7. Heartless

Complete story — includes the ending

In the past, fugitive Snow and shepherd David separately travel to Longbourn; she to flee the kingdom and he to sell his struggling farm. Without ever seeing each other's faces, David saves Snow from a bounty hunter and she repays him with money to save the farm, deciding not to flee. Their hands touch and a magical sapling is created. In the present, the Evil Queen threatens to destroy Storybrooke with River of Lost Souls water unless Snow and David hand over their hearts. They learn the sapling could stop the Queen, who destroys it just after they find it. But it has shown them their previous meeting, and they conclude that their love can endure anything; they surrender themselves. The Queen casts a sleeping curse on their hearts; because they share Snow's heart, the curse affects them both; each can wake the other but immediately succumbs to the curse, so they can never be awake together. Regina uses Gold's relationship with the Queen to separate the latter from Zelena, who earns Gold's enmity by exposing his schemes to Belle.