An Apple Red as Blood

"An Apple Red as Blood" is the 21st episode of Once Upon a Time.

Summary
Henry pleads with Emma to stay in Storybrooke and continue her quest as the savior of the fairytale dwellers, and Regina concocts a plan that could rid her of Emma forever. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale land that was, Snow White enlists the aid of her fellow fairytale cohorts to attack the Evil Queen and save Prince Charming's life.

Plot
"Previously on Once Upon a Time."

Snow White and Prince Charming get married. Regina casts a fireball. Emma tells Regina that she's going to take Henry from her. August tries to get Emma to believe in magic and tells her everyone needs her. Charming is kidnapped by King George's men. George and Charming talk. Snow tells the dwarves that George took Charming so she needs to save him. The dwarves offer to help get him back. Emma asks Henry if he wants to come live with her, he confirms this, so she attempts to leave Storybrooke with him.

ONCE UPON A TIME

Act I
A plate of four apples are seen lain out neatly upon a plate in the center of Regina's dinner table as the shot moves up the view the mayor herself, eating breakfast with an indifferent expression on her face. As she stabs her fork down into her plate to lift another mouthful of bacon, we are shown Henry sitting on the opposite end of the table, also eating. As he also lifts another mouthful of bacon with his fork, Regina thins her eyes at him, giving him an apparent smile, before the sound of the doorbell is heard. Confused, Regina tells Henry that she does not recall them expecting any company, wiping her mouth with a napkin before standing up and making her way over to the door to answer. When she does, she is met by Emma, addressing her as Sheriff Swan before asking her what she's doing there. Emma tells the mayor that Henry invited her, but Regina asks Emma if she really thinks she would allow her into her house for dinner after all of the threats that she made to her family. At this, Emma states that she didn't come for dinner, prompting Regina to ask what she actually did come for, to which Emma replies, "You." Regina, confused, turns around to see that Henry is no longer sitting at the dinner table, now worried, she turns back to the door to see that Emma is now accompanied by Mary Margaret, Archie, David, Ruby, Granny and Leroy before the blonde adds, "Well all did." Regina steps backwards, turning back around to see that Henry is standing before her with an excessive amount of rope balancing on his shoulder. She mutters his name in confusion and fear.

Soon, Regina is slammed up against the trunk of her beloved apple tree, which has now relocated to the middle of the town, as Ruby and Archie proceed to forcefully tie her up. She begs for them to let her go, looking out at the mob before her, same as before but with the addition of the seven dwarfs and everyone holding flaming torches. Regina commands her own freedom but Ruby asks why they would let her go after everything she's done to all of them, whereas Archie apologizes to the queen, before stating that his conscience is clear. Leroy steps out of the crowd with an accusatory point to Regina, reminding her that she's not queen anymore, "sister". Granny then calls out that she is a traitor and needs to feel their pain. "You took our love and ripped it apart!" Mary Margaret exclaims, before David adds, "And now you're gonna pay!" Emma approaches Regina and reaches her arm upwards, plucking an apple from the mayor's tree. Regina stares at the blackened fruit in Emma's hand as the blonde proceeds to crush it, resulting in it reforming into a thick, black liquid. "Rotten to the core," Emma tells a shocked Regina, before disregarding the broken apple, throwing it to the floor. Tearfully, Regina tells the townspeople that she merely wanted to win, for once, but Emma steps forward and grabs Regina by the throat, telling her that she took away their happiness and now it's their turn to take away hers. The blonde loosens her grip on Regina's throat and steps backwards, being handed a sword by David. Regina calls out to Henry, begging him not to let them do this to her, however, Henry points out that she did this to herself, before stepping aside. Emma then lifts the sword and takes a swing at Regina's neck. Regina awakes in her bed with a large gasp as her nightmare ends with her own execution. Once her breathing calms down, she gets out of bed and quickly makes her way to Henry's bedroom. She sees the shape up him under his covers and is comforted by this, she takes a sigh of relief before leaving the room and closing the door behind her. As she does this, the shot moves to reveal that Henry's bed is empty and that things have been placed beneath his duvet to make it appear that he's in it.

On the road leaving Storybrooke, we see Emma and Henry in the former's car as it drives out of town. Henry looks in the back at the luggage and asks Emma if that's all her stuff, to which she replies that it's all she needs. The kid is confused as to why they're leaving now and Emma tells him that she wants to get him away from "all of this" and away from "her", meaning Regina. Henry orders his mother to stop the car, telling her that she cannot leave Storybrooke as she has to break the curse, but Emma snaps that she doesn't, stating that she has to help him. He tries to tell her that she's a hero, meaning that she can't run and that she has to help everybody, but she argues that she's doing what's best for him, although she knows it's hard for him to see that, reminding him that that's what he wanted when he brought her to Storybrooke. Henry points out that he brought her to town so that she could break the curse, exclaiming that she's the only one that can bring back the happy endings. They come up to a road sign that reads "Leaving Storybrooke" and Henry quickly grabs the wheel, causing the car to swerve off road and skid round, breaking on the grass. Emma asks Henry what he's doing, saying that he could have gotten them killed, but the kid begs Emma not to make him leave, saying that everything's there, him, her parents, her family - "Please, Emma, they need you! Your family needs you!"

In the fairytale land that was, Prince Charming is pushed down onto his knees by a couple of knights before King George, who asks the prince if he really thought he'd let him get away, saying that it appears Charming's had quite the adventure since then. Charming looks up at the king and tells him that whatever he's going to do to him, he should get on with it. At this, George gives a nod to his knights and they pull Charming to his feet, the king tells his prisoner that he took him in as his son and he betrayed him, before going on to say that he would have given him everything, the crown, the kingdom, and all he had to do was marry King Midas' daughter, but he decided to throw it all away for "true love". Charming retorts that losing his life for love is a sacrifice he is happy to make, to which George replies, "As you wish." The knights walk Charming over to the guillotine in the center of the court as George moves out of the way in order to get a good view. As King George takes a seat at his throne, Charming's head is placed into the hole in the guillotine, it is secured before the shot moves up to reveal the sharp blade that is ready to fall and decapitate the prince.

"Release the blade," George orders the executioner, and the latter pulls a chord on the guillotine causing the blade to drop, however, as it does so, the metal turns into water which pours over Charming's head. Both George and Charming appear confused and the former demands to know what is the meaning of this, standing up, before his court is entered by Queen Regina, who is accompanied by two of her black knights. She apologizes to George for dropping in on him as the king and queen approach each other. King George asks Regina what it is she wants and the queen states that she wants the man he pretends is his son, meaning Charming, before going on to say that she's prepared to pay him any riches Midas offered him in return for him. George nods to the executioner who removes Charming from the guillotine, before the king asks Regina what she plans to do with him. She promises that he shall suffer, far more than some swift and simple beheading, to which he wonders how. "By using him to destroy his one true love," Regina replies, "By using him to bring and end to Snow White." At hearing this, Charming appears worried.

Back in Storybrooke, Regina is staring out of her window and into her back garden, before making her way outside. Once she does so, she approaches her prized apple tree, proceeding to pluck a piece of fruit from it and see that it's blackened and rotten, just like every other apple on the tree. She looks at it, worried, before clutching the apple tight with anger. Regina is next seen approaching Mr. Gold Pawnbroker & Antiquities Dealer before entering the shop to talk to the man himself. Gold greets her as "your majesty" before asking to which he owes the pleasure, and the mayor places her rotten apple on the counter, stating that her tree is dying and asking why. Gold suggests that perhaps it's her fertilizer, giving a sly smile, and Regina is insulted that he finds this so funny, saying that what she thinks is that it's a sign of the curse weakening because of Emma. "But do you care? No. You're content to sit back and do... whatever it is you're doing. While all my hard work burns!" she exclaims. He tells her that that's not all and that she may as well get everything off her chest, and she replies that she doesn't know what he's talking about as the pawnbroker steps out from behind the counter. "Henry," Gold says, before stating that Miss Swan wants him. Regina tells Gold that Emma will have that boy over her dead body as Gold goes on to say that the curse was meant to take away Snow White and Prince Charming's happiness and that perhaps Regina giving up Henry is just the price she has to pay to make sure the curse goes unbroken. Regina says that she thinks she'd rather just get rid of Emma, to which Gold replies that she's going to have to be quite creative as they both know the repercussions of killing Miss Swan - "The curse would be broken," they say simultaneously.

Regina approaches Gold, telling him that that's because he deigned it that way and requesting him to undo it. Gold smirks, telling her that even if he wanted to, he couldn't as magic is in short supply around there and dwindling by the minute. This causes Regina to realize that Gold wants the curse broken, before asking why. He tells her that it's not something he cares to discuss but she tells him not to bother and to shove his reasons as she wants to strike a new deal. Gold appears to be listening and Regina expands upon her previous statement, saying that she wants a deal where she can get rid of Emma without shadowing the curse. Unfortunately for her, Gold says, a negotiation requires two interested parties and he's already planning a trip. He walks away from her and back to his till before she turns around and says that she'll give him anything. "Oh," he says, "You no longer have anything I want, dearie. But I will give you a piece of advice free of charge, I'd start planning a trip of your own. Because once people have waken up and remember who you are and what you did to them, well... they are gonna be looking for blood." Gold spins a globe on his counter and Regina stares at him, not knowing what to do.

Act II
The school bell is heard ringing on the playground as kids all run out of class and the shot moves along the line of bikes parked up against the wall. A sign is seen on the back of one reading "PAIGE" and a hand is seen attaching a card containing a white rabbit to said sign. The hand is revealed to belong to Regina who looks up, smiling wickedly before walking away in discretion. The shot moves in on the white rabbit card. The door to Mary Margaret's apartment is seen opening as Emma walks in through it and Mary Margaret, who's behind the counter making coffee, says that she thought she left. Emma removes her bag and places it on the floor, attempting to talk to Mary Margaret who interrupts her, telling her that she couldn't tell for sure because she didn't bother to say goodbye. "Do you remember when I left? When I ran? What you said to me? You said we have to stick together. That we're like... family," the teacher reminds her. Emma nods, apologizing and saying that she shouldn't have left, and Mary Margaret agrees, exclaiming that she shouldn't have and asking why, after everything, she did. The blonde states that she doesn't want to be sheriff, she doesn't want people relying on her and she doesn't want "this". Mary Margaret asks about Henry and Emma tells her roommate that she took him with her. Mary Margaret pauses, folding her arms and telling Emma that she abducted him, to which the blonde replies with a "maybe". The teacher has a little trouble understanding why Emma claims not to want people relying on her, yet she took her son, sarcastically stating that that sounds like a stable home for him. She asks what the hell is wrong with her and Emma replies that she wants what's best for Henry, but Mary Margaret points out that running isn't what's best for him, it's what's best for Emma, telling the blonde that she's reverting to the person she was before she got to Storybrooke, and she thought she had changed. Emma sadly tells her roommate that she thought wrong and Mary Margaret says that, regardless, she has to do what's right for Henry now. "What's that?" Emma wonders. At this, Mary Margaret snaps, "I don't know, you're his mother. That's your job. So you figure it out!"

Trivia

 * The title card features Snow White walking with the seven dwarves.
 * This title card is similar to the one used in "Dreamy", the only difference being that Snow White is absent.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the episode.