoulder as she started to make her way back out. She hated feeling indebted to a person like this; she almost preferred paying him to finding the words for her gratitude. “I’m sorry, I really do appreciate everything…”
“I know you do.” He raised a brow, but he spoke the words genuinely. “You’re a hero and all, you folks are all the same.”
She couldn’t help but smile at that.
“Anyway, I figured, if you’re going to be staying on with us for a while—”
“What?” She turned her head. “What do you mean, why would I be staying on?”
“I mean, I assume you need to rest a while still, and your boat—”
“Yeah, but I can handle it on my own.”
“I’m sure you can handle it, but we’ve—”
“I’ll be fine.” She pushed through the door again, squinting as the bright light of the outdoors came back into view. “I’ll find someone to get it fixed.”
“Well, I tried to do something nice—”
“You trying to pay off some karmic debt or something?” She squinted again, trying to scope out the town through the sunlight, and he only smiled a little coyly in return.
“I think, uh…” She turned her head to the side, looking out to the cobbled streets ahead. “I think I’m just going to get going now. But…thank you. For the offer.”
“Now? Already?”
“Yeah, I mean…I should get this all fixed right away.” She bit her lip as he eyed her curiously, suddenly feeling a pang of anxiety at the realization that she’d be going off alone again, and a bit of regret for the pirate’s offer; but she couldn’t do it, whatever her own heart wanted. She swallowed it down. “Hey, uh, Killian? Thanks again. I owe you my life, I guess.”
Something flickered in his eyes, something she couldn’t quite place; but she ignored the curiosity. She didn’t need to stick her nose into a pirate’s secrets—especially when she was never going to see him again. “It’s fine. I think we’re more than even.”
She nodded her head with an awkward smile, and started away; and there was an odd buzz in her stomach as she heard him call back out, and she stopped for a moment to look back his way.
“Can you at least tell me your name?”
She smiled, a sideways glance. “It’s Emma.”
“Just Emma?”
“Be grateful you got that much.”
“Good luck, Emma.” He laughed softly, something inscrutable behind his eyes. “You’re going to need it.”
How long have you been in the CS/OUAT fandom?
about 8 years
When did you start shipping Captain Swan?
from the beginning
What drew you to this event?
When I illustrated the (only) two fics I wrote, I realized how much fun it was. I’ve been on a kind of hiatus but occasionally I visit a few tumblr accounts, read some fics and happened to see the call for illustrators to this event. So, I decided to collaborate and do my best to highlight the fic(s) you allocate me to illustrate.
For our artists: What kind of art do you like to do? Picsets, painting, digital, etc? Feel free to give as much info as you like.
A combination of picsets’ collage with a kind of original touch
What are you looking forward to most about participating in this event?
For me, in particular, it’s a lot of fun to create the illustrations and, in this case, I hope I’ll have a great interaction with the writer(s) I’ll be allocated to work with.
Thanks for participating, @freechoicedreamer ! Looking forward to seeing the art that you bring to the event 😁
My dissertation on the horrible person Neal Cassidy is and why he was never meant to be a romantic interest for Emma Swan.
There was a recent TV Line list that talked about Love Triangles that didn’t really work. The Neal/Emma/Hook triangle was one of those on that list. It was obvious from the short blurb that was written that the writer was a Neal fan. I’ve also heard and seen SwanFire (Emma and Neal shippers) fans plead passionately about how they were meant to be, and honestly, I’ve always scratched my head about this, because I’ve always seen Neal as a horrible person. Even before it was obvious to me that they were going the Captain Swan (Hook and Emma) route, I’ve never understood how anyone could be on Team Neal. So I’ve decided to look at it logically.
Look, I understand that Neal is the father of Henry, Emma’s son. I understand that a lot of people feel they should be together because then they would be a family. But just because you have a child with someone does not mean that person is the one for you. So let’s look at the facts surrounding Henry’s birth. Henry was 10 when he found Emma on her 28th birthday, which means she was 17 when she had him (despite Emma saying she was 18 in The Price of Gold). She went to juvie, not jail, which we know from Desperate Souls, because she tells Regina that the records needed for the article printed about her in the paper about having Henry in jail were obtained illegally, because her records were sealed, something that could only happen if she were underage. We know that Emma ran away from Ingrid’s foster home at 16 and made her way to Portland where she stole the bug with Neal inside. At this point, Emma is either still 16 or just about to turn 17, depending on how long it took her to get to Oregon from Minnesota. Either way, she is still underage, and Neal, if we want to go off the age he is now since leaving Neverland, is around 22-23 (his wanted poster in Tallahassee has his birthday as 3/23/77), which is still skeezy in my book. I’m not even going to get into his years in Neverland, because he was the same age for that whole time. Now, Henry’s birthday is 8/15. Regina put this in as a code in the hospital in A Tale of Two Sisters, and in The Dark Swan Henry tells Killian that Regina uses his birthday for all her codes. Whether the writers intended this to be true when they used the code originally I have no idea, but this has been what most of the fandom considers Henry’s birthday. With that date in mind, Emma would have conceived Henry in November of 2000. Since we know Emma’s birthday is October 22nd or 23rd, that means she was only a few weeks past her birthday in conceiving Henry. Barely past the age of 16. In Oregon, the age of consent is (and was in 2000) 18, so Neal was breaking the law by having sex with Emma regardless of her consent.
Totally agree and would add: the name "Neal" is a key to reveal the false gem, the false hero. He wasn't submitted to a dark curse that changed his identity. His real name was Baelfire and he chose to keep his fake name after returning to Storybroke/Enchanted Forest (and to Neverland) thus denying to himself and everyone who he truly was. Neal was a really problematic/traumatized person with serious difficulties for discerning between reality and illusion and with a strong tendency of running away from any confrontation. The fact that Snow and Charming chose the fake name for their son says a lot about the "tribute" they paid: a fake jewelry.
Colin O’Donoghue in the Trollhunter Cast PSA for Anti-Cyberbullying Day
Making the world a better place can start right here on the internet. Join the Trollhunters cast to do some good on #StopCyberbullyingDay and make sure we #DontFeedTheTrolls
Aurora and Wish Aurora, from the Enchanted Wonderland, had the same idea during the celebrations of Operation Body and Soul's first anniversary. So, as soon as Monday morning, November 2, dawned, they got in touch with Emma Sweet-Jones to formalize the beginning of activities, intrinsically associated with the Performing Arts College and the Ministry of Art and Culture, of a Dance Festival organization, with the aim of promoting greater cultural integration between the Enchanted Realms.
Emm loved the idea and soon involved other leaders in the field of Art, starting with her husband, to publicize a call to participate in the event, scheduled for a date, still to be more precisely defined, around the beginning of spring 2021.
"We could take the opportunity to extend the concept to, in a symbolic way, include the Land Without Magic," suggested Key, who justified his proposal, "that would enhance our cultural syncretism or cultural miscegenation not only among us but also with them. This term, syncretism, was originally used to explain the merge of religions and is perfectly applicable to the societies that were create, for instance, in Latin and North America. You see, these societies were born from the union of Amerindian, European and African cultures, and each of them had its particularity. After all, in these groups there are many differences. However, one can argue that this term could also be used for any society and applicable not only to their religious aspects."
"Excellent idea, Killian", Emm started walking around the room, rubbing her hands with creative enthusiasm. " As I don’t believe in ‘mere coincidences’, the announcement of the dance festival should be synchronized with the wave, that is right now rising in all realms, in solidarity with the hardships and anguish experienced by the peoples of the LWM. Particularly in this week, in the midst of a pandemic, it would be good to mark our discreet and anonymous but intense and effective presence with some kind of call that resonates energetically with the vibrations of Hope and Change, so needed by the Americans, who are about to elect their new leaders for the next four years!!"
"Well thought, love, the concept of syncretism can be perfectly extended to this moment, and if we really want to take advantage of this wave, we will have to launch the first announcement of the Festival tomorrow, when those who have not yet voted by post will go to the polls, express their will… Hmmn ... You know, perhaps the best term to be used here is "aesthetic syncretism", which consists of the intersection of various artistic and cultural influences that will generate a new artistic movement, what do you think?"
…
That was how the First United Realms Festival of Dance was born.
…
“The theme of the first edition will be Dance as an Instrument for Aesthetic Syncretism,” Emm tells the Swan-Joneses and the Charmings, who met with her, Key and the babies at Grannies, for dinner.
"What a wonderful idea," Emma closes her eyes, anticipating the beauty of the performances and the success of the Festival.
"The most impressive thing," Key continues, "was the warm welcome among the Performing Arts students. As soon as they found out, they spent the rest of the afternoon researching a choreography and music for the launch of the Call, which will take place tomorrow, at midday."
"Fantastic!" Killian gets excited. "And what is the call format going to be?"
"A text and a video will be disseminated over the Internet, Key replies." The video will be a presentation of students who formed a group, "Corpo", which means ‘Body’ in Portuguese - a tribute to Operation Body and Soul. The choreography they are developing is for a song, also chosen by them and also in Portuguese, entitled ‘Pesar do Mundo’.”
"According to what they explained to us," Emm continues, "this title has a double meaning. As a noun, it means 'regret', as a verb, it means to determine the weight of something. In the case of the chosen song, the author plays with both senses and adds a third one by playing with the syncopated form of the word ‘apesar’, which means ‘despite of’... "
"We still have to write the text of the call, we think that maybe you can help us.” Looking at Snow, Key addresses her. “Specifically, we think of you, Snow, with your magical touch to talk about Hope, what do you think?"
"Count on me," Snow replies enthusiastically. "I'll text my part tonight!"
"Hope is with me, Grandma!" Hope exclaims with joy, to the delight of her parents and happy giggles from Dylan and Jason.
"I'm curious about this Call..." Neal comments, tilting his head dreamily and thoughtfully.
"Tomorrow, son, tomorrow...” David strokes his son's hair and smiles.
Note:
Body and Soul was written in 2019 and published from August, 2019 until January 21, 2020. Around May 2020, I edited some chapters to make them more compatible with the reality that was unfolding in our Real world, once that in the timeline of the story it entered 2020 and walked throughout this year so striking and strange for all of us.
When I created this story I did not dream even in my wildest and craziest dreams that 2020 would turn out to be what it was and still is, but in a way I synchronized the facts of fiction with facts of reality and sent the fiction towards an outcome of Hope in a better world, locating the final scene on a Sunday, November 1, 2020. Without knowing it, I located the threshold of a great wave of Hope rising in the world - DESPITE everything, despite the world.
Emma and Killian at a royal ball. Yes, I took some liberties, like fixing the height difference and giving Emma her signature circle necklace because I love it.
{ support my art and see it early - patreon.com/svenja }
Please don’t tweet or repost this. Reblogging is totally fine and welcome, thank you!
“As if the Sea should part
And show a further Sea —
And that — a further — and the Three
But a presumption be —
Of Periods of Seas —
Unvisited of Shores —
Themselves the Verge of Seas to be —
Eternity — is Those —”
(Emily Dickinson, As If the Sea Should Part)
...
As a lonely child, Emma Swan suffered pains that put her in positions where she felt she needed visions, revelations, a clarity so helpful it could not be but divine.
Sometimes, she did try to look beyond, as if something inside her had been shattered, releasing a force which rove her where it will.
She used to stand at the shore and challenge her sight. She wanted to see beyond and, once upon a time, a revelatory thought hit her. “As if the Sea should part and show a further sea...”
It was like the horizon, the limit of her vision, it was the beginning of a new sea. It sounded like a ridiculous thought, but it was exactly the kind of thing one might feel when needing clarity. If the sea were parting, pointing to a further sea, then her own seeing would be a sort of miracle.
And then she used to undo it. She would undo it by thinking it through...
“And that — a further — and the Three / But a presumption be.”
So maybe there were other seas, other worlds to explore. So what? It was all “presumption;” for her, this was no way to believe.
Many years later, awake from her child's dreams, Emma Swan-Jones feels ready to undo for good those presumptions through a knowledge that might actually correspond to her journey from childhood to adulthood. With her present perception, she then understands that the seas were not merely other places, as they were periods. Periods of grief, periods of joy, periods of time. If one is to take comfort in their infinitude, one acknowledges that the other seas imply other, unvisited shores…
“Of Periods of Seas — / Unvisited of Shores.”
Periods of seas beget more seas, “themselves the verge of seas to be.”
She was not really seeing other worlds when she was a child, Emma Swan-Jones now realizes. She was looking at time itself, “Eternity,” and seeing innumerable possibilities...
*
Dream of Tomorrow
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Coralline: "Tree House 1 calling!"
Roland: "Tree House 2 on!"
Lucy: "City Outpost, bound and tired of waiting, at last you arrived!"
Cora: "Where is Neal?!"
Lucy: "Neal said earlier today that he would take Wilby for a walk, he must be coming soon!"
Roland: "Cora, did you talk to your parents about the weekend in Agrabah?!"
Cora: "Yes and it's everything alright, Roland, they asked who would go and when I said the names they agreed, although reluctantly. You know, I got their point, they had imagined that I would go with them to the Body & Soul Ball. Anyway, I explained that since there will be ballrooms in all realms for celebrating the first anniversary of our victory, my friends and I thought it would be a good opportunity for gathering in one place. My parents understood our reasons and then agreed mainly because they trust Lucy to be wise and sensible enough to convince me to, I quote, control my impulse of using magic for everything - if only they knew...!"
Lucy: "You see? I have high morale!!"
Neal: "Country House coming in and already laughing hard with what I've just heard! Lucy sensible and wise? Pause for my laugh. Ha! Ha!!"
Lucy: "Sensible yes, Neal, mainly to wisely curb your use of magic!"
Neal: "Lucy, if my memory doesn't fail me, you were the biggest enthusiast for me to use my magic on that day we rode to Zelena's farm, talking about Portland and planning to get there crossing the portal in her house..."
Cora: "Neal, I still believe we should consider alternate routes to the LWM. To ride out there we just need to cross the border line and that may be anywhere! The line goes around the whole UR border…"
Roland: "That's an approach for the countryside exploration, Cora. We wouldn't cross an urban border with horses! The logistics to go ride out there must be different from those to go to urban centers. Your aunt's farm is strategic for both approaches. Having a base in Portland would be safer for us to walk around without being noticed…"
Cora: "I'm just saying: using Aunt Zelena's house as a general quarter is a bad idea, Roland. She may be a sweet woman but if she found out we planned to explore new possibilities of getting to know the Land without Magic using the connection between her farmhouse and her town house she would be furious. I wouldn't want her to pull a Wicked Witch on us…"
Lucy: "She wouldn't be so pissed off, Cora. Anyway, that day the horse ride in the LWM was postponed because of the bad weather, so we will have to plan it better later doing it right, letting our parents aware of it. Meanwhile we have the Enchanted Dryland to explore, and with our parents' consent, which is the right thing to do. What about Adhara and Ammena, why aren't they online yet? Neither August? Alexandra's just called, she won't be online but her parents allowed her to go and Anastasia texted me earlier, she is busy today helping Drizella with her baby layette."
Neal: "August texted me. He's helping Gepetto and Pinocchio to make a magic-wood baby crib and Adhara and Ammena also texted and promised to connect later, right now they are trying to convince Iago to help us explore the Cave of Wonders this weekend..."
Roland: "Talking about wonder, I know it is early to plan that but I was wondering who will be able to attend the next Summer School. What is your baby brother due date, Lucy?"
Lucy: "Like almost all babies of the Baby Boom, Roland, my baby brother will be born in five months, which means: end of March..."
Roland: "March madness… that's nearly at the same time my sister will give birth to her twins and Alice to her baby girl…"
Neal: "I think this Baby Boom is really, really crazy, I mean, my magic reacts with atypical goosebumps every time I get close to these pregnant women. I was used with this kind of feeling with Hope and, more recently, with Jason & Dylan, then with Anna and Jasmine's babies, but it looks like all babies are coming with magic - a really strong magic…"
Cora: "My magic reacts like yours, Neal, we need to understand what is behind the magic boom…"
Roland: "Follow my reasoning, guys: they will be kids when we will be young adults - for some, like me, August and Anastasia, that will happen sooner but for all of us in average it's a matter of 4 to 5 years, maximum. By then, we will have started Operation Amazon Forest. By the way, have you read the news?"
Lucy: "I have and I am devastated... Not just that, I'm so worried, I'm not sure if we can wait 4 to 5 years. While we talk here the world may be witnessing a final offensive against indigenous people… Do you think the babies of our realms have something to do with our plans for the near future, when we will be old enough to really act in the LWM?”
Roland: “I'm not sure, Lucy, I have no especially unprecedented and profound insights into everything that's going on there - and here. I'm just puzzled, like everyone else and sense a connection between the babies and us… but rest assured about one thing: there is no metaphor here, time is indeed flying: it completed 1 year, yesterday, of the Emissaries' departure! 1 year that I said goodbye to my mom... "
Lucy: "Oh Roland, I'm sorry… really. At least it's also the anniversary of you saying hello again to your father, and you also have S. Regina and Liam Senior who love you as a son…"
Roland: "I know, Lucy, and I also have you, I mean all of you, the best friends I could wish for. As for my mom, her soul is in peace and she found her super incredible soulmate, Aesop. I miss her but I'm happy with how well things have settled down for her. Meanwhile, life goes on and I'm glad that you all share my concern with what's going on in the forests and with the wild life at the LWM. We have it all sorted out here: progress, social balance, technology, magic and… access to the bad news out there where chaos reigns. There is no way for me to be comfortable living in a paradise here knowing that the planet out there is a completely imbalanced hell, no way at all…"
Neal: "Mother Nature is just reacting and seeking balance. The fires, floods and pandemic crisis that plagued the world this year were her reaction to economic, environmental and humanitarian imbalances added to a lack of social compromise from some authorities. The virus crisis was as real for the LWM as the Body & Soul Crisis was for us. We found the way out of our crisis: unity, solidarity, equality. Whale and Maturin, running the risk of being exposed, went there offering medical assistance and they refused their help. The LWM paid a high price in human lives for their arrogance and unbridled ambition. The current scenario out there looks like a world that lost its breath, including its values. I heard my Dad saying the other day that when reading the news from the LWM he can no longer distinguish truths from lies."
Cora: "Lies may be said but the truths behind them continue to be truths. What I know is that the wild animals of the LWM need us and our Magic - do you remember what happened to the koalas of Australia at the beginning of this year? The climate changes affect all animals directly and that is a sad truth that for me cannot be distorted with fake news, I know it because my heart tells me - I feel it. But for those who do not have a connection with the animal kingdom - like I do, for them the truth must become believable again and we can help, we can make a difference. I think that our generation and the next one, of the babies from the United Realms, together, have a compromise with the Future."
Neal: "You sounded like my mom, Cora… the only difference is that she would find a way to also talk about hope…"
Cora: "But hope is an integrant part of our plans and our dreams, Neal, always!"
Roland: "Hope combined with planning and assertive action, including figuring out how to take Magic to the LWM - if Gideon agreed to help... actually the whole Ministry of Magic would have to help us. Henry Mills was given permission to explore new worlds when he became a young adult, they won't deny that to us. Today we play and plan but also dream of tomorrow, when we will act...
Dream of Today
Friday
After three months living together, Violet and Henry have managed to establish a basic routine for their lives. Although not yet officially married, the couple preferred to live in Henry's house, which is practically equidistant from their respective colleges and respective parents: Sir Morgan, in the center of Storybrooke, and Emma Nolan(Sweet)-Jones, on the town's outskirts.
Both at the age of 23, they have been advised to invest in their present aiming at their future and of their daughter. Their family has been totally supportive and granted them the time and space to adapt to the fast changes in their lives. The two are attending two newly created courses at the UR University: he, in the area of Education and she, in Psychology. The pregnancy, in the fourth month, runs smoothly after the morning sickness and dizziness phase and, sometimes, they are lucky enough to spend the day at home, reading, sipping tea and savoring a chocolate cake in their cozy kitchen…
"I have to finish my monograph about Paulo Freire's life today, I don't want to spend the weekend thinking about it, especially while dancing with you in a ballroom," Henry tells her.
"Is there still a long way to go??"
"Not too much. The introduction about his beginnings is practically done. I've researched key events in his life, as well as his ideas regarding pedagogy and political philosophy. My work is split into four parts where I examine the awareness, the critical pedagogy, the criticism of the banking model of education, and the process of internalization of one's oppressors. I've written two parts already, so there are still two to conclude."
"I'm curious about this oppressor part, what you mean by that?"
"Ah, that would give you lots of material to study and work with, you should read him, someday. To get his ideas, you have to know a bit about his origins. Being born in a poor country, his goal was to eradicate illiteracy among people from previously colonized countries, some with slavery. His insights were rooted in the social and political realities of the children and grandchildren of former slaves. His ideas, life, and work served to improve the living conditions of oppressed people. I plan to adapt his philosophy to the United Realms - in our countryside and small villages we still have a lot of people within these profiles, of oppressed and oppressors. The beauty of his ideas is that they are based on a belief that every person has a vocation to become more human. In other words, both the oppressor and the oppressed are diminished in their humanity when their relationship is characterized by oppressive dynamics."
"This is fantastic, Henry, we should join our expertise. I'm learning that through the process of awareness, stimulated by therapy, the oppressors and oppressed can come to understand their own power and, ultimately the oppressed will be able to authentically change their circumstances only if their intentions and actions are consistent with their goals."
"Violet, this is pure Freire!! You're absolutely right, this is fantastic! This is the highest level of Pedagogy, Philosophy and Psychology combined with which I have ever come across!"
"Sounds really promising, Henry, you and I working together..." Violet smiles dreamily, biting another piece of cake.
"What about you and this book of yours, who wrote it?" Henry asks her.
"Marie-Louise von Franz, one of my favorite authors, a long-standing collaborator of Jung until his death. Their collaboration was especially close in the field of alchemy, with her comments on the origin and psychological meaning of Aurora Consurgens."
"Aurora What?"
"Aurora Consurgens, something like the dawning of an era. It's an ancient alchemical work rediscovered by Jung. The term aurora is purposeful, as it's related to the Latin aurum, or gold. Aurora also designates the golden hour, the favorable time to carry out the alchemical work, which is just at dawn."
"Which is now, by the way," Henry notes looking at the window, "dawn announcing that the darkness is over…"
"Although interesting," Violet continues, "I'm reading this book as a task, a homework, since my teacher asked the class to write a short essay on the theme. Now, the part of von Franz work that I really love is related to fairy tales characters."
"You mean, us…" Henry winks, admiring Violet's beauty and starting to become turned on by it.
"More or less that..." she giggles. "For her, every fairy tale is kind of a closed system compounding one essential psychological meaning."
"I can picture the conclusion," Henry stands up to get closer to her, "it ends up with a concept of the Self, the collective unconscious and the archetypes..." He closes the gap between them to give her a sound smack. "Hmm, does she say how badly I need to kiss you hard right now?"
"Not as much I need to kiss you, Henry," Violet answers closing her book and standing up to hug him more properly. "Did you know that pregnant women are extra horny?" She asks between kisses that quickly escalate to a make out session.
As the kisses get hotter and the clothes are thrown on the floor, the two are enveloped by arousing waves of love and pleasure - Freire and von Franz forgotten, for now... Their evening meeting for pregnant-with-magic-baby couples also forgotten, for now.
Alice and Robyn spent the morning in the same routine that has occupied them - and sometimes, stressed them - for over a month: working on renovating the loft. After studying in detail, together with an architect, several reform options, they finally came up with a solution that pleased everyone: future moms, paternal and maternal grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins…
Following Key's suggestion, the ground floor was, in fact, vacant, and could be incorporated into the loft. It now comprises an office and a combo for guests with a kitchen, a living room and a suite. Although the two floors kept their separate entrances, they communicate internally via a spiral staircase. In the loft, the layout at floor level was not altered, preserving the kitchen, the couple's bedroom, the bathroom and the social space. The main structural change took place in the mezzanine, whose area has been tripled to accommodate a new bathroom and a modular, larger room with three new attic windows. Initially, the large room will have no partitions and will be a nursery for the three babies. When the children are older, the nursery will gain dividers and will become a 3-bedroom area sharing a playroom and the bathroom.
"Alice, get some rest, you've been using magic for over an hour," Robyn, pregnant with twin boys, advises Alice, pregnant with a baby girl, "remember what Stephen said, leave the makeover to the constructors, don't exaggerate with the magic! Besides, this afternoon the plumber will finish the hydraulic part of the babies' bathroom, and in this part we really should not interfere."
"But my intervention at the office was worth it, my love, the first floor is a dream come true: the guest apartment is ready… and beautiful!"
"Mom and Chad's apartment, you mean…" Robyn chuckles. "The farmhouse is now, practically, the only home office Chad works in because the Portland house is also getting ready - Mom can't use magic there and they are being extra careful not to attract attention since it has to be all built by masons, carpenters, painters, plumbers and electricians. Chad crosses the portal before the workers arrive and only goes back after they are gone. Mom is managing the works all by herself. By the way, you were right when you said that she and Chad would renovate the entire third floor to include the nursery next to our tower. She sent me some pictures today, I’ll share them with you…" Robyn says, fiddling with her cell phone, "Okay, gone…"
"I got them!" Alice replies, already seeing the pictures and smiling. "Ah… how cute! I don't know what is more beautiful, the nursery or Zelena and Chad's smiles, they are really enjoying the arrival of their 3 grandchildren…"
"If we let them, they adopt the babies... but I think that all my mother's enthusiasm for helping us will be really necessary and welcome. My father and Regina are also enjoying it a lot, I would never have imagined that the legendary Robin Hood would be so knowledgeable of babies... "
"He raised Roland, don't forget... and Snow told me that he was super protective of you when you were a little baby! Oh, I forgot to tell you, I met him yesterday in front of the Kindergarten. He was on his way to his Prime Minister office and we could chat for a little while. He mentioned you and how proud he is of you for having decided to give up your magic in exchange for being a champ in archery."
Smiling dreamily, Robyn closes her eyes and sighs, caressing her belly. "And to think that, according to Blue and Wish Blue, we are bringing to the Light three babies with magic…"
"Aye…" Alice also smiles and looks pensive at her own belly, "babies with strong magic…"
"Your son is strong, Wishy… " Ursula tells W. Ariel, touching and sensing her belly. "I feel like he is a male mermaid, like his grandfather, and a human, like his father, switching between both states without needing a bracelet or a trident. Strong magic, very strong... Yes, my friend, the Enchanted Sea will have a lot of fun with this baby."
"And don't I know?" Ariel smiles, "I'm glad Liam and I got Liam Senior's cabin to turn into a nursery. With two cabins we are occupying an area bigger than your quarters with Nemo…"
"Are you really sure you prefer to continue living here after the baby is born? "
"Sure! We are a family here, 3 couples and a child on the way. Besides, after Liam won from my father an enchanted bracelet that works on him in reverse to the way mine works on me, we will be able to live part here and part in the sea. Liam has tested to morph into a mermaid a few times…it worked fine. "
"And did he like it?"
"He loved it, especially the parts of breathing and swimming under the sea. I am the one who has remained leggy since I became pregnant because of the baby but now, with you confirming that what I was feeling was my little cutie morphing in my tommy I don't see any problem in morphing into my mermaid self sometimes."
"For sure, my niece, I felt an energy coming from your womb very strong, my brother is finally earning an heir to help him reign in the Enchanted Sea. Although much loved by his grandfather, your twin's children do not have this transformative power and spend most of their time in land at the Enchanted Seashore or at the Enchanted Archipelago. Eric and they sometimes dive with Ariel but always wearing scuba gear. This baby, on the other hand, is literally a mermaid and a man, I've never sensed someone so powerful except, of course, for my father. "
"Ursula, what do you think about the Baby Boom? What do you know? Please, do tell me…"
"The only thing that I got from my cousins at Olympus is that a large group of highly spiritualist and evolved souls are coming together, with a few of them already among us. My guess is that, from the kids I know, Hope, Jason, Dylan, Handy and Farah are part of the group, but there might be others already incarnated."
"Why? Why are they coming?"
"An answer more specific, my dear, no one knows, and the oracles haven't revealed too much when asked, only vague words like a Light of Love and Peace for the world… Want a piece of advise? Don't think too much about their mission, if they have one, be the mom your son needs you to be: loving and caring. Live today as a dream come true, be happy with your son and with Liam, let it be..."
"I will do that, Ursula, I am doing that…" W. Ariel closes her eyes and smiles.
Henry Mills' Personal Log
"Two days after Day 7, two days after the first anniversary of a week that changed our lives - again.
When I think about my life trajectory I can clearly identify several life-altering events spread across the timeline. The first was my own conception - my father, being who he was, meeting my mother, being who she was, obviously resulting in a True Believer, who I am... Then my very specially powerful grandfather finding me, to be adopted, and my adoptive mother being who she was... Then the Apprentice placing the book in Mary Margaret's hands, being she who she was, the life-altering book, Once Upon a Time: the perfect title for the most engaging fairy tale ever told.
The swirl of emotions that followed passed through Storybrooke, hurling the town and its inhabitants, revelation after revelation, in a merry-go-round of magic and fantasy coming true. All because of a 10 years old boy who dared to believe.
Many years later, watching a slideshow of images - chapters and episodes of my life - displayed on my memory screen, stories turning into histories, fantasy turning into reality, into Life - I feel the deepest relief that an Author could feel because I dared to believe. Dreaming of today has led me to this office where I write this log while my daughter is out there, in Agrabah, living her own adventures with her friends, writing her own story turning into history, dreaming of tomorrow. While I'm here, in my home office, my pregnant wife, my Cinderella, is out there, meeting her pregnant friends - Tiana, Drizella, Elsa, Robyn, Alice, Violet, W. Ariel, Lily, Guinevere and many others, learning to deal with the fantastic reality of carrying babies with magic power.
All of that while I'm here remembering, dreaming of yesterday…"
Dream of the Humanized Urbs
Saturday, October 31
Morning in Storybrooke, autumn germinating the seeds of life on Earth's soil following the pendulum oscillation of time. This rising sun, in particular, marks the beginning of a festive day in all realms, the first Saturday after the Emissaries' departure anniversary - a date that will be celebrated everywhere, the first of many annual balls to come, always on the Saturday following October 28, when the date doesn't happen on a Saturday.
To everyone in the United Realms Operation Body & Soul represented not just another epic adventure, it brought an unprecedented awareness - that everyone in all realms are connected and may vibrate as ONE. The experience with the Shamans opened up their perception of being integrated with the Land without Magic not only through the electromagnetic waves travelling the cyberspace but through their common home: Mother Earth. Operation Body & Soul may have closed a cycle but has opened a new one, the beginning of a new era. For all these reasons, in every home this is a Dawn full of promises.
In the Tremaine-Mills' home, as Lucy is with friends in Agrabah, Henry and Cindy face a weekend with plenty of time for them and their baby, in his almost fifth month of gestation, starting with a quiet walk on the awakening streets...
"The city waking up always brings me a lot of calm, a lot of tranquility: the empty streets, the vibration of those who still stretch in bed, being right back from the Dream World. This is the city where you were raised, the city that I learned to love…" Cindy philosophizes while walks in slow steps, hand in hand with Henry.
"The city with the privilege of having you as its Mayor," he squeezes her hand.
"But I don't plan to run for a second term as mayor after the baby is born… I'm loving the arrival of Democracy at the United Realms, Henry, bringing new opportunities for a diversity of ideas and political parties."
"Are you planning on retiring from the public life, my love?"
"No, I'm thinking about, perhaps, applying for a position on the newly created Storybrooke City Council as a Humanized Party candidate…"
"Humanized Party? I hadn't heard about it…"
"That's because it's really new…" she says with a gracious grin.
"You are making this up now, aren't you?" Henry asks with a chuckle.
"Not exactly, actually this is something I have thought about for quite a while but was so absorbed by bureaucracy that never had time to put my hands on it… It's a dream and I believe I can contribute more if I work on making it real."
"Tell me about this dream of Humanized urbs, my lovely wife..."
"Sure, my hubby… I dream of designing some urban spaces taking into account people's perception and interaction with the city scales, something like re-inventing the urban territories. I dream of an Urban public space as a field of creative intervention and collaboration between artists, designers, architects, sociologists, writers, philosophers, urban planners and landscape architects."
"Keep talking, I'm already in.."
"Right, good, we are going to need you in," she winks before continuing. "The key words are Sustainability and Creativity in an urban design more connected to educational and participative programs reaching all kind of public within the urban territories - and everything linked to digital and media environments."
"Ella, this is incredible, I can visualize, already, the creation of new typologies of public space where creative people can meet, play, live and enjoy the site."
"Exactly, Henry, this is a project I want to be engaged with. I want to promote the human capital while coping with sustainability and the emerging environmental activism - talk with Lucy and her friends, they are dreaming of tomorrow and we get to help them by dreaming now of more Humanized towns and villages."
"And you can't do that as a Mayor?"
"No because I would be too restricted to Storybrooke, I want to be free to work close to all realms. To conclude my period as a Mayor here there is only one dream come true for next year: the implantation of the Rain Gardens. We are already building rain-beds at a slightly lower level than sidewalks and streets, thus allowing water to enter and accumulate. For it to work we still have to to create openings in the curb, which can be made by pipes or with a simple spacing between the concrete barriers. We also need to choose a more resilient and native vegetation that supports receiving a lot of water for a while and little water in the dry season. This way, the flowerbed becomes self-sustaining and there is no need for watering. If I have time I'll make sure to cover the sites with stone or wood, they can maintain the soil moisture and also won't let the soil to be carried by water during the floods."
"Ella, I'm so proud of you… You are proving that giving a human face to cities is more than a Utopian dream; it is achievable in any place whose inhabitants have a vision that is encouraged and supported."
"Thank you, Henry, you know how much I love what I do. For me the biggest challenge as Mayor has always been to devise policies that could awaken the creative capacities of all those - male, female, young or old. I really believe that it is for us to create cities for the age of democracy, in which the ideals of liberation, equality, freedom and solidarity may be achieved for all."
"You really have a dream, Ella…"
"I really do, Henry, I really do…"
Dream of all Dreamy Ballrooms
Evening
The first annual B&S Ball has been planned as a Fairy Tale-like Ball to be held at all castles of the United Realms - a dreamy fantasy filled evening for everyone from toddlers to tweens and adults. Although each ballroom has been prepared in a more personalized style, they all follow a few guidelines distributed by a central organizing committee to the local organizing committees:
"At the entrance (5:00 pm), the guests are sprinkled with a little fairy dust. Children check into a separate space where they will be invited to participate in fun and interactive theater performance. A buffet dinner will be served followed by games, face painters and a DJ. Tweens may hang out in their own hall with a delicious buffet, more games, prizes, dancing and more fun. Toddlers have a special area where the games are a little less energetic.
All this whilst adults enjoy cocktails, dinner and dance with an orchestra. Kids are checked out at 8:45 (toddlers will continue in their calmer space) and this magical night will conclude with all guests coming together for a ballroom dancing experience with an orchestra (until 12:00 pm)."
…
Although on a daily basis the majority of the United Realms population wear 21st century's clothes, more practical and adapted to the modern style that everyone is gradually getting used to, the B&S Ball has become an opportunity for all their experience of life in castles and enchanted lands to flourish. This way, throughout Saturday afternoon everyone went to great lengths with a fairy-tale aesthetic where the watchword was only one: beauty.
Women, in particular, spent weeks preparing their ball gowns and jewelry, each more beautiful than the other. But men also devoted themselves to aesthetics, especially the most vain, such as the Killians. Finally, in the early evening, to all beautifully decorated ballrooms of the UR castles, they all went in high style.
…
And as the celebrations begin so do the dances… Dances from different backgrounds, some requiring special techniques, aesthetics, rhythms and tempos, all sharing common qualities of passion and joy as they are expressions of feelings, thoughts and emotions.
The orchestras are playing everywhere all styles of dance and everyone is spinning in the dance halls, rounding, rounding…
All minds spinning…
Spinning…
All hearts pulsating…
Pulsating… rounding…
Rounding…
Dancing... spinning ...
Fragments of phrases floating ...
Floating ...
Echoing in time ...
Dreaming…
Fragments of images floating...
Dreaming… sounding... echoing...
Magic... enchanting words ...
"Once upon a time…"
"There's only one rule, love: Pick a partner who knows what he's doing."
"You are a crazy person, or a liar, or both…" "I prefer dashing rapscallion…"
"I love you. No matter what you’ve done."
"Why do women keep their shoe boxes?"
"If a jab you with my sword you'll feel it."
"Love is a part of all happiness, and you have to be open to that."
"A man unwilling to fight for what he wants deserves what he gets."
"If people are supposed to be together, they find a way."
"I quite fancy you from time to time."
"There’s not a day that will go by that I won’t think of you."
"I’d go to the end of the world for her, or time."
"When we face our deepest fears, our true courage comes out."
"I’m going to choose to see the best in you."
"Home isn't a place. It's the people in it."
"I’ll never stop fighting for us."
"There's always people in this world who want you to give up. Don't make their jobs any easier."
"It’s you."
"I will find you. I will always find you."
“We’ve been protected; we’ve been supported, though the choices we’ve made were driven by free will…”
"People are gonna tell you who you are your whole life. You just gotta punch back and say, "No, this is who I am..."
"Love can save even the darkest souls. You just have to believe in it."
"Just a lost little girl who didn’t matter and didn’t think she ever would."
“Who needs bedding all over this warm and soft sand?”
“I know it’s real, that you’re here by my side, but… I haven’t gotten used to the idea that I’m really talking again to someone - not somebody else, but with you, Captain Killian ‘Rogers’ Jones… You and I, together…”
"You want everyone to believe you’re the Savior? Then step up and do what needs to be done!"
"You can’t fix a problem until you know what it is."
"I'm not nothing! I was never nothing! The power you have I don't need!"
"What you get back when you love someone far outweighs the risk."
"When I win your heart, Emma, and I will win it. It will not be because of any trickery. It will be because you want me."
"We save each other. That's what our family does."
"I’m a fan of every part of you."
“It is real, love, it is happening. You awakened me, then you called me and I answered…”
"Heroes do what's right, not what's easy."
"Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a powerful thing but, living with that kind of belief, that's the most powerful thing of all… That's Hope."
Dream of the Sweet-Joneses
Sunday morning, 7:00 am
To celebrate not only Day 7 of Operation B&S but also the first anniversary of their wedding vows confirmation, Emm and Key danced several waltzes together in addition to some with their children - 2 adults and 2 babies. Although at Snow White Castle, where they went, there was an excellent space for infants, Jason and Dylan, at 6 ½ months old, started to fill the nursery with colorful floating sparklers - the newest magic they learned and also their way to make the monitors understand that they wanted to stay with their parents and siblings in the hall. For their baby logic, it seemed, that was their way to express their wish to join the children when they gathered with the adults in the ballroom.
Together with Hope, who was with her parents in the same ballroom, Jason and Dylan began to show what they came for: to rejoice all hearts. Jason on Emm's lap and Dylan on Key's danced with them while sharing smiles every time their parents whirled. Sometimes they passed by Hope, who was running and dropping in the air colorful sparklers. Every time they crossed paths, the babies waved their arms with little screams of joy, to Hope’s delight.
On their way home, exhausted, they fell asleep and didn't even wake up when they were carried from the car to the cribs in their room.
...
“They have been sleeping for almost 6 hours now, love, should we go there to spy on them or do you prefer to repeat our latest waltz dance horizontally?” Killian asks as he masterfully spins her around to intertwine his legs with hers, rubbing his erect member on her pelvis. In the process, as if answering a bell, Emma responds reflexively by opening the moistened entrance to her most noble and dearest guest.
…
“So good…” she moans, “oh Killian, you're so soft and... so hard... so hot... what did I do to deserve this much pleasure?”
“That's a question I ask myself, love, not even in my wildest dreams I would imagine this heaven... bloody paradise... Emma, if you keep doing these movements I won't last for too long! You're so wet, so tight and... sooo delicious!"
"Faster, Killiannn," she begs panting, "we'll come together, always together..."
"Together, Emma !! EMMAAA !! Ahnn!!!"
...
(silence)
…
“Love?”
“Hmn…”
“What time is it?”
Opening just one eye, Emma looks at the clock on the nightstand, “7:45…”
"I don't think I'm going to sleep anymore but while you're here, beside me, I'll stay in bed, watching the transcendental cinema..."
"Cinema?" She asks, turning to look at the ceiling.
"The ceiling of the room is a screen, love, our lives are projected on this screen, can you see it?"
Smiling, Emma snuggles up in Killian's chest, and the two go back to being silent, looking at the ceiling but projecting their minds beyond, upward.
"They're up there, Killian, my parents, your mother, your brother, Milah..."
"Aye, and Baelfire, Wish Baelfire, Rumple, Belle, Merlin, Ingrid, Ruth... one year already but I feel like they haven't really gone."
“That's because they really haven’t. Like Luna and Missy, our sweetest Angels, also haven’t exactly gone. Somehow I feel like they're still here but... I miss them, all of them… I wonder how and where our guarding angels are now, what they're doing... ”
“Running and doing pranks, for sure. Luna may be quieter, contemplative, but Missy must be flying between the tallest branches in the trees. Do you remember the allegory of the Tree of Life? ”
"Yeah, fairies on the lowest branches, closest to Earth, and angels flying in the highest spheres, even though they descend to Earth to visit loved ones," and Emma closes her eyes, as if to concentrate to visualize the figures of Luna and Missy, as a kitten and a puppy, and then as two beautiful female figures.
Killian just shakes his head while caressing Emma's arm thoughtfully, also with his eyes closed.
...
“Schh…” Emma opens her eyes, “listen, I heard voices, low voices… can you hear them?”
Already fully awake and alert, Killian nods, jumping out of bed, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, while Emma wears a robe.
They hurriedly walk to the baby's room, whose walls have been totally painted by Killian with marine themes. They hear, in fact, female voices, affectionate voices and little chuckles of the boys. Without understanding, Killian opens the door and is faced, he and Emma, with a scene more beautiful than the most beautiful of the paintings: Luna, Missy, each carrying one of the toddlers, and four other angelic figures carrying musical instruments: guitar, violin, harp and cello.
Smiling, Luna, with Jason on her lap, addresses them, “Emma! Killian! I missed you! We did not want to disturb your resting moment and as we saw that our two little friends here were awake then… we came, calmly, to visit them. ”
Missy also smiles, and gets up to hug her friends, "you are radiant, beautiful, the auras of the two are shining more and more, oh... how I love you, dear Killian and Emma..."
With shinning eyes, Emma is the first to recover from the shock followed by the wonderful surprise, "Oh, you came, you came..."
“Of course we did, and we came with company,” Luna explains, “knowing that you and Killian are very close to music, we came with our friends: Ariane, Mathilde, Lenoir and Marguerite. We would like to sing for you and the children, then Missy and I will go on to visit your twin siblings and Hope… ”
"And then?" Killian mumbles a question.
"Then we go back to the highest branches of the Tree, Killian," Missy replies, "but we will always be guarding and protecting you, all of you, all of the children, especially."
"Let's sing a Celtic lullaby, maybe you know it, Killian," Marguerite explains, "anyway, it's our loving gift to you, Emma, Jason and Dylan... "
Placing the babies on their parents' laps, sit in the nursery's rocking chairs, Killian and Emma's two eternal friends and companions kiss each of them and move away to join the four other angels. Closing their eyes, they begin to float, to play, to sing, and to enchant... until they disappear into the air leaving behind them a fresh scent of roses...
*
Dream of the Swan-Joneses
Sunday morning, 9:00 am
Killian slid out of bed, pulled on his boxer briefs and grinned as he crossed the bedroom in the light of the autumn dawn.
"The ocean is really something," Emma whispers while he wraps his arms around her still sleepy form looking at the seashore from the bay window of their room.
"Aye, it’s,” he breathes, “and with you I feel like we are out there, sailing and floating…”.
She closes her eyes and nods, laying back against him, clutching his arms tightly in her hands.
They stay there for a while, watching the waves and the clouds flight, just thinking on their last night, their dance, the ball, their love making, their laughs, their daughter enchanting everyone with her charm and the luminous vibration she radiates.
The sweet girl is now sleeping as an angel in her newly renovated room which has “a naval theme and maritime decorations, Daddy, but also with a girlish look!” she said when she described how her dreamy room should be, “and a big window looking like a very big door, down to the floor!"
"Shall we go down and have breakfast?" He suggests, "before Hope runs out of the room more energized than the Sun!"
“We shall go…” she whispers.
...
"Tomorrow I need to shop, we don't have much else here - food or otherwise," she says opening and closing the pantry doors." Then, turning to him, she asks, “anyway, want more coffee? That I can do…”
“Thanks, love, I’m good,” he grins, hugging her tight, eyes turning soft as she takes a deep breath.
“I love you, Emma Swan-Jones" he says, shaking his head then kissing her forehead, blinking the tears away from his eyes.
“What happened?” she asks.
“Nothing serious, really, I was just missing my big brother, missing Liam, I just remembered him blessing us in our vows renewal, one year ago…”
"Don’t say his name too loud because he will hear and he will come down to call you “Little Brother!” Emma hugs him.
"I love you, too, Killian Jones," she then whispers right back to him.
He grins and kisses the bridge of her nose. She closes her eyes smiling.
"I can't imagine what the future holds for our daughter, nephews and grandkids with all this Magic Baby Boom,” she says peeking up at him, “what it holds for our little Hope…”
“We just have to let her float while we get ready to support her, Emma. Let her float like a ship in the wind, controlling its sails whenever necessary, pulling the right ropes at the right time, floating like free thoughts, like free souls, at the rhythm of life. We will have to rely on our intuition..."
"And you're good at that..."
"You are also an expert, love, and you have the intuition of a mother, of the generating matrix..."
"Our connection with our daughter is spiritual, Killian, and we will also have to have the determination to be able to set limits when they are needed. We will have to trust..."
"Aye, trust…” he echoes quietly as she slowly closes her eyes to dream of the unknown tomorrow, knowing that no matter what she’ll be with Killian by her side.
“YAY!!! MOMMY!! DADDY!!!” Hope’s happy screams echo through the house, down stairs until the kitchen. “Come up here, please, we have visit!!!”
“Visit?” What the bloody hell...” Killian runs up the stairs towards Hope's room. "I said that the story of a window like a door opening onto a balcony was not a good idea... what...?" He stops at the entrance to the room and finds Emma already inside, hugging Hope ("of course she would come in a puff..." he chuckles). Besides Emma and Hope, indeed and to his greatest astonishment, two angelic figures welcome him with a serene smile: Luna and Missy, one of them holding a guitar.
"Hello Killian and Emma, sorry for the scare, but we came for a quick visit, we couldn't help but meet our beloved friend, Hope!" Missy says in a soothing tone.
"Did you come for a quick... visit?" Emma asks.
"Yes, this time is just that," Luna explains, "but who knows, in the future, if necessary..." she shrugs and smiles slyly.
"I'm so happy, so happy!!!" Hope comes out of her mother's arms to hug her friends, you two look so beautiful..." She tilts and shakes her head dreamily.
"Thank you, dear Hope, but you look more beautiful, radiant and luminous!" Missy says giving a kiss on the top of the girl's head.
“Killian, I couldn’t help but hear you saying you were missing Liam…” Luna turns to Killian timidly, "he is fine, and happy with Milah, Alice and your grandparents Nereus and Doris, you know... the retired Olympian gods!"
“Oh, really? Thanks for letting me know, I'm so happy for them... You know, sometimes I can't help missing that older brother of mine... don’t worry, love. It comes and goes like a passing cloud. You know, I wish we were all here, I wish people we love didn’t have to die, but I’ve lived long enough to accept that.”
“People don't die, daddy, they just wake up from the dream of life…” Hope caresses his arms, with the wisdom of an old soul, looking deep into her father's oceanic eyes.
Blinking tenderly at her mother who was silently moved by the scene, she turns to her friends and smiles again with her eyebrows rising as her little eyes aim an infinity extending beyond the room as if talking to them telepathically.
Forefinger on lips asking her parents for silence, she then whispers: “listen, Luna and Missy, they came to laugh, to play guitar, to sing for us. Let's sit down and get ready…”
Giggling with pure innocence, Luna and Missy give another kiss on Hope, a hug and a kiss on Killian and Emma and prepare to play, to laugh, to sing with joy and, then… to float in the air like particles of rose-scented love...
Closing Theme (Series Finale)
*
Foreword
Mother Inside (Miten), by Miten. Youtuber: Deva Premal & Miten, January 25, 2019.
Aad Guray (mantra), by Deva Premal. Youtuber: Deva Premal - Topic, November 20, 2014.
Chapter 1 (Episode 8x09)
Body and Soul (Edward Heyman, Frank Eyton, John Green & Robert Sour), by Billie Holiday. Youtuber: RoundMidnightTV, July 27, 2017.
Good Night (Lennon and McCartney), by Linda Ronstadt. Youtuber: Melodia, October 4, 2017.
Chapter 2 (Episode 8x10)
Go to Hell (L Cifarelli, D Harnett), by Nina Simone. Youtuber: Andre Santos, January 2, 2012.
Chapter 3 (Episode 8x11)
Cry me a river (Arthur Hamilton), by Ella Fitzgerald. Youtuber: WukiJune, December 20, 2011.
Trøllabundin (Eivör Pálsdóttir), by Eivör Pálsdóttir. Youtuber: Eivør, November 5, 2016.
Chapter 4 (Episode 8x12)
Nobody's fault but mine (Robert Anthony Plant, James Patrick (jimmy) Page), by Nina Simone. Youtuber: Matys Voorn, May 8, 2015.
Pan's Labyrinth Lullaby (Javier Navarrete), by Javier Navarrete. Youtuber: Zarmatura, October 23, 2008.
Chapter 5 (Episode 8x13)
If dreams come true (Benny Goodman, Edgar Sampson & Irving Mills), by Billie Holiday. Youtuber: Okmusix, May 5, 2014.
Chapter 6 (Episode 8x14)
The nearness of you (Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington), by Ella Fitzger& Louis Armstrong. Youtuber: Aristo07, December 15, 2011.
Adagio for strings (Samuel Barber), by Dover Quartet. Youtuber: DoverQuartet, January 7, 2015.
Chapter 7 (Episode 8x15)
I put a spell on you (Guitar Slim), by Nina Simone. Youtuber: TheJazzStreet, June 14, 2009.
Erbarme dich (Bach), by Laura McAlpine & Davud Bruggs. Youtuber: apoetslove2011, July 2, 2015.
Chapter 8 (Episode 8x16)
Stormy weather (Ted Koehler, Harold Arlen), by Etta James. Youtuber: Classic Mood Experience, November 22, 2012.
Soul Eyes (Mal Waldron), by John Coltrane Quartet. Youtuber: 60otaku4, November 3, 2013.
Chapter 9 (Episode 8x17)
Wild is the wind (Ned Washington), by Nina Simone. Youtuber: Praguedive, August 26, 2009.
Can't help falling in love (Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, George Weiss), by Stringspace. Youtuber: StringspaceLive, May 16, 2017.
Freedom Song (Wabanaki drumming song), by Spirit of the Dawn. Youtuber: kreepykrawlie, February 27, 2008.
Wolf Song (George Paul), by George Paul.Youtuber: GEORGE PAUL, February 2, 2011.
Round Dance (Wabanaki drumming song), by Spirit of the Dawn. Youtuber: kreepykrawlie, February 25, 2008.
Soul Eyes (Mal Waldron), by Metropole Orchestra and Kandace Springs. Youtuber: Eber Miranda, October 15, 2017.
Chapter 10 (Episode 8x18)
Summertime (George Gershwin), by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong. Youtuber: Puerto Libre, February 19, 2014.
Here comes the sun (George Harrison), by Nina Simone. Youtuber: PrenomJoL, February 9, 2013.
The Pirate Shanty (Stan Hugill), by World Adventurers. Youtuber: Worldwide Adventurers, August 15, 2013.
Chapter 11 (Episode 8x19)
At last (Mack Gordon and Harry Warren), by Etta James. Youtuber: Jennie Postemus, July 6, 2011.
Scotland the Brave (Scotland Anthem), by Tress Maksimuk and Ed Best. Youtuber: Dark Isle Bagpiper, February 4, 2019.
Prepare for a miracle (Miten), by Deva & Miten, Manose and Band. Youtuber: Deva Premal & Miten, March 12, 2019.
Canon in D (Johann Pachelbel), by Wedding String Quartet. Youtuber: The String Quartet Channel, June 19, 2013.
Amhrán Na Farraige (Bruno Coulais with the Irish group Kíla), by Lisa Hannigan (Bronagh). Youtuber: M. Máire Ní Shúilleabháin, January 16, 2018.
Song of the Sea (Bruno Coulais, with the Irish group Kíla), by Lisa Hannigan. Youtuber: Puldourv, March 11, 2015.
Sleep Song (Brendan Graham), by Secret Garden. Youtuber: Emmie Byrd, January 17, 2013.
Chapter 12 (Episode 8x20)
Feeling good (Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse), by Nina Simone. Youtuber: Adam Howard, May 13, 2010.
Sun King (Lennon and McCartney), by The Beatles. Youtuber: The Beatles, September 26, 2019.
Feeling good (Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse), by Brigitte Wickens. Youtuber: Brigitte Wickens, November 16, 2015.
Chapter 13 (Episode 8x21)
God bless the child (Billie Holiday & Arthur Herzog Jr) by Blood, Sweat and Tears. Youtuber: somaelh, April 13, 2011.
Chapter 14 (Episode 8x22, Series Finale)
Dream a little dream of me (Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt and Gus Kahn), by Doris Day. Youtuber: mohamed farouk, May 6, 2012.
Once Upon a Time (Main title theme) (Mark Isham), by Once Upon a Time Orchestra, Youtuber: Tam-Tam Music, December 5, 2011
Éiníní (old Celtic lullaby), by Joanne Melver, J.L. Lenoir, Ariane Boldin and Marguerite Martin. Youtuber: J.L.Lenoir, December 15, 2015.
Dream a little dream of me (Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt and Gus Kahn), by Yasmin Curren and Katie Nicholas. Youtuber: YagmanX, March 22, 2015.
The End
The End (Lennon & McCartney), by The Beatles. Youtuber: The Beatles, June 17, 2018.
(The End?)
"Oh yeah, all right
Are you going to be in my dreams
Tonight?
...
And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make "
*
Final Note:
And so the story that I set out to tell 'ends' here, although...
...as the closure that I envisioned for the ensemble-cast of OUAT, it does not imply on a definite conclusion of all arcs, nor does it leave seminal arcs intrinsically hanging in the open of a 'to-be-continued' promise. It is supposed to surpass the limits of 'ending' with the legacy of a 'never-ending' dreamy fairy tale: from one generation to the next in the eternal flow of Life.
I am grateful to those who accompanied me on this great adventure of enveloping with words, images and sounds much love and gratitude for the creative work of Colin O'Donoghue and Jennifer Morrison as:
“And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,
Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable ”
(Kahlil Gibran, On Children)
*
Storybrooke, Alice and Robyn's home
The sun is already high when Robyn and Alice begin to wake up, although for a summer morning this is not a sign that they are waking up too late. Turning around in bed, Robyn looks at Alice's sleepy, completely naked form — a tempting invitation to a new ecstasy and melting of bodies and souls. Burning with desire, she reaches out to hug her wife and pull her closer to her own naked body, not resisting the urge to kiss Alice's soft, parted lips, smiling as if in a good dream.
"Hmmm…" Alice yawns, languidly and lazingly licking Robyn's lips before passionately surrendering to the kiss, "Is it dawn yet?"
"Uh, a little bit," Robyn can barely answer, trembling when Alice deepens the kiss while erotically caressing her breasts, sensuously reaching down to touch her most sensitive and totally wet, pulsating with desire, parts.
...
They made love for almost two hours - insatiably, tirelessly and passionately in a succession of multiple orgasmic waves floating in their private ocean of pleasure. Alternating between screams and whispers, almost breathless and delirious, their moans would keep echoing in the loft in an almost endless climax if it wasn't for Alice's phone ringtone bringing them back to Earth.
"What the hell?" Robyn mutters, disheveled and still shivering from the shock waves from which they were shaken.
Gasping, trying to process and absorb the reality of having to return to a time-space dimension, Alice reaches out to pick up her phone, recognizing Dr. Maturin's office number.
"Hellooo…" she whispers with a sexy voice practically moaning, and then tries again with a firmer voice, "Hello!"
"Alice Jones?" Maturin's secretary asks.
"Aye… that's me…"
"Oh, good morning. I'm calling to remind you about yours and your wife’s appointments and IVF procedures with Dr. Maturin this afternoon, should I confirm them?"
"Sure! Count on us! Ah… Thank you and… See you soon!"
"Bloody hell, Robyn, our appointments are today, I forgot about that completely, you know, when I woke up I just had time to remember that you and I didn't need to work today and could make love endlessly, you know, cause today is Saturday!"
"I know! Me too Alice! What happened is that when I woke up and looked at you, my mind went blank and erased the appointments... I just couldn't resist your smile this morning, you looked so peaceful, so beautiful, so inviting, I had to kiss your lips and repeat last night. I can't help being completely in love and attracted to you, Alice, you do this to me…"
"You were the one putting that smile on my lips, my love, because I was dreaming of you. You and I, we were together walking hand in hand in a luminous field, full of bright spots of light in the air. They were like tiny little beings of light and some of them were just there, waiting for us to pick them up…"
"Oh… maybe they will be our babies, waiting for us…"
"Maybe… but let's start the day, Honey, we only have time for a shower and a brief breakfast - and I'm starving!"
…
"Good to know that you are both ready, Alice and Robyn," Stephen Maturin welcomes them.
"Wouldn't skip the appointments for nothing, Dr…" Alice starts to say but he cuts her, "please, call me Stephen…"
"Right, Stephen, we really want to try a double pregnancy, our only doubt was about being cross-surrogates as we initially planned…"
"You could try, but would be running more risks in a process that is already too complex and risky. I'm glad you decided to try IVF with your own eggs. At the end of the day the children will be yours the same way… So, let's take a look at your ovaries. Who will go first?"
…
After examining Alice and Robin, he confirms what they expected. "Your cycles are incredibly synchronized so today is indeed the best day for both procedures. As you obviously know, to use your own eggs you began your treatment, at the start of your cycle, with synthetic hormones to stimulate your ovaries to produce multiple eggs — rather than the single egg that normally develops each month. Multiple eggs are needed because some eggs won't fertilize or develop normally after fertilization: that means your ovaries are with the perfect production for the In vitro fertilization. What I will do now is to collect mature eggs from your ovaries and fertilize them with an anonymous donor's sperm, in a lab - the kids will be blood-related through their biological father. Then the fertilized egg (embryo) or eggs (embryos) will be transferred to your uterus. One full cycle of IVF takes about three weeks. Sometimes these steps are split into different parts and the process can take longer. Any questions?"
"No question, Stephen," Robyn smiles, "we are ready to bring our children to the Light!"
“Good luck to us and to our babies!” Alice whispers, closing her eyes and holding Robyn’ s hand..
“Lucky babies,” Stephen smiles at them reassuringly.
Olympus & Lethean Fields
Olympus
To think of fate is to think of an inevitable, predetermined course someone's life is shaped to take. That leads us to think of the 3 elderly sisters sitting around a spinning wheel: the Fates, also known as the Moirai. The first sister, Clotho, is responsible for spinning out the thread of a person’s life. The second sister, Lachesis, measures out the length of the thread, determining said individual’s life span. The third sister, Atropos, then cuts the thread (with the now-recovered prime scissors, not the spare scissors she used for thousand years after she lost her first in a bet with Blue), thus determining a person’s death. The Moirai, healthier and immortal again, go about their task mechanically and dispassionately, as if menial laborers on a conveyor belt of souls as if elderly grandmothers, quietly spinning out life; a pleasant, quaint threesome who might stop by for tea in the afternoon, and probably bring some home baked goodies as well, or so it might seem on the surface.
"Did you notice the unusually large number of souls heading to the United Realms?" Atropos asks her sisters while sipping tea and enjoying a piece of fruit cake.
"I'd rather noticed their kind: consistently Old souls… Now that I think in perspective, the big picture is clear: their Forerunners went first, ~1-2 decades ago, discounting time nonlinearities. Then, three years ago, their Pioneer, Killian and Emma Swan-Jones's daughter, was born... Last year the four Path-Breakers followed: the Nolan-Jones twins and, right after, other inseparable pair went along: he, going to the far north and she, to the far south. Now a massive group is preparing to go simultaneously and to spread everywhere in the enchanted realms, establishing a unique and fascinating balance," Clotho remarks, "if we consider the hordes of Infant and Baby souls heading to the Land without Magic..."
"You're absolutely right, those Mature souls who went in an interval of nearly 10 to 18 nonlinear years to the Enchanted Lands are already starting to raise: something huge is being forged, my sisters," Lachesis mutters preparing to continue her job, "long life to these special missionaries, there they go…"
Lethean Fields
Hand in hand, the Underworld's queen and king, Persephone and Arthur, stroll through the Lethean Fields lush meadows toward the Return Gate."I knew there was so much more than Underbrooke, even though it is the Underworld's nerve center, but I confess I wasn't prepared for such breadth…" Arthur tells her."And this is just the enchanted lands sector, many of which are now concentrated in the United Realms, in a sub-dimension of what is known as Maine by those living in the Land without Magic. The Land without Magic sectors are much broader and complex, with hundreds of million, billions perhaps, of souls - we'll go there in time, we have Eternity at our disposal, my love," Persephone explains, giving Arthur's hand a squeeze. "What I'm about to show you is a gateway for the souls reincarnating in the United Realms. The Moirai, in an exceptional behavior, asked me to go there and make sure that the almost one hundred Old Souls will get to their marks.""Old Souls?" Arthur asks, curious."Yeah… they're like Avatars. Five of them have already incarnated, it seems that there are 95 going together now." "You'll have to clarify this concept for me, Persephone, be my teacher, love," he asks, kissing her hand. As she stops to tilt her head and dive into his blue eyes, he continues, "I want to learn from the best…""Right," she grins, giving him a peck and conjuring two armchairs. "Let's sit down, then.""Let's drink a fine wine while talking, then," he magically brings the drinks, still amazed with his new powers.After a sigh, Persephone starts. “The soul’s journey is a process of evolving. This means: growing in consciousness, steadily progressing through different levels of consciousness. Only by going into all this in physical bodies experiences and choices a soul can be thrown into an extremely sharp relief in a way that is not possible otherwise. Choice and the ramifications of choice provide the essential lessons of life. In a very real sense, the soul chooses to be on Earth in order to make choices.”“Free-choice,” he states dreamily, thinking on his most recent life-changing choices.“Exactly, my Free-choice-Dreamer, as free of a choice as that one of yours which brought you to my side, as my King. For you the evolution as a mortal is complete, but as an immortal, you have all eternity to evolve. As for the mortal souls, they evolve in stages, five in total, corresponding to a specific level of development in capability and self-awareness within the individual soul. As the soul goes through each stage, covering a large spectrum of colors, or frequencies, the focus changes, more experience is gained, and consciousness expands.”“Colorful souls? How come I haven’t seen these colors?”“That’s because you haven’t trained your eyes yet, you will get there and will perceive the spectrum of their auras beginning at white (all colors) but then going through red, yellow, green, blue, to deep purple and violet. From low frequency to high frequency. The least evolved souls — the “newbies” — have a pinkish hue. The oldest souls — those nearing the end of the whole reincarnation cycle — have a blueish hue. Although the spectrum is a continuum, it can be divided into those five distinct stages or levels of evolvement: Infant, Baby, Young, Mature, and Old Soul.”“Got it… then the one hundred Old Souls you were referring to are vibrating at these highest frequencies.”“Yeah and reincarnating together, like this, is extra-rare. So much that the Molrai asked me to leave the Olympus and make sure that all of them will cross the Return Gate. No complaints on my part, I confess, I was missing you, my King…”“And I, you, my Queen… But back to what you have just told me, I have one question. A mortal at the beginning of the reincarnating cycle, the Infant soul, is a complete novice at the physical existence?” “As a human being, yes. At this first stage they are largely in a state of incompetence and terror, frankly. But through experiences and choices they learn and grow. They steadily progress from being Infant souls to Baby souls to Young souls to Mature souls. Finally, they enter the fifth stage as accomplished Old souls, the experts of human existence. As infant souls they learn about choices having to do with survival; as baby souls choices having to do with moral codes and ethics; as young souls choices having to do with mastery of achievement; as mature souls choices having to do with relationships; and as old souls, choices having to do with the nature of oneness. An infant soul would therefore not understand the choices of an old soul although an older soul would likely have more understanding of the nature of a younger soul choice having had them.”
“95 new Old Souls, then…”“This. Which is very rare. If we went to the Land without Magic return gateway sector you would see another scenario. For you to have an idea, take the incarnated souls there. The six or seven billion people on the planet span the whole range of stages, but the average is said to be somewhere just past the mid-point of stage 3. In other words, this world is currently dominated by Young souls whose primary focus is competitive self-advancement.”“And what is the reason for this massive evolved group reincarnation?” Arthur asks, already standing up and walking towards the Return Portal.“Good question to which the Moirai themselves can’t answer, yet. We'll have to wait and see... What I do know is that the physical world is approaching the climax of an unprecedented crisis. I’ve seen a lot of imbalances in the physical world, Arthur, throughout Time I’ve seen so many wars, conflicts, countless tragedies... but the world’s astral body has never been so contaminated with dark matter as it is now. My guess is that these 100 children are part of the Light, Peace and Love the world is lacking, this means their mission is likely of the noblest kind, extremely challenging and complex. Let’s see them descending, it seems that for a start everything is in order, all of them are lined up and ready to go, look at them, all smiling and shining!”“I see, love, and I can see their auras, how beautiful and bright they are!” he sighs, grinning in awe before the happy souls.
Storybrooke, Sweet-Jones' home
Stepping softly so as not to wake the babies, Killian and Emma head into their intimate living room, adjacent to the couple's suite, like two young lovers hiding from their parents to date in peace. The 4-bedroom home has retained, downstairs, the reminiscent layout of a high-ceiling living room with a mezzanine, where musical instruments and a painting studio are located. On the second floor, more properly, besides their suite-living room combo, the Babies occupy one side of a 2-bedroom-suite combo while the fourth bedroom has been converted into an office where Killian has been working full time organizing Storybrooke Police archives into databases integrated into a wider digital system. That will give a technical support to his brother, the other Killian, now the head of the recently created Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of Justice. Although he won't be directly involved with the Police Department on a daily basis, his brother knows he can count on him as an investigative ally whenever he needs and asks for.
A remarkable ease for computing earned Killian the position of consultant for all ministries, starting when, after heated debates on Earth and Olympus about ethics codes, he developed a database for the Health Ministry's newly inaugurated Cloning Medical Center (an underground building with chambers to preserve the clones of those who authorized them to be preserved for research on the healing science). The extra-bonus is that he can stay at home helping Emma not only in caring for the twins but also in structuring the Ministry of Art and Culture. Over time, Emma plans to be more engaged at the Music Conservatory but it was a relief to discover a great number of talented musicians in all Realms - some of them are successfully running the School of Music without her direct interference.
It has been a calm morning, so far, in the Nolan/Sweet-Jones home as their sons take a nap, enabling the couple to sit there, side-by-side - a well deserved fruition of each other's company.
"Quite a change in a Princess' life, isn't it?" He teases while absently caressing her golden hair.
"Heart Island taught me well, Honey, and I have magic! Besides, you're always helping by being mega organized, and the babies are the cutest collaborators I could wish for: rarely crying, practically almost smiling, sleeping almost all night…"
"Closed fontanels…" he adds, with relief.
She chuckles at that. "You really were worried about their soft spots at the back of their heads, weren't you?"
"Sure, they were too vulnerable and too soft," he grins and raises an eyebrow. "But there is still a soft spot on top of their heads. It might seem as if their heads have grown faster than their bodies, I remember how I used to panic about that with Alice."
"The same for me, with Henry… but soon I realized that it’s normal, you know, the bodies will soon catch up," and at that Emma rests her head on Killian's shoulders, snuggling into his embrace - a love nest until one of the babies wakes up, waking up the other in the process, and they decide it's time to call their parents. Usually when that happens, they don't need to hurry up because the babies keep quiet in their cribs, and just whimper to get a major attention: for a diaper change or for a breastfeed or both. Killian and Emma work as a team; exchanges are fast and during breastfeeding he helps singing for who is not suckling...
"Listen," he mumbles, "they're awake. They may be sleeping through ~ 5 or 6 hours at a stretch during the night, but their daily naps are becoming shorter…"
"They're giggling… " she smiles, playing with his left hand band, "they feel each other's presence."
"But they also recognize our voice and will turn to look for us when they hear us. Listen, they're laughing out loud! I sure would love to be there with them but this is sort of their moment, you know..."
(Silence)
"Any news from Alice?" She asks in a low voice.
"Apart from when I was told that I am a grandfather to be, nope! She and Robyn will have a full plate with their double pregnancy and all of this is kind of… surreal!"
"I wonder if they will want - or need to move from the loft."
"According to what she told me, they are not planning to move, at least in the beginning because they simply love their vintage home. Besides, my Starfish, a mother to be - can you believe that? said that Snow and David managed to survive for quite a time with a baby there, they intend to adapt the place for their needs. Their point is, with Robyn working as the new librarian and Alice as a kindergarten teacher, the loft is strategically located. I suggested them to incorporate the downstairs floor, it's vacant now, and they loved the idea. My guess is that they will run for it."
"And did she say when they will know how many babies are coming?"
"Perhaps in the next appointment with Stephen, that is, probably soon? She didn't mention anything specific but as far as they know, Robyn's pregnancy is the unknown parameter. Alice is with only one baby, Robyn may be with two, her ultrasound and baby's heartbeat weren't conclusive…"
"Wait and see then," Emma nods, "but I can picture their kids staying a lot with their grandma, in Portland…"
"Aye, love, me too, there will be a lot of space for them there, and here as well, or in our Jolly Roger..."
"They will be loved, so much..." Emma says standing up to go to the nursery.
"Already are, already are…" Killian follows her.
...
At lunch, Henry and Violet appear for a surprise visit, "hey Mom! Hi Killian! Hey little brothers…" and the babies go all smiley at them as if recognising their brother and sister in law by sight and smell as well as by their voice.
"They are reaching out!" Violet exclaims, putting Dylan on her lap. The little boy waves his arms and kicks his legs strongly, laughing out loud and that makes Violet smile too although, to Killian's trained eyes, it is possible to sense something more in the air.
"How old are they?" Henry asks.
"Four and a half months," Emma answers, also suspicious after his nonsensical question and decides to go straight to the point "Henry, my dear Henry, you tell me, what's going on?"
"Eh… since you didn't give us a chance to quibble, Mom, we came to tell you that, perhaps… eh... for sure, I mean, we kind of... Violet and I are kind of... going to have a baby?!"
"We don't understand," Violet cuts him starting to explain nervously, "we have always been so cautious… of course we planned to marry and have kids but we wanted to wait, to study first. Remember, Emma, what you told Henry, about not going too fast? We agreed with you but then… this little bean happened!" She closes her eyes holding her belly and her tears.
"Oh Honey, don't be upset. This may be the best thing to happen in your lives and, if you will, you can manage to carry on with your studies, as you had planned, and take care of the baby. I promise that you won't be alone, alright? You see, I have one question only, for you both, and I suppose it is more of a confirmation since you are already here bringing the news: do you really want the baby?" Emma questions them and they simply nod with bright, hopeful eyes. "Then fight for your baby and for your love. What I told Henry before, what I showed him, nearly a year ago, was the easier path, or what seemed to be easier, simpler path for your growth. But, it seems, the Fates had other plans for you and, as Killian uses to say, we don't want to go against Fate, do we?"
"It seems that congratulations are in order then! Well done, Lad!" Killian tries to soften the mood by hugging Henry. "Good luck when talking to Sir Morgan…" he whispers for just Henry to listen.
"Actually," Henry whispers back, "we have already done that. It took him a while to react but in the end, it went better than expected, he seems to be really okay with the news."
"So do we, son, I'm happy for you both and for the baby - my grandkid... Emma sighs and asks, "what now? Are you moving together?"
"Well... we are practically living together, the doubt is where we are going to live after the baby is born… Sir Morgan offered his house, which is a large house and he lives alone… and I have my 2-bedroom lodge... we don't know yet, Mom, we have time, for now, I guess we will continue in my house figuring out how things will evolve…"
"You see, Dylan and Jason? More babies to play with you! What a Baby boom! Boom! Boom!" Killian winks and grins making faces and mouths at the babies and they react with happy laughs and a contagious happiness.
Storybrooke, Swan-Jones' home
Temper tantrums have never been a Hope's thing, although she knows how to be quite stubborn ("just like her mother," Killian uses to say at which Emma reacts, "strong head, determined, that's my girl!"). However today has been an exception when the 3-year-old girl insisted on being totally independent and is now struggling to deal with frustration.
She tried something on their own, to build a complex 10-year Lego castle without using magic and refused to follow instructions from her father and that triggered a crying crisis that lasted for almost one hour. She is calmer now, thanks to Killian's patience. Emma was doing groceries during the crisis climax but watched enough of it before she went out to understand that they had to be cautious…
"But Papa, Captain Jones, look at me," she says very seriously pretending the roles are reversed and she is the one in charge of the last word, not counting however that her smart father will pick up the real last word out of her next argument. "We are going to visit Zelena and Chad in the Land Without Magic !! Then I have to do things without magic there and I need to be trained!! And you can't help me because I need to do it alone!!"
"I get the part without magic, Little Pirate but, as far as I know, in the Land without Magic every child gets the help from her Papa, especially when she is playing with toys aimed at children 7 years older than her!" Killian counter argues, confident with the inclusion of the age gap, aware that the girl is really good with numbers and will get his point.
Hope listens, she really opens up to listen to her father, eyes locked with his, connected, absorbing his wisdom and his love. She remains quiet for processing his words, pensive, distant. When she comes back, her eyes are brighter.
"Alright," she finally acquiesces, conceding, "you may help me with the doors and windows and… with everything, I guess…" she sighs with a timid grin and adds: "I'm sorry, Daddy…"
…
Two hours later, Emma, who came back from the supermarket when father and daughter were finally starting to have their constructor moment together, enters the living room carrying a jar of lemon juice and three glasses, asking about their work. "How is it going? Let me see? Wow!! It's prettier than in the toy box picture, I'm impressed!! How is that possible? Hope, you can't be using magic, you have said that yourself!"
"I'm not! It was Daddy's idea to borrow some pieces from de Pirate Ship box!!"
"It's a Pirate thing, love…!" Killian grins and raises an eyebrow with an almost innocent look. "Can't help myself and Hope loved the idea, you know, our Pirate Princess needed a castle with a piracy look…"
"It's beautiful! But… isn't it ready yet?"
"Nope!" the girl, happier now and not showing any residual signal of her previous meltdown, smiles with a hint of mischief and silliness, "a garden, the castle still needs a garden as beautiful as the one of Uncle Gideon's castle… but first I need to go to the toilet, bye!!" And she puffs to the bathroom.
Hope was potty-trained and able to dress herself without assistance, among other skills, at 2-years old. She has been challenging Killian and Emma to keep up with her and sometimes it is almost tempting to tell their daughter to "stay still,” but they always allow their child the freedom to practice her physical, emotional and magic skills in the way she needs so that they can develop as they are supposed to - and they know how unique her upbringing has to be...
"At the end of the day, more than a Seer or any other exceptional title that Archie, or Blue, or Gideon may use based on modern psychology or ancient prophecies, such as Pioneer, when referring to her, our girl is just a little child trying her limits with her parents like any child of her age," Emma mumbles sitting near Killian as they stay there, sit on the floor, staring at the castle and sipping their juice.
"Says the Savior, twin of the Aligner, both married to the Survivor twins…" he chuckles and, after a pause, he continues more serious. "Hope became unusually stressed after the latest Baby Boom news this morning, not even with the first Body & Soul vision I saw her so out of her mind, love," Killian notices.
"But she was happy," Emma whispers, "I mean, initially, especially after knowing that Elsa and Cindy were pregnant. It all started to go downhill after Wish Ariel called yesterday morning to let us know about her pregnancy, remember? She stood, raised her hand to her mouth, as if in shock, as if realizing that something big was coming... and from that moment each new pregnancy confirmation made her tantrum to escalate. That was a gradual buildup for a meltdown. Although I was out this morning I knew it was coming… Killian, what did she say to you this morning, while I was doing groceries?"
"She said that something she didn't know yet was really happening. Then she said she was happy because the babies were coming and she didn't know why she was crying but she needed to cry a little. I've never seen our girl that way… shhh, she will be back soon," he whispers and, continuing with a normal volume of voice, he completes, "I wonder where we are going to pick up the Lego pieces to build the castle's garden, maybe from the box of the gas station set…?! Nope! Perhaps from the box of the space rocket set!? No, from where it would be?"
"Daddy," Hope puffs back to the living room and sits on the floor next to her parents, "I will use magic to bring the garden pieces…"
"Great idea, Little Love, once in Rome… I mean, once in the Land without Magic we will deal with not having magic. Here, in the Land with Magic, it is different! With cautious and not exaggerating, we can use magic for building a beautiful garden for our castle, why not? This is what a real Pirate Princess would do!"
"I'm a real Pirate Princess, Captain!" Hope exclaims with a grin, back to her positive self. "I'll show you how this is done!"
"Ah!! That!? I'm sorry but I will have to see to believe, little'love," Killian states defiantly and Emma giggles, admiring how easily the two connect when they are playing.
Reacting to her father's challenge, the girl stands up, tilts the head while looking at the castle, as if calculating the extension of her magic, and raises her hands with a natural elegance to produce the Lego pieces they will use to assemble the garden, "a garden with a magic portal… to the Land without Magic!!" she promises raising her eyebrows in the attempt of a wink.
PUFF!! PUFF!! PUFF!!
Enchanted Countryside, Mills-Lockesley's home
It would look like an ordinary meeting of old friends, gathered to celebrate the kickoff of Operation Body & Soul's first anniversary, if it weren't for the said friends' names: Regina, Robin, S. Regina, W. Robin, W. Regina, Liam Sr, Zelena, Chad, Snow, David, Emma, Killian, Emm and Key…
...
"Who is taking care of Dylan and Jason?" Snow asks Emm as they are sitting at the dinner table set with a banquet worthy of gods.
"Henry and Violet. Alice and Robyn were also planning to go but we left before they arrived…"
"They are already there, love," Key cuts her, "Alice has just texted saying that they are there, planning to cook dinner as soon as they give the babies the bottles with the breast milk you stocked and, after that, put them to sleep. They have just finished their bath, our two sailors... Look at these pictures, 4 adults totally soaked trying to bath two happy 6-month toddlers," he shows them his phone.
"Oh, what a splash!" Emm chuckles. "Here, take a look," she passes the phone to a curious Snow.
"Oh!… Emm, they're so cute… and have grown so much since the last time I saw them!" Snow smiles taking a look at the pictures and showing them to Zelena and Emma.
"Oh…" Emma melts enchanted by the babies's cuteness. "Let me tell you, the way they smile - as if understanding more than they should, remind me of Hope when she was their age, perhaps a bit more boyish but definitely looking like her," Emma notices.
"Who could tell they would look like they were her little brothers..." Zelena jokes, faking a surprise.
"In a way, they are," Chad enters the conversation, "at least to the Genetic Science," he explains. "But if the geneticists knew about the United Realms existence all foundations of their scientific knowledge would be shaken…"
"One more reason to keep the gates closed," Regina adds.
"The more and more there are people not agreeing with this position, Regina," Killian tells her.
"What do you mean, Killian?" Robin asks, passing the salad to David.
"I mean," Killian explains, "we have been gathered in one land with access to all 21st century technology - with virtual access to their world and all intricate chaos they live in, and people have started to discuss - and to question - about our geopolitics principles of anonymity with no interference…"
"Not to mention the young people dreaming of applying to courses not offered here," S. Regina reminds them.
"Opening the borders would integrate us into their chaos, not the other way around," Regina defends the point of continuing isolated, "they would want to explore us and our power to their own interests of domination - it would be the end of the United Realms."
"There is more than this trend, Regina," David enters the conversation. "Now that I've been more in contact with people of the Enchanted Countryside I've detected at least two trends, something like a conservative party, more aligned to your opinion, and a more progressive party, gathering those who believe that people from the United Realms should cross the borders more frequently not only to buy the industrialized goods they produce but to give them, as a form of exchange, a help in fixing their mess."
"But they aren't asking for our help," W. Robin reminds them.
"Perhaps because they don't know we exist!" Emma reasons.
"In the Enchanted Seashore I would say that the Progressive trend is a majority. Perhaps because people there look at the ocean, the open horizon, they have their back to the continent and their sight to what is beyond the horizon," Senior adds more condiment to the conversation.
"From what I've seen," Emm says, "and I haven't seen as much as some of you but enough to understand the big scenario - plus I have my husband as a great professor, right now there seems to have a global tilt there that has yielded a tumultuous far-right takeover. Although I gave up the throne, I have a background on politics since I've been educated to reign and it seems that, technically speaking, this whole picture - far right and far left extremes - is too complex for us to handle."
Hearing Emm's remarks and thinking on her own original upbringing and on how she also gave up the throne to become the Minister of Education, Snow finally speaks. "We could compromise," she offers. "Right now we are a Monarchy System aggregating many monarchies. We could evolve to a Monarchy with Democracy, thus giving voices to all trends, allowing them to be represented. We already have a Prime Minister, Robin, who has helped the Good Queen to coordinate the Ministries. What if we created a Parliament and gave the people a right to vote and elect their representatives?"
"This is interesting," Killian observes, "because what we are witnessing out there is the endangerment of Democracy as it exists in the world, with a few exceptions… In political regimes generally accepted as democratic, what happens is the delegation of decision-making power through voting. But the vote was, in most of the history of political thought, perceived as an instrument alien to the democratic order. Greek democracy was characterized by direct participation in decision making; occupants of public office were generally chosen by lot. We studied that in the Naval Academy but the question we should ask is: how has this concept evolved? Has it worked as the Greeks expected?"
"Definitely not, I'm afraid," Key answers. "What I saw when I lived there is that it has moved away from the notions of direct popular power and political equality. People don't rule, they just decide who will rule. This decision is almost random, since ordinary people, being far removed from public decisions and stuck to their own immediate concerns, are unable to make consequent political choices."
"We could change that paradigm, we could recreate a Democracy that would fix what they did wrong, learn with their errors…" David argues, already buying Snow's idea.
"You know where our worlds differ the most? What having and not having magic is translated into?" Zelena asks them all while sipping her wine. "The thirst for power and domination is the common enemy, but for them Power equals Economic Power, in other words, Money. Their most dominant system, Capitalism, is destroying the planet, destroying Nature, which is aggravated when the Liberals, representing the Financial System, assume the Power: they don't care for equality. They care for concentration of power in the few hands of a financial elite. Money is such an abstract concept sometimes but in the crudest concrete reality it defines who gets to have food and a house to live, who gets access to healthcare. It defines migratory flows, wars, poverty, misery, dignity, slavery, it defines everything surviving related."
"Money is the instrument for evilness, then," says the ex-evil queen W. Regina.
"Basically this," Chad agrees. "But it may also be an instrument for goodness, if only Mankind were less ambitious and selfish…"
"And then, of course, my mother, always revolutionary, coming up with the Democracy concept being applied in the United Realms - why am I not surprised?" Emma tries to bring the focus back to something more practical.
Regina, who had been listening in silence, finally speaks. "Matching the will to democracy with the need for representation may be an open challenge, as representatives will be encouraged to report primarily to key resource holders of their campaign supporters - and the media - rather than to their constituents. We have seen that happening in the LWM. The reduction of democracy to electoral competition represents the encroachment of the ideal of political equality and popular sovereignty that was historically associated with it."
"Asymmetries will always happen, Gina," Robin tells her, "but can be corrected with a solution which is to assert equality through Law and Justice systems. I think Snow has a point, we should be brave to take a risk and give to the people a new channel to their voice. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't run the risk of bringing me back. Mankind is supposed to evolve, generation after generation and… The new generations are coming faster than we think, look at the Baby Boom! We are not eternal, my love, we need to start thinking on their world rather than on our world. They will rule the Future, and we need to think on their paths as their own, assuring them freedom to make their own decisions - the right and wrong ones, and to learn with them, to run their risks, to live their own adventures. It will be up to them to decide if the gates to the Land without Magic will be open, in the future, weighing the consequences, pros and cons. But we owe them a chance of having a world to live and to rule, of having a Future."
"I'll drink to that, to my brother's words," W. Robin raises his glass, "then I propose a toast: To The Future!"
"To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!" "To The Future!"
Olympus
As a manifestation of the sea god, Nereus was supplanted by Poseidon when Zeus overthrew Cronus. However, known for his truthfulness and virtue, Nereus and his wife Doris accepted defeat and the loss of power without protest, understanding that for a new, more prosperous era to arrive great changes and, perhaps, a few sacrifices, would be necessary. Their noble character and lovable dignity were rewarded and honored with a peaceful rest in a quiet Village at the Olympus, reserved for the retired member of their divine lineage. Sometimes Poseidon visits them - they became good friends, and in many occasions they lost the notion of time-space in endless conversations about the meaning of Life.
Today is such a day, when Poseidon goes there to visit them, but he is not going alone this time…
...
"When was the last time you saw them, Mama?" Liam asks Alice as their petite committee approaches the Retirees' Village.
"Right after I died, they went to Elysium to see me. That was the only time they left their Village but they respected my decision to not coming with them, to not wanting to resurrect. They understood my will and blessed me, anyway. You won't find more generous and wiser beings than my parents, Liam," Alice tells her son.
"That is open to debate, Mother," Liam squeezes her hand and turns to Poseidon who has just stopped. "Are we there?"
"Right here. Let's knock at their door," the god answers holding his daughter's hand and pointing to a Greek-like house.
"There is no need to knock, Poseidon…" Doris leaves the house, opening the door with a smile that brightens when she recognizes her daughter, “Halia!! You have come to see us!” Then, running her eyes over the others, they almost pop up when land on Liam and she turns to her daughter: "The resemblance of your son - can only be your child - with Nereus is striking, Halia... oh forgive me, the name is now Alice. But come in everyone, don't stand outside, come inside and make introductions in there… "
Nereus was fully concentrated reading a book when everyone entered the room. After a moment, feeling the presence and glances, he finally realizes the company.
"By the beards of the Sacred Shrimp!!" He exclaims, standing up and opening a broad smile, "Halia!! My dear Halia, what a joy having you! Come, let me hold you!!"
Trembling with emotion, Alice hugs her father and mother before the others' eyes, all moved by the reunion. After a while, Nereus remembers that they have witnesses and opens his eyes. The first he sees is Liam and, as if looking at his younger self reflection, he stops, backs off, and opens his mouth, eyes traveling from Liam to Alice and back, past everyone else on the way. Turning to his daughter, he mumbles "Is that your son? My grandson?"
Alice nods, "Liam, his name is Liam Jones..."
"Liam…" he repeats and looks at Doris, both with teary eyes. "Come closer, Liam, I'm honored by your visit. Let me hug you, Son…"
Reluctantly, Liam steps forward and extends his hand, which Nereus grips firmly with an electrifying shock. The empathy between the two is immediate, a grandfather-grandson love at first sight.
Glancing at Doris, Liam smiles shyly. "Grandmother?" he babbles and immediately also wins the old lady's heart.
Smiling, Nereus turns to Poseidon, "But what a lack of manners, ours, we didn't even welcome our guests... Poseidon, please introduce us to your friends!"
"We are thrilled to see you and Doris so happy, old friend. Here, let me introduce my companions. To my right, my son, Triton, my daughter, Ursula, and her husband, Nemo. To my left, Liam's wife, Milah and her two sons with equal names: Bealfire - they are twins, we call them wish and nonwish versions, remember when I explained the Wish Realm to you?" He winks and chuckles. "And besides them, a new good friend of us, Wish Belle. They all live in the Islands of the Blessed…"
"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Doris says puffing armchairs for them all to sit. "I'm not used to using my magic but this is an excellent opportunity to practice it, especially if it's to bring a refreshing juice and some cookies like this…"
PUFF!
Smiling with satisfaction, she offers the snacks: "Help yourselves, my dears!"
…
"So, you are telling me that you and Zeus have been humanized?" Nereus asks Poseidon, admired. "That's another surprise…"
"The whole Clone episode was life altering for us, including sharing emotions and thoughts with human souls, our Emissaries - that gave us another perspective. I know that you and Doris drink your Nectar in small doses and because of that you haven't felt the crisis as strongly as we did, but for us it was huge. We came out of that experience in mortality with a new perspective about Life and Death…"
"My father and Zeus wouldn't admit, in other times, the visit of our friends from the Elysium Fields and from Earth, such as is the case of our good friend Nemo," Triton adds.
"But Nemo is a demigod now, brother," Ursula reminds him.
"That is precisely what I am talking about. This generosity. First, Hercules and Megara, whom most call Meg, gained new physical immortal bodies. Then, Arthur, resurrecting and becoming king of the Underworld, the newest Olympian God, and Nemo, my brother in law, as immortal as any of us… a real feast with Ambrosia and Nectar!"
"And yet, Halia still prefers to remain a human soul… is that so, my daughter?" Doris asks Alice.
"Yeah, my beloved mother… Although tempting to stay here with you - I won't deny I will miss you, I'm happy being Alice in the Elysium, close to good friends, close to Liam and his true love, Milah, being able to watch our beloved ones, on Earth, through a wide screen…"
"Excuse me if I'm being nosy," Belle enters the conversation, "but wouldn't it be possible for you to compromise? I mean, Liam has a ship, you could have family meetings there from time to time, and sail in the Ocean together. After all you all have in common a deep love for the Sea! What do you think?"
At Belle's suggestion, Nereus eyes shine as two gems and he opens a broad smile, "what a wonderful suggestion, lovely Lady!" Then, turning to Liam, he asks, "you get to tell me this story of having a ship, my boy!"
"He is a Captain, Father, spent almost all his life on a ship, and you get to know his two brothers on Earth, also captains!" Alice tells him proudly.
"You will have to tell me, of course I will want to hear everything about it and about them!" The old god says, feeling his heart pulsating with renewed strength.
"You will love to hear their epic stories while sailing the Jewel of the Realm, Sir," Bealfire introduces him to Liam's ship name.
"I would love to be there with you, Son, but as a retired god I need to get permission not only from Poseidon, but also from Zeus. I think I should talk to him first…"
"There is no need to ask permission, you are free to go," Poseidon assures him, "but you could come with us to the Pantheon, we are all heading there. I promised to show Belle the Olympian Library and to the two Bealfires I promised to take them to the Arena, to practise Olympian Sports. Come with us, be my special guests, you and Doris, we will be honored by your presence."
"Thank you so much, Poseidon, Triton, all of you," Doris thanks them, "we feel alive, we feel Hope, a promise of dreaming a good dream…"
"More than dreaming, Mother," Alice squeezes her hand as they walk to the Pantheon, "we are making it happen, we are making it Real!"
“Your hands, your hands,
Fall upon mine as waves upon the sands.
O, soft as moonlight on the evening rose,
That but to moonlight will its sweet unclose,
Your hands, your hands,
Fall upon mine, and my hands open as
That evening primrose opens when the hot hours pass.
Your hands, your hands,
They are like towers that in far southern lands
Look at pale dawn over gloom-valley'd miles,
White temple towers that gleam through mist at whiles.
Your hands, your hands,
With the south wind fall kissing on my brow,
And all past joy and future is summed in this great 'Now!”
(John Freeman, Hands)
*
Enchanted Mountains, Arendelle
Long and strong hands were the first attributes to catch Anna and Kristoff's attention. The baby searching eyes, curiously looking at his parents, and his hair, so pale that looked like a white down covering the white skin, came later. But the hands defined Handy, whose previously chosen name, Aatami, was immediately discarded as soon as the proud and exhausted new parents -Anna's labor lasted 10 hours! - laid their eyes on the little boy.
"Feet and hands of a climber..." declares his aunt as she bends over the crib, examining the newborn and already completely in love, "...hmm, conquering look of who knows that already has me in his palm, isn't it my cute little baby?!"
"Gideon," Anna turns to her sister's husband, who was watching the scene from a distance, "you've got competition!"
"No, if we consider that I'm in love with Elsa's loving way with your son, Anna…" he confesses already totally comfortable in expressing his feelings for Elsa in front of her sister and brother-in-law.
Elsa turns to look at Gideon sideways and smiles covertly. To their innermost sphere of friends their shyness and need to preserve the aura of mystery surrounding their relationship has given way to the relaxation of a 'let it go', although both still react with a barely-disguised surprise before public demonstrations of affection coming from the other. But what is better is that, as a reaction, no one else is surprised by them. Even out of their circle, as two public figures they have truly become an item, an emblem for a consolidated couple with private life out of the spotlight - everyone understands and respects their choice. (The same discreteness does not apply for more outgoing personalities, such as Anna’s, who is only curbed by Kristoff's more down-to-earth, practical way).
The royal palace is now divided into three wings. For housing the two new families in a more independent way, each sister occupies one of the two private wings, which in practice corresponds to twin homes, while the third wing is also divided into two sectors, one for the administrative activities of the Enchanted Mountains and the other for those related to the Ministry of Adventure Tourism.
As suggested by Belle, Gideon and Elsa actually chose to keep two residences, the other in his castle - arrangement that, in practice, doesn't change much for them because both palaces are located in the same enchanted land and the time to switch from one to another literally corresponds to the time spent at the flick of a finger.
"I've heard that Jasmine and Aladdin have welcome their little baby girl less than a week ago - which means all royal babies that spent Operation B&S in their mommies' wombs have already been born," Gideon tells them, moving to sit at the armchair close to the fireplace, "and we still need heating in late April, quite impressive…" he grumbles through his teeth.
"We are in the highest mountains, Gideon," Elsa joins him, "and in the highest latitudes…"
"The latitudes could be higher, though…" Kristoff sighs sitting close to Anna.
"What do you mean?" Elsa asks intrigued, "Arendelle is on the northernmost border."
"He means there is more beyond the frontier, higher mountains, even… He means Canada, for example, just to remain close to where we are…" Anna explains.
"But then we would have to cross the magic barrier. Of course I know that the world doesn't end on the border, but I'm not used to think beyond Maine," Elsa justifies her question.
"I think that when we think on adventure we can’t think on these limits.” Anna defends hers and Kristoff’s point of view, “and we are not alone, know that there are those that refuse to be caged in.”
“I get what you mean,” Gideon nods reticent.
“You do? You mean in a literal sense or in metaphorical one?” Kristoff questions him.
“In both senses, they refer to explorers. In a metaphoric sense, those thinking about going beyond the borders are like the eyes of an imaginative child, to give you just an example. In common with those in the literal sense they aim at exploring our world and learning, each day, how much wider it is than they thought the day before. Explorers are a self-fulfiller, self-motivated, self-driven, and self-sufficient. Independence is their hallmark...”
Smiling dreamily, Anna whispers, “Kris, remind me to ask Gideon to write the flyers for Summer vacations…”
Still wondering about what Anna said before, Elsa finally asks, “Anna, what do you mean by not being alone - am I sensing a new rebellion being forged?”
“Of course not,” Anna responds while accommodating the baby on her lap to breastfeed him. “I was referring to a recurring topic of conversations in taverns, restaurants, family reunions, especially since the shelter gatherings. During Operation B&S people talked a lot, being confined as they were, you know?"
"You mean… Operation B&S awakened the seeker?" Elsa asks.
"More than that, sis. During Operation B&S Kristoff and I ran a research in some shelters with two groups of adults: Younger and between 30 to 40. You didn't see it because you spent a lot of time at a kids' shelter... Anyway, compiling the answers we came to the conclusion that among us there are more wanderers, pilgrims and iconoclasts than we imagined - which is good for the Ministry. Borrowing Gideon's term, we identified a lot of explorers, people seeking to escape the confines of their average life by traveling the world or exploring its many mysteries."
"That's interesting… and to think you haven't sampled the two segments with the highest concentration of explorers: kids and teens. Anyway, better not explore this subject too much. Transposing the borders could have unpredictable consequences, there are plenty of places to explore within the Realms, so many that would take many lifetimes to explore them all…" Gideon reasons.
"Sure," Kristoff intervenes, "Anna's concern is with conformity - it reminds me how we, when children, loved to learn about the world. But don't worry, we are all good, no rebellion in sight… With Handy and within the realms we already have a lot of fun in the horizon. After the many events - fairs, festivals and tournaments - among many other tourism activities planned for this Summer, our next achievable goal is to activate the underground canals' maze for guided tours, perhaps this Autumn…"
"Wait a minute," Elsa cuts him, "but the maze... how to cross it without magic runes?"
"Well, good thing the Trolls are our friends, isn't it?" Kristoff winks, "we promised them to not include the Valley of the Living Rock in any tour package, in other words, to leave them in peace and alone, and in exchange they have drawn a few sketches of the maze. Grand Pabbie, Bulda, Cliff, Little Rock, and Goth - all of them are helping."
"The only thing holding back the project is the restoration of Wish Rumple's Castle. It's progressing slowly but we understand that its cleaning is complex and involves more than healing a build. As you know, Archie and Wish Regina are using the restoration as a recovery treatment for both Felixes and that requires another timing." Anna remembers. "Once the castle is ready, which I suppose will happen by autumn-winter, we'll be able to open the first United Realms Ski Resort. If it wasn't for Handy I'd be anxious, but now I'm not in such a hurry, every minute of this cuddly is precious and I want to enjoy it intensely," she says, looking tenderly at the baby breast feeding on her...
Enchanted Mountains, Wish Rumple's Castle
After its last residents, the old castle was left in ruins metaphorically comparable to the mental tissue deterioration of the newest pair of wish-nonwish twins. One of them, actually, ended up earning a new chance for living on Earth but in common both were lacking in emotional stability and life purpose. For this reason, Archie and Wish Regina, working together to socially reintegrate the two men - two adults too far away from their Lost Boys time, decided to develop for them a special rehabilitation program. This way, Felix and Wish Felix were enlisted as constructor apprentices in the Wish Rumple's Castle Restoration Project.
"They'll need many years of therapy," Archie diagnosed, but in order for them to become socially integrated, the participation in this project will give them a feeling of being useful, it will be good for their self-esteem, among other more audacious goals I hope they manage to achieve. But make no mistake, we are dealing with two cases of deep trauma."
"Luckily, the first steps have already been overcome," Archie continued to explain to those deciding over the guys' fate, "I mean, for their real therapy to begin they had to start walking the right path: both have already admitted that for them it is no longer a matter of blaming the father and mother figures standing in their way, as they used to do as Lost Boys - it is on them, the blame. Even this realization, helpful as it is, somehow is still a bit negative because it simply states that they realize that their parents are not against them, they are."
"I'm not sure if I got what you're saying. Who/what inner part is against them?" Killian questioned. "Is there a hidden part of their personality under the father and mother images making them believe for years that the cause of most of their trouble might somehow have got into them from outside?"
"Before answering this question, let's remember that we are dealing with two traumas interconnected. Besides the father-mother issue, cultivated for centuries in both Neverlands by each Felix - I'm naming it 'the Lost Boy Trauma', there is another equally (perhaps even more) important part: their unresolved sexuality. Despite their loyalty to their lovers' evilness, the misdirection of their sexual energy, the unhealthy development of their libido in an abusive and secret relationship never allowed to come out in the open and, which is worse, their true love and devotion, all of that ended up in betrayal, abandonment and feelings of hatred and sexual rejection. So, basically, in a second pack, there is the 'Pan/Malcom Trauma'. While Pan can be seen as Malcom's pedophile side disguised as a boy, each Felix must be seen only as Felix, they went to Neverland during their adolescence, not as a perverted adult reverted to a boy's age. That said, Killian, to answer your question, their inner hidden part fighting against them is the counterpart of their conscious attitude. The unconscious side will leave them no peace and will continue to plague them until it has been accepted. If they were younger a liberation from the past could be enough and a beckoning future would naturally stand ahead rich in possibilities, it would be then sufficient to break a few bonds and the life-urge would do the rest. But in Felixes' cases, they are not really as "young" as their bodies seem to be, the challenges are complex, the stakes are higher."
"In this case, what will be your approach for treating them, Archie?" Key asked.
"I'll illustrate with a metaphor, Key: the butterfly's metamorphosis, this is what I plan to explore during the treatment - a transformational process that might need to be extended over a considerable period of time, during which both Felixes will find themselves living in the very foundations of a world under construction. So, in this sense, I plan to get them involved in the process of restoration of the castle as a metaphor for the life-changing transformation they have to face, a massive reorganization of attitude, behavior, and sense of meaning similar to the massive reorganization of the chaos left by the Pans and Cruellas. Being there, working with their hands in the cleaning and reorganization of the rooms, helping to transform it into a Ski Resort, will trigger their singular encounter with a transformative image after transforming their major life traumas. The castle restoration will take months but for them their own metamorphosis, or transformation, will probably take years to become complete. When there is such a major passage, one can think in terms of the passing over (meta, trans) from one form (morph, form) to another."
...
Wish Regina is now married to Liam Senior, who decided to remain in land with her and Roland (though sometimes the young man visits his father and Regina and stays for a while with them). Besides their work on the Social Welfare Ministry, Liam and Wish Regina run, nearby their Enchanted Seashore house, a restaurant, The Sentinel, and a small hostel which is frequently the in-land home of the Nautilus' crew. Within her duties as Minister, once a week W. Regina travels to W. Rumple's castle taking Tink, W. Tink and the two Felixes with her. They are left there during the five working days, together with architects, bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians and painters, working on restoring the castle - left in ruins by the Pans and Cruellas - and creating a completely new place. During the weekends they return to Storybrooke and remain in a Detoxing Clinic.
Under the supervision of the two Fairies, their old acquaintances from both Neverlands, the ex-lovers of Pan and Wish Pan are responsible for cleaning the aura of the old castle, which is done through meditation exercises. For that, by acting on their own aura, cleaning the energy field that covers their entire bodies and protecting their spirits from the energies that surround them, they become energy generators producing purifying fields for the environment. This way, their psychic irradiation acts to clean the castle aura. The principle the Fairies use is a combination of mindfulness and meditation applied through simple exercises based on three techniques that greatly help to eliminate negative energies: 1) absorbing sunshine; 2) purifying energies through the crystal clear water of the underground rivers; and 3) just lying in a comfortable place where they can have time for themselves, without being disturbed, to empty their minds and relax their bodies.
In the beginning, only the two Felixes and the two Tinks took part of the exercises but soon the others joined their sessions, usually happening early in the morning, at noon and in the evening. With such a good camaraderie being established, Felix started to help the carpenters and Wish Felix, the painters (the fairies opted to work on the kitchen). These new developments have already showed the first signs of their past traumas' healing.
...
The Felix case rekindled the debates over the activation of the Ministry of Justice - which had been set up with the other ministries but the post had not yet been occupied. Regina, since Robin's return, has been completely refreshed and enthusiastic about the UR activities, and although accumulating the Justice post, she was the first to suggest that a new minister should be appointed. Some names were thought of, but all opinions converged when someone mentioned the name of Emma Swan-Jones…
For Emma, more than a Poetic Justice, the nomination was the crowning of a life trajectory, of a heroic journey marked by being a product of True Love in an unique configuration, back to old times at the Enchanted Forest. Above all, more than a tale written by the Fates, everybody agreed that she would be a natural in managing matters pertinent to the judiciary, police, maintenance and defense of human rights. Besides, having her beloved Captain by her side, leading the intelligence bureau of all realms, would be the icing on the cake.
By her turn, on numerous occasions Emma had already assisted Wish Regina at the Social Welfare Ministry, especially in the project most dear to her - Childhood & Adolescence, but she was somewhat reluctant to accept the invitation for a major ministerial role. Eventually she decided in favor of it once a few conditions were fulfilled satisfactorily. For that, Cruella's house was finally given a purpose after the clones were removed from it. Emma and Killian's goal was to remain in Storybrooke, close to their relatives and to the sea, and that was made possible when the Justice Ministry started to operate in the old mansion after another restoration project was carried out on it. The energy cleansing process adopted was similar to the one being performed at Wish Rumple's Castle - an Astral Healing Operation, but to a lesser extent given the different scales of the two buildings.
All in all, six and a half months after Operation B&S, everyone is starting to rationalize with their minds what has already been felt by their hearts: the astral field is cleaner now and a new energetic balance is gradually being achieved in the Upperworld Realms...
Olympus, Persephone's Garden
In the past, Persephone had a garden of ever blooming flowers in the Underworld but that changed after Hades' descent into madness and villainy - nothing else could flourish there. For Persephone, however, with the half-yearly change of scenery, a garden at Olympus would always bloom and produce her favorite fruit, pomegranate, upon her return to the Upperworld in spring.
The pomegranate is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub fruit that has been used throughout history and in virtually every religion as a symbol of humanity’s central beliefs and ideals, namely, life and death, rebirth and eternal life, fertility and marriage, and abundance. For the goddess, it features prominently in the story of her marriage to Hades. Hades kidnapped Persephone and took her to the Underworld to be his wife. Persephone’s mother, Demeter, goddess of fertility, considering her daughter lost, went into mourning and thus all things on earth ceased to grow. Zeus, Persephone’s father, commanded his brother Hades to release her, however Hades had tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds, and it was a Fate's rule, later repealed, that anyone who consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Since Persephone had eaten the six pomegranate seeds, she had to remain in the Underworld for six months of the year. Hades agreed to release her to the world above for the other six months of the year, to be reunited with her mother.
...
For the gods, after the normalization of Nectar and Ambrosia production, the experience of being mortal became just a memory. But an unforgettable one, forever altering the way they view life and death. Apart from long philosophical discussions, however, in practice the cycles of seasons continue to follow, and with them, the time for Persephone's return to Olympus after the long winter.
Walking with her mother, Demeter, in their exuberant garden, Persephone reviews the events of the last period spent in the Underworld, probably the most intense and original of her entire existence.
“So far the total rebel souls count has surpassed 150,000, a surprising number. Arthur still suspects that there are some runaway souls hiding in the dry woods around Underbrooke, but no one to be found at the basements and sewers anymore. The rebellion leaders who refused to undergo a recovery program have returned to Tartarus and are now sharing the best-kept Titans' sector. I believe some of those who opted to cooperate can still be regenerated, such as Facilier, Tamara, Greg and a few others who showed signs of a slight regret - and you know that under my sight there is no way for them to fake a regret. By reading their aura I know that, ultimately, they all have as a goal drinking from the waters of Lethe to benefit from forgetfulness and to return for the reincarnation cycle. But their fates have yet to be revealed, they will be submitted to a new judgment and their new punishment will be defined. I’m advocating that there is no meaning in punishing if not for recovering but we will have to wait and see how the divine principle of Justice will be applied…”
“Remember that in some cases there is no return, my dear… By the way, what about Wish Rumple and Nimue? Despite the very serious crimes that weigh on them, without their help our victory would have been much more complex… ” Demeter asks.
“They are hibernating, especially Nimue, she hibernates 100% of the time. Merlin went down to the Underworld, accompanied by his friend Ingrid, and they worked with Nimue's soul for several days, applying passes on her, and helped Arthur and me to set up a gradual recovery program for her, in principle for lasting almost a century. Something different from what is being applied to James Nolan, because his case is quite simpler, his soul was not so corrupted. Similarly, for Wish Rumple, Wish Belle also worked with us to define a special recovery program for him. In his case, without the need of a prolonged hibernation. He voluntarily asked to gradually replace this therapy by a work assisting Arthur after Wish Belle moves to Elysium - which is about to happen. Another of his requests was to be part of the string quartet. As I’m not there, he has already started playing, but his instrument will change after Belle leaves. I've watched only one performance but the results on his aura cleaning were encouraging.”
“Hmm, that's interesting... We could use guardian flowers to accelerate Nimue and W. Rumple’s healing processes, they could be kept by Merlin and W. Belle, their true loves: a poetic outcome in the fate of the first and the last Dark Ones...” Demeter suggests.
“What a great idea! The flowers must be Red Rose, for Rumple, and Mistletoe, for Nimue, like this!” and with a gesture, Persephone produces two crystal cylindrical domes with the flowers in them. “We just need to give them to Merlin and W. Belle. For as long as they preserve their vitality and bright, there will be hope for Nimue and Rumple’s redemption.”
“Why not go down there now and give both to Belle? She can take them with her when she moves on. And I could go with you, you know, get to know more closely the Human that has stolen my daughter’s heart….” she winks.
“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t deny, Persephone, it is too evident. You are in love with Arthur and that is great, I’m happy for you. You needed a King to reign with you…”
“Right…” she smiles timidly, “I confess, he really is a special man. But ours is an impossible love, Mother, he is more than mortal, he is dead man, I mean, he doesn’t have a physical body, which makes things more complicated for us.”
“Not for Zeus, you know, I have talked to him and he has agreed: if Arthur agrees he can be resurrected in a similar way as Killian Jones was. From that, if he drinks the Nectar, in a similar way as what happened to Psyche - remember her story with Eros? Well, then, if he agrees in drinking the Nectar he will be one of us, a God, the new King of the Underworld. He will reign alone when you, the Underworld Queen, come to the Upperworld during spring-summer, and he will stay with you, down there, during autumn-winter.”
“Oh, Mother!” she closes her eyes dreamily, “that would be a dream come true, a really good dream! Arthur is nothing like Hades, he is a loyal and righteous soul. Although he made a very compromising mistake in Camelot, he was the first victim of it, a consequence of Merlin's prophecy misinterpretation. He paid with his life for all his crimes and has given successive proofs of a brilliant, selfless intelligence. Not to mention that to my eyes at least he is a very handsome man and... by the way he looks at me, it seems that my feelings are reciprocated. Oh, Mother, I can't believe I've been given a chance to love and be loved again, to find physical pleasure with a god, again... " she sighs with her eyes closed, anticipating the hours of endless love and passion beside the future god. "You and my Father really made this Spring a special one for me, thank you so much!”
“I'm glad to hear you saying that, your happiness is well deserved - and I'm glad that this time, hopefully, shared with a god worthy of your love, Persephone. You have been a good queen but too lonely… So, let’s visit my future son in law, your King Arthur, and soon he will be the one feeling good. Actually, if he agrees - as I’m sure he will, he will be the one feeling god!" Demeter grins at her pun. "You know, my divine intuition is telling me that soon you will have back your garden down there: with the return of music and yours and Arthur's blossoming love I’m sure that soon the flowers will be back to Underbrooke, in a similar way as hope returned when Killian resurrected and Arthur decided to stay there. His resolution triggered the restoration of a broken kingdom, thus marking the definite end of Hades' era - Arthur being rewarded with immortality is not a favor, my dear, but an act of Justice."
Enchanted Sea, Nautilus
"Ursula, more than six months have passed and you haven't started drinking Ambrosia's Nectar yet... always with some excuse not to go to Olympus. Triton told me that he started drinking months ago..." Nemo again tries to understand Ursula's motivation for her Nectar's abstinence, trying to make her open up to him. This time, in response Ursula shrugs, smiles a mischievous smile, and finally offers him the first concrete answer about her motives: "I'll drink again if you agree to drink with me..."
Her response catches the Captain by surprise and his reaction is a plopped look, a parted mouth but no sound and, finally, a piercing look into her eyes. Before he outlines another reaction, however, W. Ariel and Junior knock at the door and announce that the last crossing point has just been unlocked during the little mermaid dive. With that, they all head to the main room for joining Harris, Martin and their guests, not without Nemo finally managing to whisper, back to Ursula, "this conversation isn’t over yet!"
...
Renewed and grateful for the new chance of a life on earth, Lieutenant Martin and Lieutenant Harris, in an eternal honeymoon, rejoined the Nautilus' crew and, for this dive into southern waters still within twenty thousand leagues boundary, they invited three new friends from their Underworld experience: Franz, from Arendelle, Theodora, from Oz, and Jefferson Hatter, accompanied by his daughter Grace. In addition to the entertainment tour for the guests, the expedition fulfills the mission of unlocking the remaining crossing points on the seabed gridline - those on Earth have already been unlocked and the telluric energies are back to flow freely.
…
Sit at a lunch table, they celebrate their mission ending while still retelling their vivid reminiscences of the Underworld. Always eloquent, Jefferson is one of the most talkative, especially when asked about his latest great adventure. “I spent a great deal of my long existence traveling between realms, crossing portals to other dimensions… I knew lands without color - just black, white and shades of gray; I explored alternate enchanted forests, distant realms, wonderlands and enchanted deserts, many of them running under different paces, but nothing prepared me for the Underworld. I couldn't say it was, in the strict sense, a bad trip, because we were received as warmly as possible given the circumstances, but the feeling of death can only be understood by those who felt and remember it!!”
“What about the Land without Magic, Papa? You never told me much about it...” Grace asks, moving to a less somber subject.
“That’s because I’ve only been there briefly, my dear. During the first curse I confess that I was tempted to move there, because being the only Storybrooke’s citizen keeping the Enchanted Forest memory, the only one who did not forget the real identity, besides Regina, was the true experience of madness. People often refer to me as the Mad Hatter, but the real madness has always been my extreme lucidity - the rest is eccentricity and legend. But then I never wanted to cross the border because I didn't want to forget you, Grace. Although the pain of being able to see you, knowing who you were, but not being recognized by you was almost unbearable, I didn't want to lose you. Later, after the first curse was broken it became possible to leave without losing my memory and I got away with it. I loved New York even though I wouldn't want to live there. But all the cosmopolitan buzz, the mix of peoples and cultures make it a city that cannot be considered without magic. Unfortunately, its problem is being in a very sick world, a very sick society. I admit that my analysis is too simplistic, but definitely their economic, political and social systems turn their world a sick land. I do not know if there is, on the whole planet within the dimension of the Land without Magic, any society or political or economic system that escapes this sickness. As a society we also have a lot of problems but nothing comparable to their reality. The United Realms creation, as a concept, is fantastic but no one can predict the long term consequences of bringing us together without portals to cross - the only outside world for us now is the Land without Magic, reachable by crossing enchanted border lines. For adventurers minds like mine crossing the UR border will be tempting, mainly for younger, explorer minds since the older ones tend to be more conservative and less curious. Besides, as we do access their world through the electromagnetic waves, we know what is going on there, though they don't access our encrypted signals - yet; we know them and their struggles but they don't know us. We know how badly they treat the planet..."
“I know that the oceans suffer a lot because of the people who inhabit the Land without Magic," W. Ariel comments. "I communicate with many sea inhabitants and they use to describe the atrocities they are subjected to: predatory hunting with institution of destruction, the greed of seabed exploration for oil extraction, nuclear tests, contamination of waters by chemical, radioactive and industrialized waste - tons of plastic waste; there are various endangered species out there... it's very sad what they tell me when they can cross the barriers that separate the Enchanted Sea from the other Oceans."
“Their armament industry forces them to live in a permanent war…” Ursula adds. “I lived there, I know quite a bit about what Jefferson said, he is absolutely right. You know, sometimes I wonder if the world would accept and respect our existence... we could help them in that case.”
“They are not prepared for accepting that those whom they classify as fictional characters are in fact real people,” Theodora explains. “I know that there have been attempts, in the past, of people from our realms who tried to explain that to them - all ended up treated as crazy people and died in an asylum.”
“I guess they would accept more easily the existence of outer space Aliens than ours!” Junior jokes.
“Even so,” Nemo ponders, “my adventurous, explorer spirit insists that there must be a way to cross the borders undetected and, once there, work anonymously and unknowingly to at least protect the natural resources of the planet - as citizens of the planet we are connected to them - if they destroy Mother Nature, they destroy themselves and ourselves!”
“Has anyone discussed the possibility of unifying the United Realms with the Land without Magic?” Franz wonders.
“That would be too problematic, Franz,” Nemo responds. “We would be seen as part of Maine, the US government wouldn't respect our independence and would want us to be subject to their command, under their taxes, laws, currency and state government’s policies. And which is worse, considering their belic industry and geopolitical/military interests, they would want to explore and use our Magic and our unique Science as a weapon - not to mention that other people would want to proclaim their cultural property to reclaim some of our kingdoms. But as we really are One, what happens in there directly or indirectly affects us. That's particularly true now. You see, we could help them during this pandemic crisis much more extensively if we weren't oblied to work anonymously.”
“We got to befriend the Shamans and their tribes,” Grace reminds them, “there is hope…”
“That is meaningful, it really is.” Franz tells Grace. “But I’ve been told by those who got to talk with the Shamans, during the Victory Celebrations, that most of their people have been decimated and their culture has been disrespected for centuries, now. They are the real Native people of the American territory, in other words the original inhabitants of the United Realms territory. Perhaps if it were for them, only, the border could be deactivated without problem. But let's face reality, we should take their experience as a reference and be prepared to defend our lifestyle and culture. From what I understood, if we opened our borders we could become an exploited freak, something like an exotic attraction. Their dominant system - capitalism, isn't it? - would see us as an absurdly great source of wealth and exploitation. That would be our end," he continues reasoning. “But I get your point, Grace, knowing that they are destroying and polluting our shared home, Mother Earth, and being here doing nothing is quite disturbing…”
“Franz is right,” Nemo agrees. “For capitalism, we would be seen as a source of profit, of power, only. Our mystical existence would be unexplainable for them. Our elements of mystery if not explorable for profit or domination could be seen as a threat to their lifestyle and religious systems, which, it seems, may enrich the understanding but rob the imagination… As for us, we use to divide the world not into different groups of objects but into different groups of connections and, based on that, my only hope of a better rapport with them comes exactly from their Modern Science and their Ancient Cultures, such as the Shamans’ - both get closer to our approach. For modern Physics, the world appears as a complicated tissue of events, in which connections of different kinds alternate or overlap or combine and thereby determine the texture of the whole. I could discuss our principles and mysteries with scientists but not with politicians and economists…”
“You are referring to Heisenberg's principle of indeterminacy, isn’t it? I read about it during the 28 years of cursed Storybrooke…” Jefferson asks. "The so-called uncertainty principle..."
“Exactly,” Nemo confirms. “Heisenberg was a congenial fellow, he emphasized that the view of nature as an object out there was quite illusory, he demonstrated that the subject was always part of the equation, that an inexorable reciprocity between subject and object existed such that the very act of observation changed irreparably what was being observed - unknowingly, he enunciated one of the principles of Magic!! That is also one of the most important paradigms of Psychology, a fundamental paradox of existence inherited precisely in the fact that the human being is both subject and object at once.”
“They would want to rob our Nectar of Ambrosia, again…” Ursula mumbles.
“Oh, that reminds me that Ursula and I have an important issue to discuss, privately. So, if you'll excuse us, my friends, you should continue the conversation without us for now. Shall we go to our quarters, Ursula, please?” Nemo addresses her, already standing up.
…
Closing their quarters door and sitting close to Ursula, Nemo turns to her, holding her hand, “Very well, Ursula… Immortality. Is that what you are offering me?”
“Yeah…” she answers timidly. “That, or the other way around, I mean, mortality for me. I can't handle any other alternative very well. I either become a mortal and follow the timeline with you, or bring you with me to the immortality line. There is no other alternative to my equation, Nemo. I wouldn't know, wouldn't resist, and wouldn't want to be eternal away from you. I have already talked to my father and Zeus, among the gods they are of the few with authority and power to allow a mortal to become immortal. They recently opened an exception for Arthur, in the Underworld, not only to resurrect him but also to make him immortal, and they will say yes to you if you agree. The final decision is yours, you are free to choose."
“I choose you, my love, my eternal love…” he closes the gap between them, caressing her arms up and down to hug her tightly, holding her chin, stroking her ear and opening his lips to kiss her soft lips as they start a sensual dance of passionate tongues as skilled and wet as the tentacles of an octopus and a nautilus curling up and merging into One in a mating ritual.
Elysium, Islands of the Blessed
Belle's farewell was gentle, full of promises and hope when she and Rumple consummated their love the day before her departure.
“Rumple, trust our love, always be guided by it, know that through our Rose, I will be always taking care of you and protecting you. Please remember, keep in your heart that ancient Greek inscription we so often read together, as the mark of our everlasting love: Time is a child - playing like a child - playing on a chessboard - the realm of the child. It is Telesphorus, who errs through the dark regions of the cosmos and shines like a star rising from the depths. It points the way to the gates of the sun and dreamland…”
“I remember,” Rumple whispers caressing her tenderly, “when we sit in our castle to read about Telesphorus, whom in Greek mythology symbolizes convalescence, the period following an illness. Perhaps, one day, if you go to Mount Olympus, you will meet him. He is the son of Asclepius, the chief god of medicine.”
“Yeah, I’ll remember that… Do you know, Rumple, why I liked so much this passage? I never told you, I guess. That is because the "disease", of which Telesphorus announces convalescence through its small lantern, is the moment of complete immersion in the unconscious, in the darkness of absolute nothingness, referred to in the Greek text as dark regions of the cosmos."
Nodding, Rumple smiles and then asks, “and have I told you before why I liked this representation of Time?” As she shakes her head, he continues, “normally time is represented by the figure of death, a sinister skull with a scythe in its hand, but here it is represented by a figure of a child: playing, illuminating our paths through the infinite sky's darkness. It is also a representation of the Self, our real being, when we finally recognize it. Telesphorus represents the time when light is rescued, he is the discrimination, the right direction during darkening situations. He is the Time at the center of consciousness.”
The tears fall as Belle closes her eyes to absorb Rumple’s words. Reopening them, she looks into his eyes. “My love, the images of time, as the skull that carries the scythe or as the child that brings the light, they refer to two types of time experience that you and I will undergo from now on. The first speaks of the linear time to which your next flesh, after your stage in Underbrooke, will be subjected, easily perceived by the external transformations manifested by the body design and the environment around it. It will be marked by birth, life, and death and is related to the causal form of thought, beginning, middle, and end. They are like deaths and rebirths. This is Kronos, which represents time related to death, a time that consumes itself. Our Love lives in Kayros, a nonlinear time. It represents those moments that transcend the limitations imposed by the fear of death in a second as vast as the infinite space. Please remember, Rumple, Kayros, in Greek, means the right time. In Latin, it corresponds to momentum, the moment that leaves a strong and unique impression throughout life without the weight of past burdens and the anxiety about the future.”
“I see…” Rumple nods barely managing to speak, also with teary eyes.
...
“I love you, ma Belle de Jour, my eternal Belle! Meet me in our Kayros, I'll be there... part of me will be always there, waiting for the Right Time when we will be together again...” Rumple waves as she slowly climbs the stairs to the Upperworld taking with her the two crystal domes with the two flowers, the symbols of Hope and Eternal Love.
…
Wish Belle died without a proper funeral ceremony - her remains were abandoned in a cell where they decomposed. Nonetheless, she was loved - much loved by everyone who knew her and it was this love that allowed her soul to have the direction it had in Underbrooke. Finally managing to steer her Unfinished Business to a good outcome, Wish Belle braced herself for the big and definite shift in her existence: the Champs Elysee. She arrives in the Islands of the Blessed through a portal that took her soul to cross her twin’s place of burial, as a kind of ritual of passage to absorb a proper burial, and is met by two friends who recently have been in the Underworld with her: Merlin and Ingrid.
“Welcome,” Ingrid tells her, extending her arms.
“Hello, Belle, welcome to your new home,” Merlin smiles, receiving the dome with Nimue’s flower and looking at it absently.
“Follow me,” Ingrid brings them both back to the present. “There is a reception party waiting for you, my dear, you will soon realize how much we enjoy a good socializing meeting with good talk, dancing, delicious meals, lots of music and peace. Above all, Belle, a lot of peace. This does not mean that we do not care about those who have not yet reached this state of mind, on the contrary. Even in the face of the pain and suffering of others, it is the serenity of our spirit that points to the paths and to the reasons why so much sadness still affects our beloved humans incarnated on Earth or in lower layers of the Underworld. Come, Belle, between us we don't have to use the prefix "wish" to distinguish ourselves, we just know who we are.”
…
Wish Belle is living with the two Baelfires, now that Milah has moved to Liam’s ship, where he already lived with Alice. Sometimes she visits her twin and brother in law, usually to borrow a new book, which she reads out loud in front of her Rose, imagining she is reading to her Rumple. Her sister took from Olympus a free pass to the Olympian Library and she is sure to have enough lecture for all eternity - both Belles don’t complain. The 'Tiltskin brothers are the best companions she could have asked for, always good humored, always gentle, always ready to talk and to day dream. They love to spend hours painting or hearing their neighbor, Aesop, narrating/creating new fables in the house he shares with Marian.
Ingrid, living with her sisters and brother in law, sometimes visits Merlin, joining Rumple, who also loves to visit the Wizard and his Apprentice, Jack, in a lab where they run experiments, discuss spells or simply talk about Life, Love, and Eternity.
Fergus and Farah, with Midas, Wish Midas and their wives share a common hobby: Midas received from the gods a wide screen similar to the Charmings', but in their case, instead of watching real life people, they prefer to marathon watching movies and series produced on the LWM.
In contrast to Midas' cine club, Aunt Em, Ruth and Wish Ruth, being the Charming’s neighbors, are usually at their house watching their beloved ones, vibrating for them, feeling good with them...
Enchanted Sea, the Jolly Rogers
At the end of July, to celebrate the twins' third month and the first anniversary of the Sweet Suite, the much-dreamed and planned trip on the two Jolly Rogers finally became true. On a sunny Tuesday morning, the crew and passengers of the two ships departed from Storybrooke heading south, reproducing the original journey of Key and his four mates until their arrival on Heart-Shaped Island.
The preparations for the trip ran in parallel to a ministerial reform initiated with David's request to leave the Defense Ministry and to occupy the Agriculture Ministry, instead. What followed was a concatenation of changes leading to a brand new configuration. The renewed setup began to be outlined when Robin Hood assumed the Prime Minister position and soon after that several ministerial posts - previously created but not yet occupied - gained their holders, new offices and staff. As a whole, it was decided that each Ministry would have two holders to provide a better balance for them to conciliate their professional duties with their private lives.
This way, after David’s move, Emma requested Killian's release for working at the Ministry of Justice as head of the new Intelligence Bureau. Key, in turn, asked to share his time between Storybrooke Police Department and Emm's newly occupied Ministry of Art & Culture. As a leading specialist in computer science, Key naturally needed a higher freedom degree because he gradually became a consultant for all ministries but his goal is to dedicate, at least part-time, to fine arts, especially painting, and to maritime navigation - a dream shared with Killian. Besides, with his move he intended to free his wife for a part-time job thus allowing her to take care of the babies during their first year.
In the Magic Ministry Gideon gained Zelena's support after she and Chad settled back on her farm, previously occupied by Robyn and Alice. With the magic connection between the ranch and their Portland house, Zelena and Chad can better reconcile life on both worlds. Robyn and Alice, by their turn, are the newest occupants of the Loft in downtown Storybrooke.
Henry Mills joined Snow in the Education Ministry, while Chynna, besides majoring in Psychology, took over the Communication Ministry with Sydney (her father joined Nemo in the Ministry of Science & Technology). Lily and Phileas Fog assumed the Transport Ministry in coordination with the activities ran by Aladdin and Eric at the Ministry of Industry & Trade whilst Lancelot and Naveen moved to the Defense Ministry. The complete setup diagram was emailed by Chynna to Robin a few minutes after boarding the ships and its printed version went hand in hand.
"It looks great," Snow summed it up and concluded with her characteristic optimism: “This diagram confirms that we are not leaving any critical issue behind. We are free to completely relax and indulge ourselves on the cruise to Heart Island. All aboard, settled down, great weather, two ships lined up and ready to set sail!”
Differently from the original 4-sailor team, the cruise required a bigger crew which then resulted in 6 people for each ship under the two captains Jones command. The passengers include, in addition to those connected to the original Sweet Suite events: Kristoff, Anna and Handy (their baby boy), Eric, Ariel, Anastasia, Drizella, Moe, Jack and Johanna. The other passengers are: Killian, Emma, Hope, Key, Emm, Jason, Dylan, Henry, Cindy, Lucy, W. Henry, Violet, Alice, Robyn, David, Snow, Neal, Gideon, Elsa, Robin, Regina, Roland, S. Regina, W. Robin, Coralline, W. Regina, Liam Sr, W. Ariel, Liam Jr, Ursula, Nemo, Brennan, Gepetto, August, W. Pinocchio, W. Granny, Granny, Merida, Mulan, Red, Dorothy, W. Red, W. Mulan, Tiana, Naveen, Zelena, Chad, Aladdin, Jasmine and Farah (their baby girl) - a total of 72 people, 36 on each ship: full capacity without compromising their quarters comfort.
And there they go!
...
The days have followed with tranquility: warm with a refreshing breeze blowing over the sails, propelling the vessels like two ships floating in clear days and starry nights. The passage of time has been marked by the Sweet Suite songs, played in the same order as they were originally sung and played. One of the ships, however, has been kept quieter: Key's, as the four babies are traveling on it - Jason, Dylan, Handy and Farah, four new forces of nature preparing to shine in the world. Meanwhile, on the other ship, with everyone already with their own brightness dawned, there hasn't been any restrictions for a noisier radiation of joy and promise of life.
Seen from a distance the cruise resembles perfection, but at a close inspection Snow's wish hasn't been exactly fulfilled - blame on the Internet. Although trying, they haven't been completely disconnected from the world, especially from constant threats of global pandemic and ecological imbalances reported in the news arriving from the Land without Magic, which they follow concerned.
Despite of that the Enchanted Sea and the enchanted ships, working their magic, have managed to provide a well-deserved vacation to all, entitled to a stop on Carnation Island for a heavenly feast prepared by Poseidon and Triton, who were waiting for them. Inspired by the events on the island a year ago, Ursula proposes that they rehearse a new musical number in addition to the one performed for the Sweet Suite. The result, in the end, may not have been as magical as before, but will surely be remembered as one of the most relaxing and funny moments of their cruise.
...
Another day comes and goes and, finally, they reach it: Heart-shaped Island, bringing up to every one - each in their own private universe that collectively built the Sweet Suite a year ago, a lot of memories and emotions, a lot of voices in the sound of the waves, voices of the sea, voices speaking to the travelers disembarking from the two ships in a state of wonder but, if they stop to listen, shut up, for listening too: fortunate, enchanted hearty island, land where Love lives waiting for walkers as they wake up from a dream and face Real Life, where there's only sentiment, where there's only the sea.
“So beautiful…” Emm extends her arms with teary eyes clouded by images and sounds reverberating in her heart: magic music... magic mirror and, oh! sweet memory... Luna and Missy... “I miss them…” she whispers to Key and Emma, who walks close to them, hand in hand with Hope.
“They are here, Aunt Emm,” Hope comforts Emm, caressing her hands and pointing to the sky, “see those two shinning birds flying over there? They are Luna and Missy sending their love!!!”
…
The Beatles song sounds far away, mingling in the air with the happy laughs and screams of children - who today don't want to be treated like pre-teens or teens. Even the adults, seen at close range, have allowed the kid they kept in their chests to run free on the beach. At the extremes, all in all, old and young find themselves communing with the magic of the Island.
"Here comes the sun king
Everybody is laughing
Everybody is happy
Here comes the sun king...
Quando paramucho mi amore de felice corazón
Mundo paparazzi mi amore chicka ferdy parasol
Cuesto obrigado tanta mucho que canite carousel..."
In this scenario, Emm and Key - she with Jason, the ever more contemplative, on her lap, he carrying the most alert, Dylan - are walking the heart path, the island edge.
"Still beautiful and welcoming," Emm smiles with nostalgia.
"Would you like to come back, love?"
"Maybe, on summer holidays or special occasions... we could build a few summer houses and come with Killian, Emma and Hope, perhaps, Robyn & Alice and Henry & Violet, and..." she grins shaking her head, "not too many or it would become too crowded..."
"Three houses would be perfect, love, they could be 3-bedroom cottages. Killian, Emma and I were talking to Anna and Kristoff about that, you know, nearly 30 minutes ago. We are thinking about creating a regular Tourism route - remember that it is always Summer-like here - but for that we'd have to build a small dock, for the Jolly Rogers, and 3 cottages: one at the tip of the heart, where your house used to be, and the other two in the lobes of the heart, where we made love for the second time," he grins, playing with Dylan's fingers.
Emma chuckles and continues, "it would be nice for us and the children, I can already imagine them running along these white sands, laughing happily, building castles..."
"Aye..." suddenly Key stops on his track to look into Emm's eyes, "it was here that I told you, for the first time, that I love you..."
"I love you too, Killian, and if it weren't for Jason already massaging my breasts and making my milk drip, I'd kiss you showing how much... Let's go find a shadow because these two are thirsty and so do I..."
"Sit here with the boys, Emma, under these palm trees. Don't spend your magic to bring water, I'll fill the canteen in the fountain and will be back in a minute."
...
“Emm, you lived in a paradise: a beautiful beach with warm waters, a cool breeze, crystal clear drinking water, delicious…” Zelena and Chad approach Emm, lying on the sand next to the babies, who alternate to breastfeed on her.
“Yeah, this island is really special, Zelena: magic and musical…” she smiles softly while looking at the children approaching with Alice and Henry Mills to sit next to them.
“What song would she - the island is a girl - sing to us if she could sing?” Cora asks, making funny faces at Dylan.
“We could ask her,” Hope replies and turns to Alice, “Starfish…” everyone smiles at the girl's cuteness using Alice's nickname, “you talk to the trees, so... you could ask them what song they would sing for us…”
“Sure, my cutie,” Alice replies blinking, “I'm going to the middle of the island, near the water fountain, I will concentrate to ask them and to be able to hear their answer and then I will come back to tell you…”
…
When she comes back with a big smile on her lips, everyone asks: "So, did it work?"
“Aye, the Island responded! she told me that the song she would like to dedicate to us is called Feeling Good!"
Initially the title didn't ring a bell to anyone and Key then asked his daughter if there wasn't any other hint - "nope, nada!"
“I know it!” Henry finally exclaims, “I know this song! There is a classic version with Nina Simone but I think I have a cover version on my playlist, do you want to hear it?”
“We want it!!” “Of course!” “Aye!” “Yes!” “Aye!”
"Very well, everyone," Henry prepares to press play: "here we go!"
“And so I cross into another world
shyly and in homage linger for an invitation
from this unknown that I would trespass on.
I am very glad, and all alone in the world,
all alone, and very glad, in a new world
where I am disembarked at last.”
(D. H. Lawrence, in New Heaven and Earth)
*
Enchanted Mountains, Gideon's Castle
For many people the beautiful spectacle was a surprise, but not for the young people - they had an agreement, they prepared for this moment. A few hundred thousand young adults, gathered in shelters and communicating through social media, planned and organized the synchronized pyrotechnic spectacle scheduled for an indefinite date in a setting where only one certainty prevailed: that of their living hope, the power of life combining youth and faith, would move them forward, would push them into a resistance force. It was not easy neither simple, though. Sometimes it was hard to believe in a better time. For some, facing reality was a depressive exercise they couldn't cope well with, there were several moments when some began to fade, but every single cloud of worry, anxiety and fear was always immediately dissipated by a shield of protection and solidarity set in motion: thousands of young adults really determined to not let their dream of a life - present and future - be subtracted from them. And then, in the here and now, the indefinite date turned into definite : tonight. Tonight is the time to color the sky with the colors and brightness of everybody's happiness. Tonight is the time to kiss, hug, jump and dance, to shant, to love... to dream. Everywhere, to everyone, the nontransferable right to live and to die, to get it right and wrong with freewill, in accordance with the Universal Justice & Peace, has been restored.
And then, with the news spreading as fast as lightning because the whole population was vibrating in resonance, the United Realms night sky, all of a sudden, was lit by multi colored fireworks and lanterns: all enchanted lands becoming enchanting again. The celebrations promise to turn into the night and, due to the cathartic relief of this preview, they tend to continue throughout the day, during the preparations for the big parties at night, the greatest celebrations to mark the conclusion and success of Operation Body & Soul. Until then, there is still a lot of teamwork - a well-tuned effort, waiting to be done and they are all conscious of that.
...
After the epic events at Wish Rumple's castle, the 78 people split ways. Farah, Aladdin and Hadi passed by Arendelle to meet Jasmine, Sherazade and her children, and then headed to Agrabah. Midas and Frederick met Abigail and returned to the Enchanted Goldenland. Fergus, Merida, Mulan, Fenella and Macintosh returned to DunBroch; Merlin and Lancelot went to Camelot; Aunt Em, Red and Dorothy to Oz; Dartagnan, Arthos and Wish Jefferson, after joining Priscilla, Grace and Wish Grace returned to Westside Storybrooke; Jiao-long, Chynna, Mal, Zorro, Archie and Lilly flew to Dragon's Castle; Tiana and Naveen were sent back to the Lowland; Eric and Phillip met their wives in Arendelle and went back to the shelters still running at their palaces. The others stayed at Arendelle's Royal Palace, except for Drizella and Anastasia (whose dacha is in the countryside nearby Elsa's palace) and their guests, Gepetto, Granny, Wish Pinochio and August.
At the palace, Tink and W. Tink welcomed Felix and W. Felix in that friendly environment while Ruth and the Five Shamans worked their magic on them, calming down their anxiety, allowing them to relax and enjoy the celebrations marked by the happy giggles of an exuberant Hope alternating between kissing and hugging her parents. Later on both Felixes will undergo a social integration program coordinated by Wish Regina at her Ministry.
It was during the toasts that Liam remembered that, in his euphoria, he forgot to search in W. Rumple's castle for the jar with his wish brother's hand and decided to go back there. Gideon offered to go in his place, since he knew better the castle's layout and Rumple and Belle offered to join him because, obviously, they knew the castle's hidden places better than anyone else. In fact, finding the hand, well preserved in the same spell as the other, was easy and, from there, the three decided to head home and place the two hermetically closed jars with the two hands side by side, at Gideon's Lab .
...
"Thinking on her?" Rumple asks his son, approaching him with Belle.
Glancing at them, Gideon nods, dreamily watching the fireworks display from the balcony of his castle. "Yeah, Papa, thinking of her…" he acquiesces with melancholic eyes. "In a direct view, you can see the flashes in the sky coming from Arandelle and DunBroch, besides the ones originated here, in our own shelter," Gideon points out, "all the realms are partying, quite a starry night, tonight..."
"Indeed… And you wish she were here or you were there," Rumple states without asking, also admiring the splendid view, magically non-unveiled for those in Maine's domain.
"Gideon," Belle sighs, "you must be prepared for this kind of little twists that sometimes will temporarily separate you and, I guess, leaving an aching gap - a small physical gap though, especially considering that you both have magic and here, in the Enchanted Mountains, you are within direct view from each other. Most importantly, you are under the same beautiful sky. At the end of the day, to conciliate with practicality your duties and lifestyles, you may decide to keep the two residences. The good side, Gideon, is that lovers at a distance tend to become absolutely hedonistic: every second of each other's presence is sacred, intense, and absolute. The certainty of the brief contact makes them think ten times before causing any disagreement, creating a healthy sieve of maturity and atonement."
"Your mother is right," Rumple says and chuckles at the thought of himself acting as a loving counselor but, once in the rain, let it free the romantic self... "You and Elsa may be creative and reinvent yourselves all the time, always looking for the most diverse displays of love and surprises. Most importantly, from what I have observed of Elsa and, of course, from what I know about you, Son, you both have this inner call for quiet moments. The lack of the other will leave empty spaces, which can be incredible opportunities for you both to develop even further your self-knowledge and to understand more deeply the nature and purpose of your magic. There is a certain poetry in emptiness, in contemplation, in the stillness of the spirit. It is understood that being near or far from each other doesn't matter, inner discovery is a lonely journey. At this point for you, I'm sure, it is understood that being with the other is an option. This journey of self-awareness will help you both to control unwanted feelings of jealousy, but since no one is made of iron, that may be one of your biggest problems of being away from each other..."
"One must learn to trust, one must learn to believe..." Gideon whispers.
"Exactly," Belle hugs her son, "you need to learn to talk straight, bluntly, healthy and without fuss…" she glances at Rumple and they both smile remembering their own journey, their own struggles with these subjects - their own, and totally past, suffering. "If well developed, trust will be for you, perhaps, the greatest asset when physically distant. Staying as a couple is a choice that does not accept half terms: it only works when there is trust."
Smiling, Gideon looks at the sky, already missing, in anticipation, these precious moments with his beloved parents. Soon they will become a memory, again. Soon they will be two little stars twinkling in the firmament, so far away and yet... The heart tightens and skips a beat with a mix of sadness and gratitude for the privilege of meeting them on Earth one more time. But, then, in his heart and for him, he knows that they will be there, in the starry night… Hugging Belle, he turns to her, whispering, "I've just remembered, Mama, that once I saw in one of your books a picture of Vincent van Gogh's De sterrennacht, so beautiful…"
"Well then let me tell to the both of you," Rumple says, "that Gideon has just reminded me that I've seen the original canvas of van Gogh," he winks at Belle, "while exiled by your mother and had to live in New York… It is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art there," he explains. "You should go there with Elsa, one day, there is no danger or risk of being exiled or losing your memory anymore in the Land without Magic, a title which per se is a complete lie."
"The Five Shamans and Jiao-long would agree with you, Papa," Gideon chuckles.
Smiling back at Rumple, Belle explains to Gideon what she knows about the painting, "Starry Night is a painting depicting a quarter-window view of the hospice he was in, just before sunrise, with the addition of a village designed by the artist. It's an iconic art."
"You said he was in a hospice?" Gideon asks.
"Yeah, following a psychological collapse, which resulted in self-mutilation of his left ear, Vincent voluntarily interned at a psychiatric asylum where he occupied two cells, one of which was available as a painting studio."
"That probably would translate into a lot of angst… What did you feel, Papa, when you contemplated the original canvas?"
Closing his eyes and assessing his memories, Rumple finally answers. "I was quite touched by Van Gogh's art. That work, in particular, reveals the existence of an occult content but manages to also hide it. While staring at it - and I did that for hours, I could see in the cloudy sky a myriad of images in display, an almost hallucinatory and violently expressive form. I felt like fusing my own struggles with the acceptance and rejection of being a Dark One with the artist's absorption into the cosmos, which offered an unforgettable feeling of being on the brink of eternity."
After a pause while the three contemplate the stars beyond the fireworks, Rumple continues. "The canvas depicts not only topographical elements of Van Gogh's view through a window, but also celestial elements: I identified not only Venus but also the constellation of Aries, despite the Crescent Moon. The long twisted central figure in the sky reminded a spiral galaxy or a comet, and the only unrealistic elements of the painting would be, according to a flyer of the museum, the village and those spirals in the sky," after a pause to remember, he completes, "the spirals seemed to reflect an understanding of the universe as a living and dynamic environment. The swirls in the sky reminded the wind, and the lighter shades of blue just above the horizon seemed to be the first light of dawn. Ah… and how could I forget, the Cypresses! Sometimes associated with death, I'm not sure whether the artist meant to attribute this symbolism but that was how I felt it… a burial cypress. For me, in particular, it hit me in the heart as a symbol of my own struggles with life, death and happy endings, at that time, all of them, as always, leading me to your mother, my Belle, the eternal love of my life."
"A night sky unlike any ever seen in the world by casual eyes", Belle concludes, misty-eyed, while the three embrace in a silent communion of Peace and ethereal Love, not sure if she and Rumple should accept Merida's invitation to attend the Enchanted Highland First Theater Festival's Early Preview.
"You go, Gideon," sensing Belle, Rumple encourages his son, "go meet your love and take the jars with Killians' hands with you, give them to their mother. Belle and I will stay, probably will watch the sky for a little more and, perhaps, will dance a few waltzes and... then, will sleep this one last night on Earth in our old room…"
Enchanted Highland, A' Ghàidhealtachd Theater
A' Ghàidhealtachd means The Place of the Gaels, a homage to all Gaels, people associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languages comprising Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic.
The theater hall, built in record time with the help of Fenella, reminds an inverted galley, a structure designed by Lady Elspeth MacGuffin who turned out to be a talented acoustics architect and writer. "Lots of new performing talents, technicians and leaderships have been revealed," Merida explains to her father during the inspection of the new facilities, proud of their excellent achievements. "The idea for tonight's Early Preview is to present a synopsis of 12 plays, which are still in the pre-production stage, but already have scripts, cast and crews defined. We thought on presenting rehearsed readings but that would take too long and we are too tired for that. Besides, we need to rest, after all, tomorrow we still have important tasks to persuade and that includes bringing Lord Logan Dingwall and Lord Ethan MacGuffin's back to life, at last."
"Not to mention the wedding in the afternoon, another party and, at last, our farewell…" Fergus reminds her.
"Aye, not to mention that last part…" Merida nods with an emotional sigh and so does Fergus, both fearing the unavoidable goodbye but avoiding the matter while it is still possible.
...
Punctually at 9:00 pm, all seats occupied - full house, the three bells ring and the lights go out, silence.
Curtains open, onstage, with lights still out, Tress Maksimuk (with her Bagpiper) and Ed Best (with his Bass and Snare Drum) play Scotland the Brave and the sound reverberates in all souls.
Curtains close. Silence, a short pause.
At the front stage, closed curtains behind, lights up with a spotlight on Queen Merida, aiming at infinity, whence the words of her monologue will flow.
(Eyes closed, deep breathing, eyes reopen smiling at the audience.)
"Inspired by an address given by my Father, King Fergus, and by Dionysus, the Greek God he represents, we, people from the Enchanted Highland, were challenged to transmute into Art, by means of theatrical language, our Emotions, our Feelings, our Souls, and our Spirits, thus creating, organizing, producing and performing a Theater Festival. The First of many to follow as a tradition being born Here and Now.
Theater is the artistic manifestation that strips the human soul through stories that can be shown in various forms of languages summarized as Theatrical Language. The theatrical language follows important modalities of literature genres. Among them, stands out the Dramatic Genre, which refers to the staged language with the participation of extra verbal elements such as scenery, costumes, lighting and sound design. In summary, theatrical language has Dramaturgy as its primary element. The word Drama comes from the Greek meaning action .
The theatrical text had its prominent role in ancient Greece, where the plays were based on the Tragedies, since they were intended to lead the viewers to catharsis, that is, the purification of the soul through the release of emotions. With the tragedies came other modalities of the dramatic genre, which are defined as Comedy, the representation of everyday situations. The intention was to provoke laughter through criticism of customs. We could go on and include other languages, such as Farce, which is a short piece that satirized the customs, emphasizing the grotesque.
For the First Festival these three genres will be explored: Tragedy, Comedy and Farce, but there is more, there is much more and we are eager to explore them all in the years to come. We want to dance, to sing, we want to pulsate and express our eternal gratitude for King Fergus and Dionysus in all forms of theatrical language: you really have hit our Gaelic soul. Dramaturgy is in our essence, our passion, and we are grateful to you for awakening our natural talents.
For the first edition of the Festival, the themes proposed by King Fergus were Courage, Bravery, Fear and Love.
We have always known that the 1 week deadline for the Emissaries of Gods to remain on Earth would not be sufficient for creating and organizing a Theater Festival, especially with these challenging themes, but we thought it would be long enough to build its basic structure in time to present an Early Preview to the Emissaries and a selected audience, remembering that the spectacle is being transmitted in real time to all United Realms. With this motivation, for 6 days, concentrated in our shelter, with a lot of dedication, love, inspiration, and..." she pauses and winks with a smile, "with a lot of whiskey, passion and good humor, we worked really hard, day and night, and the result will be presented in the form of synopses and performance samples of 12 plays that are in pre-production stage.
Taking advantage of the extremely festive moment, with our hearts in joy for the expressive victory won today, I can not imagine a more appropriate time for this presentation. I remember however that a very important battle was won today but we still have tomorrow to complete the tasks that, with much renewed hope, will lead us to the final victory.
About the Festival, on behalf of the people of the Enchanted Highland, I want to officially invite the entire United Realms to attend our First Theater Festival to be held here, at A' Ghàidhealtachd Theater, next August, in parallel with the United Realms Annual Archery Tournament, and also featuring the United Realms' Itinerary Fair of Culinary and Gastronomy, recently conceived by Queen Tiana and the most famous Chefs of all realms. Oh! I've been asked by my wife, Sir Fa Mulan, to announce for next July the United Realms Annual Fencing Tournament, to take place at the En Garde Academy, in Westside Storybrooke, also in parallel with the Itinerary Fair of Culinary and Gastronomy - I've been told that the Fair is being scheduled to circulate and to remain one week at each Enchanted Land during the whole Summer. Wait for a Preliminary Program with these events to be released soon.
For this Early Preview of our festival the initial twelve plays were equally distributed: each genre with four themes. The themes will be briefly described by their producers: Courage, by Kirstine Dingwall; Bravery, by Hamish DunBroch; Fear, by Hubert DunBroch, and Love, by Greer Macintosh. For getting a glimpse of each play you will watch short sneak peaks."
(Eyes closed, deep breathing, eyes open smiling at the audience).
"Let's begin.”
...
Lights go out. Kirstine Dingwall and Hamish DunBroch position themselves at the right in the front stage; Hubert DunBroch and Greer Macintosh, at the left.
Curtains open and the front stage lights up. The screen, at the back stage, displays:
Kirstine Dingwall: “The title of the first play is ‘Surrender’, written and directed by Harry DunBroch.
In the strictest sense, a tragedy cannot have a happy ending, the closest to a happy ending is a meaningful ending, but not necessarily a happy one - and that will be our option for all tragedies addressed in the Festival. Without spoiling, Surrender tells the story of how Sir Angus Dewine, knight of the highest order in a fictitious kingdom, finds the courage to surrender to the pain of losing his wife and children, decimated at home by an epidemic, upon returning from a far away war, victorious and hopeful for the reunion with his family.”
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Kirstine Dingwall: “Courage Everywhere, written by Elspeth MacGuffin and directed by Arline Elliston.
It takes courage to get up and talk, but it also takes courage to sit and listen!
In her writing debut, Elspeth describes in this romantic comedy the adventures and misadventures of five young women in their struggle to gain the right to occupy a prominent place in the governance of a chaotic male-ruled country. In the midst of disputes, love is born among the contenders.”
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Kirstine Dingwall: “Their Naked Skin, written by Davina Cananash and directed by Ivar Druiminn.
Davina uses elements of physical humor, deliberate absurdity and drunkenness to tell the stories of two one‑dimensional characters in ludicrous situations where their resources are challenged and pushed to the absolute limit. The only way out is by finding their strength and resolve to meet the scary circumstances."
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Hamish DunBroch: “Staring at Sixty, written by Bob Mackenzie and directed by Leonor Gunning.
Getting old with some sense of dignity and integrity intact demands bravery and resilience especially after surviving an abusive, traumatic and neglected childhood and adulthood."
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Hamish DunBroch: “Following the bliss, written by John Lucek and directed by Keith Drummond.
Facing career and relationship changes, Charles Stuart tries to be brave on pursuing his fondest dreams, assuming his sexuality and daring to be truly creative, to artistically express and expose his innermost self - despite all his attempts turning out as a complete disaster."
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Hamish DunBroch: “Acting activism, written by Jenny Walton and directed by Jason Macdonald.
"Janet is a feminist actress of a Theater Company ruled by a chauvinist director/actor. Through her onstage acting she sets up her scenes with him that seemingly follow his instructions but, unbeknownst to him, she exposes him to ridicule in situations that border on the pathetic."
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Hubert DunBroch: “Denial, written by Caitlin Cananash and directed by Ruppert Druiminn.
Francis Taylor finds himself at a crossroads and has to decide: to create rather than destroy, to love rather than hate, to deal with his demons rather than not, to consciously face the existential facts of suffering, infirmity and death rather than denying them."
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Hubert DunBroch: “In the Parlor, written by Faustine Stone and directed by Lyndsey Lloyd.
Seeking professional encouragement through psychotherapy, three women and two men meet at a waiting room of a famous therapist. As the analyst is always late for his sessions they start talking and getting to know each other until sharing their neuroses, insecurities and fears. Over time, it becomes more important for them to sit in the waiting room than on the analyst's couch."
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Hubert DunBroch: “Bull in a China Shop, written by Dawn Sealey and directed by Lord Macintosh.
Dawn Sealy tells the story of Sophie, a cowardly old lady so guilt-ridden and ashamed of her own fear, anxiety and perceived cowardice that she cannot recognize her innate courage and bravery when she tactically back away from a confrontation with the owner of a China Shop."
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Greer Macintosh: “Hear her Roar, written by Merida DunBroch and directed by Phyllida Falo.
Merida excels on this monologue of a passionate woman whose love is taken away from her due to an incurable illness. She feels threatened, weak, vulnerable, intimidated and terrified. When her first instinctive reaction is to flee, she hears her inner voice and feels the strength of love and life."
Actress onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Greer Macintosh: “Flying Away, written by Ronald McLaren and directed by Edgar Klein.
In a romantic comedy, Linda Townstead learns to allow herself to love and commit to Keith Stevens but that takes a creative determination. In fact separating from her protective parents and forging an independent life for herself turns out to be trickier than she thought initially."
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Lights off and, after a pause, the backstage screen displays:
Greer Macintosh: “In the Ballroom, written by Davina Cananash and directed by Nadia Turner.
Three enamored couples go dancing every week in a Ballroom although they never learn how to dance well and are always being wounded or knocked down - more literally than psychologically since they always chose to persevere rather than quit."
Actors onstage, lights on.
From offstage, the Director’s voice: “Action!”
Light off, curtains close.
Short pause.
Lights on. Merida, all actors, producers, writers and directors - at the front stage - bow to the audience.
Everyone gets up and claps for more than a minute - an effective way of communicating their clear sign of approval. It would be unfeasible for each audience member to tell them what they felt - for some, because it is not possible to verbalize their emotions, for others, because next day activities are waiting to be done. These are good reasons for everyone to applaud with enthusiasm thus conveying their recognition and gratitude without saying a word. By clapping they are saying that what they watched has made them happy and they want those responsible for that joy to know it.
Joy for those who receive the applause, but also for the one who applauds... The energy that emanates from this gesture is good for the recipient and even more so for those who give. Because good, in whatever way, verbally or otherwise, does not distinguish its receivers. Everyone benefits from it. When someone’s art, someone’s creative work is good for us it is natural to wish to repay the good by applauding, by thanking, by acknowledging - it is easy, it doesn't hurt.
And then many hands in a solo act, creative hands onstage, in gratitude, wave… while many hands acting in pairs, the Ego high-fiving with the Self, in gratitude, clap...
Enchanted Sea, Jolly Roger, early in the morning
The six 'Peace Warriors', telling everyone they preferred not to be treated like that, chose to stay in Arendelle and watch the Early Preview on TV. Actually Emm, claiming pregnancy priorities, decided to lie down and replenish her energies earlier than the others, so she went to sleep in the quiet corner where Hope, Luna and Missy were resting - Key accompanied her shortly after. They all settled into the same great hall that held dozens of people, like a camp, on the eve of the Alignment Ceremony, and as soon as the seventh day dawned - not too early in the morning given Maine's coordinates, Mama Alice gathered all Joneses and their close companions. The reason for her call was that, after meeting Elsa for going to DunBroch, Gideon had met Alice and handed her, as recommended by Rumple, the two jars with Killians' hands - since then her mother's heart urged her to act upon it.
"Time to sail, my sleepy family," Alice told them, "breakfast will be served aboard one of the Jolly Rogers…" and with a broad gesture of magic she transported everyone to Storybrooke where one of the legendary ships awaited them in the docks.
…
Considering they were in the freezing mountains, the breeze blowing on the main deck is not so uncomfortable but everyone preferred to stay on the stern, the aftermost part of the ship where the captain's office and officers' quarters are located.
Breakfast is going to be frugal but delicious - they are all very hungry but still a little tired, and those who attended the theater performance went back to sleep on the ship. That's why Alice (Senior) and Ursula took the responsibility of preparing the meal (with Alice making a point of including several cocoa dishes, which she had known for less than a week but fell in love with the taste): oatmeal with hot milk, melted cheese, butter and cinnamon; rye bread with jam; pancakes with honey; scrambled eggs; hot chocolate; chamomile tea; coffee; apple pie; Brownie and cocoa cookies.
"Nemo and Junior have a father-son relationship that harmonized, on a perfect balance, with Brennan and Senior. So much so that the four of them have lived several adventures together on the Nautilus… I mean, now Brennan is retired but I know they still plan to navigate together," Ursula tells Alice as they prepare the breakfast table.
"That, until the new 'aggregates' entered the scene..." Alice teases.
"Yeah, my cousin," Ursula agrees with a smile, "New pairings and old pairings everywhere... take a look at us now! Only onboard, we have: Liam-Milah; Killian-Emma; Key-Emm; Liam Senior-W.Regina; Liam Junior-W.Ariel; Henry-Cindy; W.Henry-Violet; Alice-Robyn; Nemo and myself; even Brennan came with W.Granny!!!" Ursula counts in the hand.
"And then," Alice continues, "we need to add the girls, Lucy and Hope, the boys, Neal, Smee and W. Smee, the very special pets, Luna and Missy, and this ancient Sea Nymph…"
"Who are they, Alice? I mean, really, who are Luna and Missy? I know - I sense their vibration, I know they are more than pets…" Ursula asks.
"Angels, they are Angels," Alice whispers, implicitly and silently asking Ursula to keep the information just for herself, for now, and at the request, Ursula nods in understanding.
…
Everyone except for the two Smees, is at the table, and the conversation is lively.
"Who is sailing the ship?" Liam asks.
"Smee and W. Smee," Killian replies. "I was already preparing to go to the deck so they can come have breakfast..."
"Killian," Alice interrupts her son, "as soon as they arrive and are fed, I'd like us all to go to the deck..."
"Sure Mama..." Killian nods with a suspicious look. "You are more mysterious than usual today..."
"Aye," Key agrees, "I wonder what she is up to…"
"Well, today is an especially mysterious day and I plan to sip every second of it with maximum intensity. My free time for you is short, though. In a couple of hours, closer to noon, I guess, I'll take a turn with Wish Snow and Snow who will join you to help with all arrangements, after all we have a wedding to attend…"
"I'll be a flower girl!!" Hope exclaims.
"Sure," Emm agrees, you and... You know, I was wondering, perhaps Lucy and Coralline could also be Flower Girls. I have yet to talk with Split Regina and Cora. For now, to initiate the process, Emma, Cindy, Lucy, you and I could start to choose the flower girls' dresses - is that okay, Hope?"
"Aye!! And also Luna and Missy could be flower pets because they will walk with me and so they will need warm and beautiful pet dresses, is that okay too Aunt Emm?"
"More than okay, my Sweet Angel," Emm responds dreamy, caressing her Belly Babies under Key's affectionate gaze.
"Actually," Emma realizes, "we'll need a real task force to set up the logistics - including lots of costumes, food, location and everything else - in time. We have quite a team here on board, we will need you all in a coordinated effort!"
"Count on us!" W. Ariel exclaims with enthusiasm.
"And on our magic!" W. Regina offers.
"Lots and lots of magic!" Alice, the Starfish, winks at Robyn and Violet.
Sighing, Alice Senior shares her schedule. "I'll help while here but, as I said, I have only this morning with free time for my family before the wedding. I mean, I will stay with you while the other emissaries and several people work on collectively isolating all clones from their original bodies. At noon Milah and I will be busy at Storybrooke Hospital with Operation 20 also having to deal with 20 Rebel Souls still incarnated. I've been told that they are all sedated because they screamed nonstop in their prison cells." Is this operation name a good one, Henry? "she smiles at him and he nods with another smile, "it's perfect!".
"Actually, Alice," Milah interrupts them, "I cannot stay for too long even in the morning because I need to receive the 20 souls Charom is bringing and give him almost two hundred traps with thousands of Rebel Souls. Liam has sealed them yesterday, they are hermetically closed and can be reopened only by Persephone or Arthur in the Underworld.
"I see… This means we really need to hurry up - without stress, though, we have plenty of time. Then, continuing with my schedule, after Operation Twenty there will be one more, Operation Robin Hood, which encompasses the Operation Good Queen's Heart!" she smiles again, this time, not only at Henry, but also at her granddaughter Alice, her wife Robyn and W. Regina.
"And then the Wedding!" Hope giggles.
"And then the Wedding…" Alice whispers, sighing, and everyone smiles dreamily.
...
They are all gathered on the deck when Alice materializes the jars with Killians' hands. Both Killians, who already suspected what was coming, begin to raise and lower their brows, feeling a bit of discomfort. They look at their prosthetic hands thoughtfully.
"Mama, I'm not sure if this is really necessary..." Killian admits.
"Don't worry, Son, the auras of your hands are alive and have accompanied your evolution and redemption. They are at the same stage that you are, they have always been connected to you - alive, pulsating, evolving and even aging - and deaging. The magic potion in which they are submerged has guaranteed that for centuries!"
"Very well," Key sighs with a timid smile. "In this case..." he barely finds his voice to ask, "what should we do?"
"You take off the prostheses," Liam explains, "these wonderful, ingenious prosthetics that represent a major breakthrough in Science, Neuroscience more specifically, and Magic - they have fulfilled their mission with you, brothers, but for sure they must be kept at the Hospital as useful resources."
...
“Part One done. What now?” Killian asks curious.
"Simple," Alice explains. "You and your brother stand at the center of a circle that we are going to form around you, this way, good… and there we go," she smiles at them reassuringly.
"Now everyone reaches out, imposing, toward you two… Aye, this way, sending our love, our gratitude, our regret and our forgiveness - to everyone, including ourselves. We remain imposing our hands, eyes closed in concentration."
"Now we open our eyes and watch as Liam and I open the jars... like this... and slowly, reverently, magically, place your hands back where they have always belonged... like this!"
In awe, both Killians open and close their left hands, stretching and flexing their fingers, feeling the newness mixed with a feeling of belonging as if they have never been cut off and have always been there, an extension of their arms.
"Come here, Sons, I know everybody is eager to hug you but let me be the first to hold you… Oh, how I dreamed of a moment like this… I love you so much, my two little boys…"
"Ahhhh!!... how beautiful!!" Hope, with Luna and Missy by her side, are so moved by the scene that they begin to float in the air but are brought back to the deck floor by the two Killians, already using both hands and crying like two newly born babies. They are all crying, some of them (Liam, Milah, Smee and W. Smee) are sobbing, some are crying and smiling, all remembering the long journey - much longer than their memory can reach, except for a few of them - until this very moment…
Killian and Key, searching for their Emmas, reach out with both hands to caress their faces - the Captains meeting their Swan and Sweet, their partners for all Eternity. Slowly, eyes locked, the two couples close the gap between them with a tender kiss, under everyone's applause.
Hope, Luna and Missy start to float again, but this time are brought back by Henry, Neal and W. Henry.
"One of these days, Little Sister…" Henry starts to tell her.
"Younger Sister!!" She cuts, correcting him, and they all laugh and hug and dance and sing as the Jolly Roger leaves Storybrooke Bay. They head to Enchanted Seashore and, perhaps, to Enchanted Archipelago, in search of a perfect location for setting up the ceremony, the party and the farewell.
"Siblings…" Brennan murmurs shaking his head.
"Siblings…" W. Granny repeats with a chuckle.
Enchanted Mountains, Tremaine's dacha
Enjoying a delicious breakfast at the cozy dacha of the Tremaine sisters in the company of Gepetto and his two sons fills Granny's heart with happiness.
"I'm enjoying this mountain air and your cozy house so much, I feel like I'm on vacation," she tells Drizella and Anastasia.
"Thank you, Granny, you will be always welcome here," Drizella says holding Granny's hand, "and I think you really came to the right place. Anastasia and I lived many vacations here and I'd say, based on what I've heard, you deserved a free time for enjoying a good vacation. You know, when we got back to the Enchanted Forest, Anastasia and I thought about living in our parent's town house, where we spent most of our childhood - it's a beautiful mansion... but the house is too big for the two of us and besides, once there, the bad memories prevailed over the good ones so we decided to move to this dacha, which has much more to do with our present personalities and lifestyles. Most importantly, as a bonus it brings back good memories from our childhood… This wooden cabin - which we call dacha - used to be our family summer house but, as you can see, it's also warm and cozy during cold weather!"
"Warm, cozy and with a great kitchen. I've never seen such a large oven!"
"It's called Russian oven and has multiple purposes, Granny," Anastasia explains, "Drizella and I can light it up with magic really quickly and demonstrate how it works, let's go!"
...
"It's a beautiful woodwork," Gepetto, looking at the walls structure, tells his sons, "a fine workmanship with a slight rustic feel."
"Yeah," (W) Pinocchio agrees and, in an enamored tone, he adds, "those two sisters recognize and appreciate a fine wooden workmanship…"
"I see that you and your brother recognize and appreciate two fine Tremaine sisters as well!" Gepetto teases with a low voice for just the men to listen, taking advantage of the women being back to the kitchen.
"We are taking it slowly, Papa," August tells him, I mean, Anastasia and I - we are still too young for any serious commitment… Now, the same cannot be said about Pinocchio and Drizella, you know…" he winks at his brother, already heading to the porch and calling Anastasia for joining him in the front yard.
"We still have a way to go," Pinocchio replies. "I'm more concerned about our age gap than she is; for her, this is not even an issue but still…" he sighs.
"You feel insecure," Gepetto affirms and he nods.
"I'm not too experienced, Papa, about a lot of things. You know what I mean, don't you? But it's more than sex. I've always lived in the Enchanted Forest but I had a life, I mean, I'm not a virgin, of course, I've been with women before but not the modern type. Only recently I've been introduced to modern technology and costumes…"
"Women are always women, Son, and you are a good, decent, respectful and honest man - that's the only thing that really matters. If you two have a good chemistry, great, that is a very important factor, but at the end of the day, your friendship and other affinities will count more than just sex. You just need to learn how to be the hero of your own history."
"I wish we were already there because I really feel hard for her, Papa, my heart skips a few beats when I'm near her…"
"You are in love, Son… Let it be, surrender to this impulse, this force that starts from the inside out. In my long life I've noticed that the human being carries within himself three natural tendencies. These trends accompany us all the time throughout our journey: 1) to fight, 2) to run away, and 3) to accommodate. In the face of difficulties, we will always have all three possibilities. We can face situations through struggle, we can run away, or we can accommodate ourselves. From what I've seen - and I'm finally taking this advice for myself, accommodation can be considered the most dangerous of trends as it parks us in the middle of the journey. To be accommodated is to stand still in a world where everything is movement. It's typical of the case where you stop and life goes on…"
Looking outside through the window, Pinocchio observes how relaxed August and Anastasia seem to be while playing in the snow. "You are right, Papa, I'm in love," he says absently and then, turning to Gepetto, he completes, "and, it seems, so are you!"
"Perhaps," the old man admits, "but in our case what Janet and I have is more a new development in terms of companionship, a solid friendship turning into a more intimate something…."
"Intimate something, ein?" Wish Pinocchio teases his adoptive father.
"Well… We may be old people but are alive! Janet and I are learning to open ourselves to new possibilities of love, it's never too late..." Gepetto confesses, "but we are learning that we have to undergo all steps, you know, nothing to skip, except the early stages, such as the ones August and Anastasia are in. In love, there is a dance that needs to be danced. An initial procession…"
"...with a lot of obstacles, puzzles, and challenges…" Pinocchio conjectures.
"Be careful, Son, some of these obstacles, puzzles and challenges may be a result of your fears, of your creative mind and must be avoided… not every love story needs to be full of difficulties, charms and disenchantment. On a second thought, looking from another angle, you and Drizella have already met the challenges, unraveled the puzzles, known the painful experiences, disenchantment, betrayals and redemption paths. You are both ready for being rewarded. Your hero's journey has taken you to the stage of acceptance of your limitations. Learn to relate to your weakened side and you will be ready to relate more fully, happily and maturely with your love, your Drizella."
...
From the kitchen, Granny and Drizella smile at each other, upon accidentally overhearing the men's conversation when they were returning to the living room.
"Do you and Pinocchio need to get back to the clone's shelter today?" Granny asks her.
Wiping her tears, still unable to believe that love and a mature relationship are knocking on her door, Drizella shakes her head. "There is no need. The shelter was going to be the first in the list for separating the clones from the original bodies. Besides, since they allowed Pinocchio and I to join the task force at Wish Rumple's castle, yesterday, there is a new couple guarding it.."
"Excellent! That will give us time to undergo a great 'production time'!" Granny winks at her, "let's call Anastasia to start the preparations… with the short time we have we will need a magic help because I want the three of us to look beautiful for the wedding, let's start by choosing our dresses with elegant - and very warm coats!"
"I don't think it will be snowing or too cold down there, Granny. Have you read the news? It seems they have found a small island in the Enchanted Archipelago surrounded by warm sea currents," Drizella smiles.
"One never knows, one never knows…"
Storybrooke General Hospital
In the middle of the morning Wish Robin's clone and Regina's heart embedded in a solution to preserve Robin's soul were taken by Rumple, Gideon and Belle to Storybrooke hospital and, soon after, Alice arrived. They were met by the medical team led by Drs. Whale and Maturin, who guided them to the Surgery Center where they started the preparations for the magical/medical procedures.
...
Since the first curse in Storybrooke, Dr. Victor Frankenstein gave up his old identity in favor of his cursed personality, Dr. Victor Whale - a character as colorful as the world he chose to live in after the curse was broken. Along with the merging of his past life at the Land without Color with his cursed persona, Whale, he assimilated the scientific knowledge of the eighties of the 20th century and, once in the known side he opted to never go back to his past black and white reality, with bad memories of a time when he tried to bring his deceased brother back to life. Nowadays, as Minister of Health he has developed an extensive and successful program, implemented in all United Realms, to combine the ancient knowledge of traditional healers and magic practitioners with the most advanced medicine since, with the presence of Key, Alice, Robyn and everybody else coming from a modern 21st century Seattle, his knowledge and technology used in the hospital were updated. For nearly a decade, his best collaborator has been Dr. Stephen Maturin, who came from the Land of Untold Stories.
Dr. Maturin is as short, slight, muddy complexion, dark-haired man with curious pale blue eyes and pale skin - if not exposed to the sun. In fact, he inherited permanent skin blemishes from when he became fairly dark-skinned during travels to tropical climes, a result of his Hiberno-Spanish heritage and predilection for naked sun-bathing. Maturin is fluent in Catalan, English, French, Irish, Latin and Spanish, and on his travels he developed a working knowledge of Greek, Malay, Arabic and Urdu. Although a skilled linguist, he never quite grasped naval jargon or the workings of a ship, which in diverse occasions provided to Killian, who became a good friend of him since Hope's birth, an opportunity to explain technical information to the man that ironically worked as a ship's doctor for decades.
An excellent observer of people, a skill useful in his profession of physician and in his past work in naval intelligence, Maturin has a wide network of friends, fellow apprentices at the hospital, fellow natural philosophers and, over time, those who work in intelligence and that includes David, Emma and Killian, and more recently, Key. In fact, for a different reason, after Emm's first - and only, so far, appointment, he has been eager to get to know Key and Emm better because he loves playing and listening to music, and whenever possible, in his distant past, he used to enjoy playing duets on cello with violin. But that happened right before the cloning crisis started and after that, like for everyone, his routine has changed radically.
Since then, Maturin and Whales have been studying the cloning subject with renewed interest. In fact, the simple existence of wish and non wish versions of people had already given them a vast material for developing new therapies and treatments. Now, they understand that the cloned versions of everyone would open new avenues for innovative applications. Despite conscious of the delicate and debatable intricacies regarding these new possibilities, Maturin and Whales have been exchanging ideas and wondering for days about human cloning as a kind of “therapeutic cloning,” particularly to obtain organs for transplantation or for treating injured nerve cells and other health purposes. Therefore, naturally the subject came up as they prepared the OR with Gideon, Alice, Rumple, and Belle.
...
"There will be resistance to the idea of preserving the clones, Stephen," Whale argues with his friend, "from ethic to moral aspects. We know, from what happened to both Killians, that the clones work as a second life, once the original body dies."
"As far as I understood, Victor, that was the goal when the Olympians developed the cloning spell, eons ago…" Maturin replies.
"Indeed," Rumple confirms, "Poseidon, my patron, is telling me that these moral and ethical issues were the reason for them to give up the idea and only keep the receipt on their book of Mysteries and Secrecies, with forbidden access to any mortal."
"I don't know if you were aware that the cloning spell had never been tested in a field trial before," Belle tells them, "in a way, what both Pans and Cruellas did was a pioneer experiment."
"And a well succeeded one, we could say," Gideon adds.
"The separation procedure, initiated centuries ago by Rumple, completed recently with the help of Belle's books and improved by Jiao-long to turn it more collective, was not known by the Gods," Alice notices. "With them, perhaps the Gods wouldn't give up…"
"Alice, there is something bothering me and I need to ask," Whale says, "there is a loophole in what happened yesterday: Chynna had broken the connection between Killians' bodies and their clones. That was supposed to prevent the initial purpose of the ancient Gods but that also prevented that any usurper soul could be able to occupy the clone before the rightful owner resurrected on it. However, despite the link being, apparently at least, successfully broken by Chynna, both Killians reincarnated on their clones as if the connection still existed, I don't get it…"
"I've wondered about that myself…" Maturin agrees.
"Very well observed, Victor and Stephen. I was wondering why nobody had brought up this question yet. The answer is: my Killians are the only humans to whom the broken connection wouldn't matter. The original cloning purpose worked with them regardless of that because they are Survivors," Alice explains, "that happened because their magic was in action. You see, I used to have this power, born as a Sea Nymph I was a Survivor, but I transferred my power to my sons in exchange of giving up of my immortality - a long and past story. The fact is that, for everyone except a Survivor, once the connection body-clone is broken so is the resurrection possibility. Their magic didn't depend on the connection existence but they depended on someone with teleporting magic - Chynna, to get back almost immediately to where Emma and Emm, the Savior and the Aligner, were - their energies combined destroyed our enemies. My sons' power, always acting on a higher plane, that of the Higher Self, operated as an assistant to the Fates when Chynna chose, with the help of Cindy, to test her father spell in the shelter where their clones were - that placed Chynna in the right place at the right time."
"Fascinating…" Gideon whispers. "In their whole saga, according to what I know of their journeys: from slavers to naval officer as free men, from pirates to villains and then redeemed heroes, from what I've been told, both Killians never by choice, by free will, directly defied Destiny…"
"That's because of who they are," Alice explains, "that's what Survivors do, at crucial moments they allow the Fates to work but they follow their primal instincts."
"This means… these are good news, there wouldn't be any moral or ethical objection for preserving the clones once the connections were broken…" Maturin wonders.
"You're right," Alice agrees, "it's a reasonable assumption..."
"Sorry to interrupt my friends but, look over there," Belle cuts them pointing to the door, "they're coming… It seems that the 20 clones inhabited by Rebel Souls and the 20 souls coming from the Underworld have arrived, let's get it started."
Opening the OR door, David, Lancelot, W.Snow, W.David, Ruth, Aunt'Em, Farah, Fergus, Ingrid, Aesop, Marian, Merlin and Midas enter pushing the beds with the 20 prisoners sedated by Midas, who will make sure that they will remain asleep during the procedures. Next, Milah and Liam enter carrying 20 vessels with the 20 legitimate souls.
…
All relatives and friends were awaiting in their own respective places with the promise that their loved ones would be teleported to them as soon as the procedures concluded. This means that in the waiting room only Farah hold a stronger emotional connection with what was going on in the OR since her former husband was one of the 20 souls brought by Charom. For the 20 "surgeries" the risks were relatively low although the anxiety for those awaiting was high.
Some Emissaries didn't stay for the whole procedure and once the 20 rebel souls were clearly neutralized they headed to the two Jolly Rogers for helping in the preparations of what has now been extended to the vows' renewal of two couples because Liam insisted that with his left hand back Killian would have to marry Emma again. "And besides," he said, "I really wanted - a dream come true - to bless my two little brothers' weddings!" ("Aye, aye, Captain! As you wish..." Killian and Emma had agreed with pleasure). Meanwhile a still huge entourage remained in the waiting room of the hospital.
When Regina arrived there Operation 20 hadn't finished yet. She came accompanied by Split Regina, Wish Robin, Coralline, Zelena, Chad, Roland, Blue and Wish Blue, followed a few minutes later by Henry, Cindy, Lucy, Wish Regina, Liam Senior, Alice and Robyn.
…
Two hours later, they hear an exclamation…
"First part is over!"
Smiling with relief Farah tells them, after receiving a telepathic message, that Operation 20 has been "a complete success. The doctors are checking their vitals but, apparently, they are okay, all of them, although a bit groggy - but Ruth and Alice are working on that."
Sydney, accompanied by Rouge, another journalist and also his Fairy fiancee, arrived just in time for hearing this outcome and immediately uploading the good news to their online portal, knowing that all relatives and friends of 20 resurrected people were anxiously waiting for a positive signal to conclude the preparations of welcoming celebrations.
"Now, it's R-R time," Zelena sighs, holding her daughter's hand as Regina stands up, hugging Henry and Lucy ("believe, Mom!" Henry whispers; "with your heart, Grandma!" Lucy completes) before walking calmly and confident to the Surgery Center. Under the compassionate and sympathetic gaze of all, the Good Queen stoically proceeds to meet her Destiny. They are aware that for this next Operation the risks are higher since the variables - mostly related to Time-Frequency - are more complex which means that the nervousness is growing among those who will just wait.
…
In the Surgery Center, Aesop and Marian are applying magnetic passes on the 20 people while Alice and Ingrid extract Robin's soul out of Regina's heart - one of the riskier steps. Alice, Milah and Maturin are responsible for implanting Robin's soul on Wish Robin's clone whilst Rumple, Whale and Gideon are in charge of returning Regina's heart to her chest at the exact instant the soul enters the clone - in principle a quick procedure. The main challenge is that it doesn't allow the loss of synchronicity between the two hearts: Regina's and Robin's. For this reason the two heartbeats are being monitored by a highly accurate and precise equipment with a Cesium clock. Merlin is in charge to mark the synchronicity, so that at his signal the two teams start to act, while Ruth applies magnetic passes to stabilize Regina's heartbeat and to align it with Robin's.
There they go.
Once achieved the desired rhythm, it all happened literally in the blink of an eye. One moment Regina and Robin's eyes were closed, the next they opened their eyes and searched for each other, smiling with relief when realizing with gratitude that their long withdrawal was over. They were finally able to see and touch each other outside the Dream World, they had been given the miraculous grace of being alive in the Physical World in their own individual bodies - again. Rising from their hospital beds, at still unsteady steps, Regina and Robin slowly walk towards each other.
"We got, Robin, a new chance, a new life my love..." Regina mumbles, between sobs, as she reaches out to embrace her almost lost love in his new physical body.
Nodding with his voice choked with emotion and teary eyes, a smiling Robin caresses tender and adoringly Regina's face before kissing her trembling lips and hugging her tightly, to the applause of everyone present in the Surgery Center.
...
The joy of the reunion of two soul mates soon extended to their loved ones, eagerly waiting in the anteroom. Still dizzy but walking, Robin met his son and daughter and all relatives and friends: daughter-in-law, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, ex-wife and her new love, step-son and his family... everyone he hugs and with all he cries and sobs. Amid the joy, the two Blue fairies discreetly exit the room, flying over to the hospital entrance. There they swap the old sign with the hospital logo for a new one, with flowers, representing the 20 successful procedures performed during the memorable autumn morning, and with a heart stamping the radiant features of Robin and Regina, representing the early afternoon miracle. As the sign is placed on its new location, the tree behind it fills with new green leaves, as if announcing the return to the world of a Forest Son.
Sydney and Rouge, who had followed the Blues to see what they were up to, photograph the sign and upload the picture with the good news headline: Robin Hood and the Good Queen: reunited, at last!
Enchanted Archipelago
Emma and Emm are sitting on the sands of the beach having a burst of laughter - a mix of bits of nervous laughter with laughter from who's really having fun.
“It's crazy, all this!” Emma can barely speak without losing her breath. “Two weddings, or renewal of vows, as you prefer, arranged in less than 7 hours, what did we have in mind when we agreed to that?”
“If it was still just the ceremony, but we made up a party with a lot of food, drink, music and dance…” Emm also comments amid sobs of laughter. “Maybe we are facing a more complex challenge than yesterday's - and to think that 1 day ago we were sailing in kayaks through an icy maze of underground rivers… Emma, this is crazy!!”
The laughter slowly fades at the dazzling beauty of the sea. The eternal come and go of waves calm the two sisters as always - the ocean has always calmed them, their connection with the sea and with the sons of the sea…
"Swan!" Killian gets near them. “Liam just got a message from Olympus, the gods are recovered enough to make a descent to Earth, it looks like the 16 Patrons will be here too!”
Killian's speech acts as a password to trigger another burst of laughter from both of them.
“What am I missing?” He asks suspiciously as Key also approaches to know what's going on.
“Is everything all right here? Love, your mother just communicated with Zeus, it seems that the connection between them is about to break down because they are coming here… the Gods. Emma, love, what is going on?”
“It's okay,” Emm reassures her husband. “Emma and I had a laugh out of the madness we invented with this double wedding renewal, and now with the presence of 16 Olympian gods!! I think deep down we are only in a process of catharsis after the tension built up these past few days. You know, I thought that our Week, our Sweet Suite, was intense, but I had no idea what would lay ahead… ”
…
Hot Water Island is located east of Neverland and northeast of Wish Neverland, with two beaches: one facing the rising sun and the other facing the setting sun. Surrounded by surprisingly warm sea currents, considering the latitude, the island is a favorite summer destination, although it does not yet have a very advanced tourism infrastructure. However, virtually equidistant from the enchanted archipelago's largest villages, Neverland Village and Wish Neverland Village, it has some small inns and fishing huts. For the ceremony, the two villages will serve as a base for accommodating the guests, who will head to the archipelago using the most common transport since Operation Body & Soul began: teleportation. Of course, once the Operation is over, magic practitioners will need at least a couple of weeks of rest and recharge. But the hours of the 7th day are too special hours, every minute is a minute with the presence of the emissaries, and for them all the sacrifice is worth it.
The idea - or rather the memory - for organizing the ceremony on the island came from Neal, when he commented that his sister's wedding could only be in two possible places: Jolly Roger - “too small for all guests, even if we use both Jolly Rogers…” or on a beach. “In this case,” he said, “better if it's on an island, because the history of Emm and Key is all about an Island…” Then, to remind him of Hot Water Island, it only took the sea breeze to blow a little harder, bringing the chill of almost November, “and of course, considering that the Heart-Shaped Island would be the best location if it weren't so distant, there is only another island in the United Realms that has the right weather conditions for an outdoor ceremony and is close enough for a simpler teleport magic to work without problem…”
“Hot Water Island!!” Lucy figured it out, and that's how it was decided where the double wedding renewal would be. While they were already at the Jolly Roger, they just headed there - everybody except for Milah, Liam, and Alice, who had to handle the ongoing Operations at Storybrooke Hospital. Even Henry, Cindy, Lucy, Robyn, Alice, Wish Regina and Liam Senior had to leave later, but in their place came Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Tink, Wish Tink, Tiger-lily, Wish Tiger-lily, Snow and, shortly after, Wish Snow and Wish David, who returned from the hospital eager to work at the organization of their daughter's wedding. Liam also returned soon and began, with Liam Junior, Wish David, Kristoff, Killian, Key, Wish Henry and Neal, to assemble the altar structure on the beach in addition to tents, changing rooms, toilets, a stage for musicians and sound equipment, a dance floor and a large kitchen.
Meanwhile, the women worked, with shades and patterns for clothing, in the choice of dresses, invitations, ornaments for the altar, cocktail menu, kitchenware, cutlery, crystals, and on the music set. Emm magically brought a variety of musical instruments for more intimate performances and all of that always with Hope's enthusiastic opinion and help. Surprisingly, despite of her early age, the little girl's magic was not to be neglected and she actually offered - and managed - to materialize the three baskets with scented flower petals for her, Lucy and Coralline to open the procession and also two flower embroidered pullovers for Luna and Missy.
For simplicity and on the advice of Elsa and Anna, they decided that all dresses should be made of a thicker fabric, midi length, wool tights and delicate boots. The pattern for the dresses were chosen in various pastel autumnal shades, in some cases with delicate floral details such as in the Flower Girls’s dresses and in Snow and Wish Snow’s dresses, both with stylishly draped silk shawls. Emma and Emm chose dresses of the same color: creamy white with embroidery and lace appliques, in addition to discreet floral arrangements embellishing their hair with cascading bun. Emm's dress is a little looser while Emma's is more belted and their flower bouquets also diverge - Emm's incorporates lilac and white flowers in a country like arrangement, whilst Emma's a classic cascading of white flowers. The bands that Killian and Key have chosen are also different, one pair is of white gold and the other of yellow gold, both with a classic and simple design.
Because of the short time, Emma and Emm were reluctant to invite too many groomsmen and bridesmaids but decided to close with 12 couples: Alice & Robyn, Elsa & Gideon, Anna & Kristoff, Cindy & Henry, Violet & Wish Henry, Wish Regina & Liam Senior, Wish Ariel & Liam Junior, Ursula & Nemo, Milah & Alice (Senior), Brennan & Wish Janet, Jasmine & Aladdin, Merlin & Ingrid.
The grooms decided to wear black naval gala uniforms (adapted from the original dark blue model "to give them a taste of piracy!") while Liam opted for a white naval gala uniform. The brides’ parents have decided to give up their fairy-tale royalty costumes, in fact all guests will wear more modern attire, more practical considering the location of the ceremony. Tiger Lily and Wish Tiger Lily took care, with Tink and Wish Tink, of perfuming the beach with sweet floral potions in combination with the salty sea breeze. Hundreds of small lanterns and scented candles were scattered on the beach. The altar flowers arch, between two Greco-Roman columns, were arranged with a light pink silk veil facing the setting sun.
Tiana, accompanied by three Chefs from the Enchanted Seashore arrived earlier to help with the buffet. She said that at the Enchanted Lowland the parties have begun with the return of Naveen's brother, but by the time of the ceremony all the guests of her kingdom would be on the island.
...
Despite the festivities spreading throughout the realms, the guests are slowly arriving. Gradually, all the emissaries arrive and teleportation runs at full steam: David, Lancelot, Guinevere, Morgan, Jefferson, Grace, Wish Jefferson, Priscilla, Wish Grace, the four Enchanted Highland Clans, all royal families from all quarters, Red, Dorothy, Fa and Jiminy (in human form), Marco, Janet, August, Anastasia, Pinocchio, Drizella, Moe, Joahanna, Jack, Eric, Ariel, Wish Eric, Aquata, Frederick, Abigail, Wish Frederick, Wish Abigail, Aladdin, Jasmine and her father, Phillip, Aurora, Wish Phillip, Wish Aurora, Thomas, Ella and Alexandra, Wish Thomas, Wish Ella, the Musketeers and their troupe, Jiao-long, Chynna, Mal, Zorro, Wish Mulan, Wish Red, Lily, Archie and Pongo, Smee, Mr. Smee and all crew (and families) of the Jolly Rogers, the 14 dwarfs, Sydney and all Fairies (wish and nonwish versions), Triton and Nemo with their troupe and, finally, Regina, Robin, Roland, Alice, Robyn, Wish Regina, Wish Robin, Coralline, Zelena, Chad, the Merry Men and their families... all guests filling the beach air with laughter and joy in a parade of elegance, beauty and good taste as the sun begins to set.
Suddenly the ringing of bells silences everyone, and from the sky begins to descend dozens of points of shimmering lilac light: the Lilac Fairies scouting the Celestial Procession. And then the 16 Gods come, recovering from their illnesses though still a little weak, but haughty and very, very happy: Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Eros, Hephaestus, Hera, Hermes, Morpheus, Persephone, Poseidon, Psyche, and Zeus.
...
The beach is full of armchairs (forming a large central aisle towards the arches) where the guests have settled already. The Celestial and the United Realms Courts, together, are closer to the altar, where Liam and his Little Brothers are positioned.
Apollo, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Persephone, Hermes and Athena volunteered to be responsible for the music, promising to present an eclectic repertoire.
Thus, under the direction of Dionysus and to the sound of a song played by them and sung by Apollo with the other's background vocal, the ceremony begins with the procession of the 3 Flower Girls and 2 Flower Pets followed by Neal and Roland, carrying the bands, and 12 bridesmaids and groomsmen couples.
Persephone, Athena, Apollo and Aphrodite prepare themselves for the formation of a string quartet, concentrating for calling the brides, who are waiting in the tent at the beginning of the aisle. After the first chords sound, they start walking, led by their parents.
Side by side, Emm and Emma, hand in hand with Wish Snow, Wish David, Snow and David shine their solar light from within their delicately embroidered dresses. Walking like floating... slightly... gently... magnetically attracted by the two pairs of blue eyes - two central stars of an immense ocean, the radiant women finally reach out and meet their husbands. Their parents walk away, pressing a kiss on their cheeks, while Killian and Key, taking the free hand of their wives as they give the bouquets to Snow and Wish Snow, smile and head with them to the altar, where Liam awaits.
“Captain Swan and Captain Sweet, here we are, gathered by a true miracle in itself…” Liam smiles at the two couples.
"It was from an island, from another archipelago, known as Islands of the Blessed, that I sort of symbolically attended your weddings, my beloved brothers and sisters. In fact one of the marriages I myself officiated, albeit indirectly since my portrait was symbolically placed in the position of minister of the ceremony. I have been there on both occasions in spirit, blessing and rejoicing in your happiness. But I dreamed - aye, from beyond, in our heavenly islands we still dream beautiful dreams, and my most beautiful dream is coming true this evening.
From the highest peaks of the sky, where I live, I used to see you, but I dreamed of seeing you more closely on Earth. And to further increase the miracle, we are all gathered here: families - of Earth and Heaven, and friends - of Earth and Heaven, in an ode to your true love, witnessing your vows renewal and celebrating the complete and absolute success of Operation Body & Soul. From the source that emanates the principle of goodness we all benefit. And today, from this island, a great wave of Goodness, a wave of gratitude to your bravery and courage, Killians and Emmas, rises. You, the already legendary Captain Swan and Captain Sweet.
The ceremony for renewing your marriage vows is more than a confirmation of your love, it is our tribute to you, our gratitude, and our love - from all of us in Heaven and Earth for you.
So for me to bless the bands, you now renew the vows of your marriage. Who starts? To make it easier, I'll stick to the convention, Killian and Key, Emma and Emm… Okay, Killian, you go Li..."
“Don't Little Brother me, Captain!” Killian cuts him with a grin and everyone laughs.
Killian takes a deep breath, aiming his eyes into Emma's and shakes his head with a smile. “This never changes, love, I continue to find the meaning of life every time I dive into your eyes, in these deep and mysterious waters of your soul. I will always consider myself privileged to have you as a wife, as a life partner. One life is not enough to thank you for being my guiding lighthouse, my safe heaven, the mother of our precious Hope and Henry. With this new band, my wife, I renew the promises I made in our wedding, I promise to love you - even more now, as my love surprisingly turns the impossible possible by increasing with time - for all eternity. I will always be devoted to be your partner, always by your side and to make you happy.”
...
“I was thrilled the first time,” Emma mumbles, trying to hold back tears, “and now, it seems, everything repeats…” Taking a deep breath, she looks into Killian's eyes, holds his hands and begins her vows. “Killian, about ten years ago, when you were still fighting your own shadows, you tried to impress me with this left hand instead of the hook - you told me about your intent to hold me with both hands on our first date, remember? At that moment, it was not yet time for your left hand to return to its place of origin, your hero's journey was not yet complete, and to tell you the truth, it would not have made any difference to me if you were to meet me with the hook. I fell in love with your inner self, your whole - and the hook is part of it.Time passed, your hero's journey has been fulfilled and the return of your left hand, now, has a different meaning and relevance, especially in the presence of so many people connected to this hand story: all reconciled, healed, hurts forgiven and overcome, lessons learned. It is often said that people do not change, that in essence they do not change. All of us here are living proof that this is not true. Everyone may evolve, learn from mistakes and grow… Despite all, one thing will never change but will continue to evolve and increase: my love for you, Killian. It is eternal, as is my gratitude for you being my partner, a caring, loving father and grandfather, for you just being You. You taught me to believe in the possibility of being happy, you are the Light of my path, and with this wedding band, today placed on the ring finger of your left hand, I renew my vows of our marriage.”
...
"Now, Key and Emm, your turn," Liam addresses them.
…
“Emma, my sweet Emma… our first vows were exchanged just between us and a portrait! Tonight, in the presence of my brother Liam this time not in a framed portrait, I renew my vows before you and... before Milah, my brother's true love; before my Mother, infinite times infinitely loved; my father, who in his long existence found the way of his redemption, found true love, and redeemed his sense of fatherhood through my Younger brothers; before my deeply loved Starfish, dear Alice with her wife, her gentle Robyn; before my brother and best friend Killian, and my equally beloved sister-in-law Emma; before my brothers Junior and Senior and new sisters-in-law, Wish Ariel and Wish Regina; before old and loyal friends - from Smee, Wish Smee, Smith, Wyatt, and all the sailors who sailed with us the seven seas, before our fairy friends Tink and Wish Tink, Tiger-Lily and Wish Tiger-Lily; before your son, your Henry, and his Violet, new flowers in a garden with many new flowers; before my friends from Hyperion Heights, Henry, Cindy, Tiana, Naveen, and Regina, the Good Queen; before Chad and Zelena, who became a sister to me; before your parents, the generous Wish Realm’s king and queen; and the equally generous David and Snow; before all 14 Dwarfs and all Fairies; before all kings and queens, princes and princesses, wizards and sorcerers; all the Emissaries, among them my dearie friend, Rumple/Weaver; before the Gods; all children and preteens here represented by, Hope, Lucy, Neal, Roland and Coralline; all teens and young adults; before Luna and Missy; and before our two Belly Babies, I bow and thank. With my two hands in a prayer gesture I thank the Fates for having allowed me to find you, my true love, light and peace of my life, my Wife. I love you, Emma, and I confirm with this band my eternal love.”
…
“Killian, you have already said it all, and as a pregnant woman, I’m too sensitive and too emotional. Right now, every word you have just said brought too many tears to my eyes and too much joy to my heart. You are the love of my life, the sweetest melody my heart has ever felt, my ears have ever heard. I have to thank Luna and Missy for being two shining Angels, the best companions I could wish for during my stay at Heart Island but it was you, and because of you, that I found the strength to learn that my loneliness in the island could be a source of healing - that made my life worthwhile. I renew before all witnesses the vows I have declared to you with only Liam as a witness. I love you, my Husband, my partner, father of these two Belly Babies already so dear to us. You know, you had to have your left hand back, not only to wear this band, which is a confirmation of our love and eternal commitment, but to improve even more your manual dexterity to help me handle our two babies after their birth...”
…
“Very well,” Liam sighs, “you four are really something, you know… You've left me too emotional. So, before going to a corner for crying out loud like a baby, I guess I have nothing to add but to bless your marriages, to bless your bands, to wish for you, as couples, and your families, a long and prosperous life. With the power conferred to me as a Naval Captain, I declare you, Killian and Emma, and you, Killian and Emma, remarried!"
Addressing the audience with a smile, Liam continues, "before concluding, let's send our collective bless to all couples everywhere, the new ones and the old ones..."
...
After a pause, he looks again at the newlyweds: "Now... Let's proceed to kisses and hugs!”
…
Preparing for the outing procession, Aphrodite invites Alice (Senior) to sing two solos accompanied by Ursula, Ariel, Aquata and Wish-Ariel.
As the enchanting voices echo across the beach, Killian, carrying Hope, leads Emma, hand-in-hand with Henry, Cindy and Lucy, in the aisle path. Behind, Key, with Missy on his lap, hugs Alice and Robyn, side-by-side with Emm (carrying Luna), W. Henry and Violet. The next to go are W. David, W. Snow, David, Snow, Neal, Brennan and W. Janet. They are followed by Liam, Milah, Nemo, Junior, W. Regina and Senior. Shining with radiance, Robin walks embraced with Roland and Regina, followed by W. Robin, S. Regina, Coralline and the remaining bridesmaids and groomsmen couples. Behind them, Gods, Goddesses, Emissaries and the UR royalty parade solemnly followed by dearest friends with their families.
Slowly, entranced, all guests head to flowery tables - where a frugal dinner, cakes and drinks will be served, placed around a dance wooden floor.
...
When we reduce our perception of anything to its tiniest expression, we find that the very essence of time, space, and matter is not attainable by our senses or three-dimensional measurement, to the bewilderment of science. Time is part of the Mysteries and Secrecies' books and, unless using special magic, we can't naturally stop it. As time went on amid laughter, waltzes, tears of joy, moments of passion, love and friendship, seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours.
The seventh day of the Emissaries' stay is over, it’s time for them to leave.
Fortunately the Gods personally took charge of magnetizing the environment and alleviating the strong emotions so that the goodbyes are taking place in mild resignation and gratitude. The Emissaries, already feeling the first symptoms of becoming more ethereal and less dense are then supported by their Patrons to cross the arch where the weddings were celebrated, by Zeus turned into a gateway to Olympus. Before the portal, they pause and turn to the Humans, embracing each other, some crying, all smiling and waving.
Turning to everyone, and supporting Wish Snow, his goddaughter, Zeus addresses them:
“Dear Humans, Thank You. During this unforgettable experience for all of us, you have taught us and helped us more than you know. You Humanized us. Experiencing mortality has opened for us a new perspective, a new window on the meaning of Life and Death. We are grateful to you, and especially to our Emissaries, with whom we shared emotions, thoughts, fears, joys, and sorrows. What wonderful Emissaries, what a wonderful surprise, what an unforgettable experience, what precious lessons they have taught us. The veil of arrogance used to be our dresses, we thought that we were at the top of an evolutionary scale linked to planet Earth, yet with you we understood the sense of Pride and the meaning of Humility. With Humility we thank you, Humans from the Elysium Fields and from Earth, and, as a reward for the close ties that we have established with you, Emissaries, we invite you all to be our very special guest at Olympus, staying there for the same period you spent on Earth. This is an honor bestowed upon less humans than the number of fingers of one hand. But you deserve it. You, and all Brave Warriors of Peace, deserve all the recognition. Soon our production of Nectar and Ambrosia will be back to normal, we will be back to our immortality, and we owe you and all humans, especially the 14 Dwarves, their Sailing friends and all Fairies, the grace of re-establishing the Sacred Water connection between dimensions.
Come with us, our dearest Emissaries, let’s continue the party at our home, Olympus. We have invited your closest relatives and friends, souls from the Islands of the Blessed, to join us; they are already there, celebrating with the Gods that stayed home. And I suggest to all Earth Humans to continue celebrating here. The cycles goes on, dear friends, we just need to follow their flow, knowing that we are more united now than we were when it all started. Friends on Earth, you will witness us moving to another dimension but never forget that we are all connected, no matter where we are. With you we are ONE!”
And so, turning westward, the 16 Emissaries, Pongo and the 16 Gods, followed by the Lilac Fairies, cross the portal and lift into the starry sky. Already distant, they turn into a bright star, shining to the north with more intensity than a sun, until, all of a sudden, disappearing and leaving behind a feeling of Light, Peace, Love and Gratitude.
"These new widescreens the gods have presented us are really fantastic,” W. David tells his wife, while scratching Pongo's belly, who joined them to watch the scene unfolding in the suburb of Storybrooke.
“Very good indeed, David, I feel like we are there… and look! Over there, in the sky!! That the magic mirrors and TV sets on Earth still don't show unless faking it with special effects: the spiritual energy of our grandchildren, still merged into ONE but ready to split into two individual entities, descending over our daughter's new home! Oh, David, they are being born!!” Snow exclaims with teary eyes.
“Pregnant women need to be free to decide which type of delivery best fits their expectations and according to their health,” Maturin explains to Key and Killian, while observing Hope's unique and curious behavior next to Luna and Missy, at the Nolan-Jones' home. "Note that the term humanized childbirth doesn't need to be understood as a specific type of childbirth, but as a specific assistance offered to pregnant women and the newborn during prenatal, delivery and postpartum."
"I know, Stephen," Key justifies his insecurities, "Emm and I have talked a lot about that - between us and with you, during her pre-natal - but now, with the real thing happening, I confess that I'm a bit insecure about being here and not at the Hospital, about Emm being 40…"
"No need for any concern, Key, try to relax, Emm will benefit from your confidence," Stephen assures him. "I've brought the basic equipment, and there is always a magic puff, in case of emergency. You've been with her so far and have seen how her labor has been extremely tranquil and Emma will be there, she can easily teleport us to the Hospital if necessary. Now we'd better get ready to join them, it's delivery time, Dad! Remember, to be humanized, your sons' delivery wouldn't have to be a natural birth. A caesarean section would also be surrounded by all care and attention but Emm's prenatal and labor indicate that she is surprisingly ready for a home delivery, with lower risk and greater benefit to her health and the babies'. In addition, shortly after their birth, the babies will be immediately next to their mom, no need to be taken to the hospital nursery."
...
Wish Henry, Violet, Alice, Robyn, Neal, Snow and David arrive practically together a few minutes later and, as Snow prepares to go with Key and Maturin to the guest room, adapted with a delivery bath tube, Hope stands up and walks resolute to where they are:
"Uncle Key, wait! Luna and Missy will go with you!!"
"Hope," Killian kneels to get eye level with his daughter, "my little Pirate, this time it's better that Luna and Missy wait here with us…"
"Daddy, my Captain, they need to go, the Belly Babies are waiting for them, they want to say Hello to them before they fly away…"
"What do you mean, Honey?"
"I mean, look at them and see…"
…
Luna and Missy are side by side, looking back at them, almost smiling… Correction: they are smiling!! Their bodies, surrounded by a luminous sphere, are transmuting and, all of a sudden exiting the sphere, two winged young women walk towards Hope, to hug her.
“Hope has always been able to see the angel in us and every time that happened, everything changed, her consciousness changed: she was flowing - it was so beautiful…" Luna explains to their little audience, in awe, astonished by the surprising transmutation witnessed by their eyes.
"We are like brightness in nature," Missy tells them. "Angels are usually from higher planes, while fairies have freer access to Mother Earth. If you think of a tree, angels are like the higher branches, whereas fairies are like the branches that are only a little above the ground. They are branches of the same life-tree, but the fairies are like lower branches and angels are like the high, higher, highest branches."
"We can come to earth if we want to visit people or see some people who are very dear to us, or be the companion of a very special Aligner Princess in a very special Heart-Shaped Island... We can take the form of a person or an animal. At such times, we can act as the direct representative of the divine force. Angels deal with all human beings irrespective of age, although we particularly love children and parent's to be,” Missy continues to explain, extending her hand to Key. "Let's go, Key, it's time to welcome your sons…"
...
As the babies are born, swimming peacefully in a warm and rose-scented water, Luna and Missy, turned into angels, kiss good-bye their mother, disappearing as shimmering stars while singing for the two little boys:
`✫´*。*`☆´**`☆´* 。*`✫´☽`✫´☽`✫´*。*`☆´
"Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby
Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay
And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow
Bless you with love for the road that you go
May you sail far to the far fields of fortune
With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet
And may you need never to banish misfortune
May you find kindness in all that you meet
May there always be angels to watch over you
To guide you each step of the way
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay
May you bring love and may you bring happiness
Be loved in return to the end of your days
Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you
I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay
May there always be angels to watch over you
To guide you each step of the way
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay..."
“Please keep the noise down,” she said to the lad who was shouting over at his friend. “I’d like to keep my hearing into old age.” “You’re not old!”, the thirteen year old boy said emphatically to her. “Not yet,” she replied, “but I am getting older and I’m OK with that. I’d like to be an old lady one day.” He looked at her in disbelief, “Urgh, I never ever want to be old,” he said and shuddered.
*
Storybrooke City
The risk of walking on the deserted streets exists, although with a 49-year-old physical body, Archie knows he is out of the highest risk age group, ie under 40 ("Lily, 40, is right on the edge ..." he thinks with a mix of relief and worry).
...
After the Alignment Ceremony, Lily and Archie decided to sleep in his flat in Storybrooke Downtown. Pongo, who always accompanies him, had been teleported to the apartment and was left resting, laying on his old pillow, heater on, while Archie and Lily took part of the select audience who attended the ceremony live.
For Archie's loyal old companion, the inevitable outcome of an extraordinarily long-lived life by his breed's dog standards is approaching: he can no longer run fast, sees little, and prefers to doze near a fireplace rather than exercise physically. However, in the cold dawn of Day 6, before the sun rising, Pongo headed for the bed where Archie and Lily slept, pulling the covers off by his side. Perhaps energized by the magic that began to circulate during and after the Show, he wanted to walk, and Archie, sensitive to his old friend's request, agreed.
"He's vaccinated against Cruella's dark magic," he explained in a soothing voice to a sleepy Lily, "and your mother put me under a protective spell, it's just a walk, we won't be long ..."
"Take your phone with you and call me if you need anything. Love you…" she whispered.
"Love you too… Now go back to sleep, Honey," he kisses her, adjusting the blanket to cover her better.
…
Despite his senses weakened by old age, Pongo suddenly sets alert, feeling the vibration of someone else's footsteps breaking the silence of the streets.
"What a beautiful animal," Wish David approaches after a while, greeting Archie and patting Pongo's head, who closes his eyes in appreciation of the gesture. "Good boy, a beautiful life you have lived, isn't It?..." He asks the dog.
"Couldn't sleep either, Majesty?" Archie asks the old monarch.
"I slept a little but sleep was short... Snow and I were kindly invited by my daughter and my son-in-law to rest in their loft but I woke up very early and felt the need to come out, as if hearing a call. My wife is still sleeping, I went out to refresh the ideas, enjoying that my patron at Olympus is also resting. The movements there were also intense yesterday, you know? With all activities here and the reestablishment of the spiritual connection with Earth, the Fountain of Youth sprouted again and so did the seeds of Ambrosia. Demeter believes that she will be able to accelerate the first flowering so that the fruits will soon be produced again."
"Who is your patron?"
"Artemis, your dog and she would get along very well... But regardless of her, I always liked animals too..." David slowly caresses the dog. "What's his name?"
"Pongo…" Archie smiles wondering if it is not too cold for them to continue on the streets. "Would you like to continue our talk in a warmer place? My office is right over there, adjacent to my flat, we could have some hot tea while Pongo could warm up, he wanted to walk and I agreed, but it's too cold for him outside..."
"It's cold for us too," David chuckles. "I accept the invitation, thanks, eh... Archie, isn't it? Yesterday, during the Alignment, I talked briefly with your brother, Jiminy, originating from my Wish Realm... he seemed older than you, although he was metamorphosed into cricket."
"He is older... more or less the same difference between you and your brother, you know, a side effect of being and not being under dark courses..." he smiles, opening the door, and the three climb the stairs to Dr. Archie Hopper's office.
…
"Much better, now," David warms his hands on the mug. "I had already forgotten the differences between feeling this kind of cold and warm in a physical body..."
"The song was right then, what your daughter sang while aligning and enchanting everyone in all realms? About a soul being both hot and cold?"
"Yeah, more or less that… it's a different feeling though, actually deeper at an emotional temperature scale."
"I see... I've been dedicating my whole life to study and decode this scale," Archie shrugs and David nods in understanding. Then, after a pause, he points at a relaxed Pingo lying on his old pillow near the heater, and asks, "How old is he?"
"Not counting 28 years plus one of two curses, around 16; my friend is a wise Elder," Archie chuckles.
"He is indeed a wise pal, you know? He got the wisdom that comes with winter…" As Archie signalises with a nod his interest in hearing more, David continues. "It happens with all animals, therefore, obviously, with us too. He has experienced the changes of the four seasons - spring, summer, fall, and winter. Spring brings with it gentle breezes and brief showers; summer observes the blossoming of flowers and the greenness of plants; with autumn comes drought and wind; with winter, cold and ice. The different climates of the four seasons resemble the various stages of life - each with its own characteristics. We may compare life to the four seasons: youth is spring; maturity is summer; middle age is autumn; and old age, winter. Just as each season offers a unique landscape, the four seasons of life also have their individual attributes. This comparison is indeed very pertinent."
"Right it is... but just as there are four stages in the seasons and in life, all phenomena undergo gradual changes," Archie argues.
"You are absolutely right," David agrees, "but just to simplify our model, let's say that the universe goes through four stages: formation, existence, decline and emptiness. The world is born of causes and conditions; thereafter it has a limited time of existence and, as it undergoes changes and increasing levels of decline, it finally ceases to exist. Emptiness, however, does not mean the end, as the world goes through the cycle of formation, existence, decline and emptiness, over and over again, infinitely."
"...which means, in our microcosmic bubble, we age, in the process." Archie sighs with melancholy.
"This is life, my friend," Davids smiles with compassion, "the physical body just follows the universe flow and also goes through four stages: birth, aging, disease and death. With birth, the family rejoices. With old age, loved ones grieve. With the disease, minds worry. And in the face of death, the family grieves. But death does not mean the end of life - it is simply a transmigration. Successions of birth, aging, disease, and death will follow."
...
"Our minds also follow this flow."Archie finally replies. "Our minds also go through incessant stages of emergence, existence, change and extinction. When a thought arises, all kinds of images appear in our minds. As long as it exists, the mind flows with thought. But when thought changes, a myriad of variations occur, and when it ceases, it withers like a flower and waits for the next flowering…"
"You have witnessed that happening in this same office, haven't you?" David asks.
"Many times," Archie confirms. "My job is to conduct the process, to enable and drive it."
"You see," David turns to him after looking at Pongo, "we cannot control the four seasons of the world, nor the four phases of phenomena, but we can take control of the four seasons of life. That way we will make better use of them when they arrive."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… The spring of life is the time to sprout and grow. We must strengthen ourselves by absorbing nutrients, cultivating our compassion, and embracing the desire to save the world. In the lush bloom of summer, we should benefit others by offering our energy to complement their growth. As autumn maturity approaches, we should contribute to our beginners in life with our knowledge by bestowing upon them the abundant fruits that we have gained. As the winter of life comes, we must make use of our accomplishments to enrich the world, just as the winter sun warms the earth. What a wonderful finishing touch to our lives!" At that, Pongo walks to get closer to David.
Then, observing as Pongo and David keep looking at each other, Archie realizes that David went out for a walk to meet them, upon hearing a call - Pongo's call…
"His time on Earth is getting close to an end, Archie." David finally explains. "But so is mine. At the end of day 7, that is, tomorrow, we will be back to Elysium, to our Eternity."
"You are taking him with you, aren't you?"
"He chose me," David chuckles, "it was love at first sight…"
"He will be alright, won't he?"
"He will be in Heaven, he will be good, promise. You have your Lily, now, he is happy for you both."
…
"Archie?" Lily appears at the joining door with the flat, "I've heard voices… oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"You haven't," David says, standing up, "I was already preparing to leave, my wife is already calling me. Thanks for the tea, Archie. See you, Pongo. Milady…" he bows to Lily and disappears.
"The Sun is about to rise, Archie," Lily reaches out to hug him, "it's time for me to recharge… will you be okay? Promise?" She asks concerned.
"More than okay, Lily, Pongo and I will be waiting for you this one more time. Go fly your Dragon self, say hello to the Sun for me…"
Enchanted Dryland, Agrabah
"Play the song again, Hadi..."
Leaning on the windowsill of their room, Sherazade asks her husband to repeat the song from his playlist. Their 11 months baby boy, Rahim, plays with a few toys in his crib while in the next room the couple's 12 years old twin girls, Adhara and Ammena, brought back from their shelter, are still asleep, resting from the strong thrill of reuniting with their mother the afternoon of the previous day.
"As you wish, my love," he smiles, as the song echoes, still not believing that he has been so fortunate in having his wife back...
"I'm really here, sipping Arabian Jasmine tea, watching the sunrise…" she whispers before smiling dreamy.
"Mom!" Adhara and Ammena arrive at the bedroom door, "can we come in?"
"Of course sweeties, but first come here for a good morning hug!" Sherazade opens her arms to hug the girls. "Hmm ... what a delight, oh my daughters I missed you so much ..."
"We missed you too, Mommy…" Adhara murmurs.
"But we always believed that you'd come back…" Ammena tells her. "Has Father told you? Did you know that?"
"He did, and I'm really proud of you two!"
"Look there!" Ammena points to the window! "It's Iago in his morning flight!"
"Looks like a baby Dragon…" Adhara suggests.
"Nope. Definitely Iago…" Ammena affirms and then turns to Sherazade to ask if she had met her father and her mother, the legendary storyteller Scherehazade, in the Underworld, "Iago told us that that could be possible..."
"No, I've been told there that your grandparents have moved on to the Islands of the Blessed. But your father told me that you met my mother's sister, aunt Farah, before yesterday, isn't it?"
"Yeah, she is so funny…" Adhara laughs. "She calmed us when she first arrived. She was great with us and with her Jasmine, because she had lost her father too."
"We were scared and so sad, Mommy…" Ammena remembers, "but she promised us that if the miracle of she coming as an Emissary of the Gods was possible any miracle could be possible. She asked us to have faith. And so we did as she said, as if you coming back depended on us being hopeful…"
"It worked! I'm back! That means that I have to thank you!" Sherazade says with tears falling nonstop.
"Love," Hadi calls her. "Now you have a better story to tell us than the one about your parents' tale. That was a good one but I bet yours is better!"
"Why don't you tell us both stories and let us decide?" Adhara suggests, already sitting on some pillows.
...
"Okay. I'll start with my parents' tale... Once upon a time, a sultan of a big and powerful empire left his castle to embark on a hunting trip. Returning unexpectedly early, he caught his beloved wife in bed with servants. Enraged, he beheaded them on the spot and made for the estate of his brother, who was away at the time. He decided to stay in one of the outhouse guestrooms. Here lay his next staggering revelation: past midnight, he started to hear music from the gardens and open windows. Exploring, he was shocked beyond belief to find his brother’s wife among a small crowd of nude figures, dancing in the moonlight and indulging in desires.
Stunned by the turn of events, he returned to court blinded with a desire for revenge. Engrossed in feelings of betrayal and rage, he vowed to take revenge on all womankind by beginning a monstrous tradition: he would take a new virgin wife every night, only to behead her the following morning, so as to not allow her the opportunity to cheat.
In the sultan’s madness, the kingdom slowly became a hostile place for all young women. Families fled elsewhere with their daughters as the sultan continued with his rage-filled murder. Sick with worry, the vizier urged his daughters to leave. He had to stay in the capital and fulfill his duties, but his two daughters, Scheherazade and Farah, could flee. Here the story gets interesting, as Scheherazade refuses to leave – and instead insists on becoming the sultan’s next bride.
After many attempts to try and make her see sense, and much to the vizier’s dismay, Scheherazade and the sultan were married.
On Scheherazade's wedding night, as a last wish, she begged for her sister’s company. Farah joined them and requested one last tale from her sister. With the sultan’s approval, Scheherazade started her very first story. So captivating and mesmerizing were her charm and her storytelling capabilities, it was almost dawn before anyone realized. Clever Scheherazade ended the night’s storytelling on a captivating turn, leaving her audience on edge, wanting more. The sultan was so engrossed in Scheherazade’s story that – to everybody’s surprise – he allowed her to live one extra night to finish it.
Of course, the following night she finished the first story – and began another one. She continued this night after night, always ending on a tantalizing twist. Scheherazade continued telling her tales for a thousand and one nights, and in that time the sultan slowly started to fall for her beauty, charm and intelligence. He eventually saw the error of his ways and the injustices he'd wrought. Professing his true love for Scheherazade, they finally began a life together. The blood-lust stopped, and peace was restored." [Ref]
"Wow…" Ammena sighs, "I'll never tire of listening to your storyteller voice, Mom…"
"Now moving to your own tale," Hadi intervenes, "tell us, my love, how did they bring your soul back? Aladdin had told me that they'd bring just the soul of a man called Felix. Then how come yours was brought too?"
"That's an impressive tale, Hadi... with a perfect plot twist. You see, for our surprise and my good luck, something unexpected happened after Charom departed with just one urn - as you said, containing Felix's soul. Nimue, the first Dark One, the soul who was inhabiting my clone, all of a sudden, gave up... She screamed and begged to get out of my clone so much that those in charge decided to try an experiment to kick her off. The problem was, if they succeeded in removing the invading soul - that is, Nimue - and if they didn't replace her, immediately after the operation, with the original soul - that would be me - my clone would die (and my original body was already dead, although preserved by magic). It was then that Persephone and her Emissary, Milah, acted quickly taking advantage of fortuitous circumstances. As Charom was coming and going transporting the rebel souls that were being captured back to the Underworld, Milah/Persephone managed to ask him to pick up a second urn in the Underworld - with me inside before coming again to the Upperworld. Charom had to run but, luckily for me, he brought the urn in time with the help of Wish Snow/Zeus, who blew a Magic Wind for him to cross the Styx in record time. He delivered the urns to W. Snow, in person, who was waiting for him in the banks of a Storybrooke lake. The rest is History…"
"And then we all took part of the Alignment Ceremony, our family complete and together again, there, in the live audience, including our baby brother - oh my, I'm living a dream come true…" Adhara sighs.
...
A knock at the door interrupted their family moment: they were being invited for breakfast, with Jasmine, Aladdin, Farah and Iago (who had long ago switched sides mostly due to resentment of Jaffar’s treatment of him), in the private wing of the palace, since the rest was being used as one of the largest shelters of the United Realms.
During the meal Iago told them that while flying in the morning he had bumped into some invisible people flying over Agrabah. He heard them cursing, using words he wouldn't reproduce in front of children, but identified the names Pan and Cruella among them, "that's for sure."
"Of course!" Aladdin exclaimed figuring out what had happened. "It all makes sense now. First, Wish Blue reported, circa of 15 days ago, the theft of pixie dust from the Sacred Fairy Vault. That would explain how W. Pan and W. Cruella managed to travel so fast and be so productive in their evil things - they were flying!! We already knew that both Pans could become invisible, somehow they might be sharing their power with both Cruellas and they have been flying!! And finally, they might be the ones who tried to help Jaffar to escape from his prison this morning but... let me tell you, they didn't get it. Ha! They didn't count on me setting up smart traps around Jaffar's cell. I really need to notify the Operation B&S staff about that," he says already picking up his transponder.
"Already helping you on that," Farah winked at him, contacting telepathically her friends.
Storybrooke, Gepetto's Workshop
"Marco, you could use our help to organize your workshop… this place has seen better times!" Moe teases as he helps Jack to sit in an armchair.
"You could use my Magic…" Jack offers.
"Haven't you all gotten tired after all hardworking of yesterday?" Gepetto asks his friends. "The workshop is home, let the toys remain where and how they are…"
"Here we have it: tea with toast, cookies and cake for four Elders… thanks to Johanna who remembered to send us her delicacies." Brennan comes with a tray. "I wonder how it would be if the Shamans had stayed with us here, we would make quite a team!!" He giggles.
"Nah… better this way," Moe reasons, "there wouldn't be enough room for them, we are good here and the arrangements there were fine to accommodate them. Jack's mansion is large enough for those who stayed there although excessively crowded for my standards: Fa, Jiminy, the two Janets, Johanna, the Five She-wolves, Aunt Em, Dorothy, Wish Mulan and five Shamans… Can you imagine them now in a round dance at the sound of drums…?" He laughs.
"That is totally happening! He, he! The two Grannys joining their two granddaughters, Fa and the Shamans would be an explosive combination of joy, the party might still be lively there!" Gepetto chuckles, "and what about Jiao-long?" He asks.
"Preferred to sleep in his shop/clinic, in the East-side. Chynna went back to Dragon's Castle with Mal and Zorro," Jack explains.
…
"How do you feel the colors, Jack?" Moe asks while contemplating from the window the quiet avenue. The color of the autumn leaves could take his breath away filling him with joy. Gold, emerald, copper, chestnut brown, vermilion; it was as if nature, before going to sleep was putting on her best fireworks display.
"I feel their vibration, colors are waves, are particles of energy, each color vibrates at a unique frequency. What you see using your eyes as photo-detectors I see using my ears as another kind of sensor. I'm not so good at that as I used to be, though, I'm getting really old… But then, I guess your eyes are not so good anymore, as well."
"You are right," Moe agrees and confides, "winter has come for us a long time ago, my friend... You know, the autumn leaves made me think of the seasons of our lives. Our past and present struggles, our past and present fights. And then, inevitably, I remember the fights fought by brave Warriors, in especial those whom, somehow, we will support with our resonant vibration. Warriors that will go on the front-end counting on our united chain at the back-end. Inevitably I think of the fab four preparing, right now, to fight the greatest battle, to meet face-to-face our four biggest enemies. I think of the two-Killians and two-Emmas… And then of the emotional and psychological season they are in, not counting curses and lands with frozen time. In this sense, they are still in their Summertime although we can notice a feel glimpses of autumn arriving: a grey hair here and there being the most obvious outward sign of what it’s just around the corner…"
"We all count on their youth as if it were eternal. In a way, I've noticed that it's a common sense of all modern societies: they value youth more than it used to be in the past," Brennan reflects. "Yet look at the seasons, autumn is so very beautiful. The colors, the harvest, the bounty - all the efforts of spring and summer - have produced this spectacular abundance, a feast for the eyes, the body and soul…"
"Are our lives not like this?" Marco wonders.
"Our experience - our learning, are seeds for the most wonderful harvest. Now, let's be honest, the simple fact that we still exist in physical bodies in itself is wondrous and, basically a miracle. We are really really ancient people, my old mates. If we count the curses and Lands with frozen time, some of us are pre historical beings!" Moe tells them laughing.
"The Alignment did good to us, Elders, they valued us, they did us a great service..." Jack concludes with pride. "The ceremony wouldn't be so powerful if the Shamans hadn't come. With them it became complete. They brought what in more traditional or indigenous societies is revered: old age, just as nature is. Ageing is part of the sacred cycle of life, and each season must be celebrated."
"I've just remembered in a flash that when I was a boy - almost four centuries ago," Brennan shakes his head in disbelief at the sound of his exotic sentence, "my father once said to me that it is only when the trees are bare that we can truly appreciate their form. It is only then that we can see the landscape around them, which is hidden during summer by all their foliage."
"Good memory of yours, Brennan, I'm impressed!" Moe teases him.
"At the end of the day it is all a matter of perspective," Gepetto says and then asks, "how should we call ourselves: “seniors”? “The elderly”? “Older adults”? Something else?"
“For heavens’ sake, don’t call us anything,” Moe begs.
"But what’s the alternative for doctors, for instance, who treat patients who fit this description? And for academics, who study this demographic? What terms should they use to discuss our age group without giving offense?" Marco insists.
"What’s going on is that we have a problem with the subject itself. Everyone wants to live longer, but no one wants to be old," Jack notices. "Personally, I prefer to use the term “older people” because it’s the least problematic. Everyone is older than someone else."
"My view is that the elderly is a demographic group, like youth or middle age." Brennan then ponders, "what matters is that the four of us are still useful for the society and, most importantly, still able to love, to dream, to be happy…"
"To dream with a certain Wish Janet Lucas, isn't it, Brennan Jones?" Marco provokes him.
"Yeah…" he answers and teases back, "luckily I have left the other Lucas lady free for you, isn't it Marco Gepetto?"
"Oh, my…" Moe starts to laugh. "What about you, Jack, the Wish Apprentice? Dreaming of Johanna, the Wish Maid, perhaps?"
"Don't worry, Moe French, she is a lovely lady, I'm really fond of her and of her delicious cakes but she is free for you…and for your flowers!!" Jack counter attacks and they end up laughing out loud, teasing each other like kids.
"Must be the effect of the Alignment…" Gepetto suggests giggling. "After all, since we are in a toy story, the Here and Now might have aligned us with the frequencies of childhood joy..."
Chinese Village, Dragon's Herbarium
The Dragon woke up inspired. Sleeping in his town house gave him insights for developing a formula to collectively disconnect the clones from their correspondent original bodies incorporating some improvements to Rumple's formula. He started to work on it as soon as he came back from his morning flight, despite feeling a weird feeling of being spied on.
Nevertheless, he kept working diligently but, after a while, Aladdin's message alerting everybody about 4 evil flyer humans, possibly camouflaged by an invisibility spell, switched on all his senses.
...
("They are here... "), he thinks conclusively, sensing a silent breath, at his back, in a constant but discreet movement close to the windows. But he continues to work seemingly as if not knowing about his companions' presence.
...
("Maybe they want me to develop a formula to steal it later... But they don't know what I'm developing, this means they are just spying to see if it's worth stealing it… but they would continue not knowing... unless I spoke something, giving them a lead…")
"If things happens as I expect them to," he whispers loud enough to be heard but low enough to sound as if talking to himself, "we will be able to separate simultaneously lots of clones from their correspondent bodies, provided that we capture all rebel souls out there first."
…
He keeps working, concentrated, mixing herbs and other ingredients, always sensing the silent presence of the spies..
("I could try to trap them… no, they have proven to be too quick, two Pans with powerful magic… perhaps if I change to Dragon… but no, there are two Cruellas now, I'm not sure if the amulet would resist their power combined…”)
...
("I need to gain time and call for help. But how?" )
...
When his potion is practically done he picks up his phone while filtering the liquid into a spray bottle.
"Chynna? I need your help. There is one ingredient in my Lab in the castle that is missing here. I just need it to finish the formula for breaking the clone connection collectively. I need you to bring it here, it is in a bottle with the following label: 立即为您带来帮助，这是看不见的敌人。"
In less than ten minutes Chyna appeared with a bottle of water. Outside the lab, David, Aunt Em, Liam and Lancelot covered both Killians and both Emmas' back while they entered the store through the front door and headed for the lab at the back of the store.
"Hello! Anybody home?" Emma called.
"I'm going!" Jiao-long replied, discreetly positioning in stance attack.
It all happened too fast. One of the Pans shouted to the other, "Watch out, it's a trap!" and one of them threw a bolt of lightning that would hit Chynna but Jiao-long threw himself in front of her and fell severely wounded, not without first spraying a substance towards the window where the 4 evil beings were.
Aunt Em and the two Emmas entered by throwing lightning randomly in all directions but the 4 demons managed to escape through the back window while Chynna, kneeling down, screamed at her father.
...
"He's not breathing," Emm warns, examining Jiao-long's neck.
"He's not dead," Chyna explains. "He has been almost mortally wounded before, and survived. The witness of that, Emma's friend August, probably doesn't remember it because he reverted to his child self afterwards, but once my father told me how it happened, and what he did. I think I can accelerate his regeneration if I manage to transform him into Dragon, I'll try..."
"Should we call Alice?" Aunt Em asks.
"No need, thanks," Chynna replies, already holding the shape-shifted dragon's head in her lap. She makes him drink a tonic and that helps him strengthen himself as long as he remains dragon for a few hours - that's what happened years ago in Hong Kong when August thought Tamara had killed him. He almost died but managed to survive by morphing to dragon.
"We lost them again," Killiam tells Key, upset.
"My father is saying that perhaps that's not exactly the case," Chynna comforts them, explaining that the Dragon is able to channeling messages to her. "He thinks he has impregnated our enemies with a localization spell which they cannot take off with a bath, only he knows the antidote. That's what he had been preparing since he found out they were spying on him - we have to thank Aladdin and Iago for this one, really…"
Pointing to a pile of papers, Chynna continues. "Look there, on the table, there's a map of the United Realms. Father says you should spray it with the same substance in the flask here, on the floor. You will know if he hit them with the spray if you see 4 moving points on the map: they indicate their locations."
"Now you rest, Father. Here, hold on me, I'll puff us to our castle." Turning to David, Chynna asks if her father's aim was accurate.
"Hit all. It's working," Lancelot informs her.
"We see them, 4 points moving fast; they are heading to their castle in the Enchanted Mountains," David says, "it's time for us to gather our army, as planned," he nods to Lancelot.
"Then we have our lead," Liam remarks, sending telepathic waves of reassurance to Milah, elsewhere, "meet us in the base" he tells her in thought.
"We just need to wait for the North Wind to blow wildly now," Emma takes Killian's hand and squeezes it with bravery, he nods back at her.
"Let's go, love," Key whispers in Emm's ears, embracing her protectively while Liam and Aunt Em prepare to puff them all to their base, in Arendelle.
Enchanted Forest
In the aftermath, the harmony brought by the Alignment Ceremony translates into many positive behaviors, inclusive the fluidity with which everyone is acting in every corner of the enchanted lands. Everywhere and in everyone the Warrior spirit has been awakened under the flag of Peace & Justice fluttering in the Spirit World, stage where the true confront between Good and Evil is fought.
Warriors in their own battle fields, in less than one hour Chynna and Mal prepared the real potion formulated by Jiao-long to collectively break the connection between clones and original bodies. Adapted from Rumple's formula, the new spell is supposed to freeze in large scale the clones with a technique simpler than the one used to keep Wish Robin's clone alive. Even though meaning that the clones won't be an automatic backup body for alive beings anymore - as intended in ancient times - the rebel souls won't be able to count on the 'one-soul-for-one-soul' rule anymore. If it works as expected, after the battle to come hopefully with a victory, all links will be more quickly cut thus liberating all clones to be collectively disintegrated.
"We should test the formula before the battle," Chynna tells Mal. "I guess we'll need to ask Zorro and Archie to operate the teleport center again… oh, look! A new message from Jasmine… She says that Iago has volunteered to replace my father in the Soul-Capture Operation."
"This is great news! Reply thanking them, accepting his kind offer - tell them that Lily and I will meet Iago in Agrabah to explain the procedure," Mal celebrates. "His offer couldn't come at a better time, Chynna - we still have places to ‘clean’ before joining the supporting army in the Enchanted Mountains. The capture technique needed the third flying element to coordinate the aerial action with three people operating the traps, at ground level… Regarding Archie and Zorro replacing you, that can be easily sorted out. Lily, Archie and Pongo have just arrived from Storybrooke and last time I saw Zorro he was reading online news in our chamber. I'll talk to them and, in the meantime, find an already cleaned shelter of clones before joining the collective meditation."
"Mal," Chynna stops her, "keep in mind that in few hours my father will be completely recovered - you will need him, not Iago, to fly over Wish Rumple's castle for capturing rebel souls hiding in there. I suspect that most of them might be concentrated in that area. So, once our forces manage to break the fortress' magic dome, you will be allowed to fly over there. For now… be careful and good luck!"
"Thanks! We count on your father, Chynna, we need him. Iago knows that, too, I'm sure… You take care too!"
"I still haven't figured out where this new spell will be tested…" she says holding the spray. "There is almost one hundred isolated houses and castles with hibernating clones," Chynna wonders.
"You should choose a small one,” Mal suggests. “Look, I gotta talk to Lily, Archie and Zorro and then... fly to Agrabah!"
...
"Hmm… I got an idea!" Chynna snaps her fingers. "Perhaps the Fairies can help me to select the small shelter or maybe... even better! Cindy! she usually has all the data and statistics mapped in spreadsheets. I'll call her."
…
The last thing John Little and his wife, Flòraidh, wanted to hear when their cabin in the woods was taken over by 15 hibernating clones was a coaching-TED talk about learning and gaining from losses by just looking on the bright side of them and their daughter, Caitlin, being alive and healthy, as if that's all that mattered - especially for those, like them, who had been used to sleeping in makeshift homes in the trees for years.
"Of course it matters that we are alive after all, but nothing and no one has the right to stop me from being too pissed off!!!" he raged for hours.
Many hours of mumbling and cursing later, Little John finally managed to really feel relief and gratitude that his small family was alive and safe, comfortably accommodated in the house of their friends Will and Norah Scarlet.
"Look, our Dùghlas and your Caitlin will soon head to their shelter but as our ages range from 40 to 45, pretty much all of us are out of the priority shelter groups," Will pondered with his good pals. "I'm telling what we are going to do: we have just received a call for volunteer enlistment to work as Shelter Guardians. Norah and I are considering presenting ourselves to this service. You and Flòraidh could be Guardians too, perhaps... who knows, Guardians of your own house. What do you think? You said the 15 clones are in the guest room and in Caitlin's bedroom. If you isolate the two rooms, perhaps you could stay in your own house... what do you think?"
…
"They gave us the rubber clothes, the masks, the gloves... and this amulet hanging around our necks," John Little talks to Chynna on the porch of his house. "The amulet must touch whom we give permission to enter, otherwise the locking spell blocks the person from entering. Come closer so I can touch you with the charm... Right, that it is... now you may come in. You arrived in a good time, lunch is practically ready."
...
"You were lucky in choosing our house, Chynna, it will be easy to run your test here," Flòraidh says, "you see, we've been trying to pretend that the clones are not here and just live our lives as normally as we can, given the circumstances, with our daughter in a shelter and only talking to us using the electronic devices. Despite all that, we are managing to cope… I confess that we rarely wear our rubber clothes, that's not necessary, really, unless we have to go to the forbidden rooms, which we never do. Actually, except out of curiosity, we went there just once, to see if we recognized any of them. In the guest room we saw the clone of a baby and another one of a little boy - none of them we knew. But next to them we recognized the clones of the two She-wolves, my Johnny friends' Red and Wish Red. We also saw a few peasants we have seen before but don't know their names. Now, the greatest surprises we found in our Caitlin's room: the three Reginas side by side. When we thought we had seen it all, imagine what was not our surprise when we realized that half fallen sideways and with their faces a little turned to the wall, two brothers Jones were also here!! That's right, the copies of Killian Jones and Wish Killian Jones are hibernating in our daughter's room with their arm stumps and all!! I almost gave up on staying in the house after seeing 15 bodies seemingly asleep, breathing but soulless: too creepy for my taste, but Johnny and I are practical people, few things scare us and we concluded that it makes no difference whether or not we are close to them. We've all been cloned here or there or in the Enchanted Archipelago - wherever, we all have clones, every single damn body has. So we relaxed and decided to stay..."
"Excellent, Flòraidh," Chynna replies in awe, "I think I really came to the right place. Look, the test we'll run has two purposes: first, to see if we can break the connection clone-original body using a new approach. For that we spray the magic potion on all clones at once. The collective effect of using this spray is what is under test because we already know that the separation based on Rumple's potion doesn't kill the original bodies. Therefore, those corresponding 15 people will be absolutely safe. Rumple's technique has been successfully tested by our enemies and also by us, with the clone of a guy named Felix: it works. The second - and most important - purpose is to test if the clones will continue to hibernate after the connection is collectively broken, we don't want them to die for now, only when all of this is really over."
"I see… Very clever, it's a backup plan," John Little remarks.
"Exactly," Chynna confirms. "A simpler technique with a wider reach since a more complex technique has already been successfully used to freeze Wish Robin Hood's clone. We hope that his clone will host your friend's soul."
"Oh, Robin Hood... my brother! I miss him so much," John Little sighs with melancholy.
"I'm hopeful that he'll be back soon, and you should believe on that too, John. Now we need to move forward. What was done with Wish Robin's clone was a pioneer, really delicate and well succeeded experiment. But we need to perform this new test because there are hundreds of thousands of clones out there. What my father did was to develop a simpler method to achieve the same result with a collective approach instead of using a one-to-one basis."
"Then, what are we waiting for?" He stands up already wearing his rubber clothes. "Let's do it before the wind carries the cabin with us and the clones inside. Look outside, suddenly and apparently out of nowhere all the leaves are swirling in the air like spirals of colorful confetti! It would be beautiful if it wasn't scary..."
"The north wind blowing wildly..." Chynna murmurs thoughtfully.
"These are our inner and outer calls guys, this means we must run our test asap," Flòraidh heads in action mode, already all covered and protected, to the forbidden rooms, "because soon we are the ones going to kind of hibernate, all of us in all United Realms, in concentration, vibrating in resonance. You, Chynna, won't have time to puff to your house, you better stay with us..."
Enchanted Mountains, Overground and Underground
From above, the fluffy white clouds against the blue sky - privileged first-class passengers fluttering in the wind, witnessed on the snow-capped mountain six people, wearing location-potion sprinkled coats, preparing to become six moving points on a map held by David in a nearby camping. Following Killian and Key’s advice, they decided to also use the localization spray, recently developed by Jiao-long, as an extra-precaution to assure the gps-like operation also provided by the magic runes.
Kristoff guided the travelers until the Underground entrance, where he gave to them the four enchanted runes and returned to their HeadQuarters in the closest mountain. They travel together but in individual kayaks, magically brought by Emma and Emm as soon as they arrived at the cave, because the canals are too narrow and tortuous in some intersections and only hold small 1-passenger boats. The four runes are aimed to orientate and illuminate the path for the two Killians and two Emmas, the ones holding them. The crossing of the underpass labyrinth of rivers towards Wish Rumple’s castle would remain a scrambled mesh for Liam and Milah weren’t they Gods’ Emissaries – the spiritual connection with their Patrons provides them a vision ability and guidance similar to the runes’ magic, which guarantees that all will be able to find a path to their destination if any unexpected event separates them. Due to the runes, four of them carry a surface map magically indicating their corresponding position over there and how far or close their target is.
...
The beginning of the crossing was subtly tense and marked by a heavy silence, contrasting with the cold but light breeze blowing more and more gently from the mouth of the cave as it got lost in the distance with each stroke of the kayaks: with its mysteries and unknown depths, the bowels of the mountain were opening to swallow the six travelers.
They entered the canals in line, following an order whose definition sparked an almost heated debate before converging on the lineup adopted: Emma, Milah, Killian, Emm, Key, and Liam. Liam insisted on getting to the end of the line with the argument of being immortal and thus less vulnerable to attacks from behind. In the same line of reasoning, Milah wanted to position herself ahead, but after some debate she agreed to go second convinced by Emma saying that, because of her intensive lightning strike training, she would be able to respond more quickly to any frontal attack. Emm agreed to go in the fourth position, ensuring the continuity of the string based on the same justification, ie her ability to strike powerful lightning. The two Killians, with their natural leadership manifesting in full mode, wanted to go in the front and back ends arguing that they were carrying powerful laser guns developed by Nemo, but they finally gave in to their older brother's appeals and agreed with their formation, which included Liam with his lightnings in the back end.
And there they go.
Although possessing such strong offensive resources, their stance is basically more defensive and they do not intend to use it during the crossing so as not to risk causing some cave-in collapse - "only if really necessary we will respond offensively to attacks," Key reminds them.
Were they in a more advanced stage of winter, say around January-February, the rivers and lakes surfaces would probably be a frozen white expanse with lake shore cliffs forming a crimson border to the landscape. But in the almost November the kayakers still float in cold waters exploring the canals and caves' deepest recesses while listening to the murmur of water against rock.
"This place is full of rebel souls," Milah alerts them in a whisper and Emma whispers back without losing her focus on their course, "I was with this weird feeling of us being followed and wondered what it would be… can you sense them too?"
"I can. Actually, technically Persephone sees them through my eyes; they are not visible to the naked eye, not even to yours or Killians' keen gaze…"
"We all sense them, I suppose," Killian confirms from behind feeling the ghosts' companion.
"That's sinister… What could they do against us?" Emm murmurs.
"Watch out, love!" Key promptly bumps into Emm's kayak for pushing it slightly sideways, saving her from being hit by a needle like icicle.
"There you have your answer, Emm," Liam whispers, attentive, from behind, "they can use their infernal vibration to loosen the ice spears against us. We become more vulnerable when we fear them - they want to harm us and we can't change their freewill but we can defend ourselves, for instance, by activating a kind of shield around us. The problem is that we are in movement, the protection would have to be trickier…" he silences, putting his mind to work thinking on an ingenious solution to the challenge.
"We must double our attention then because I see, with Persephone's help, a rough horde of lost souls made up of serial killers, thieves, ruthless deserters, perverts, drug-dealers, black-hearted gamblers, a large group of souls carrying a multitude of sins." Milah explains. "They want us to fear them for what they are but actually they are the ones that should be afraid of us for what we are."
"Concentrate on the Love connecting us, mates, and on the light coming out of runes and Gods which are only seen by our eyes," Killian recommends.
"Exactly, little brother, this is the only way for us to build up our shield: we must vibrate in the frequencies of Light!"
"Yeah… Focus on the Light and on the lights guaranteeing our lineup..." Emma commands. "I see an intricate junction ahead, let's remain together."
...
The crossing proceeds without any other incident, the more they travel, the calmer they feel. The more they breath their Love, the more waves of Love they receive coming from everywhere in the United Realms, renewing their confidence and hope, restoring their faith. Despite the discomfort of the situation, the place is mysteriously beautiful with a succession of narrow passages and mysterious caves resembling a fairyland of needle like icicles where dreamy formations change from chamber to chamber.
In fact, like in a dream their minds float impulsed by their heartbeat pulsating rhythmically in sync with the rising and falling oars splashing in the crystal water. Abstracting from everything but the physical plane they are in, with nothing but rocks and water surrounding them, they gradually enter the depths of their souls in a spiritual plane where they get the closest to resonate as One as they could. With their thoughts thus aligned and synchronized, a protective shield is magically built around them, isolating and allowing the six to communicate telepathically - a real throwback to the evil souls trying to break their emotional resistance.
...
(Emma) "I wish we could talk in thought… only the six of us…"
(Milah)(Killian)(Emm)(Key)(Liam) (all simultaneously) "I can hear you, Emma!" "I hear you, love!" "Wish granted, sis!" "Brother-in-law presenting to talk!" "Aye, I wish the same…"
(Emma) "This is amazing!"
(Milah)(Killian)(Emm)(Key)(Liam) (in sequence) "I'm loving this new development!" "Aye, fantastic feeling!" "It's so incredible!" "I could be used to it!" "Welcome aboard the telepathy world, mates!"
After absorbing the novelty, they continue the journey in a more relaxed way, six points in David's map getting close to the fields near the castle gates.
(Emm) "Our fathers might be already in march with the army of Warriors, Emma."
(Milah) "They are following us. Our connection, I mean Liam's and mine, with the other Emissaries is weaker here, we haven't managed to reach out with our thoughts, but we can hear bits and pieces of their mental talk, they are practically above us."
(Killian) "Perhaps our shield and some rock formations block your thoughts to go up, I've been taking mental notes on the intricacies of these canals' design… "
(Key) "I suppose their path up there is more straightforward and for this reason they are able to follow us closely despite having started their journey with a delay. It's something like we zigzag crossing the catheters while they keep jumping from one hypotenuse to another…"
(Liam) (mental chuckle) "Always a Math mind, these Little Brothers of mine…"
(Emma) "The difference is that our zigzag path will end beyond the gate while they will be stuck outside waiting for Liam and Milah to break the spell."
(Liam) (noise of paper unfolding) "I'm checking on my map, we are not too far from our final 'port'. Less than 1 mile in a straight line of one of that hypotenuse of yours, Key…"
(Killian) "We could shant to pass the time… "
(Key) "Great idea! But we should choose one known by everyone… Emm, Emma, do you remember that dinner in the loft, before it all started, when Killian and I sang to you a sea shanty?"
(Emm) "Sure, we went to the mezzanine and I played the guitar while you shanted one of the songs the sailors used to sing on board - we all ended up shanting with you!"
(Liam) "Considering your ladies, I hope you have chosen wisely your repertoire, brothers…"
(Milah) (mental giggles) "I've learned some spicy ones during my time on the Jolly Roger…"
(Emma) "Don't worry, Liam, Hope was 'on board'... I remember the lyrics and the melody, though I have no idea how to sing mentally..."
(Emm) "We'll have to try to see how it works."
(Liam) "Which one?…"
(Killian) "The Pirate Shanty, I guess Milah knows it, what about you, Liam?"
(Liam) "Count me in, Captain!"
(Emma) " Ok, I go first, I suppose, then… 𝄢♫ I am not a pirate, but I long to be,"
(Milah) "𝄞♫ Sailing by the stars across the seven seas ,"
(Killian) "𝄢♫ Living with no earthly cares, my mates and me,"
(Emm) "𝄞♫ The envy of all worldly men, who are not free."
(they whistle in thought, as their hearts beat in perfect sync with imaginary drums coming from thousands of aligned hearts, pulsing together)
𝄞 ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
(Key) "𝄢♫ A song to sing for beggars, a song to sing for saints,"
(Liam) "𝄞♫ A song to sing for wealthy men all wrapped and bound in chains!"
(Emma) "𝄢♫ Our treasure's not in gold, or in our piety."
(Milah) "𝄞♫ Our wealth is in an answered call, the longing of the sea!"
(Killian) "𝄢♫ Stormy oceans carry us to lands we've never known,"
(Emm) "𝄞♫ To mysteries and buried secrets from the tales of old."
(Key) "𝄢♫ So hoist the sail and raise the flag,"
(Liam) "𝄞♫ We do not stop for the night."
(Emma) "𝄢♫ We'll ride the wild winds and waves until the morning's light!"
(Milah) "𝄞♫ In smuggler's caves and tavern halls, we live by no man's rules."
(Killian) "𝄢♫ We fly the colors of the living, free and proud and true!"
(Emm) "𝄞♫ We set out on the ocean blue to escape tyranny."
(Key) "𝄢♫ We'll keep our merry hearts alive so long we roam the sea-a-a."
(Liam) "𝄞♫ A man once walked along the shore,"
(Emma) "𝄢♫ And called he out to me,"
(Milah) "𝄞♫ I-see you are a fisherman, a lover of the sea."
(Killian) "𝄢♫ I know this world's a wretched place,"
(Emm) "𝄞♫ But if you'll follow me"
(Key) "𝄢♫ I'll take all of your burdens..."
(Liam) "𝄞♫ And pirates we shall be!"
(Altogether) "𝄢♫ Yo-ho, yo-ho! ♫
𝄞♫ Yo-ho, yo-ho! ♫
𝄢 ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ..."
(...The pirates shanty ...)
Wish Cruella drags her thumb slowly over Pan's cheek, hearing his sharp inhale of breath at her touch. That's his clue for her to engage in another round of their sensual dance of bodies that inevitably will drive them to more rubbing, licking, sucking, hitting, screaming, and violent fucking. For the last days, the two have been getting as intimate, as a couple, as Wish Pan has with Cruella, in a bizarre swing game. When not in a group sex or in their original pairings, they've been switching pairs since they learned that the more wildly perverted their orgies are, sometimes with incestuous intercourse or even ritual with animals' and plants' sacrifice, the more potentiated their dark powers become. They won't stop their fuckery for nothing now until the arrival of their enemies - this is their way to prepare for the battle they know is coming.
Their more recent developments are related to the ability to communicate without spoken words, a tacit understanding of each other's thoughts, an anticipation of each other's reasoning, an exploration and deep knowledge of each other's bodies and sensations. Deep down, they are just one side of two forces in eternal confrontation. Deep down, good and evil, light and darkness... are always fighting each other and the two Pans and two Cruellas might be dangerous beasts but are far from ranking in the highest positions of the largest scales of Evil. For the forces contrary to the Laws of Harmony and Universal Order, they are just miserable paws, mere disposable instruments in a fight that is not even theirs.
No matter how tortuous their path into madness and cruelty until being reunited at Wish Rumple's Castle Battle may have been, here they are, four bodies occupied by four sick, deeply sick, souls. And no matter how old and sick their souls may be, they are learning to take full advantage of their bodies, no matter how old or young they might be. In fact, years in unfrozen-time non-cursed lands led Wish Pan and Wish Cruella to age a reasonable bit, which means their clones have also aged - and doing so by keeping a gap between them. As a consequence, a 20 years gap separates the two men's bodies from the two women's bodies. However, for their best interest, the difference ended up being a fortunate asset: the men's youth translated into more vitality for their almost nonstop sexual activities, which they engage every single time they are not working on other diabolic plans.
The two 24-yo men and the two 42-yo women are up to everything for fighting and winning those who try to prevent their objective to be achieved - and getting to the Olympus and becoming immortal gods and goddesses still is their goal.
...
"Those incompetent souls in the canals are losing their best chance for getting a clone to live in... look at these pathetic six faces in their kayaks, six fucking idiots crossing our canals, their happy faces are disgusting," Pan watches the heroes' journey through W. Rumple's old crystal ball.
"They think they have everything figured out and that we are sitting here waiting for their arrival and then to be defeated by their brave army of fucking idiots, argh. What a good old crystal ball can't do for us, isn't it? Watching them is much better than a reality show on live TV but they are pathetic losers and I have a better thing to do!" W. Cruella, standing up naked from her armchair, turns her head to voluptuously kiss an also naked Cruella, who was looking at her with glassy eyes while licking her upper lip languidly. "Come here, sister," W. Cruella whispers seductive stroking Cruella's nipples.
As the two Cruellas make out on their way to the couch, indifferent to them W. Pan checks the cauldron where he is preparing a new protection spell that will be used as soon as Liam and Milah break the one that isolates the castle nearby fields. "They rebuild the bridges and we destroy them again, ha! As soon as their army goes through the unblocked dome and into the castle courtyard, we create a new dome with this new spell, only this time they won't be able to get out. Since the castle is protected to block their entrance, they will be trapped in the yard without going forward or back, the perfect trap!!"
“I haven't figured out yet a way to block the two Killians and the two Emmas from entering the castle. At least according to Wish Rumple’s crystal seer it seems that the block doesn’t work with them,” Pan tells his brother in thought.
“Let them in, I don't care, we will kill them all anyway - imagine the extra power we will get with their blood, after having killed the four of them…” Wish Pan anticipates with glazed red eyes, “we will be able to cross the gateway to Olympus!”
"Remember that the "h.e.r.o.e.s" - bleagh - created a new Fountain connection; we will have an extra work to break this new one," W. Pan reminds him. "We just need to get rid of this battle first because the ritualistic spell to break the connection requires time to be prepared..."
"Enough of telepathic talk, Darlings!!" Cruella starts to scream with pleasure as W. Cruella kneels to lick her clit. "I need a good fuck with shouts and whispers of crazy pleasure, for a change... yes, yes, fucking yes, my Darling sister... hmmn, lick me... yes! Suck me all... YYYYEEEESSSSS!!!!!” She gasps and pants quickly, “here, now your turn, my Wishy... let me suck your clit too, ahnn… And you two over there," she turns to the two Pans before sticking her face between her sister's trembling legs, "Pans, Darlings, finish these fucking spells soon because these two women here are too hot and too wet waiting for you to be fucked senseless over and over! And here I go!!"
"Ahmmm, yes... what a deliciously soft, so wet, languid... warm tongue you have... I'm sooo turned on... lick me hard sis... fucking yes!…" W. Cruella starts to moan and pant.
"You'll have to wait a little bit, Cruellas, you two got real competition… a much better feast, new flesh... much younger than yours, is coming and I prefer to watch them!" W. Pan says with a malicious smile, calling Pan's attention, "look Pan, those other idiots on the mountain, they are bringing two goddamn Felixes for us… Two fucking deliciously fuckable - majestic as two immortal gods - our Felixes coming for us! Can you believe that? We are two lucky bastards! The Wish one will be mine first, just saying… I want him too badly..." He gasps with pelvic back and forward movements that soon translate into a hard erection.
"Yeah… I see them." Pan approaches salivating and starting to masturbate while watching the army nearing the castle. "Man, look at them, they look fucking glorious... It's really them... I miss my Felix, now that I’m looking at them I realize how much I have missed my Felix, I guess mine is the one on the left... he looks too fuckable and I'll be here too ready and too hard waiting for him..."
"What the fuck are you doing?" "What the fuck have you two just said?"
The sisters stop abruptly their incestuous game and rage to where the brothers, intoxicated by excitement and desire, are.
"Enough!" "How dare you?" The women shout at once and throw themselves over the crystal ball to block and prevent the images of the two Felixes from being displayed. In the confusion, with the two Pans trying to stop them, the ball falls and breaks.
"No, no, NOOOO!!!" They all shout in horror.
The chaos that follows is a crude spectacle of slaps, bites, beatings, and curse words, gradually evolving into a four-sado-masochistic session.
The return of the cold breeze, this time intensifying with each row of the kayaks, announces the end of the journey in the underground labyrinth. In fact, soon the other mouth of the cave, the exit of the maze, becomes visible to the watchful eyes of the six travelers. They have reached the castle's fields, they are within the almost impenetrable and invisible domed shield!!
(Emma) "The river is frozen here, we can't keep rowing…"
(Killian) "We can walk, love…" Killian approaches her from behind, already on his feet. "Are you alright, Emma?"
(Emma) "Yeah… better now," she answers hugging him while stepping out of her kayak with his help.
…
(Emm) "Milah, are you still seeing those rebel souls? I'm not sensing them anymore… "
(Milah) "That's because they aren't here."
(Key) "This means that three dragons flying and three people at ground level in a triangle formation surrounding the mountain of the underground canals will be able to capture them all…"
(Liam) "You mean soon after Milah and I break the invisible dome's shield."
(Emma) "Meanwhile the four of us will enter the castle, is that right?…"
(Key) (noise of taking a roll of paper from his coat pocket) "According to Jiao-long's map, aye, we must head towards the castle, the four of them are in there…"
(Killian) (noise of taking, and opening, a bottle of rum from his coat pocket) "We need rum…"
They all pass the flask and share the drink, including Emm, after receiving the approval of Key for only a small, symbolic little sip, " the babies will understand that their Mama is preparing to fight for everybody's life, and it's just a small tiny little drop of rum to not pass her in blank, after all..."
(Liam) "Hey mates, look on the right! There they are, our army of Emissaries, Dragons, Warriors, Wizards, Shamans, She-wolves, Witches and the two Felixes... so close yet so far."
(Milah) "Not for too long, I hope."
(Liam) "And there is the main target, Rumple's castle, on the left. That is it. Here we split our ways, brothers and sisters but we will meet you soon. Let’s get over it, we know what we have to do, let’s do what we came here for!"
(Milah) "Exactly, we have a wedding to attend tomorrow, after all!! And remember, the Olympus' oracles never missed a prophecy and they predicted our victory!"
(Liam) "Good luck you four, stay together because your frequencies combined will unlock the last barrier, ie the castle’s protection spell!"
(Emma)(Killian)(Emm)(Key) (in unison) “We will… Good luck you two!”
(Emma)(Milah)(Killian)(Emm)(Key)(Liam) (all at once) "Light, Peace and Love!!"
This way, heading for the battle between the forces of Good and Evil, the two groups walk their paths with hope of being the Heaven and Earth's winners and peacemakers emerging, aiming at surviving the events necessary for the Dawn of a New Age.
...
After they set up camp following Kristoff's return from the cave entrance, the so-called Peace Warriors' Army started to move in magical leaps to the vicinity of Wish Rumple’s Castle. For this fast transportation magic practitioners abounded among them, and their goal was not to take part in a tourist exploration as those that Anna and Kristoff plan to promote in the area, they simply tracked in straight ground lines the tortuous displacement undertaken by the six travelers in the underground mazes. At the head of 72 people are those with family ties to the canals' travelers: grandmother (Ruth), parents (David, Snow, Wish David, Wish Snow, Alice and Brennan), siblings (Senior and Junior) and children (Henry, Alice and Wish Henry), followed by the other emissaries (Rumple, Belle, Aunt Em, Aesop, Marian, Merlin, Ingrid, Fergus, Midas, and Farah), friends with magical powers (Gideon, Elsa, Ursula, Wish Regina, Split Regina, Zelena, Tink, Wish Tink, Jiao-long, Maleficent, Lily, Drizella, Fenella, Red, Wish Red and the five Shamans), and friends with fighting and intellectual abilities (Lancelot, Sir Morgan, Nemo, Kristoff, Wish Pinocchio, Wish Robin, Dartagnan, Arthos, Wish Jefferson, Zorro, Chad, Robyn, Tiana, Naveen, Frederick, Eric, Phillip, Smee, Wish Smee, Bill Wyatt, Aladdin, Hadi, Merida, Mulan, Lord Macintosh, Wish Mulan, Dorothy and Archie), as well as Felix and Wish Felix.
In Arendelle, under the care of adults related to those in the front (among them Regina, Gepetto, Granny, Wish Granny, Jasmine, Sherazade - with baby Rahim, Anna, Cindy, Violet, Wish Priscilla, Grace, Abigail, Aurora, Ariel, and Wish Ariel), the children and teens closely associated with the Warriors of Peace and their Army (among them Hope - and her inseparable companions Luna and Missy, Neal, Lucy, Coralline, Roland, Wish Grace, Anastasia, August, Adhara and Ammena) stayed in special concentration.
...
"I bring bad and good news," approaching the front group, Rumple gets close to Wish Snow as if to remind her about her connection with Zeus. "Some gods are getting stronger, now that their Fountain is back and they can drink its water, especially Zeus and Poseidon. They are not able to come to Earth yet because they haven't recovered their immortality, but their connection with us is stronger now."
"Exactly! I'm feeling it!" W. Snow exclaims. "I was so absorbed and worried about my daughter that I was blocking the link, thanks Rumple!"
"It seems," Rumple nods at W. Snow and continues, "that the Pans and Cruellas let their guard down for a little bit and were destabilized long enough for the Gods to watch flashes of them. Until quite recently, their activities were perfectly synchronized and in tune - at negative but aligned frequencies - in nonstop orgies and perversions. That resulted in an exceptional increase in their demonic powers and the gods were completely blocked to see anything going on in their castle. But a couple of minutes ago a breach was opened and the Olympians could watch the four beasts wrestling and fighting violently. The trigger? Jealousy. The bad news is that all along they have been using a crystal ball that allowed them to be aware of all our plans. The good news is that the ball has just broken. The reason? Well, the Pans saw that the Felixes are on their way to the castle and began masturbating in anticipation of the reunion with their former lovers. The jealous Cruellas tried to prevent them from using the crystal ball and in the confusion it broke."
"For Heaven's sake" David murmurs, "Killian and Key were right about the importance of each Felix on each Pan's life…"
"The Felixes hate them now, though," Snow remembers, "both were betrayed by the Pans: one was murdered by Pan, the other was luckier to escape alive but was abandoned, to perish till death in a desert island, by Wish Pan…"
"Just for the crystal ball outcome," Belle enters the conversation, "the presence of the Felixes here with us has already paid the effort for bringing them. Even if they don't do anything else, what they did by simply standing here and being seen by the Pans has already been worth it!"
"Guys, look!" Ruth calls them pointing to their left, "Milah and Liam are using magic to pierce the invisible shield that blocks our entry!"
"They are contacting us," Wish David tells the group, "they are saying that the two Killians and two Emmas are about to enter the castle!"
"We could try to help those two from the outside!" Wish Regina suggests, "look at us, together we are a nuclear weapon of magic!"
"We can't because that would increase incredibly the shield strength," Merlin explains, "the invisible dome is fed by magic coming from its outside, the only way to weaken it is from inside but only at a few particular junctions of its structure. Liam and Milah will have to test their rays in a number of places to figure out where these points are located - technically its has been designed on a Sacred Geometry base. Liam is being guided by our best specialist on this subject not to mention his inner and natural push - his connection with the two brothers heading to the castle is his strongest motivation."
"It is, it is…" Alice squeezes Snow's hands, in reassurance.
"This is amazing," Nemo murmurs to Ursula, "they are using a Platonic Solids' concept..."
"They are, indeed," Midas, hearing him, winks at them.
"And once we overcome the dome," David proceeds reminding them, "the chances that we will meet a second barrier, ie the castle's protection spell, are high. Not to mention that we suspect that (1), there will be traps and rebel souls in the courtyard trying to stop us and (2) once in the castle there will be hibernating clones in some sectors of it - and the map with the four localization points is with Key, we will have to be extra careful to not bump into any clone."
"Being more pragmatic, what could the rebel souls do against us?" Chad asks Zelena.
"If I were a rebel soul..." Zelena tries to think under their perspective, "I would try to scare and destabilize us inducing negative feelings, whispering intriguing gossips, planting evil thoughts, seeking psychic crevices to penetrate... "
"That's right, Zelena, their field of action is psychic and they can act on our fears and other weaknesses," Ruth confirms, "our shield against them must be built upon our virtues. We must always vibrate in the Light, remember that they are Dark beings, they cannot stand the Light for too long."
"And don't underestimate the number 4," Merlin warns.
"Yes," Ingrid agrees, "the four beings incarnated as Pans and Cruellas have worked hard on practices of sexual perversion that has enhanced their evilness power to a maximum level, even the Cruellas have gone beyond the control of animals: they can now become invisible and perhaps even manipulate some elements such as Fire and Air, including throwing lightning balls if what some of us have sensed is true. Our fight is more than against four beings and a group of rebel souls, it against the Evil Forces, and they are focusing intensely on these four."
"We must be aware and not follow tricky thoughts who claims to be of light but, deep down, are of darkness or contrary to the true principles of Good," Marian speaks.
"This." W. Snow speaks channeling Zeus, "believe us, Evil has existed for a very long time and has perverted zillions of human beings who get involved in their own reality. You may argue - as many before you have, that Evil per-se does not exist, but the fact is that it does exist in the form of wars, hatreds, violence, drugs, thefts, crimes, attacks on nature, slaughter of animals, etc., etc. Those who are attentive should follow only the inner voice that speaks to their heart and not be deceived or seduced by words or talks that do not fight evil, that divide people creating conflicts and dissent. Each one of us must be loyal to our inner truth; we do have free choice to depart from the danger and tricks of the Enemy that casts chaos and confusion."
"This is really tricky," Nemo remarks, after everybody's silence to absorb Zeus' words, "nowadays the word Freedom is increasingly being used for Iniquity itself and in its name the crowds are perverted where many people already accept everything as 'normal' and call evil good and good evil, confusing right and wrong, forgetting fundamental values and principles transmitted in the past."
"No doubt about that," Rumple agrees, "the same goes for the word Democracy, also no longer with that initial glorious meaning forged in ancient Greece that would be to create good, justice and equality, but with another one where everything finally fits, even corruption and hypocrisy, in especial in some agendas and some social (dominant) classes of the Land without Magic".
"About this," Belle and Aunt Em come forward to speak, "in the best examples of real Democracy, the principles of Authority, Order and Discipline are respected and taken seriously. We must now pause the Philosophy and get into more practical issues we have at hand."
With a gesture, Aunt Em brings a large easel with a detailed plan of the area covered by the invisible dome, the area of the gardens outside the castle and the castle itself. "Our four Peace Warriors have been instructed by me to open as many windows as possible once they enter the castle, the two Emmas can easily do this with magic. The windows will be the way out for rebellious souls maddened by the devices that the three dragons, Tink, Wish Tink and Merlin will carry on their necks as they fly over the castle in ascending spiral. At this point, positioned on the vertices of two triangles to form a 6-pointed star, 6 people will manipulate the cages that will trap the souls. In parallel, flying over the Underground-Channel Mountain, Midas, Aesop, Marian, Farah, Ingrid, and Ruth will coordinate a similar operation with six people, working at ground level, with magical powers to transport themselves into 6-pointed star formations thus encircling the mountain. I ask you all to switch on the lanterns of your hats because, for this short day of autumn, the sunlight has already given us its direct contribution, from now on the light will come in the form of reflection through its best mirror, the moon."
"Those not involved in these operations will try to break the castle block by isolating the sectors with clones - this operation does not require magic but dexterity, agility and cleverness." Belle continues to detail the plan. "The others, wearing infrared glasses, will (a) help the two female werewolves to protect the two Felixes and (b) fight to keep the Pans from leaving the castle aiming at (a) capturing the Felixes and (b) casting a new invisible-dome spell to trap us in the courtyards. The glasses will disable any invisibility glamour. Recent news from Olympus tells us that these are their plans and the invisible-dome potion is ready to be used. Let's now get organized on teams and fronts!"
…
All set and done, Milah has signaled that she and Liam have unblocked 36 junctures of the structure already. Liam has figured out that to break the spell they'll need to unblock 72 junctures, this means they are halfway to accomplish the task. The army is already divided in groups and they are concentrating for their roles in the battles to come. Fergus, at the height of his theatricality, comes in with a final remark: "Remember, brave Warriors, all Sacred Oracles have predicted, the Light of the World, the Sun of Truth, will triumph and illuminate a New Reality!! Light, Peace and Love!!"
(All): "Light, Peace and Love!!"
...
At nightfall, after crossing a courtyard as devastated as the decayed build, the four heroes walked hand in hand towards the palace entrance door that, as predicted by the frequency balance theory, opened for their passage as soon as they positioned themselves in front of it.
Knowledgeable of the architecture and interior layout of Gideon's Castle, a replica of W. Rumple's castle, from the foyer the two Emmas began, with magical gestures, to open the front windows of rooms in the hallways to the left and right of the main hall in the first and second floors. Meanwhile, looking at Jiao-long's map, the two Killians spotted the four enemies: gathered on the third floor of the front tower on the right.
...
"They seem to be splitting… no, they are gathering again," Key notices and at Killian's signal they all wear their invisibility-spell blocking glasses. Telepathically warned by Liam and Milah, they are aware of the recent news regarding the fight caused by jealousy, the broken crystal ball, and the new invisible-dome spell they plan to cast.
"What an honor to receive such noble visits!" Pan's familiar voice echoes atypically hoarse in their backs, and the four of them abruptly turn around activating their defensive weapons: two laser beams and two lightning bolts.
Laughing like a madman, Pan yells "try to hit me!!" when Wish Pan appears also yelling in front of them, "I'm here!! I'm here!!" and the two Cruellas appear on the sides, moaning as if in an orgasm. Quickly the two Emmas raise a force field around them that keeps the infernal beasts from getting closer, but they need a way out because the field will not hold for too long.
Covering their bodies in coats made from the fur of the four bears sacrificed the night before, during the alignment ceremony, the four demons look at each other and smile ominously. "It's cold in here, isn't it? Who opened the windows for the cold to come in?" W. Cruella asks with bulging eyes also in a hoarse voice, as if resulting from screaming excessively.
"Cute kitten ate your fucking cute tongues, Darlings?" Cruella asks with a trembling body like in a hallucinogenic trance.
"Look there!!" Pan points out, "The idiots have entered the courtyard, time to lock the birds in the cage !! HAH, HAH, HAh, HAh, Hah, Hah, hah, hah…" and his laughter fades as he leaves in a flight to pick up the freshly prepared spell, which he plans to cast by launching himself out of a window and then… "OUCH!!! WHAT THE FUCK?!" He is attacked by lightning bolts coming from the outside and falls back rolling into the room.
At the same time, Wish Pan, who was trying to get out to capture the Felixes, also falls back inside trying to avoid a volley of arrows. And amid the spectacle, the two Cruellas roll with laughter hysterically.
"That is it!" "That is it!" Both Pans recompose and start to think, to readjust to the present configuration and, while mentally assessing their options, Cruella explains to the visitors : "It seems we are stuck together here, Darlings, the eight of us. The protection spell of the castle is not a dome, those bastards outside won't be able to break it so easily. And it works as follows: nobody gets in, no matter how many windows are open, and those who are already in - in other words us - won't be able to get out."
As Cruella speaks, although still unable to transpose their protective shield W. Cruella surrounds the four heroes standing at the room center in a cross formation, with their backs to the cross junction, arms intertwined closing the ring but still able to activate their weapons. She examines them from head to toe, smiling, "the fucking cute kitten really swallowed your tongues…" She then begins to flick her tongue in and out of her mouth provocatively, pretending to be licking all four from the bottom up, throwing her head back and laughing madly. Then, in an apparent sudden change of mood, she becomes serious, looking into their eyes while walking in a circle around them. "Do you really think we came so far to lose the game in overtime? Darlings?"
"You have already lost the game, Darling," Emma finally speaks.
"What?" Cruella joins her sister.
"You both lost your game to two younger, prettier and healthier men!" Emm speaks next.
"Don't listen to them, Cruellas, their method is laughable and predictable - tsc, tsc, amateurs in the art of deceiving..." Pan speaks from behind, whispering in Cruella's ear while W. Pan does the same with W. Cruella, whispering "they will try to explore a very natural expression of jealousy, don't let them in."
"Let's be professional, then," Killian starts to play the game. "Let's talk about envy and jealousy. The two are often interrelated and play off one another. Envy is a two-person problem; jealousy usually involves three people, such as in a love triangle."
"Great theme, I love it," Key continues. "Envy is in some ways more complex and problematic, so let's give considerable attention to it. Envy strikes at the heart of our being. It can take over, overwhelm and deplete us."
"Give it up, you're not going to destabilize us and this shield of yours is ticking, ticking…" Pan challenges them.
"Tic-tac…" W. Pan echoes.
"Miss your Felix, Wish Pan? I always suspected you two had an affair but were discreet because of the Lost Boys…" Key continues the provocation.
"It was more than an affair, Key," Killian explains, "it was the L word, L.O.V.E… scientifically and magically proven by sacrificing the heart of the most beloved to complete a dark curse - and that, in Pan's case was… Felix's heart!"
"And what about Wish Pan and Wish Felix?" Emm runs the risk of asking.
"I've investigated a bit about them, two days ago…" Key answers, knowing that Emm already knows the answer but he plays along. "Another love story with a sacrifice, somehow remembering yours, Love, but in their case with a different ending. As it happened with his counterpart, W. Pan was also weakening, losing his power, and needed the life of a True Believer OR, instead, he could sacrifice the freedom of his True Love - IF he had one. So, instead of killing his Felix he condemned him to a lonely life by abandoning him at a desert island. Wish Felix would perish there, alone, but ended up being saved by castaways who, fortuitously for him, arrived in the island and, together, they managed to escape."
"Felix is such a pretty name..." Emm remarks.
"With such a pretty meaning, Love; in Latin it means Happy which, everybody knows, is a state of spirit connected with Happiness, rooted on Light, Peace and Love - the only way to achieve a true cosmic orgasm, a communion of the Self with the universe." Key tells her.
"The same cannot be said about the name Cruella DeVille," Killian completes. "It is state of Devilish Cruelty rooted on Hate, Envy and Jealousy - the path to sick, meaningless, empty sex, the emptiness of soul and existence. As for Malcolm, whose original form in Scots Gaelic was Máel Coluim, the name is used to refer to a person devoted to, or a disciple or follower of God or a specific saint. Pan, on the other hand, is associated with a deity whose symbol is an august phallus. Extremely curious was the misappropriation of personality when Pan prevailed over Malcolm, the wicked boy with a corrupted soul, denying the adult man's sexuality in a regression and permanence in childhood, perpetuated at the expense of dark magic. Of course, however repressed his sexuality was, it manifested first in the name, linked to Phallus, and second in his love for Felix.."
"So the Pans are not only able to love, but it seems that Felix and Wish Felix are their True Love!!" Emma concludes.
"Of course they are," Killian replies, noting the subtle change in their facial expressions and bodies' language. "The same cannot be said of the Cruellas, of course - the pure hatred. For them love has never, ever entered their vocabulary, much less in their heart, black as coal, the absolute absence of love…"
"ENOUGH!!" Both Pans and both Cruellas, visibly impatient and affected by conflicting feelings, scream madly, trying to break the shield with lightning strikes. In a coordinated choreography, Killian and Key by one side and Emma and Emm by another break their chain and the shield to strike back.
With their lasers, both Killians hit the two Cruellas, who fall wounded, panting. "I won't die again, again killed by any Emma or by any Killian," Cruella curses, crawling, gathering strength. Pan, mad for seeing their wounded women, begin to send even more powerful strikes in all directions, almost hitting W. Pan, who temporarily interrupts his attack for yelling at his brother.
Watching the scene, W. Cruella shouts at them to watch out and winks at her sister, telepathically reminding her about the snakes. Because of the Author's pen curse, Cruella and W. Cruella are forbidden from killing humans directly, so they attempt to lure the serpents they keep into two adjacent rooms, one on the left and one on the right of the hall.
As the two Killians try to deal with a horde of snakes that pop up coming from all sides, the two male demons, again fighting in sync, realize an ultra short lapse of opportunity to hit both Emmas while they run from two snakes.
In a frame by frame view of a slow motion sequence, at the intersection of time-space named Present, the most primal instinct, the essence and magic of a Survivor, perfect mindfulness, then manifests with full power.
Sensing the danger threatening their wives, the driving force of their Higher Self finally comes into play in the form of a primal cry...
"NO !!!"
… and of a giant leap before the beloved women: each Killian throws himself in front of one of the two lightning bolts that would, each, fatally strike on Emma and Emm's chests, saving their lives in sacrifice of their own.
Desperate, seeing their beloved husbands mortally wounded, the two also shout their primal cry, the Savior and the Aligner's "NO !!!"
Emma strikes first, Emm immediately after and combining their most powerful magic they direct a soul-disintegration lightning towards Pan, Wish Pan, Cruella and Wish Cruella, cornering the four like frightened beasts at the utter end of their existence, only stopping when the four explode into a black and white smoke exhaling sulfur. Facing the Dantesque picture, the serpents, awakened from the spell, flee out of the room.
Turning to the two lifeless, inert bodies, Emma and Emm kneel on the floor, lie on them, and cry.
*
Time dilation may explain why two synchronous clocks can provide different time readings after undergoing different accelerations. Within the scope of Magic, it is also the phenomenon by which an observer perceives, due to the relative non-accelerated movement between two references, that the watch of another observer, physically moving away, slows down...
...
"SWAN!!" "SWEET!!"
Upon hearing their husbands' voices, Emma and Emm lift their heads and see Killian and Key in all glory and splendor, smiling lovingly at them.
"We got back as soon as we could but we see that you already managed to disintegrate them," Killian begins to explain but is silenced by Emma's passionate and desperate kiss.
"What happened?" Emm asks Key, foreheads touching, leaning to more soft kisses of adoration and relief.
"Chynna, she was there and teleported us back almost immediately!" Key manages to explain while kissing her.
"How?" Emma asks, crying and laughing.
"Our clones… Chynna's test to break the connection between the original body and the clone without killing the clone was performed in the shelter where our clones were," Killian explains in between sobs.
"It was like changing clothes, Love," Key tells Emm, "and the good thing was that Chynna was there because the experiment ended too late, didn't give her time to move anywhere before the concentration for supporting our journey started..."
"Where?" Emm asks barely able to speak.
"In the Enchanted Forest! John Little’s cabin!!" Killian answers.
"Little Brothers!" "Killian!" "My sons!" "My granddaughters!" "Killian!" "Emma!" "Key!" "Emma!" "Key!" "My sons!" "Captain!" "My daughter!" "Emma!" "My sons!" "Captain!" "Mom!" "Emma!" "Mom!" "Killian!" "Papa!" "Key!" "My sons!" "Emma!" "Captain!" "My daughter! "Emma!"
They all come in calling their names, crying, running to hug them.
"Can anyone help us to re-fix our prostheses, please?" Killian asks, showing the arm stump without hand.
"Here," Alice and Liam immediately attach their mechanical hands on the new bodies.
Gradually the 72 warriors enter the castle, some carrying cages filled with rebel souls, all captured.
Wish Snow, her face bathed in tears, embraces a crying Snow, David hugs Brennam, Alice hugs Wish David, and the collective embrace keeps widening until enveloping everyone, including Felix and Wish Felix.
Killian and Emma, Key and Emm, holding hands and smiling, move slightly away from the collective hug exchanging silent glances of deep relief and looking at the corner of the hall where the ashes left of the four dark beings start to dissipate under the North wind blow.
