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Storybrooke

Cali watches as the Charming family places Henry in a car with Ruby to get him somewhere he can be safe. She turns and walks toward the Pawn Shop when Henry waves goodbye through the back window.

She has to be prepared, this is going to be beyond difficult for her in every way. Convincing the Charmings to let her help is probably the easiest part of her plan, and she's already managed to do that. But now Cali has to be everything that she isn't: a hero, tolerant of her father, and, well, stupid. The Charmings still don't understand what the purple fog was, or what it brought, which means that Cali has to willingly be close to her father in order to let them understand in their own way.

Cali knows the type of people the Charming family is. They're "do-gooders". They're royalty and family and the picture of perfection. They'll want to connect and be friendly. But that's not what Cali wants or needs. What she wants is Killian, and unfortunately, Snow White and Charming are her best bet to finding out where he is or what happened to him.

Groaning inwardly, Cali looks up to the sky with curses falling from her lips as the Charmings have stopped, again. Mary Margaret and David want to talk to their daughter, something that strikes Cali in her core. A loving mother, a caring father, Swan's lucky that even a part of them wants her - all Cali has is a dead mother and a deadbeat father.

Getting to the Enchanted Forest will fix all of her problems. She can find Killian, the Jolly Roger, her crew - even if all she finds are answers, she'll at least be able to move on. And there's an all too familiar ache in her heart as her mind chases loose threads. There are just so few ways that he could still be alive...

Scoffing, Cali softly wipes a tear away before it can fall. Her head pounds harder and harder, an echoing reminder that she's getting close to Rumple. Or the pain of the curse breaking and her memories resetting is starting to affect her.

Cali enters the shop first, and Rumplestiltskin looks up with shocked relief.

"Princ-"

"No. You, you get to call me by my name now. And I'm not here for you, I'm here on official goody-two-shoes business."

Swan enters the shop first, her parents looking dejected behind her.

"What can I do for you?"

"What you can do is tell us what you did."

Cali can't help rolling her eyes, but thankfully her position by the front door of the shop means that none of them see. She should have known that the Charmings' important business with Rumple was to talk about everything Cali assumed that they had already figured out.

"I'm sorry. You're going to have to be more specific."

Rumple fiddles with a teapot in his hands, inspecting the inside, and more importantly, playing with their nerves. It's an intimidation tactic that he taught her, she had used it in the Enchanted Forest on dozens of people. It's the perfect move for a deal, or a scam.

"You know damn well what we're talking about!"

"You double-crossed Emma, you, uh, took your potion from her."

"And did who knows what to this town."

"And worst of all, you risked Henry's life."

Her father smirks at them, and Cali tenses, aware that something that they don't even know about yet has happened. But Cali also thought that the rulers of the Enchanted Forest would, at least, have better interrogation tactics than this. They know that the fog was magic. Anything else they make the mistake of mentioning or blaming him for will play directly into one of his favorite manipulative tactics - word-play.

"Well, that is quite a list of grievances now, isn't it? But let me ask you something. Did your dear boy Henry survive? Is the curse broken? And Miss Swan, how long have you been searching for your parents? Looks to me like I deserve a thank you."

Cali groans under her breath, "I think you deserve a good knife to the gut."

Swan glares at him, acting the smartest Cali has ever seen.

"Twist my words all you want. What was the purple haze that you brought?"

David looks at her with a small glare as she groans. But seriously, Blue had told all of them exactly what the purple fog was - magic and power. There goes Swan's smart points, bloody idiot.

"You know... magic."

"Why?"

"Not telling."

There it is, Cali grabs onto the counter beside her as an explosion goes off and the ground quakes in the aftershock. She stumbles to the window, yanking the blinds to the ground with no care to allow her and David to peer out of it as a storm picks up. The wind beats against the Pawn Shop viciously, a car alarm sounds off from down the street.

"Bloody hell."

Cali can sense what he's done. Her eyes grow wide with fear, and she's the only one to turn away from the window to look at Rumple in terror. He smirks, proud of what he's done and Cali's heart clogs her throat as panic takes her whole.

"That is my gift to you. That is going to take care of Regina."

David throws the door open and looks back at Cali, intending for her to head out first. She rushes out as Mary Margaret calls out for Emma to come with them.

"Emma, come on. We need to take care of this."

Emma faces off with Gold for just a moment longer, debating on whether or not she wants to go through with challenging him further, before heading toward the door.

It doesn't take the four long to run to the sheriff's station where the storm is raging the worst. Cali can sense it stronger here, and she knows exactly what it's going to do. The wind blows harshly against them as they force the door open and run in the dark building. The lights flicker and sway over head, Regina's screams echo in the halls.

The group can see it the moment they round the corner and Cali freezes as she comes face to face with a creature she's only ever read about.

"Bloody hell."

A Wraith. A soul sucker. And the most important thing that Cali remembers about the black shrouded creature is that it cannot be killed. That it's entire reaper-like existance is to take the soul of its' mark before disappearing.

David and Mary Margaret both jump into action, their heroic sides showing through their ordinary personas. Charming foolishly goes for blunt force, grabbing a chair and slamming it into its' back. The Wraith turns around, snarling at the contact but merely swatting at the Prince. On the other hand, Snow White goes for smarts, grabbing an aresenal can and lighter and makeshifting a blowtorch that scorches the Wraith away.

It drops Regina, who had been in a chokehold for the whole ordeal, as it flees. The Evil Queen collaspes on the floor, gasping for air as tears run down her cheeks. One hand goes to her aching neck and the other grabs onto the bar of her cell to help her stand.

"What the hell was that thing?"

Swan stares at the four people familiar with fairytale creatures in confusion.

"A Wraith. And no, you didn't kill it, it's regenerating. It'll be back, it doesn't stop until it devours its prey - me."

Cali looks at Regina with pity. Centuries of time and training with Rumplestiltskin meant that Cali had become just as much of an expert at all things magic like him. She knows there is no hope. When Regina looks into her old friend's eyes, she sees it and her reality sets in.

"So how do we kill it?"

Swan demands an answer as she stares into Regina's eyes. Regina merely sighs, hope escaping her soul entirely.

"There's no way. You can't kill something that's already dead."

Cali peers closely at Regina, mentally taking note that she is still gasping for air. Apparently almost getting your soul sucked out of you takes your breath away.

Emma looks between her parents, concern masking little of the irritation in her features.

"Then we have a problem."

"No we bloody don't."

The four turn to look at Cali as she throws a hand toward Regina.

"She does."

Mary Margaret questions her softly, under her breath. Charming's eyes look set, and Cali can tell that he, at least, agrees with her. But Swan looks as though she's seeing the devil in the flesh.

"You want to let her die?"

"Why not? You heard her. The moment that it sucks her soul, it goes away. No more problems for anyone and the entire town is safe again."

Cali knows that what she is saying makes sense to them, even if they aren't all ready to accept it. But she wasn't prepared for the look in Regina's eyes. The look that can't believe that someone she once considered her best friend would so casually say that she needed to die. A slight pang of regret tries to strike Cali's heart, but a glance into the office that Graham once called his own reminds her that Regina isn't anyone innocent.

With that glance, Regina knows that Cali knows what she did. And for the first time in a long time, the Evil Queen feels a sharp prick of pain jab at her heart.

But of course, Cali should have remembered that she's working with goody-two-shoes.

"I made a promise to Henry, she's not dying."

"If it can't be killed, what do you suggest?"

Mary Margaret brings up the question that everyone's focusing on, since it seems that they will be trying to save Regina. Cali watches Mary Margaret scan the room, and she can see her eyes glance over her warily. Cali only offers an obviously fake smile in return and watches gleefully as she rushes to look away.

"What if we send it somewhere it can't hurt anyone?"

The group's eyes turn to Regina - and then it's settled, they'll send the Wraith anywhere but this world.

They decide to put the plan into action in the town's court house before going their separate ways to collect the things that they need.

But Cali lingers in the sheriff's office even when the other four leave. Her fingertips trail across the edge of Graham's old desk before she settles into his large leather chair with a heavy sigh. Cali takes a deep breath, it still smells of Graham - the woodsy pine mixed with that cologne he insisted on wearing everyone, and the slight smell of animal fur that reminds her of the shelter. Her eyes look over the files and the knickknacks on the desk, most of Graham's things still there.

It's not until she pulls out her spare key to the cabinet in the desk that she feels her grief creeping up on her again. Cali slowly turns the key in its place, listening for the soft click to know that it's still locked.

At the top of the drawer are a few scattered picture frames, and those alone spark tears in Cali's eyes.

"Oh come on!"

"I have told you time and time again, Graham, I am not spending my only day sleeping in awake an hour before I even leave for work for you."

"It's not for me, Cals! It's for the cute little puppies and kittens that no one loves!"

She looks into his eyes, that look more enticing than Henry's puppy dog stare with his lip puckered out. Her mind is a little hazy as she sips drink number-who-gives-a-shit. Graham leans in, the taste of several different drinks on his breath.

"What if we make it a bet?"

"Oh really? And what would you be wagering, Sheriff?"

"I'll let you decide anything you want," Graham smirks, winking at his drunken friend, "but only if you win."

"Oh you're on!"

Cali smiles half-heartedly at the memory. The picture shows the two with the worst hangover she's ever had in her life on the floor of the town animal shelter surrounded by dogs.

But under all the pictures and knickknacks and other things Graham had collected over the years, lay the very things that Cali finally felt strong enough to retrieve. An old-styled, black leather jacket sits at the bottom with a bottle of rum and a pair of shot glasses. The jacket is huge, but his scent covers it whole and for the first time since his death she feels close to him.

Cali didn't even realize that she was crying until she heard the squeak of a show against the tile floors. Her eyes snap open, a quick glare directed at Emma as she freezes in her retreat. Only, the blonde decides to push her luck, taking a few steps into the office.

"What are you doing?"

"Cleaning out his stuff," Cali smiles sadly, hurriedly wiping at the tear that defies her every wish. "He gave me this key ages ago, just in case something happened to him. I, I just never thought I would actually have to come down here and get his things."

"You two were close?"

Cali moves everything in the drawer into an empty box close by, nodding sharply. She grabs the pair of shot glasses off of the desk quickly, but not before Emma has a chance to read the names engraved on them both.

She leaves the blonde standing by the door of the office, carrying out the last piece of Graham that remained there. Carrying out the last pieces of Graham that Cali could forever call her own.

Soon enough the time comes to put their plan into action. The five meet at Storybrooke's court house. Mary Margaret and David bring several broomsticks which they quickly convert into torches, Cali even grabbing one for herself. Regina arrives with the Mad Hatter's, or Jefferson's, hat - the portal maker.

"So how does it work?"

Mary Margaret clinched her fists around the end of her flaming broomstick tighter, anticipation and nerves evident on her face. Cali chokes on a word as she almost launches into the every detail of the Hatter's hat - she's supposed to be a background character.

"It will open a portal to our land. All we have to do is send the Wraith there."

"Oh yeah, just that."

Mary Margaret nods her head, while Swan let's go of a slow breath. Cali's brows furrow with confusion, but the fear that races through her body hides beneath her surface.

"I don't understand, why our land? Won't there still be people there that didn't get caught in the curse?"

The four look at Cali, and the pirate freezes as terror threatens to swallow her whole. And Regina's eyes, eyes that have told her things her mouth hasn't, only scream a chorus of apologies.

"Our land is gone, it's just an empty space of nothing now."

"What?"

The entire room spins, as though it has been violently thrown up into space. Cali teeters on her feet and she stumbles back against the railing in the courtroom. She knows she can feel it. She has to be able to feel it. Every part of her goes numb as thoughts spiral in her head.

"It's gone. And that means that we're vanishing the Wraith to oblivion."

Oblivion. She almost crumbles to her knees as every little thing begins to overwhelm her senses. Her heart clouds her mind and she can't hear anything else except for her heavy breathing.

Killian. Her crew. The Jolly Roger.

Gone. Just blimps of memories as they fade into nonexistence. Surely it can't be, surely their entire world isn't gone.

Cali wants to swear that she can feel it. That everyone, and everything, is still out there. But she's supposed to be a background character, a nobody in this world. And that means that she has no way to prove her theory, and her hope.

The power in the courtroom shuts off in a split-second, but the torches provide a light that Cali is thankful for. One of the greatest devices against evil things is light. Now, their only protection from the very thing that they need to get rid of is light. Then again, light is the strongest thing against the dark. Many would consider the Wraith as dark, if not darker, than the Dark One. But Cali knows the unchanging truths about her father and the Wraith - one had a choice, morals, and the other, has spent every moment since it's creation a thing of evil and darkness.

The Wraith burst through the courtroom doors, threatening to suck all of the light and life in the room out. Cali and Charming attempt to attack the Wraith with their torches, while Mary Margaret lights the handrails on fire. Cursing, Regina tries and fails to get a portal to open. Her magic weak and useless as she flounders to use it.

The five are pushed to one half of the courtroom as the Wraith soars over the banisters and whips at their torches, trying to blow them out.

Then Regina gets a portal open, the hat spinning faster and faster as it grows into a black hole.

Only the Wraith gets past them, hurtling toward Regina. But Swan, stupidly knocks her out of the way. She tumbles headfirst into the portal after the Wraith, screaming as she falls in oblivion.

Cali, Mary Margaret, and David all rush to jump into the portal as well. The Charmings desperate not to be separated from their daughter, even in possible death. And Cali, losing her hold on everything to live for grasping at her only chance to find her lover or perish from the face of the earth.

It all seems so selfish.

Mary Margaret just barely makes it into the portal, but as it collapses in on itself and begins to close, Cali and David both make split second decisions. He leaps, stretching out for the shrinking hole, and Cali moves to slide into it.

The portal closes with a horrifyingly human-like scream. David screams as he grasps onto the tattered fabrics of the hat, broken and collapsed.

Cali lays on her knees, inches from where the portal could have taken her, shock swallowing her whole as she stares at the pieces of hat in David's hands.

"Open it up again!"

He screams, getting in Regina's face. Fear and anger shows, burning in his eyes.

But Cali loses herself. Falling numbly from reality as her insides howl and sob, tears fall swiftly down her cheeks. She looses her senses, David and Regina's fight fading with the last bit of hope she had.

All of her thoughts ramble around, turning and twisting painfully in her mind. How can she get to a world that doesn't exist? And all that Cali wants in that moment, is the only thing she can't ever have again.

"Mom?"

Henry's terrified voice is the first thing to bring Cali out of her own demise. Henry needs her now. Cali makes herself stand, coming to stand beside Henry, a shaking hand resting on his shoulder to ground herself to reality and keep him safe.

Regina releases David from arm-like hands reaching from the wall to strangle him. Ruby runs to Charming, nodding to Cali as she passes her in an understanding that she is to do everything she can to keep Henry safe.

Henry begins to panic as Regina, his own mother, tries to calm him down. But Regina is the thing scaring him. She's become the being he feared and the thing of his nightmares as a child.

Henry continues to demand where his mother and grandmother are. His voice is quaking and his tears threaten to spill over.

"They're gone Henry."

"No!"

He looks up to Cali, for her to tell him that it's not true. That the family he finally got is okay. That maybe they're all just playing some game. That his mom is going to walk through the other set of doors any second now, laughing with Mary Margaret at the look on his face.

But it doesn't feel funny.

Cali shakes her head, whispering that everything is going to be okay. His tears fall, rolling down his cheeks as he chokes for air, grabbing his aunt's waist for support.

"You really are the Evil Queen... I don't want to see you, ever again!"

"No, no, don't say that. I love you."

"Then fix it!" Henry begs, clinging to Cali as she pulls him as close as she can. "Get Emma and Mary Margaret back! Until then, leave me, leave everyone alone."

"But where will you go?"

In the split second before Cali can say that he'll stay with her, David manages to cough up a response.

"With me."

And Cali releases her nephew to his grandpa. Whispering to David as he passes that if he ever needs any help, just to let her know and she'll be there. She says it more for Henry's sake, but if she knows the story of Prince Charming well enough - well he's going to find his own way back to Snow White, and Cali is desperate to make sure that she is going to be there when he does.

Cali stands across from a kneeling, tearstained Regina. The Evil Queen looks up to the Captain hopefully, as though she excepts to find the woman who was once her closest friend before her.

The look in Cali's eyes scream otherwise.

So suddenly, Regina is thrown back to moment when Cali claimed that they should leave her to die.

David is gone. Ruby and Henry with him. The three seemingly forgetting that they were abandoning the Evil Queen.

"Do we really still have to be like this? We were friends once."

"That wasn't ever truly me."

"No. But you liked it, you had fun being who you were. Especially when you were with me."

"And I have so many regrets."

"I know that what happened to Graham hurt you."

"You say it like it was an accident!"

"So, you knew."

"How could I not? Even cursed, I knew exactly what you were capable of, how far you would go to get what you wanted. But him? That's not something that I'm even close to forgiving you for."

"So then why are you here?"

"To gift you the only warning I feel gracious enough to give. My father brought my abilities to this land alongside magic. You're one of the only living people who have seen them full blast, mate. We can both come up with pretty colorful ideas of what could happen to me if certain people in this town figured me out. If they find out because if you or through you - I won't hesitate to take you out before they get to me."

Cali smirks, tipping an invisible hat to Regina before turning to leave.

"It's going to be impossible for you, pretending to be everything that you aren't."

"You don't understand, love," she winks to the ex-queen, "I'm better at it then you think."

And your father's the better liar. Regina thinks, sinking closer to the ground as the weight of her reality sinks in. After all, you still believed you're cursed...

OLD NOTES // ➤𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝟐 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐧!➤ 𝐒𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐦𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞? 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧? 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭!➤ 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡! 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞!➤𝟏𝟎-𝟒-𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎➤

NEW NOTES // MWHAHAHAHA

i hope that you all enjoyed the chapter!! please let me know, give me all of your feedback!!

I'm finally figuring out a few things that I've always wanted to add into this book plot wise and one of them REALLY starts in this chapter, and it's going to be so much fun!! not to mention an even bigger piece of the plot has started in motion that you're all not going to fully understand until season five most likely.

love you all so so so much💕💕💕

✨and remember - comments and votes = chapters not "update" and not-following ✨

10.28.2022