Safe Haven

"The land is ravaged with dangers more fearsome than you can imagine. For those of us who remained.. we found a Safe Haven."

- Mulan to Aurora

The Safe Haven is an Enchanted Forest location on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the second episode of the second season.

History
In the Enchanted Forest, the Evil Queen, Regina, sends Hook to Wonderland to rip out the heart of her mother, the Queen of Hearts. Hook fails on his mission, and instead teams up with Cora to dupe Regina. Cora wants to kill Regina first for trying to kill her, so Hook brings back her body in a casket, but it's actually Cora pretending to be dead. After Regina says her heartfelt goodbyes to her mother and prepares to cast the curse, Cora has a change of heart about killing her. Instead, she decides to wait for a moment in time in the future when Regina is vulnerable and the curse is broken so she can "pick up the pieces" with her daughter.
 * -|Before the Curse=

Cora travels to a small island with Hook and casts up a shielding spell over the area as the curse is spreading throughout the land. This spell also protects herself and Hook from being affected by the curse. She tells Hook that the land affected by the curse will be frozen for 28 years until the savior breaks the curse. The land untouched by the curse due to Cora's protection spell keeps various residents of the Enchanted Forest from the time freeze, and eventually they built a safe haven on those grounds to survive in a collective group.

28 years later, after the dark curse is broken, Prince Phillip awakens Aurora from the sleeping curse and tells her that, though they will return to restore the castle someday, but they must first journey to a safe haven.
 * -|After Broken Curse=

In Storybrooke, Mr. Gold unleashes a Wraith to kill Regina, but it ends up being sent into the Enchanted Forest where it attacks and sucks out the soul of Phillip. Emma and Mary Margaret are also pulled along into the same world, and are found by Mulan and Aurora. They believe the strangers caused Phillip's death.

Mulan ties Emma and Mary Margaret's wrists and forces them to walk behind as she and Aurora ride on horses toward the safe haven. They try to proclaim their innocence in having anything to do with the death of Phillip, but neither of their captors care to listen. Inside the safe haven's campsite, Emma and Mary Margaret are taken aback at the nearly medieval living standards of these refugees, but Mulan defends her people as survivors. Mary Margaret attempts to break free; knocking Aurora away and telling Emma to make a run for it. They both do, but Mulan coolly picks up a bolo weapon; spinning and hurling it at Mary Margaret, who takes a strong hit and goes down. Emma rushes to her side, and as Mulan approaches them, she instructs the other guards to take them to the pit.

Soon after, when Emma tends to a still unconscious Mary Margaret in a dark and foreboding underground prison, she hears a voice asking her if she needs help. Emma, still unable to see much around her, asks who the speaker is. “A friend,” comes the reply. The stranger steps forward, and it is Cora.

While Mary Margaret is being taken care of by Cora, Emma asks her where they are. Emma states that they shouldn't be kept in the prison for long as they didn't do anything wrong, to which Cora agrees. She eventually reveals to Emma that she is the mother of Regina.

Mary Margaret wakes up and is uneasy upon seeing Cora, who she obviously recognizes. She warns Emma that Cora is far worse than Regina, but Cora tries to say that she has changed. As Cora asks about her daughter in Storybrooke, Emma tells her also about how much she herself misses Henry. Soon after, the two are sent word that the leader of the survivors, Leviathan, wishes to speak with them. Emma and Mary Margaret have a brief talk about why Mary Margaret followed her down the portal that sucked in the Wraith. Emma thinks that it was because Mary Margaret saw her as helpless, but Mary Margaret explains that she just wanted to be with her daughter.

Just then, Lancelot--Leviathan--comes out of a hut and he and Mary Margaret recognize each other immediately. The two share a quick hug, and Mary Margaret introduces Emma to him. From afar, Aurora, still bitter over Phillip's death, tells Mulan that she wants justice, but Mulan heeds not to confuse vengeance with justice. Despite assuring Mulan that she understands the circumstances, Aurora draws out a concealed dagger and looks back at Emma and Mary Margaret. Mary Margaret tells Lancelot that she thinks she knows where a portal is, but she won't say the location aloud, as Cora is near and she is not taking any chances. Lancelot agrees to provide them with arms and supplies if she and Emma take Mulan for protection, to which they agree.

It is later revealed, that Cora had killed Lancelot a long time before and had assumed his identity, as the safe haven survivors would not have followed her.

Hook is looking upon the safe haven island through his telescope when Cora walks up to him. She shows him a bottle with the ashes of the magic wardrobe that they can use to get to Storybrooke so she can see her daughter again. Cora asks what he wants to do in Storybrooke, and he replies, "Skin myself a crocodile".

Emma, Mary Margaret, Aurora and Mulan return to the safe haven only to discover Hook under a pile of dead refugees; all of whom have had their hearts ripped out by Cora.

Hook insists he only survived because he played dead. Fortunately, Emma isn’t buying his story and ties him to tree to get him to talk. After a bit of coaxing, Hook relents and in exchange for not being left behind with the ogres, offers to point the way to another possible portal back to Storybrooke. The only catch is that he gets to go through the portal with them when the time comes; suggesting that he’s more interested in his revenge on Rumplestiltskin than on who helps him get there. Stretching to the sky, a beanstalk looms overhead with the enchanted compass they must get from the giant who lives on top.

Cora reappears at the remnants of the survivor's camp. She removes a heart from a drawer in a cabinet full of them, and blows on it with her magic, causing other drawers to glow and float out of their slots in the cabinet. Standing in the doorway of the shack, using the heart, she commands several of the heartless bodies to rise. One of them manages to kidnap Aurora and she is imprisoned in the cell beneath the former haven. Cora comes in carrying a tray of stew, but a stoic Aurora informs her that she will not be eating in fear the food is poisoned. Cora laughs and says that Aurora is more useful to her alive then dead as she intends to trade Aurora for the enchanted compass. Aurora states that this is a bad idea since she is a stranger to Mary Margaret and Emma and the two of them want to get home, and will do anything to do so--including sacrificing her. Cora informs Aurora she may not know her companions as well as she thinks. Cora tells Aurora that when the Wraith sucked the soul from Phillip, the soul was not in fact destroyed, but was sent to another world. Cora hints that if Aurora cooperates with her, she may be able to summon Phillip's soul back to the Enchanted Forest. Aurora does not believe her and rebukes her; standing up angrily and upsetting the tray of food. Angry, Cora flings the her against the wall with her magic; knocking Aurora unconscious.

While Aurora is out cold, Cora leaves and Hook secretly enters to use his hook, which was previously enchanted to take out a heart, and rips out hers. Aurora does not feel a thing, and sleepily awakens and finds herself face to face with Hook standing over her. She is immediately on guard, but Hook informs her that he is helping her to escape to foil Cora's plans. Aurora is doubtful, but Hook states that it is true, and for her to tell Emma that she should have trusted him all along. She thanks him and runs from the dungeon. Cora is furious Hook let Aurora go, but her rage cools when she sees the present he stole for her-- Aurora's heart. She uses the heart to control Aurora's speaking actions, and spies on the group's movements.

At the sea shore of the safe haven, Neal is washed onto the beach after falling into a portal. He is found unconscious by Prince Phillip, Aurora and Mulan, who try to help him.

Appearances
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