Henry knew the moment it happened that Emma hadn't been able to keep her promise.

He had been packing up his backpack like everyone else, preparing to leave for the day, when Miss Blanchard and his classmates seemed to seize up all at once. As one they doubled over with almost identical expressions of confusion twisting their faces. Then Miss Blanchard pressed her hand to her chest, letting out a little gasp.

Henry approached her cautiously, backpack dangling off one shoulder. "Miss Blanchard? Erm... Snow?" He almost wanted to call her 'Grandma' but that felt a little strange to be starting out with.

"Henry!" She pulled him into a bone crushing hug that lasted for several long minutes and when she finally pulled back she didn't release him entirely, hands left gently on his shoulders. The smile she gave him was so full of adoration and wonder he couldn't help but return it. "Oh Henry."

"You remember? Everything? They did it! They did it, I knew they would."

"They?" Her brows knit together in question.

"Emma and my mom. They broke the curse!"

"Emma! My daughter, my baby, I have to find her! And James... Henry, we have to find them!"

Snow was already running out the door and Henry shrugged his backpack the rest of the way on, jogging to catch up.

They'd only made it to the sidewalk when they saw the cloud rushing toward them and the world turned purple.

########

Twenty-Eight years spent staring at the same four walls. No human contact, no one to talk to, not even any memories to draw on for entertainment. Only one giant, endless stretch of time spent clawing at the walls of her cage like an animal and howling just to know her voice was still there. She was still a person. She still existed.

It was fortunate that the very nature of the curse had left her mostly unaware of it. When Bell finally returned to herself her mental faculties were more or less intact, none the worse for ware. The last thing she remembered with any clarity was being locked away in the Queen's dungeon and being told not to worry for she 'wouldn't be waiting long'. Then some indeterminate amount of time later the world was ripped asunder and now here she was with only a hazy recollection that felt more nightmare than reality.

She had only just begun to consider escape possibilities when the door to her prison swung outward, emitting a flood of light that couldn't have been very bright but none the less burned her seldom used retinas as harshly as if she had looked straight into the sun. She flinched away, throwing her arms up, overwhelmed by the sudden rush of sensory information. The world outside was all chaos; She could hear a cacophony of shouting voices that she hadn't noticed before whilst snug in her box.

When she finally dared open her eyes all she could make out was the outline of a man, tall and slender against the sickly light behind him.

"Hello there. You don't know me, but I've seen you. Many times, in the old world."

Bell tilted her head, squinting at the dark, smiling face of a middle aged man. He was barefoot and dressed as she was in a thin white gown.

"I didn't really have a name there, but you can call me Sidney. And I don't mean to alarm you but we should get out of here. Now."

########

When the purple haze finally dissipated they found Emma wandering down Main Street, clutching a sword in her hand and looking frantic. She might have charged right into them if Snow hadn't called her name, drawing the blonde's attention and bringing her up short. For a moment they simply stood and looked at each other and then Snow rushed forward to wrap her daughter up in her arms, all but sobbing.

"Emma! You came back for us! My darling girl, I knew you would!" She drew back, cradling Emma's face tenderly in her gloved hands and for a moment Emma was smaller than Henry had ever seen her. Gone was the white knight, the sheriff, and in her place was the scared, lonely little girl who had made her entire life about her hunt for her parents.

"SNOW!"

They all three turned to see David- Now James once again- standing at the corner by the diner, his red flannel shirt hanging haphazardly off his shoulders and looking out of breath. He ran to them and threw his arms around Emma and his wife, laughing uproariously as he rocked them in place.

Someone else yelled for Snow and there was Leroy, walking down the street in a sort of formation with six other men Henry recognised from around town. Ruby and Her grandmother weren't far behind, the both of them with tears streaming down their cheeks. Henry was wondering just how big this group hug might get when Emma suddenly pulled away from her parents, jaw set in a rigid line.

"Can we save this whole family reunion thing for later? Over a drink? Or twenty? I have to find Regina."

Snow and James both bristled, wearing similar expressions of distaste, but Henry piped up before they could question her, "What do you mean? Wasn't she with you?"

"Yes, we were-" Emma's skin turned an interesting shade of pink. "We broke the curse. And then that cloud thing came and when it cleared she was gone."

"Wait. You and Regina broke the curse?" James looked from Henry to Emma, brows raising in disbelief. "How?"

"It was this whole true love thing, I guess?" Emma shrugged, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "We kissed and then the cloud- And you all remember and- I think that's what did it, right? I mean you knew it would, didn't you?"

She looked to Henry for confirmation and he nodded emphatically. "I think so. But I don't think the cloud was part of it. It happened after they woke up."

"Hold on. You think Regina's your true love?" Snow was staring at her daughter with something like horror. "Oh Emma, sweetheart, she's- I really don't think- It must have been something else."

"No. I felt it. Mary- Snow, I love her. And I have to find her. If that whatever it was wasn't part of the curse..." She stiffened. "Gold. He took that potion thinger, he must have done something."

"Magic." Mother Superior- Or whoever she was now, Henry wasn't sure- joined the growing group clustered on the sidewalk, the rest of the nuns trailing behind her like so many ducklings. She was solemn in her conservative blue sweater, hair pulled into a long braid that hung down her back. "The mist brought magic to this land. I can feel it."

"Magic? Regina will have her powers back, Emma don't you see? She must have planned this somehow, she'll slaughter us." James reached for his daughter beseechingly, the frown of discomfort adorning her face stopping him just short of touching her.

"She wouldn't. Whoever you knew before, she doesn't exist anymore. She has her heart back, she loves me-" Emma gestured wildly as she spoke, avoiding taking Leroy's head off with the blade she had clearly forgotten she was holding only by grace of the man's short stature.

"Emma-"

"If the love is true, there's nothing to be done." Mother Superior fixed Snow with a stern, knowing look, and Henry was surprised to see the entirety of the people gathered listening to her speak with something akin to reverence.

Would it be rude to ask her outright who she was? Henry opened his mouth, screwing up his courage, but Snow cut him off. "She's our daughter. She's the Savior. She can't be- Regina cursed us in the first place, how can she be Emma's true love?"

"Hey, standing right here guys." Emma scowled. "Look, I don't even know what 'true love' means, honestly. We broke the curse. I'm going to find her. Then I'm going to figure out what the hell Gold did to this town. You can help or you can get out of my way."

And then she was off again, spine rigid with grim determination, and Henry followed after without a second thought. He didn't look round to see but judging by the grumbling voices and shuffle of feet half the town was behind them.

########

She was far enough and high enough that she couldn't hear the angry mob forming in the town below as they bayed for her blood but she could still see the majority of Storybrooke's lights, so many fireflies glittering in the crisp night air. Once they got their heads together enough to start combing through the woods her hiding place would no longer be secure, but it would do well enough for the night.

Regina was shivering, still dressed in the casual jeans, blouse and the long coat she had donned that morning before setting out with Emma, but her attempt to start a small, readily enough concealed magical fire had failed spectacularly. Instead of flames springing from her fingertips it had been a flood of brightly hued butterflies that she still hadn't entirely gotten rid of. They fluttered around her as she sat with her knees to her chest and her back snug up against a gnarled tree trunk, one or two alighting in her hair and making her skin crawl. Their silvery wings almost glittered in the moonlight when it dared to peek out from behind its cover of clouds.

They might have been lovely, if she'd been in any mood to appreciate them.

She wasn't even sure if the miscast had been a result of the difference in magic in this world (Though she had tried to perform the reverse with no result other than feeling ridiculous) or a failing entirely her own. Her heart, newly restored, was so full of giddy emotion it was entirely possible she had only herself to blame.

Regina kept the tips of her fingers pressed against the pulse point at her wrist even as her body shuddered from the chill in her bones, reveling in the sensation of the steady beat through her veins. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed it, though it made the pain of leaving more acute.

She had used the confusion caused by the flood of magic bringing purple fog to flee shortly after replacing her heart and the kiss that had finally broken her curse. She had no doubt that it was somehow tied to Rumpel's endgame but wasn't inclined to worry about it when it had provided her with such a brilliant out.

Regina felt she should probably have been more upset at the shattering of her self made happy ending, but her emotions seemed to have taken on a life of their own and it was hard to process much of anything to its fullest extent. She went through bouts of insane joy and overwhelming affection down to crushing sadness and rage and then back up again. She'd been laughing and crying like a madwoman and could only hope that when things finally settled themselves she would be able to survive her longing for Henry and Emma.

Somewhere down there they were reuniting with their family, free at last. It would have to be enough to know that they were happy.

She still had no idea where she was going to run to; Twenty-Eight years and she had never seen anything of the new world she inhabited beyond Storybrooke.

A city, maybe, where she could get lost in the sea of faces. It wouldn't be easy; Outside of Storybrooke her lack of knowledge of this world and its workings would be readily apparent. It was one thing to live in a town she had control over, surrounded by familiar faces. It would be quite another to venture out into a strange land all alone.

The thought bred a strange homesickness.

"Planning to kill us all with a plague of butterflies? Gotta say, you're loosing your touch Your Majesty."

Regina all but jumped out of her own skin, on her feet in a rush of motion that sent a swarm of silver fluttering everywhere. She hadn't heard so much as a rustle or snapping twig to indicate that anyone was approaching. She could feel her heart pounding like mad somewhere around the area of her throat as she scanned the dark tree line, but all she could see was a shadow, dark and nimble. For a moment she contemplated running; She'd never been much of a fighter, not with her fists. Her skills lay in magic and in subtlety. Manipulation.

Then the shadow got close enough to reveal Ruby's-Red's- visage, pale in her dark hoodie and knit cap that reminded Regina so much of Emma's extensive collection it ached, and she dismissed the thought. Regina had no delusions; She'd never outrun the wolf-girl, certainly not in the environment Red was most suited to.

"What do you want?"

"Everyone's looking for you. Of course, they don't have my nose." Red tapped a finger to the side of her own face, smiling. Her teeth flashed brilliantly white in the moonlight and Regina could well imagine the wolf, stalking its prey through the woods. "Don't worry. There's no one here but me. They don't know where I've gone and I won't tell them, if that's what you want."

Regina felt some of the tension melt out of her spine to know there was no parade of villagers with pitchforks following behind the werewolf's lead but didn't relax entirely. "Why would you do that for me? After everything I've done to you and yours?"

Red's smile fell away. "Because the Princess loves you. I saw it before the curse broke- Hell, I encouraged it. And I see it now. I can put aside how much I don't like you for her sake."

"Then leave me be. I'll be long gone before the morning comes."

"Look, I'm not turning you in but I really think you should go back. Emma- She's so worried." Red stepped forward with her hands raised in earnest, light footed so that she didn't make so much as a crackle as she moved over the layer of dead leaves and fallen branches that covered the ground. The butterflies had settled again and Regina could see one on the girl's shoulder, flexing its wings.

Regina's breath plumed in a small white cloud before her as she let it out in a huff. "No. This is what's best. For Emma. For my son. It's better they be free of me."

"You're not doing what's right for Emma and Henry, you're doing what's right for you."

Regina scowled. "Whatever do you mean, dear?"

"You're taking the coward's way out. You're running because you're afraid of being punished. Maybe you will be, maybe you won't. You probably deserve it. But Emma would never let them hurt you and she deserves more than this."

Her confidence returned anew at the accusation and Regina bridged the remaining gap between them menacingly, fingers flexing as though she would very much like to wrap them round Red's neck. And maybe she did, she couldn't even be sure; This murderous, writhing thing inside her was as intense as any other feeling she'd been graced with in the last few hours and it was hard to say if she genuinely wished the girl harm or if her irritation was merely blowing itself way out of proportion. "I am a great many things, Red, most of them unpleasant but I am no coward."

"Prove it. Come back with me."

That would be the selfish thing, wouldn't it? She wanted Emma. She wanted Henry.

She wanted them to want her, too. Even now, when they knew who she was and what she'd done and couldn't possibly forgive her for it.

Regina deflated. Red was right, of course, just for the wrong reasons. She wasn't afraid of punishment; She was afraid of what Emma and Henry would now think of her. Afraid of rejection. Spineless.

'They're going to hate me...'

'Maybe. But at least you'll have faced it.'

Funny, how the little voice in the back of her head sounded like Emma.

"Okay."

########

The town was eerily still as they walked through the streets, side by side. No matter what Red said, it still felt like a perp walk. Snow's loyal dog, bringing her in to face justice. She didn't know what retribution Snow would demand of her, or how much Emma would allow her mother to take, but she felt she would be very luck to escape the axe.

They were headed, it seemed, for the diner and Regina wondered if they mightn't have set up some sort of base there. It was almost amusing to imagine Snow and her Charming, sitting at a booth working out war strategy over pie and hot chocolate.

Would Emma be with them, waiting to throw her in irons?

Red stopped suddenly, grabbing Regina by the elbow and standing so still she didn't even look to be breathing. "Wait. I hear something. Something's not right."

But then Regina could hear them too, harsh voices raised in anger and drunken laughter. She couldn't distinguish any words from the den to know what they were saying but Red clearly could and her nostrils flared with alarm.

"Come on, we have to get you out of here."

"There she is!"

"KILL THE WITCH!"

A massive throng of people rounded the street corner before Red could spirit her away, roaring like a many headed beast. She was gratified, at least, to see that they had dispensed with the torches and farming equipment, though probably only for the lack of means.

Whale, of all people, was at the fore, calling loudly for her head, though perhaps she should have seen that one coming. The man had plenty reason to hate her.

They all did, really.

Red was swept aside in the rush of hard, grabbing hands. Regina could hear the girl struggling, protesting, but no one was listening and then Whale had the former queen by the throat and Regina lost her in the crowd and the sudden press of very real, very immediate terror.

He was so close Regina could see the individual chisels of color on his irises, gleaming manically in the street light, and smell the whiskey on his breath as it washed over her warm and heavy.

"Now you're going to pay."