Safe Haven

"We're survivors."

- Mulan to Emma Swan and Mary Margaret The Safe Haven is a Fairytale Land location on Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the first episode of the second season.

After the Curse
Emma and Mary Margaret, after being transported into Fairytale Land, are tied up and pulled along unceremoniously behind a horse, as they stumble across the rough terrain. They are prisoners of Mulan and Aurora. They look up and see that they are approaching an island encampment. Mary Margaret asks where they are to which Mulan simply replies, “Our home.” Inside the camp, Emma and Mary Margaret are taken aback at the nearly medieval living standards of these refugees. When Mulan defends her people as survivors, Mary Margaret attacks, knocking Aurora away and telling Emma to make a run for it. They both do, but Mulan coolly picks up a bolo weapon, spins it, and hurls 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 revealed to be Cora. ("We Are Both")

An unconscious Mary Margaret is taken care of by Cora, while 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, which Cora agrees. She eventually reveals to Emma that she is the mother of Regina Mills.

Mary Margaret wakes up and is uneasy upon seeing Cora once more. Mary Margaret warns Emma that Cora is far worse than Regina. When Cora asks about her daughter, Emma spills some information about Henry as well. Soon after, the two are then sent word to that the leader of the survivors wishes to speak with them. Emma and Mary Margaret have a brief talk about why Mary Margaret followed her down the portal. 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 comes out of a hut and recognizes Snow White immediately. The two share a quick hug, and Mary Margaret introduces Emma to him. From afar, Princess Aurora, still bitter over Phillip's death, tells Mulan that she wanted justice. Mulan, on the other hand, tells her "not to confuse vengeance with justice." Despite telling Mulan that she understands the circumstances, Princess Aurora draws out a concealed dagger and looks back at Emma and Mary Margaret. Mary Margaret tells Lancelot that she thinks she knows were a portal is but won't say as Cora is near and she was not taking any chances. Lancelot agrees if she and Emma took Mulan for protection, to which they agree. ("Lady of the Lake")

Killian Jones 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 Jones says, "Skin myself a crocodile". ("The Crocodile")

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

Captain 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, Captain 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. The final shot from the Enchanted Forest reveals a beanstalk stretching to the sky. ("The Doctor")

Cora reappears at 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 scattered about to rise. ("Into the Deep")

Safe Haven is revealed to have been part of the land that includes Aurora's Palace that was protected by Cora when the Dark Curse descended upon Fairytale Land. Cora protected it by throwing up a shielding spell. ("Queen of Hearts")

Trivia

 * The Safe Haven is an island with a similar shape to Disney's version of Neverland.