Coming Back to You

Chapter One

Down within Zelena's cell underneath the hospital, where the dangerous and impenitent villains who've threatened the heroes in times past were being kept prisoners, Regina was standing in front of her wicked sister, while the Author was sitting on the bed with an open book laying out beside him and his special quill in his hand, waiting for the former Evil Queen to give him something to write. However, both women just stared at one another, one smugly and the other with coldness in her eyes.

Slightly having become impatient, Isaac finally cleared his throat in order to get Regina's attention and then he stated, "Well, the ink is drying. So what do you want me to do?"

The dark haired woman kept her eyes trained on her sister and paused a moment, then Zelena let out a silent sigh of relief when Regina grew more sincere as she went on to answer, "Nothing. You didn't know our mother, Zelena, but I did. And yet, we both suffered. She hurt you and she hurt me, too. But our own worst enemy isn't her or each other. It's ourselves."

It appeared that Regina was slowly beginning to get through to her until she was then interrupted when Robin came into the room as he asked worryingly, "Regina! Is everything all right? I've been looking all over for you."

"Everything's fine," she responded calmly, looking between him and Zelena again while she spoke. "I'm so tired of standing in the way of my own happiness, and I'm not going to do it anymore."

"Aw," the Wicked Witch mockingly retorted. "Another woman defining her happiness relative to the love of a man. It's sad, really."

"Oh, don't get it wrong, Greenie," Regina replied with a small laugh, unaffected by her sister's taunt, and the archer kept his eyes on the woman he loved while they smiled at one another during her revelation. "Robin isn't my happy ending. My happy ending is finally feeling at home in the world. Robin's just a part of that world."

She turned back to Zelena once more as she haughtily continued, "A world that you're going to be forced to watch from a distance, with the most restrictive visitation rights in history. See you at the next ultrasound."

The witch just sneered, then the Author cleared his throat again and to be clear, he asked again, "So you don't want me writing anything?"

"No," the Mayor answered, looking between the smaller man and Robin until she leaned in closer to kiss him. "I already have everything I need."

"Well, I don't," Isaac responded and looked down at the blank pages of the book still open beside him, then used his quill to write a single sentence while Regina and Robin sustained their kiss and suddenly disappeared within a purple cloud before either of them could grasp what just happened.

They all turned as the page the Author had written on floated to the floor once he vanished, then in concern Robin exclaimed, "Regina!"

She bent down to pick it up while with confusion and disbelief she said, "What the... No."

"What does it say?" he questioned as he leaned in to read the words for himself as Regina did.

"Vanishing in a cloud of smoke, the Author slips away with the ink to where... Mr. Gold awaits," the former Evil Queen read coldly, then briefly looked in front of her at Zelena until she looked over at the archer again as she turned her back on her sister.

The Mayor spoke to him again in frustration saying, "So… the Author picked a side and it isn't ours. I should have known he would double cross us. But why Gold? What sort of deal did they make?"

Robin shook his head while he replied, "I don't know, but I say we ought to go to the Dark One's shop and find a way to break in if we have to. Whatever it is they want, it can't be good."

"I agree," Regina stated firmly and together they started to leave the room without another word to the prisoner until all of a sudden, Zelena pressed a taser into her sister's back which caused her to fall to the floor unconscious, but before the archer from Sherwood Forest could do anything to stop the witch, Zelena immediately did the same to Robin against his chest as he turned around while crying out Regina's name to try to help the woman he loved.

Without waiting to make sure that he was completely out cold like Regina was, Zelena quickly ran from the cell they had stuck her in just a few hours ago and while she was careful to avoid any of the rest of the heroes or anyone who would try to stop her, she left the hospital and headed immediately to Gold's shop where she knew Isaac would be thanks to the page that remained behind as he too disappeared, and Gold whose heart she knew was blackening to the point of losing he complete humanity.

Finally, she arrived at the pawnshop and reached out to touch the knob on the back door to enter inside, but her hand was swiftly shocked by magic she knew belonged to her old mentor turned enemy, magic meant to keep out anyone who came to stop him in whatever he was up to. She stared at hand with confusion, having believed it'd be safe for her to enter due to her escape, then was about to leave to find another place of refuge until the door slowly opened and saw Isaac standing there to let her inside. He didn't say a word, the Author simply motioned for her to come in and then followed her into the shop where she found the Dark One was sitting on the floor against one of the counters, looking a bit worse for wear.

"What is she doing here?" Gold asked coldly, yet feebly as well, as he was barely even able to lift up his head to look at her. "This wicked witch is less than welcome within my shop, after what she did to…"

The Author interrupted, "After what she did to you at the hospital in New York and more importantly, what she did to your son. I know. But Zelena is as important to our plans as the rest of the villains here in this town are. It's only right that she should get her own happy ending, just like you, like Maleficent and her daughter, like King George, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Bo Peep, and myself."

The Wicked Witch raised her hand in objection and then reached into the pocket of her sweater she was wearing to pull out the taser as she answered, "Wait… whatever you're planning to help all us villains get our happy endings, I want no part of it. No offense. I mean you did leave behind this shock weapon so I could break free from my sister and her nauseatingly sweet boyfriend. But even I know something as big as one happy ending, let alone one for every villain within this town, surely must come with a price for everyone your magic benefits. A price I'm not so sure I'm willing to pay just yet. At least not without the magic benefitting me the way I want it to. There is something you can do for me."

"What do you want then?" Isaac asked with true curiosity while he and Gold both kept their eyes on hers. "If you're about to ask me to use my quill and ink to kill your sister or Robin Hood, then you're going to have to settle for my way. It's far too dangerous to mess with life and death. I don't even try it. The consequences would be far too great, for us all."

"Don't worry," she responded. "Because her death by your hands isn't what I want at all. It will be me who kills her, not anyone else. What I want is for you to… first remove this infernal cuff binding my magic and then I want you to reopen the time portal I once finally created so that I can go back to my sister's past to take her life myself before she comes into her powers. She threatened to keep me from my child. I will not allow her to get away with it."

When he didn't say anything, Zelena curtly asked, "Well… What do you say, Author? Can you do it?"

The Author smiled and then he replied, "You know what? I believe I can. At least Regina would be one less hero for me to worry about."