✖️✖️✖️✖️

Zephyr tossed in his sleep, furrowing his eyebrows as he was deep in a nightmare.

Hades suddenly appeared to finish Regina off with the Olympian Crystal, but Robin takes the blow for her.

Yet, suddenly, Astrid had appeared in front of Robin and Regina magically and was hit with the crystal instead of them.

After being hit, Astrid shared one last look with Regina and her adopted father before collapsing and dying.

Astrid's spirit abruptly separated from her body to reach out longingly at them while Robin tearfully watched his daughter fade out of existence.

Astrid glanced over at her bed to find her five year old sleeping, seemingly having a nightmare at that, too.

She moved over to him and gently woke up the kid. "Zep, baby, wake up. It's okay, it's okay."

Zephyr woke up crying and instantly buried himself in his mother's arms as he let out, "Mom- Mommy... I don't wanna lose you..."

Astrid held onto the small boy even more and assured him softly, "I am with you always, Kid. And if something ever were to happen, I will always be right here." She tapped his chest where his heart was.

Zephyr shook his head quickly and tightened his hold on his mother, saying, "N-No, Grandpa Robin-- He-He's gonna die to save Regina, but-but you took his p-place... You was k-killed by Ha-Hades..."

Astrid kisses the top of his head and murmured, "It's okay. It'll be okay. Everything will be okay."

"I don't want you to be gone again, Mommy..." The five year old cried, tears streaming down his face.

Astrid moved him a little to make him look up at her as she assured, "I will always be with you, Kid... It was just a bad dream."

She knew it wasn't just a dream, and knew he was having visions of a possible future, but she didn't want to scare him like that and put him through even more trauma.

She wanted him to be happy and to be a kid. And she wanted to be in his life and see him continue to grow.

Astrid knew what he saw in his dream was true because she had saw the same thing in her own dreams.

***

Astrid carried her son downstairs once he had stopped crying and had calmed down.

Emma, Peter, Robin, Hook, Henry, and Regina was currently standing around the table as they discussed on how to recreate Hades's story.

Henry had found a page about David and Snow.

Hook looked at the said page and read it, saying, "Riveting tale. Snow likes oatmeal. Is my morning breakfast in there, too? Henry, I thought you were gonna use your Author powers to get us to defeat Hades."

Henry shook his head in confusion and pointed out, "I don't even remember writing this. I just woke up and had it done."

"Okay," Emma murmured, herself now looking over the page, "It's... really well-written."

"Yes, and the illustrations are lovely," Regina added.

"Maybe if you focus harder-" Emma began.

Henry cut her off and snapped in annoyance, "Oh. So you're all authors now? Everyone's a writer. Everyone's got an idea. I'm doing my best. Maybe if you just laid off for a little bit..."

The said teenager grabbed his papers and walked over to the stairs until Regina inquired, "Henry, where are you going?"

"Upstairs," Henry muttered and rushed up the stairs and to his room.

Emma sighed, "Well, we officially have a teenager on our hands."

Someone suddenly knocked on the front door as Peter spoke up, "And a visitor in your Underworld apartment."

Emma walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Zelena standing there, making everyone's faces drop into shocked expressions.

"Zelena!?" Robin began.

Regina happily smirked and started, "So... someone finally did you in."

Zelena fake smiled, saying, "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm very much alive."

"Then how did you get here?" Astrid questioned, a protective arm in front of her son slightly behind her.

"Through a portal. And I didn't come alone." Zelena admitted.

"Who else is here?" Regina suspiciously asked.

"Our baby." Zelena replied, "And she's in danger."

Zephyr was still in his blue boxers and a white tee shirt as he remarked, "Here comes another adventure." He threw his arms in the air before jumping up and collapsing on the couch behind him.

Both Peter and Astrid looked down at their son and smiled in amusement and then glanced at each other.

***

Peter and Astrid was sitting on the couch with Zephyr laying his head on his mother's lap while Emma, Hook, David, and Snow gathered around them.

"You... can do that? You can talk to the real world?" Emma began towards her mother as she glanced over at her twin moving her hand lightly on top of Zephyr's hair.

Snow nodded and said, "Yes. Or... Well, I don't know."

"At least we tried," David assured his wife who sighed and added, "I just need him to hear our voices.

"He will." Astrid also assured her parents in front of them, "As soon as we make it back home."

"She's right," Emma agreed with her sister.

"Astrid, Emma, when will that be?" Snow inquired, sympathetically adding, "We went through this with you two. For all those years, if you had just heard our voices... Would that have made a difference, knowing someone out there loved you?"

Astrid shared a soft look with her sister and looked back at her parents before glancing over at Hook, saying, "No, not for me. I always knew someone was out there and loved me-- like I know even more now."

Snow and David smiled some as did Hook while Peter kissed the side of his wife's head and looked down at their son.

***

Astrid was sitting at the table with Zephyr in her lap and beside Peter, David, Snow, and Belle.

Emma and Hook was sitting on the couch while Regina and Robin cradled the baby girl.

"She has your eyes," Regina smiled.

"So, does she have a name yet?" Belle inquired curiously.

Robin shook his head and answered her, "No. Not yet. I can't. Hades can do things with names."

Emma grabbed Hook's hand and led him over to the rest of the group.

"Like put them on tombstones to keep people from leaving here." Peter remarked.

"I don't even think it's wise to keep her here in this apartment. I mean, what if Zelena changes her mind?" Robin began, slightly rocking his daughter in his arms.

"I hate to be the one to offer optimism, but it sounds like she was sincere." Hook spoke up.

"She was." Regina replied, "But that doesn't mean what she knows can't come back to bite us. Robin's taking her to the forest."

Astrid looked up at that and over at Robin watching his newborn as he added, "Honestly, it's the only place I've ever felt really at home."

Astrid nodded just as Henry rushed down the stairs and moved over to them, holding two new pages, saying, "It happened. It happened again. Take a look."

David looked at the pages before he replied, "Snow, look at this."

Snow smiled in relief and let out, "It's Neal."

David asked his oldest grandson, confused, "Why did you write this?"

"It's like before," Henry admitted, "I didn't. Or I just don't remember. It just wrote itself. Like it does."

"The infant son of Snow White and Prince Charming looked up at the tiny glass unicorns as they stirred by the wind." Emma read aloud, "But on this night, he didn't hear the chime of the crystal. Instead, he heard the voices of his mother, Snow White, and his father, Prince Charming. They sang a lullaby until he fell asleep as soundly as if he were in their arms."

"He heard us." Snow first said to David and sighed, "He heard us."

David squeezed his grandson's arm in relief and added, "Thanks, Henry."

"I don't know about anyone else, but I'm really ready to get back home to my family." Snow commented, "My whole family. No more waiting. We can save ourselves. We're going to take down Hades, and we're going to do it now."

Zephyr wrapped his small arms around his mother's waist tightly and buried his face in the crook of her neck as he feared of the man known as Hades from his dreams.

Astrid knew this and held her son in her arms reassuringly, kissing his forehead and then rested her chin on top of his head.

Time was short, and she intended to use it to make sure her family is safe and well protected. She will always protect them.

No matter what it takes.

✖️✖️✖️✖️