Sound of Surviving

90

STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - TOWN LINE

Tires screeched and Grumpy said, "Come on. Someone's got to see what this new curse does. Any volunteers?"

"I don't want to turn into a monkey," Happy replied.

"I like remembering who I am," Sleepy added.

"I'm afraid one of us is gonna have to dig down deep and find the courage to see what happens when we step over that line," Grumpy told the dwarves.

"Not it," the dwarves said.

"Dopey. I'll take your silence as bravery. Good for you. Come on."

An engine revved, a siren wailed, and tires screeched.

"Stop!" Regina yelled.

"Sorry, sister," Grumpy replied. "We can't stay in Storybrooke as long as Nevaeh's the Dark One. Snow Queen, Pan, Trio of Terror. We can handle villains like that. But Nevaeh? She was one of us. She knows how we beat bad guys... Hell, she, alongside Emma, beat most of them for us. So tell me... how do we stand a chance against her?"

"If you're dumb enough to cross the line, be my guest."

"Who's gonna save us if we stay... you? Go on. Do it." Dopey stepped over the town line, and turned around to give two thumbs up. "Now, if you'll excuse us." There was a rumbling, a cracking and a creaking as Dopey turned into a tree. He sighed.

"Oh, no," Mary Margaret and Sean said.

"Oh. Well, that's new," Regina and Emma commented.

Scarlet nodded slowly. "Oh boy."

CAMELOT - SIX WEEKS AGO

Birds chirped.

"Wow," Henry said."

"Wow is right," David agreed.

"I am so not dressed for this," Mary Margaret commented.

"His Royal Highness, King Arthur," a man introduced.

"And now allow me to introduce the loveliest creature in all of Camelot... my Queen, Guinevere," King Arthur said.

"Your Majesty," Mary Margaret greeted.

"The pleasure is ours," Queen Guinevere told them. "We have been awaiting your arrival from the moment we heard Merlin's prophecy."

"Well, we hope you haven't been waiting too long," David said.

"Only a decade or so," King Arthur replied.

David chuckled. "Ah, sorry."

"I'll wager it's been worth the wait. And as a bonus, it's given us more than enough time to prepare a ball in your honor tonight."

"Oh, see, told you we should come," Grumpy stated. "Look what we've been missing out on."

"I like any party I don't have to cater," Granny commented.

"So do we."

"Is this really necessary?" Zelena asked.

"You're lucky you're not locked in Granny's freezer," Regina shot back.

"Take it off. Or I tell Arthur he just welcomed the Dark One into his..."

"What's that, sis? I can't hear you. No one here knows who we are, and it's gonna stay that way. So you can either behave and pretend to be my mute handmaiden or go back to Granny's where you can rely on Doc for prenatal care."