CHAPTER SIXTEEN: it's not easy being green

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JASON BUCHANAN, ALONG WITH THE REST OF THE TOWN, STOOD AT NEAL'S HEADSTONE. Only one person was missing, the one who should be here the most; Mr.Gold.

They casket was lowered into the ground, and once it was, Hook walked up to it, lifting the shovel, and sinking the shovel into the pile of dirt, before he scooped up some, and dumped in onto the casket. David, did the same thing.  Then Jason, Regina, then Belle,  and the people continued. Until, it was Henry who picked up the shovel. Emma had gone last, her pile of dirt hovering above the ground. Before she covered the last spot of the casket, in dirt.

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Jason had refilled Hook's mug, which, the pirate asked if they rum. But, the closeted thing they had was whiskey, not that Jason told him it was whiskey. Because, Jason had used the little bit of rum to make Hook's pancakes.

Emma was throwing darts and the target, all aimed to the bullseye. 

Alister approached Emma. "Perhaps I should paint a bull's eye on the Wicked Witch's back."

"She'll get more than a dart when I find her." Emma grounded out.

"I know you're hurting, Swan, but there are better ways to grieve Baelfire's death than letting anger overcome you." Alister says.

"Let me guess—rum?"

Alister draws a flask from his jacket. "Never hurts."

"I'll stick with anger. At least, until I've dealt with Zelena."

"Take it from me: Vengeance isn't the thing that's gonna make you feel better." Alister says, although he supposed it would be better coming from someone else. Maybe her uncle, or Hook, because it was never his vengeance for the past two hundred years. It was his brother's.

"It'll make this town safer," Emma glances at Henry, who is sitting in a booth. "Besides, I promised Henry I'd find the person responsible for his father's death. It's really all I can do for him right now."

"That can't be true. Have you tried talking to the boy?"

"As far as he is concerned, I haven't seen Neal since he left me in jail. So anything I'd tell him about his dad being a hero sounds like I'm making that up just to get him to feel better."

"Perhaps I can talk to him."

"About what? Leather conditioner and eyeliner?"

"I knew Bae as a boy. Perhaps Henry'd like to hear what his father was like when he was his age."

"You'd really do that?" Emma asked.

"Aye. Could help the boy make peace with his father's passing. And me."

"Be careful. Zelena's still out there."

"I assure you, nothing will happen to the boy while he's in my charge," Alister says, before he and Emma both walk over to Henry.

"Henry, do you remember Alister ?" Emma asked her son.

"Hello, Henry." Alister smiled.

"So, you like the pancakes?" Jason asked Hook, a grin on his lips.

Hook had already ate half the stack of pancakes. The doors suddenly burst open, in walking Zelena, the dagger of the dark one in hand. "My condolences."

Everyone stand up, on guard.

"So sorry I've missed the funeral, but I could never pass up to wake. Oh, did I miss the speeches? Shall I make one? I mean, I am, after all, responsible." Zelena smiled.

Jason looked behind him, picking up the knife.

Emma leaps forward. Mary Margaret seizes her daughter's arm. "Emma, no. Too many people will get hurt."

"Listen to your mother. Anyone who tries to interfere with my plan is gonna have to deal with the Dark One!" Zelena yelled out.

David takes steps to the side, moving to block a pregnant Mary Margaret.. "Don't come any closer." He gives a quick glance to the side, seeing Jason was still behind the counter. Hook has stood up, to block him.

"Don't worry. I'm not here for your baby. Not today, anyway," Zelena she, as she walked around, to Regina.

"Then why are you here?" Regina asked.

"Now, that my cover's blown, I can finally pay a visit to my little sister."

"Who the hell are you talking about?"

"Why you, of course, Regina."

The townspeople begin to mutter in disbelief.

Regina leaned closer to her. "I'm an only child."

"Cora lied to you, Regina. I'm your sister. Half, if you to get technical." Cora says.

"Why should I believe anything you say?"

"Oh, you shouldn't. It's a lot to swallow. This is why I brought a gift to help."

"I don't want a gift from you."

"But you shall have it." Zelena says "See, my gift to you is this sad, sad day." And, saying those worlds, Zelena did sound so much like Regina.

"Use it to dig into our past, Regina. You need to learn the truth and you must believe it. And then, meet me on Main Street tonight. Say, sundown."

"And then what?"

"Then I'll destroy you."

"This isn't the Wild West."

"No, dear. It's the Wicked West," Zelena turns around to face the assembled guests. "And I want everyone to be there. To see the Evil Queen lose."

"I don't lose." Regina smiled.

"Neither do I. One of us is about to make history. See you tonight, sis." She walked out, laughing.

"I should have thrown the knife at her," Jason huffed, tossing the knife onto the counter.
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Alister had decided to take Henry to see his ship.

"Here. Now that'll do," Alister extended an arm to show the ship.

"Another boat?" Henry asked.

"You don't like the sea?"

"No, it's not that. It's just my mom always seems to put me off to friends that have boats when she's working on a case."

"Your mother didn't put you off to me. I wanted to bring you here." Alister tells the boy.

"Why?"

"You might not believe this, but your father and I were mates long before he met your mother." Alister tells him. "Although, he was attached to my brother."

"Really? You knew my dad? What was he like?"

"Hop on board and you'll find out." They both climb on board.
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David paced around, near the counter. "And you're sure Cora never said anything about her?"

"I think I would remember if my mother told me she had a love child with a scarecrow," Regina sarcastically remarked.

"It doesn't matter if Zelena is your sister or not. She wants you dead. Any idea why?" Emma asked.

"Have you met her?" Jason asked.

Hook smiled at him.

Regina spent a quick second to glare at Jason. "I've never even met her before today."

"That you recall," Jason added.

"Doesn't mean you did something to piss her off." Emma says at the same time.

"You did manage to step a lot on people's toes back in our world." Tinker Bell speaks.

"Well, none of them were green."

"There's that missing year. Maybe you did something to her then. Like Jason said," Granny says.

"Stick to the lasagna, lady. It's starting to sound an awful lot like you're on her side." Regina begins to leave.

"Where are you going?" Emma asked.

"To find out exactly what this witch thinks I did to her."
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David, Belle, Tink, Jason and Hook all walked along side each other. Down the town street.

"If we position someone there, there and there we'll have the whole street covered." David says.

"I'll talk to Blue. See if we can get any reinforcement." Tink says, as she begins to walk past Emma and Mary Margaret.

"No. Haven't you heard Zelena?" Emma speaks up, making Tinker Belle stop. "She said no interference. She would have Gold level half the block if we try something before she has a little chat with her sister."

"So, they really are sisters?" The fairy asked.

"I mean, I see the similarities," Jason says. "Both utterly psychotic. And the way they both sound when they are angry."

"She found a letter in her vault confirming it." Emma says.

"Where is she? Regina?" David asked.

"She disappeared. Something in that letter upset her." Mary makes known.

"Should we try to find her?" Tinker Belle asked.

"Regina was pretty clear she didn't want any help on this one." Emma spoke.

"You'll let her walk into this fight alone?" David asked.

"No , she's gonna get help whether she wants it or not."

"But you just said we can't interfere." Belle speaks.

"Because Zelena has Gold on her side we need to remove him from the equation. It's the only way Regina has a fighting chance. We just need to get his dagger."

"You saw Zelena. She practically has it glued to her hand," Jason spoke.

"Wait. What if I can get through to Rumple without the dagger?" Belle asked.

"It's worth a try. Regina can't do this alone." Mary shakes her head.
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They had stood guard, just in case. But, upon hearing Belle screaming, all rushed forward, Emma and David held their guns, while Jason had his arrow. Belle runs out, and towards them, as Tinker Belle takes a hold of her.

Mr. gold walks up the stairs, struggling. "Zelena sends a message. She will face Regina and no one interferes. Next time you try to stop her I will kill you."
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Alister had began to show Henry around the boat.

"I think I've tried every knot in here. When do we get to the part about my dad?" Henry asked, after trying yet another knot.

It was now dark, having to build a fire.

Alister stayed looking up to the sky he's waiting for the stars to rise. "Just a few moments longer. There. Come here." Then he waves Henry nearer and hands Henry his sextant.

"What's this?" Henry inquired

"That, my boy, is a sextant. It's used by sailors to navigate."

"Like a GPS?"

Alister paused, trying to recall if Emma or Jason ever explained the GPS. "Aye. It measures our position using the stars." He gestured to the sky.

"Not sure, if that's what a GPS does, but what does this have to do with my dad?"

"I taught him to navigate with one. Just like I'm gonna teach you."

"Were you both in the Navy or something?"

"No, Bae -" he paused. "Neal was just a boy when I taught him."

Henry's face pulls in confusion. "Wait. Aren't you the same age? It seems like the more you guys tell me about my dad less things make sense. I don't wanna learn how to navigate. I just wanna hear something about him that doesn't make it sound like it's made up so I like this guy."

"I'm a bit older than him," he says. "Your mother isn't keeping things from you because she doesn't want you to know the truth."

"I know she's doing it to protect me. But how am I supposed to feel anything about him being gone if I don't know what he was like when he was here?" Henry asked.

"Fair enough, mate. What I haven't told you is why I taught your father to sail. Because he'd just lost his father. I thought the sea would help ease his sorrow."

"Wait. He lost his dad, too?"

"Aye. To something dark and evil. When he wasn't much older than you."

"Really?"

"Indeed. You see, you might not think you know much about your father but you have more in common with him than you realize."

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Everyone had gathered around the town square.

"Have you seen Regina?" Emma asked.

"Not since the vault." Mary answered.

"If she hasn't get her soon that witch will take it out on all of us." Tinker Belle says

"Let's take everybody out of here before that happens." David walked into the middle of the crowd. "Alright, listen up. We need you to get back to your home."

"No one's going anywhere." Zelena shouts, as Gold trails behind her. "This show needs an audience." She glared down to Mr. Clark. "Out of my way, munchkin." She looks at him in disgust.

"I'm a dwarf."

"That's even worse. Where is she? Don't tell me. She's a coward. This isn't good. For all of you. If my sister isn't here in five minutes I'm going to let the Dark One of his leash."
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"Time's up." Zelena turns away from the large clock tower. "Who'd you wanna kill first, Rumple?" She asked the dark one.

Emma steps forward. "He's not killing anyone. If you wanna fight someone, Zelena, fight me."

"Sorry dear, I don't dance with amateurs."

"I'm not an amateur. I'm the savior." Emma says.

"Looks like someone has an inflated sense of self-worth," Zelena looks at Mr. Gold who directs his magic at Emma causing her to fall backwards. "Anybody else wanna give it a go?"

Jason rushed to help her up.

"I do." The crowd makes room for Regina. "Didn't anyone tell you? Black is my color."

Zelena chuckles. "But it looks so much better on me. I was beginning to think you aren't going to show up."

"I couldn't let my sister off that easily."

"So, you've finally accepted me into the family?" 

The two were only a few steps apart now.

"I've accepted that we shared a mother, yes. But I still have one question: What the hell did I ever do to you?"

"Isn't it obvious? You were born."

Regina slaps her in the face. "I've been waiting to do that. All day."

"Rumplestiltskin can't save you this time."
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"He should've chosen me." Zelena grounds her teeth together.

"Who?" Regina asked.

"Rumplestiltskin."

"That's what this is about? You're jealous of me?" Regina smiled, amused. She then looks up and focuses her magic at a set of traffic lights causing a pair of traffic lights to fall down. Zelena changes the direction of the piece so that it cannot harm her.

Multiple people jump out of the way.

"You still don't realize what you had. You never did. You got everything I ever wanted and you didn't even deserve it. But I'm gonna take it all from you." Magically, Zelena jostles Regina away causing her to crash backwards into a blue car.

"My Miata." Doc speaks lowly.

Regina recovers and walks up to her sister. Again she uses magic forming a fireball in one hand. However, before she's able to use it Zelena puts out the fire. Zelena lifts her sister up into the air chocking her at the same time.

"Guys, what do we do?" Jason lowly asked.

"You can't beat me, little sis. Everything Rumplestiltskin taught you, he taught me, too. But I was the better student." She sends Regina flying through the clock tower's window, then teleports herself close to Regina.

They all rushed toward the tower.

"Are you alright?" Emma called it, as they begin to rush up the stairs.

"I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"Gold disappeared. We thought that meant she-" David begins, helping Regina up.

"defeated me? Hardly."

"You've won?" Mary asked in surprise.

"Don't act so surprised. As it turns out Zelena wanted my heart. It's a good thing I wasn't stupid enough to bring it with me."

"Any idea why she wants it?" David asked.

"Well, she got your courage and wants my heart. Those are ingredients."

"For what? A curse?" Emma inquired of.

"We're already in Storybrooke. We've already lost our memories. What else could she do to us?" Mary questioned.
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"Thanks, Alister. Maybe we can go out on your boat again sometime." Henry says as they head towards Mary's room.

"Anytime, lad," Alister smiled.

Emma opens the door. She ruffles Henry's hair). "Hey."

Henry enters the apartment.

"How did the Queen fare against the Witch?" Alister asked.

"She survived. But the rest is definitely more than a doorway conversation." Emma pauses and then decides to speak up once again.. "Thanks for taking him."

"There's more Bae in your boy than you realize. He needs to know about his father, Emma. You can't just take him back to New York when this is over and pretend like none of this is real." Alister tells her.

"Thanks again." She steps back inside closing the door behind her.
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