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Emma swiftly pulled out an old photo of her son and held it up to Aurora and asked, "The boy you saw in your dream-- Is that him?"

Aurora lightly grasped the photo within her fingers and looked at it, bringing it slightly closer. "Yes. That's Henry."

Snow stood up as did Astrid, both in realization and already knew why she saw Henry in her dream. Emma started, sounding both confused and shock at the same time, "That's impossible. It was a dream. How could you dream of my son?"

"I have no idea." Aurora answered.

"Was Henry, by any chance, put under a sleeping curse?" Astrid spoke up, her hands on the hilts of her swords on her sides. Emma looked up at her expectantly and asked, "What?"

"It's just... That room that she had described... I've been there-- and from the look on our mother's face, so has she." Astrid began carefully, nodding over to Snow who slowly nodded also.

"When I told you and Snow about it, you didn't say anything." Aurora slightly argued towards the teenager.

"You were terrified. We didn't want to make things worse by telling you we thought it might be real." Snow stepped in, standing beside her teenage daughter.

"A room in a dream is real?" Mulan spoke up in confusion as she approached them.

"The sleeping curse." Snow continued to what Astrid started to say. Mulan seemed to understand now as her face changed from its confused look.

"It has to be. I went through. Aurora went through it. Snow went through it-" Astrid started back up, glancing down at the ground for a second.

"Henry's been through it because I wouldn't believe him." Emma slowly replied, blaming herself for her past mistakes. Snow lightly comforted her, "Emma."

"When I woke up from my sleeping curse, I went to a healer about the nightmares..." Astrid commented, "She said when people go under the sleeping curse, their soul travels to a netherworld where it stays until the person wakes up... The world is in between life and death and it's very real."

"That doesn't really explain you having nightmares-" Emma said.

Astrid cut her off and finished explaining, "I wasn't finished, geesh. Anyways, the reason for the person's nightmares was because even when the curse gets broken... Sometimes when the victims go back to sleep, they find their way back to that world."

Aurora continued to be upset with Astrid and Snow and blurted out, "What else did you two lie about? I thought I could trust you, Astrid, after everything we've been through." She was mainly talking about losing her fiancé.

Astrid stepped towards her, one eyebrow arched. "I wasn't lying. I was protecting you. Or I thought I was." She stepped even closer and continued slightly threateningly, "My loyalties are where they've always been. Don't ever question me again." She grabbed the front of her top with her fist and then released Aurora and moved away from the woman.

Emma decided to move back onto the topic on hand and asked Aurora, "What did he say-- Henry? In the- In the dream?"

Aurora looked away from the teenager a few paces away from them but still in earshot as Astrid twirled one of her twin swords effortlessly in her hand. "He just said his name. And then I woke up, and it was over."

"Emma." Snow began as said woman faced her mother, "It's going to be okay."

"We are so far from okay." Emma sadly replied.

"No. We have a way to home now." Snow said as Emma commented, "We have a compass. And the wardrobe ashes are still with Cora."

"-Any attempt to steal it from her would be suicide unless..." Mulan cut in, glancing over at Astrid who occupied herself still by twirling her swords around, "Astrid steals it from her, considering Cora won't hurt her."

"Not anymore. We can stop her- not through Astrid now." Snow spoke back up, also glancing over at the teenager.

"How?" Emma asked.

"I don't know." Snow continued, "But I know someone who does-" She faced Emma and finished, "Rumplestiltskin."

Astrid stopped twirling her swords and resheathed them in their cases; She had heard of the name from Hook and knew that Rumplestiltskin was the man he desperately sought out revenge on.

Astrid sighed, thinking of Hook once again. She even wondered if he made it back down the beanstalk yet after they left him up there.

"He'll know a way." Snow assured as Emma realized, "Henry. We can talk to him. Now we can communicate."

Snow nodded with a small smile upon her face. Aurora seemed to be overwhelmed who let out, "Wait. Wait."

Emma faced the princess as she exhaled. "Oh, yeah, Princess," Emma said slowly, "You're going back to sleep."

"Wouldn't hurt you to ask her for your help, you know." Astrid remarked, "Please go back to sleep and help them communicate with Emma's son."

"Okay." Aurora nodded, "I'll help you."

***

The five women continued to move through the forest. "How close are we?" Emma spoke up behind Astrid who still led them, "Henry could already be waiting in that netherworld."

Aurora answered, stepping over a fallen tree, "No. We planned to meet back there in two hours."

"You're not going to leave him waiting." Snow added as Emma faced her mother and started, "Yeah, but what if he's-"

"No, he was fine." Aurora reassured Emma.

Astrid pointed to a small area under a canopy of trees and spoke up, "There. That looks like relatively safe high ground." There was a few logs in the clearing, but it would be easy to clear out if needed. "We'll set up camp there."

"Aurora, you'll settle in and find Henry." Astrid began to formulate a plan, "-get the information we need from Rumplestiltskin. We'll need to do this quick, in and out. It's still dangerous out here with Cora lurking about."

Astrid glanced back at Aurora whose cloak snagged on a branch; The teenager and Mulan stopped to wait for Aurora while Snow and Emma made their way up the hill. "Something wrong?" Astrid asked.

"No, just caught on something." Aurora started as Mulan cut in, referring to the burn on the princess's arm, "That does not explain your arm."

"What about my arm?" Aurora asked, trying to pretend clueless as she hid it beneath her cloak.

"The burns you're hiding-- They're not from the sun." Astrid spoke up, "That's from that netherworld."

Aurora revealed the burn along her wrist, grimacing as the material of her cloak dragged across it. "I... brushed against a poison leaf." She shrugged it off before covering her burn once more.

"Sure, Princess. Whatever you say." Astrid remarked with a small roll of her blue eyes.

Mulan quickly stopped Aurora once more and commented, "You said that this netherworld was full of smoke and flames. Aurora, if what Astrid just says is correct, which she's usually right about these things, and that is where you were burned, you should not return."

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Aurora whispered back. She wanted to feel some kind of useful, and if it meant going back to that world, then she would.

"You're choosing to go in deeper and staying under longer to find this boy." Mulan blatantly said as Aurora tried moving past them again but was stopped by Astrid this time. "The both of us vowed to Prince Phillip to protect you, not to help some strangers find a portal to another land."

"I'm sorry. I did tell them that we'd help them." Astrid apologized, earning a slight nudge from the Chinese woman. "At least, let me take your place. I can go to that world and get the information because I've been there, too."

"Mulan, Astrid, I was cursed to spend eternity in that horrible sleep, and the only reason I'm here is because the three of you risked your lives to save me." Aurora snapped, "Every day since my waking has been a gift, so let me do something with it." She began to tear up as she continued, "It's my turn to help someone else. I'm going to go back in and find that boy."

Aurora moved past Mulan and Astrid, lightly brushing against them as they watched her march away and head towards Emma and Snow who were currently setting up camp.

Astrid laid her hands against the hilts of her swords and shared a concerned look with Mulan; They both worried for the Princess's safety and her putting herself at risk like this.

The two of them also began to walk towards the now set up camp as Mulan slightly snapped at the teenager beside her, "Tell you mother and sister that Aurora's not going in again."

Astrid rolled her eyes and tightened her grip on the hilts of her swords strapped on her sides still. "You think they'll listen to me? I see the way Emma sees me, the look in her eyes. To her, I'm just a teenager who knows a lot about survival. And Snow, she will take my word into consideration, but this is their home we're talking about."

"Convince them, Astrid. I know you can. Aurora's life depends on it." Mulan replied, pointing slightly at the teenager and then at Emma and Snow in the distance as a gesture, "They are your family, so they will listen to you more than they'll listen to me."

Astrid nodded slowly, assuring, "I know. I'll do what I can."

Aurora was now lying underneath the tent with her eyes closed as she tried to fall asleep; Astrid crouched down beside the princess and laid her hand on her arm as a reassurance that she wasn't alone.

Snow moved over to the two also and sat down beside Astrid after lightly laying a blanket atop of Aurora; Mulan also crouched down in front of Aurora and gently placed her gloved hand against her forehead before glancing at Astrid and discreetly nodded at Snow before standing back up.

"So..." Astrid started towards her mother, fully sitting down beside Snow now and moved her legs against her chest.

"You stopped calling me 'Mom'... Is something bothering you?" Snow immediately said, looking at Astrid now with furrowed eyebrows.

"Uh, no, I mean, yes, but not about that..." Astrid replied reluctantly. "You haven't done anything to make me upset with you to stop calling you my mom."

"Astrid, what's wrong?" Snow quietly asked, laying her hand on her daughter's knee.

"Nothing, nothing. It's stupid, it's just something Cora told me." Astrid answered lightly, avoiding looking her mother in the eye.

"Astrid, look at me. There is nothing you say that will make me hate you if that's what you're afraid of." Snow replied, "You're my daughter, just like Emma, no matter what."

Astrid cleared her throat and wiped her face with both of her hands before glancing over at Snow who was still watching her carefully.

Astrid then changed the topic from them, "Mulan and I don't approve of the way you and Emma are using Aurora-- Going to this netherworld, it hurts you, you can get burned for real." She showed Snow Aurora's burn on her wrist and gave her a pointed look.

"Astrid-" Snow started.

"No. The next time, Aurora won't be going to this world again." Astrid cut her off, "We gave a vow to a dear friend to protect her. And we don't like Aurora harming herself to get information like this. I understand why, I do, but if it's still needed and if we're still desperate, then... I'll go to this netherworld myself and retrieve the information."

Astrid stood up and fixed her swords on her sides, adding, "I keep my vows, my promises, my word."

Snow also stood up and stopped her daughter from walking away, starting, "I'm sorry, Astrid. We should've been more considerate and asked if she was really okay with this... She and Mulan are lucky to have a friend like you- just like we are to have you part of our family."

Astrid sighed and bowed her head slightly before commenting, "And me not calling you 'Mom'... I'm sorry. I don't- I'm just... having second thoughts about going to this 'Storybrooke'."

"Hey, I am with you, whatever choice you make, whether you want to come with us or stay..." Snow began, taking one of Astrid's hands into both of hers, "As your father always says, we will always find one another."

"I'm going with you. It's just... I wonder where my dad, Orvar, is and if he's really alive." Astrid replied, "Part of me wants to go after that path and look for him... But the other part of me wants to let it go and be grateful that I finally found my real family."

"I know." Snow murmured, bringing her daughter into a tight hug, one hand on the back of the teenager's neck. "You really are a lot like your father." She smiled fondly.

Astrid chuckled, pulling back from the hug slightly, and lightly remarked, "Is that a good thing?"

"I think so, but I'll let you decide that when you reunite with him." Snow replied with a small chuckle also.

The two of them noticed Emma stroll away from the fire and look out towards the forest. "Go." Astrid said to her mother who nodded and followed after her other daughter.

The two women lightly chatted as Astrid glanced down at the still sleeping Aurora who lightly twitched in her sleep.

Astrid's face turned to the sound of a branch snapping in the distance as did everyone else's heads. "What was that?" Snow inquired, looking over at Mulan and the teenager who quickly withdrew her twin swords, twirling them once.

Mulan began to stand up close to Aurora's sleeping form, her hand grasping her handle of her sword still sheathed.

Astrid quickly turned when she heard leaves crunching but faltered when she noticed humans and furrowed her eyebrows. "Mulan."

Mulan knelt beside Aurora and lightly tried waking her, "Aurora."

More people became visible in the distance, but the four women noticed something off about these strangers. They looked really sick and also had a wound where their hearts should be.

"Cora." Astrid flexed her jaw and then realized that these were people from their old camp who was murdered by Cora. They weren't alive but dead and walking. "Mulan, wake her up."

The dead people didn't stop approaching them, either, as Mulan tried harder to wake her, "Aurora." She glanced over at Astrid and gave her a serious look that told her to do something and act fast. "Aurora!" Mulan raised her voice, now lightly shaking her to try and wake her.

"Get her up. We've gotta go!" Emma snapped, retrieving her dagger from her boot. Mulan glared at her and exclaimed, "I'm trying!"

"Apparently, not hard enough!" Astrid also snapped back.

Mulan faced Aurora, shaking her even harder now. "Aurora! Wake up! Aurora, wake up! Wake up!" Aurora's eyes fluttered open then as Mulan gripped her hand and pulled her up off of the ground.

"No. Henry wasn't finished." Aurora argued, not knowing what was going on around them yet.

"The time for that is over." Astrid replied, seeing a dead man with a sword running towards Aurora and Mulan as Aurora screamed out. Astrid swiftly rushed in front of the two women and knocked down the man, slicing off his neck.

Emma ducked at another's attack before swinging her dagger at it aimlessly, managing to cut the side of its neck but not deep enough.

Snow yelled out, tripping one that had been in front of her, and quickly moved towards her daughters, not letting them out of her sight.

"No!" Aurora fearfully said as she watched everyone being attacked. One of the dead people launched themselves on Astrid who kicked them away before slicing their neck off and then flipped sideways, knocking down two more attackers.

Snow noticed a man charging at Emma and exclaimed, "Emma, watch out!"

Emma was then tackled just as she had turned to see him ram right into her, the compass flying out of her jacket and landed on the ground; She reached for it but failed when the man had grabbed it before she could. "The compass!"

Astrid had already made it over to her sister just as the teenager sliced off the man's hand with one of her swords, making him drop the compass.

His blood splattered on Astrid's face while the man's body fell to the ground beside Emma who simply looked at him and back at the teenager now standing above her.

Astrid sighed, ignored the guilt she felt for the dead, and stepped away to finish off the last of the dead townsfolk while Snow moved over to Emma and helped her to her feet; The two women were having a quick conversation about where Mulan and Aurora had went off to.

When Snow and Emma had turned back around, they noticed Astrid in a crouched position, tightly holding onto the hilts of her swords in front of her, the blades in the ground, and was surrounded by disembodied dead townspeople, blood on her hands and face.

Astrid continued to glance around at the bodies and then looked up at the two women in front of her, noticing their concerned looks. "You okay?" Emma asked first towards the girl.

"These were my people... and I killed them." Astrid started, finally falling onto her knees completely.

"Cora killed them. They were already dead, so you didn't kill them." Emma tried to reassure her twin.

"I should've known, though. I should've been there to prevent that from happening..." Astrid muttered and then stood back up and glanced around for Mulan and Aurora. She asked, her eyebrows furrowed, "Where are they?"

"Gone. They left." Snow started.

Astrid knew Mulan must have took the princess to safety, but then another thought occurred to her. Her so called friends had just abandoned them, let alone Astrid.

"We have to move and find them. Let's go." Astrid commented, picking up her swords and marched through the forest in search of her friends as Emma and Snow followed right behind her.

The three of them took off running, weaving through the trees and occasionally coming across a walking dead man. They heard a faint scream and ran towards the sound.

"You two still in one piece?" Emma panted as they slowed to a stop.

"Yeah, pretty much. Astrid?" Snow answered, glancing over at the teenager who looked around the forest and added, "Yeah, though I'll feel better if we find Mulan and Aurora."

They heard some leaves rustling just as Astrid yanked whoever was in the bush out and made them crash onto the ground, the blade of her sword lightly pressing against the person's throat. "Hey, M."

Mulan sighed, "They took her. Aurora's gone."

"You mean they took her after you two abandoned me. Thought I was your friend, too." Astrid remarked, still holding her pinned on the ground.

"I'm sorry. Can you let me up now?" Mulan said as the teenager released her and helped her stand back up.

Astrid resheathed her sword and punched the Chinese woman on her arm. "That's for leaving." She then continued walking down the trail as the three women followed after her.

***

After an hour had passed, the four women continued to walk through the forest just as a raven soared overhead and landed on Astrid's shoulder, cawing.