- Young Henry Mills: Dear mom, this is the personal essay I wanted to send, but couldn't. It's titled "Once Upon a Time." And it's the story of us.
- Young Henry Mills: So... I-I may have hit a curb, and dinged the passenger door.
- Regina Mills: Oh, Henry, do you know what I put this car through? Scratches are a part of life.
- Henry Mills: Okay, fine. You know what? I'll play along. Say my book is real. Where are all the real heroes, then? Where is Snow? Where is Charming? Where is Emma? W-Where are these heroes to save the day? Doesn't everybody always find each other?
- Roni: You can't find someone if you don't know they're missing.
- Henry Mills: Don't you get it? No one wants to believe that this is real more than I do. Because if this is real, that means that the pain that I carry around every single day doesn't exist. But it is still right there. So, no, I am not your boy wonder. I am just a sad grown man who couldn't even save his own family.
- Roni: Henry, I get it. I had thought it was just the curse, but your pain is real. Because the day we were cursed, you couldn't save your family. You were kidnapped, and you're still blaming yourself for it. But the difference between what you believe and what I believe is that I know you can still save us. Because we're right here. We've always been with you. I just need you to remember that.
- Young Henry Mills: Mom, I wasn't entirely honest with you or myself about why I couldn't pick a college.
- Regina Mills: Really?
- Young Henry Mills: When you told me that you were ready to let me go, I realized *I* wasn't ready to leave. Storybrooke is the only home I've ever known. And change is hard, and the unknown is scary.
- Regina Mills: But now it's not?
- Young Henry Mills: Oh, no. Still terrifying. But I know now that home isn't a place. It's the people you love. And even when I'm not in Storybrooke, Storybrooke will always be with me.
- Mr. Gold: Welcome back... Captain Hook.
- Captain Killian 'Hook' Jones: Crocodile.
- Alice: Robin!
- Robin: Tower Girl.
- Alice: I told you we'd always know each other.
- Alice: [after defeating Gothel] I'm sorry your life twisted into something you never meant it to. I promise I will do better. For everyone.
- Young Henry Mills: Sometimes, you have to leave home. And you've been there for so long, you don't know who or what you'll be outside of it. But then you realize, every experience, every trial, every moment has shaped you. And you take that place with you no matter where you go next. I'm lucky. I have an incredible home. You won't find it on a map. But in it, you will find magic. You find love, hope, and something to believe in. You'll find a family that fights for one another, who never gives up on each other. And even when they're separated by curse, or distance, or time, they find each other. They always find each other. I wish the world could know the story of my family - how it was all true, how every moment of it happened. And you may think this is just a story. But that's the thing about stories. They're more than words. They live inside of us. They make us who we are. And as long as someone believes that, there will always be magic.
- [Henry has still not bought into the curse theory]
- Roni: But a part of you wanted to believe. Or else what's all this?
- [she gestures to the corkboards of research in the room]
- Henry Mills: Nick was a psychopath. And I admit it, I went deep down into the rabbit hole. But I was wrong.
- Roni: You're rationalizing away your belief - like an adult.
- Henry Mills: I *am* an adult.
- Roni: [referring to Henry's original storybook] Victoria knew how powerful that book is. And if anyone wanted it, they'd have to pry it from her cold, dead hands.
- Lucy Vidrio: Uh, you think the storybook is in there?
- Roni: Why do you think I kept my vault in a cemetery? When you have secrets that powerful, you take them to the grave.
- Regina Mills: What's wrong?
- Young Henry Mills: It's just... in the entrance essays, the Henry Mills I was writing about wasn't really... me.
- Regina Mills: What are you talking about?
- Young Henry Mills: I couldn't write about the time I got kidnapped to Neverland. Or how I met my first girlfriend in Camelot. I even had to lie about my own home.
- Regina Mills: I read those essays. They were exeptionally well-written.
- Young Henry Mills: That's not the point. They didn't accept the real Henry Mills. And i-if I go out there and keep lying, I won't be me anymore. Maybe I'm better off just staying at home. Mom, what do I do?
- Regina Mills: I wish I can tell you to stay here and never grow up. But you're already grown up. And the only person who can tell you what to do... is you.
- Lucy Vidrio: You could believe. You just don't want to!
- Henry Mills: It doesn't work that way, okay? You may not understand it now, but you will when you're older.
- Lucy Vidrio: I wish you could remember what it was like to be a kid, to, to believe. I wish you never grew up!
- [Henry calls his younger self just as the latter gets ready for his graduation party]
- Henry Mills: Uh, I just called to congratulate you.
- Young Henry Mills: Oh. Well... thanks.
- Henry Mills: So, um... what's next?
- Young Henry Mills: To be honest...
- Henry Mills: You're having doubts.
- Young Henry Mills: I told my mom it was because I didn't want to lie about who I am. But, um... it's hard... letting go of this place.
- Henry Mills: Believe me, I know. Um, can I give you a piece of advice? Advice someone gave me a long time ago at my graduation?
- Young Henry Mills: Sure.
- Henry Mills: Home isn't a place. It's the people in it. And they will always be with you.
- Young Henry Mills: Who'd you say this was again?
- Henry Mills: Just someone who believes in you.
- Lucy Vidrio: Henry... what's going on?
- Henry Mills: [recognizing her, he picks her up and hugs her] Not "Henry", Lucy. Dad.
- Regina Mills: [returning from Henry's graduation party] Thank you for saying you wanted to leave early. I could not handle another one of Grumpy's "To all the curses I've known before" toasts.
- Young Henry Mills: Yeah, I was starting to think that wasn't hot chocolate in his mug.
- Henry Mills: [cradling the unconscious Regina] Mom! Hold on, mom. I got you. I got you. It's okay. It's okay. I'm with you. I got you. Mom? Mom. I'm sorry it took me so long, but I'm here. I remember. I finally remember everything. Please come back to me, mom. Come back. I love you.
- Henry Mills: Sorry it took me so long to get here.
- Regina Mills: Oh, Henry. I'm just glad to have you back.
- [conjurs a fireball]
- Regina Mills: And my magic.
- Henry Mills: You were right. I did stop believing in myself. I guess I got a little dinged up along the way, and I couldn't recognize who I was anymore.
- Regina Mills: I know. Scratches are a part of life.
- Henry Mills: I remember that now. I remember everything you taught me.
- [last lines]
- Mr. Gold: How dare you take what's mine!
- [he chokes Facilier with his powers]
- Mr. Gold: Remember, you're not the only one with magic anymore.
- [after a moment, Gold lets him go]
- Dr. Facilier: [laughs] That's what I thought. You're a shadow of your former self. It's sad. Trying to get back to your beloved has made you the worst version of you.
- [he suddenly gasps and falls to the ground, revealing Rumpelstiltskin behind him with a dagger in hand]
- Rumpelstiltskin: Well, I find that really insulting. I mean, *I'm* the worst version of me.
- [giggles]
- Rumpelstiltskin: [to Gold] Hello, dearie. Did you really think a wish realm could hold me? Now, then... it's time you and I got better acquainted.
- [first lines]
- Lucy Vidrio: It didn't work!
- Roni: Lucy, what are you talking about? What didn't work?
- Lucy Vidrio: True love's kiss. My mom and Henry kissed.
- Roni: But Henry's poisoned.
- Lucy Vidrio: Not anymore. I found all the pieces of the glass slipper and Mr. Samdi cured him. But it doesn't matter. We're still cursed.
- Roni: I don't know about cursed, but those clouds aren't a great sign.
- Gothel: [suddenly appearing before them] They're not clouds. It's a re-birth.
- Gothel: Did you ever notice how human children have a nasty way of growing up? An adult's belief is a lot less potent.
- [Roni is brewing a potion when Weaver enters]
- Roni: I'm sorry, I don't remember ordering a traitor with a side of betrayal.
- Rogers: [seeing a witch disappear during the coven's ceremony] What the hell was that?
- Desk Sergeant: She's been gifted.
- [he pulls the cloak from the ground, revealing the sprig of a budding tree]
- Desk Sergeant: When a member has completed her task, given all that she has, she is rewarded with a place in the Eternal Grove.
- Rogers: What about you? Will you be rewarded as handsomely?
- Desk Sergeant: They are the chosen ones. I will be spared, but not rewarded.
- [Henry is trying to fix his mother's car]
- Granny Lucas: Stop. You're stripping the threads.
- Young Henry Mills: Sorry.
- Granny Lucas: Look, kid, I'm happy to let you borrow my tools, but you got to respect the machine. This is vintage curse-era classic.
- Regina Mills: Look, I... I've been thinking, and maybe your future is outside Storybrooke.
- [she holds out a collection of college pamphlets]
- Young Henry Mills: Mom... I thought you didn't want me to leave home?
- Regina Mills: Oh, I don't. But being a parent also means learning to let go.
- Young Henry Mills: Really?
- Regina Mills: Henry, I just want you to be happy. And even if happiness means a rowing crew in Ithaca. Or... a chess club in Boston.
- Young Henry Mills: Or studying film in Los Angeles.
- Regina Mills: ...Whatever you want. Even California.
- Roni: So, uh... what's with the bags?
- Henry Mills: Oh. I'm taking Jacinda and Lucy to Bainbridge Island this weekend. Jacinda kinda has a thing for that place.
- Roni: Oh. So the rumors are true.
- Henry Mills: Yeah, Jacinda and I are definitely, officially... some sort of thing.
- Sabine: [entering and seeing all the clothes on the bed] Seriously? How long are you gonna be gone?
- Jacinda Vidrio: Bainbridge at this time of year? Got to be prepared for any weather.
- Lucy Vidrio: Like apocalyptic storms.
- Rogers: I need you to tell me what the hell is going on in this town. I just spent the night tied up in the bowels of the city. And I saw... things. All right? So either I'm going crazy, or Eloise Gardener drugged me, or...
- Weaver: Magic is real.
- Rogers: Magic is...?
- Weaver: Real. All of it. Everything you read in Henry Mills' book. We are all from another realm. Eloise is a witch named Gothel, and what you saw her doing was magic. Now, if you want proof, I imagine anything I have to offer pales in comparison to what you witnessed last night.
- Rogers: Yeah, you're right. What I witnessed last night strains reason. But so does what you are saying now.
- Weaver: The choice is simple. Madness, or take a leap of faith. Believe your eyes. Believe me.
- Rogers: I'm not mad.
- Weaver: I know.
- Gothel: My daughter's with me now, Dark One. Come here, Tilly.
- Mr. Gold: She was never with you. And now she's gonna be the one who stops you.
- Alice: What? No. I can't fight her. She's a monster. She's too strong.
- Captain Killian 'Hook' Jones: Not half as strong as you, Alice.
- Princess Tiana: [bursting out of the closet] Don't move, Facilier.
- Dr. Facilier: Princess Tiana, I presume.
- Cinderella: It's "Queen" to you.
- [they advance on him, but Facilier disappears in a whirl of smoke]
- Naveen: Now, that's the kick-ass Queen I remember.
- Princess Tiana: Naveen! I'm so sorry I couldn't save you before.
- Naveen: Better late than never.