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TWENTY-NINE; OUT WITH THE OLD

The hideously-orange colored truck rumbled down the vacant and practically unused street on the countryside of Storybrooke. The royal couple were in the front seats, David's right hand firm on the steering wheel while his other was eagerly clutching onto his wife's. Emma and Sage were strapped onto the row of back seats, their mouths shut, but minds flaring with the excitement and curiosity about what they were going to see. Both David and Mary Margaret had woken them up bright and early in the morning, anxious to show them their big "surprise" that they couldn't wait a minute longer.

Under most circumstances, Sage felt indifferent about surprises. The outcome of them could be good, like when Thomas took her on a trip to Snark Island to watch the Aurealis Borealis for her second birthday that they spent together or when she surprised Henry with volumes of his favorite comic-books for Christmas last year. In her lifetime, however, most of them have been horrible, but thankfully, she knew David and Mary Margaret well enough to know they wouldn't make her confront something unpleasant ― well, at least unintentionally.

The automobile came to a smooth stop at the left side of the road. David and Mary Margaret got out first, preceded by Emma and Sage. The blonde former grew more irritated as the anticipation in the air festered. "Why are we in the middle of nowhere? Why aren't you guys telling me what's going on? Why the secrecy?"

Sage placed her hands on her hips, narrowly glancing at the empty and rubbish piece of abandoned farmland that was across the road. It hadn't looked used, considering the grass was straw-yellow, the ground looked muddy and distorted, and heavy rainfall was last season proved to have done damaged to the barely-there soil. "Yeah, guys, this is a bit too Children of the Corn for me?"

Her mother spun on her heels to face her, a soft smile quirking on her pink lips, "Because you both need to see it."

"Great. That always goes well for me." Emma muttered, sharing a displeased look with Sage, before stating more more anxiously. "Listen, whatever it is, it can wait. August was trying to warn me about something ― someone dangerous."

Since August's abrupt transformation from his older, wooden self to his bashful and ginger-haired child's self, Emma's been at a lost as to finding out what the hell he was going to tell her. Both her and Sage had searched around his trailer back in the woods, but there was nothing of significance that would led to his supposed "warning".

"Doesn't matter." David grinned, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulders.

"Why not?"

"Because of this." Mary Margaret reached for her daughter's hand, just as David was grasping onto the deputy's one. Together, the four walked into the crown of the field and entered an invisible ray of magic, the instant effect of penetrating it taking Sage's breath away for a moment. What was once a futile and empty acres of land turned to a completely flourishing farm with rows of lively crops and agriculture growing.

"Holy shit." mumbled Sage, her blinking brown eyes trying to absorb the rapid transition. Suddenly, someone from the field called her name. It was Anton, except no longer in a towering, giant form, but at a average, normal size. Despite the shock numbing her brain, she managed to greet back and hug him. She hadn't recalled seeing him in Storybrooke, only on the beanstalk in the Enchanted Forest.

The former giant pulled away, innocently asking, "Are you here to help? It's not quite harvest time yet."

"Beans." Emma gasped out, her green eyes pondering over the columns of rising seeds attached to the sticks planted into the ground. "You're growing magic beans. That's what you were up to when we were in New York? Why didn't you tell us?

"We are telling you." David countered, to which his brunette friend rolled her eyes. "We kept it a secret to protect the crop. Mother Superior, she cloaked the area. That way Anton can do what he does best."

"Actually, you haven't seen me play darts." Anton commented, before glancing behind him at all of his achieved work and shrugging, humbly. "But, yeah, I do this pretty good."

"Anton, don't take this the wrong way, but why ― how are you so ―" Sage did a peculiar gesture with her hand, pushing down the air in between her flat palms.

"Small? Cora. She and Regina brought some magic to make me human-sized. Kind of like it."

Leroy came walking from the crops and behind Anton, "Enough lollygagging! Back to it!"

Once the even smaller sized man stomped away, Anton joked, "Wow! Dwarves really like to work. It's great to see you, Sage."

"You too, Anton!" She chuckled, watching him walk away and continue his work with the eleven other dwarves. It was comforting to know that he would have a chance to live his life in Storybrooke and not some castle on a cloud in the Enchanted Forest, all alone with no one to talk to or spend time with.

Emma slowly broke out of her daze and turned to her parents, "You want to use the beans to make a portal, to go back to the Enchanted Forest. That's the real reason you didn't tell us. What about Ogres and destruction and danger?"

"We can fix all of that!" The former prince said vehemently. "We did it before, we can do it again."

"We can start over, Emma." Mary Margaret pleaded.

The Savior's brows raised, "So, you've changed your mind. You wanna go now, too?"

The pixie-haired woman shook her head, a pained expression overtaking her face. "Not my mind, my heart. After what I did to Cora, I think restoring our land is the best way to mend it."

David continued to try and convince the pair of skeptical woman, "It'll be good for all of us, the whole family. Henry and the two of you."

"We're from there. You're from there!"

"No. this world is ― my home."

"And it's been nothing, but cruel to you." David's compassionate eyes scammed over the unusually quiet brunette, who had kept her arms crossed and eyes downcasted. "I know the Enchanted Forest hasn't been kind to you either, but you've had twenty-eight years stripped from your life. Wouldn't it be better to go back home as a family? To rebuild our lives there? If we go back, I think both of you might be able to have your happy endings."

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Within the large dining room, constructed with a certainly large amount of space between the four castle walls, the only sounds bouncing off were the light whistling coming from Sage and the echoing of a man's screams coming from the neighboring dungeon. Sage was hopped onto the long and narrow table, one leg hitched over the other as she absentmindedly hummed her tune and examined underneath her nails. Nearby was Belle, the newly appointed housemaid of the Dark One's castle whom she met days ago, erratically sweeping nearby the leather-bound sofa and the columns holding ancient vases.

Almost to the point of hysteria, Belle paused her sweeping and panted heavily, "How? How do you stand this?"

A particularly piercing cry of pain harbored the room once more, making the yellow-dressed princess flinch back while the thief remained still and unaffected, her eyes not even blinking once. She shrugged, "You get use to it over time. You will too, eventually."

Belle shook her head in disbelief, appalled by the sense of conformity and desensitization. But that was the truth for Sage, considering she had done many dealings with him, sometimes without Jefferson by her side. Though perhaps her accustomization was, because of her homeland Wonderland and all its' possessed horrors, not Rumpelstiltskin.

Speaking of the Devil, the chamber door whipped open and in walked a incredibly bloody Rumpelstiltskin, his apron stained with crimson and his reptile-like skin beaming with stress. He strived towards the corner of the dining table, yanking off his damp leather gloves and carelessly tossing them onto the furniture, "I'm gonna need another apron."

"Uh, they're uh ―" Belle couldn't stop staring at the dripping red on his clothing and the temporary satisfaction etched onto his face. "They're on the line drying. It'll be some time."

"Fine. Fine. Get to cleaning this one as well." He untied his current used apron and placed it with the others. "Sage, did you bring what I ask."

She scooted off the table and tapped her hand onto the neatly wrapped boxes near her. "All right here, boss. Judge Frollo was more than happy to keep up his end of the bargain. His payment's in the package. Now can I have mine?"

He opened a metal box and handed her a small pouch of gold coins, "You've done well. Mind sticking around until I get back for another assignment? There are some priests in the area that intend to sell some indulgences to me."

"No problem." answered Sage, pushing herself up onto the table, grinning. "I've got nowhere else to be."

Rumpelstiltskin nodded, before trudging towards the oval doorway that led to the castle's french doors. Belle stepped forward, calling out, "All this, because he tried to steal a magic wand?"

"No, because he tried to steal from me!" He spun around, pointing to himself and once again, inhaling his natural persona of darkness mixing in with morbid, humorous tones. His voice was light and almost comical, despite the vicious actions he was committing moments ago. "The Dark One! You try that, you get skinned alive! Everyone knows that!"

Belle paused for a moment, before snarkily replying, "Actually, no, they don't."

He inhaled, forming a witty response, "Well, they will after discovering the body!"

With a giggle and the flourish of a hand, the Dark One was exiting his castle, leaving the pair of woman alone. Belle scoffed, shaking her head and practically throwing the broom onto the floor. "That man is - is - is ―"

Sage scrunched up her nose, "Intolerable? Deplorable? Demonic? There's quite a colorful list of adjectives I've heard people use."

Ignoring the opposite woman's sarcasm, Belle crossed her arms firmly against her chest and pondered for a moment. A few more seconds passed, before an idea dawned onto the woman's face and she turned to Sage. "We need to free him!"

"Excuse me?" Sage rose her brows, looking at the girl like she was moronic. "What would we, and when I say 'we' I mean 'you', do that?"

"This is horrific what's going on! Absolutely monstrous! We would be no better than him if we just sit back and watched as he tortured a man to death." She began to plead, her desperation creeping into her passionate words. "Please, Sage! He probably stole that wand, because someone he loves is in need, not just for the power. I know that we hardly know one another, but you don't seem like the kind of woman who could tolerate such cruelty to an innocent man."

Sage stared at her blankly for a moment, weighing her options and Belle's strong-willed statements. Her punishment would be far from mild if she helped Belle in their quest to save this thief, but to an extent, Belle was right ― there was a sickening churn in her stomach every time that man scream in agony. With that, her mind was set. "Alright, princess, let's play heroes and save the man, shall we?"

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Sage waited outside the Rabbit Hole, clinging onto her brown leather jacket and impatiently tapping her foot against the concrete. While she was working at the police station, hardly doing any of her assigned paperwork with the prospect of returning permanently to the Enchanted Forest stuck in her mind, when David called her instructing her to meet at the Rabbit Hole, the notorious and only bar in Storybrooke. She remained even more shocked when David arrived outside the bar to meet her with Mr. Gold. That was duo she hadn't expected.

"Sage, thanks for meeting us." The former prince greeted with an uncharacteristically nervous Rumpelstiltskin. "Gold, here, needs a favor. Regina, she ―"

"― She gave false memories to Belle and now thinks she some leather-clad, barfly who drinks far too much and has the vocabulary of a sailor named Lacey." Anybody with a right set of eyes could see the anxiety stirring inside of him, the nervous twitch of his posture, the tight clasp of his hands on his cane, the frown stretched across his aging face.

The brunette scoffed, "Of course, Regina would do that. She gets her rocks off by making people suffer. Do you guys have a plan for making her become 'Belle' again?"

David answered, "We need her to fall in love again with Gold so that True Love's Kiss can break the spell."

"Okay." Sage nodded, whipping open the door. "I'm more than happy to help."

Rumple gave a shaky, but grateful nod, before him and David entered the establishment, followed by Sage. She's been here a handful of times, either on nights where work has stressed out, she desired some alone time to think, or needed her bed to be filled by a nameless face, but like all those times before, the bar was still a mess of a place that reeked of booze and delinquents roaming around.

"The real White Rabbit was all for cleanliness." She muttered underneath her breath, "He would have a heart-attack if he saw they named this place after him."

She, herself, nearly had a heart attack once stepping further into the room and seeing the newly transformed 'Lacey' sitting at the bar all by her lonesome. The clothes she was wearing revealed far more skin than Belle would have preferred, not to mention the heavy dark makeup clouding her eyes and her reddish-brown hair pinned into a messy bun. She was drinking shots of Whiskey from her seat, quickly sucking the lemons with a pleasurable wince.

"Wow, she's ―" Sage gaped, searching for the correct words. "― less bookworm, more Courtney Love now. I can see that Regina wanted to make her the opposite of everything you love."

The Dark One contested to that, "I'll still love her, of course, it's just that she doesn't love me."

"Not yet, you mean?" Sage said, a feeble attempt to reassure him.

A brown-haired and towering man wearing all black waltzed over to Lacey and seemingly ordered her another round of shots. Rumple finally noticed this and snarled, stepping forward, "You two might want to wait outside ―"

Sage grabbed his shoulder, before he could go further. "Bad idea! Hate to break it to you, but possessiveness is not an attractive trait. You want her to fall in love with you, not petition for a restraining order."

The three of them did diverge with David and Sage nonchalantly stationing themselves at the end of the bar while Rumple walked towards his former beloved. She didn't look displeased to see him thankfully, "Oh! Mr. Gold, you're, uh, you're back."

"As are you." Gold replied, trying to shake off the nervousness that was lingering in his core.

"Well, what can I say? Love the ambiance." Lacey took a long sip of her whiskey, before distastefully gesturing to the old jukebox at the other end of the room. "What the bloody hell is that? Let's get some 'Panama' going on in here! You like Van Halen? Oh, you're a Hagar man, aren't you? Huh?"

With a tipsy giggle, she hopped off the bar stool and confidently strutted over to the juke-box. Sage widened her eyes, incredulous, and whispered to him. "What are you doing?"

"We have nothing in common!"

David shook his head, "That doesn't matter, you just need a way in."

Sage cocked her head to the spunky brunette by the music machine, smirking, "Ask her out! Go on! You've got this Casanova!"

The man grumbled and begrudgingly walked over to her while David and Sage sat at the bar, observing while silently drinking the whiskey that was provided to them by the bartender. Confused, David leaned over to her, "Who the hell is Van Halen? Hagar?"

"Pioneers in mullet rock." She took another sip of whiskey, despite her subtle giggling. "Seems like Lacey's got a thing for metal rock classics."

They both chuckled, before directing their attention back to the former couple. Luckily, their focus came in just the nick of time. Lacey was nodding and slowly walking away from the juke-box. "Okay. Tonight, Granny's, eight O'clock."

The barfly walked away while a look of relief and triumph washed over the pawn shop owners' face. David and Sage walked up beside him, the female latter clasping his shoulder and smiling widely. David perked up, "Not bad, Don Juan."

"Don Juan was nothing, before he made his deal with me." The man replied, proud that he was able to get a date with her, but still anxious of their current circumstance. "Congrats."

"Indeed." A nervous frown was rooted onto his lips. "Now I just need her to fall in love with me."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Two things, I apologize for the short and unevenness of this chapter, but in this episode, there's not a whole lot for Sage to do. The thing is with Once Upon A Time, is that most episodes are centered around a particular character so there are going to be future chapters where Sage isn't going to play a big role in them. Two, I'm sorry for updating in the middle of the night (for me anyways, it might be a different time for you).