3.01: The Fairy's Proposition
Clear skies and high hopes were suddenly dashed by rain—tons of it pelting the ship and its crew. Lightning overhead danced eerily close to the masts and illuminated the agitated faces of the ship's inhabitants. Emma scrambled to find her footing while the ship tilted perilously upward as it crested a wave. Looking around her, she saw that the portal they had sailed through had brought them right into a storm.
"Fire!" Charming yelled. Emma looked up and sure enough, one of the masts had been struck by lightning. She could hear Hook yelling instructions, but was unable to understand them over the roar of the storm.
"Help me!" Regina was dangling over the edge of the ship, prevented from falling only by a bent floorboard that her hands were grasping. The board suddenly snapped and Regina fell down to the water below as Emma watched helplessly. Knowing that Henry would never forgive her if she let Regina die not five minutes after she started on a journey to rescue him, Emma grabbed a board of wood that had been ripped up by the storm and jumped into the ocean after Regina, hoping that the board would be able to keep both of them afloat.
Cold water slammed into her and knocked the breath from her body. Once she made sure that the board could support her weight, Emma scanned the ocean for any sign of Regina. Unfortunately, the roiling waves prevented her from maintaining a direct line of sight over a few feet. Undeterred, Emma kept one hand on the board as she submerged the rest of her body underwater and opened her eyes. She was surrounded by endless inky darkness. Swiveling her head around, Emma suddenly caught sight of a dull red splotch moving gently downward through the murkiness. Swimming toward it, Emma saw that the red was from where Regina's sweater peeked out from under her coat. Trusting that she would be able to find the board again, Emma let go and swam down to the unconscious brunette. Then she wrapped her arms around Regina's waist so that Emma was pressed up against her back and started swimming toward the surface.
Emma's head broke the surface of the water just in time to be nearly run over by a boat—a boat occupied by a shaggy dog and a man with dark hair and bright blue eyes.
"Give me your hand!" he called to Emma.
Emma shook her head and tried to indicate that her hands and arms were already in use. If she freed even one hand from Regina to extend to the stranger, the unconscious woman would swiftly sink down to her death. Fortunately for both of them, the waves pushed the boat closer to Emma and the stranger was able to grab Regina by the collar of her coat and pull her into the boat before reaching again for Emma.
"My friends!" Emma yelled once she was safely in the boat as she watched the Jolly Roger flounder in the wrath of the storm. "They're still four people on that ship!"
"I cannot go back for your friends. They will have to wait until the storm starts to die down so I can find them."
Several protests came to Emma's mind, but she knew that as long as the Jolly Roger remained right-side up, her comrades were probably safer in the ferocious storm on the ship than they would be in the tiny boat. Then she turned to look behind her at the stranger and to her astonishment saw that he was rowing them toward a second ship.
"Where are you taking us?"
"You will be safe with us."
Regina groaned and opened her eyes. "What...what happened?"
Emma put an arm under her upper back and helped her sit up. Regina gave Emma a strange look and moved away slightly.
"You fell into the water, I tried rescuing you, and this man ended up rescuing both of us," Emma tried to explain.
"You tried rescuing me, Miss Swan?" Regina asked incredulously.
"Yeah, well, don't make me regret it."
The two women ignored each other for the rest of their jaunt toward the stranger's ship.
In the past
Regina sighed miserably as the merchant held up brooch after brooch.
"What are you thinking? That one will weigh her down!"
"Ah, then perhaps the silver and sunstone—"
"No! Nothing yellow! Regina, I think we should send for a different merchant."
"Ah, Madame! You have not seen all yet!"
Regina and her coldblooded lady-in-waiting watched as the merchant quickly rifled through his satchels; Wilma with guile and cool distain evident in her eyes, and Regina with lifeless despair. The merchant produced some before-unseen jewelry from a hidden pocket in a satchel as if by magic, and Wilma pawed through it with satisfaction, finally picking out a few pieces and announcing that they would do.
Once the merchant had hurriedly scuttled from the room, Wilma turned to Regina and said "Now that that ordeal is over, I thought we could go for a carriage ride and survey the land that is to soon be yours."
"But King Leopold wants to have tea with me in fifteen minutes."
Wilma huffed impatiently. "Very well. I suppose you should get used to a man controlling you. Enjoy...your tea." The lady-in-waiting grinned lecherously at her mistress.
Regina shivered as she watched Wilma flounce out of the room. She appeared to have been assigned to Regina shortly after she had arrived at the palace as a companion, but Regina knew that Wilma had actually been commissioned by Cora to spy on her for any signs of disobedience. Regina had expected that Wilma would have toned down her vindictive nature once Cora was gone, but if anything it had only seemed to increase—Wilma seemed even more determined to carry out Cora's controlling demands.
Regina lingered in the room a good five minutes after her lady-in-waiting left before hurrying out and running down the corridor. After two left turns down dank hallways and a mistaken turn down the passageway of ancient naked statues (Leopold had told her that he really appreciated Greco-Enchanted Forestan artwork), she finally found her way to the small alcove where she had last met the servant-girl. The future-queen didn't have to wait for long; Vanessa soon scurried into the room and leaned against the wall, trying to regain her breath.
"Are you all right?" Regina asked with concern.
"Yes milady," the girl wheezed. "Cook made me stay late to wash extra dishes, and then I had to dash up here to meet you in time."
Regina frowned. "There was no need for you to go at such a pace. I would have been fine waiting a few extra minutes."
"I just did not want to keep the possible future queen waiting—"
"Speaking of which," Regina interrupted, "You do have a solution to that future-queen problem ready to present to me now, right?"
"Yes milady. I finally found time to sneak out of the castle and speak to my grandmother, and after a day of meditation and peering into her crystal ball, and then another day of mixing powerful ingredients in her cauldron, she gave me this to give to you." Vanessa held out a small leather bag.
Regina looked at it dubiously. "What is it?"
"Magic, powerful magic, milady.
"Yes, I had already surmised that. What exactly will it do?"
"It will turn you invisible—though only long enough for you to escape the country!" Vanessa quickly added after seeing the look on her mistress's face.
Regina groaned with frustration. "That's not enough. As you well know, the king has powerful magicians at his disposal. When he discovers I am missing, invisibility alone will not be enough to stop him from finding me and keeping me locked in the castle forever."
"I know. That is why my grandmother also gave me this." The servant-girl took from her pocket a flask.
"And what 'powerful magic' is in that, dare I ask?"
"This, milady, is for me to drink. All I need to do is drink it and I will take on your appearance to marry the king."
"What?! When you told me that you could help me, you never said anything about marrying the king yourself!"
"It's the only way," Vanessa pleaded. "And it's only temporary. It will give you enough time to escape the king's lands. By the time I change back to myself, no one will know where you have gone or where to look for you."
Regina glared stonily at Vanessa. "I do not like this arrangement very much. But I am running out of ideas to escape my impending marriage. Very well, I accept. What does your grandmother want in exchange?"
Vanessa pointed to Regina's chest. "Your necklace."
"My necklace? But surely magic can buy her all the jewelry she wants."
"But not jewelry such as that someone like you has worn. She likes collecting jewelry, especially necklaces, from people that she believes are important in this world. I suppose it probably makes her feel somewhat important herself."
Regina suppressed a smirk at the mention that she was important. And who knew—Vanessa did claim that her grandmother was a seer, so perhaps she one day would be important. And without further thought, she unclasped the necklace and handed it to the servant.
Present Day
Emma paced the deck of the ship Infinity restlessly. The stranger and his dog had paddled back to the Jolly Roger to see if any more of her friends had fallen into the water. The storm was starting to abate, and Emma was frantically hoping that everybody was fine. She didn't know what she would do if Mr. Gold, Hook, and her parents were gone. Emma had only started to acknowledge that David and Mary Margaret were her father and mother, and to lose them now...
"Miss Swan, please stop that infernal clomping around at once!"
Emma stopped and glared at Regina. She was wrapped in blankets and consorting with several passengers and sailors of the ship, one of which was an old man who had wasted no time in telling the two women that it hadn't been his idea to stop and rescue them and therefore delay the Infinity's passage.
"Emma! Emma! Can you hear me?!" It was David's voice. Emma rushed to the side of the ship, where she could see her four allies sitting in the stranger's boat. Mary Margaret and David looked hopeful, Mr. Gold looked slightly amused, and Hook was looking back at his ship glumly.
Emma waited while everybody boarded the Infinity before running to Mary Margaret and David and throwing her arms around them. "I was so worried! I thought I was going to lose you!"
"Yeah, I guess we learned to never trust a pirate on his ship."
Hook glared at David. "If I had my old crew with me instead of you useless fools, we would have gotten through that storm just fine. And now look at my ship! Wrecked!"
Emma rolled her eyes. "Rather than arguing about whose fault it was, we should start thinking about how to find—"
"A new ship!" Regina hastily interrupted while giving Emma a look that said 'We don't know if we can trust these people.'
"Oh, well I cannot help you with that," said the dark-haired man who had rescued them. "As a matter of fact, we are new to these lands. My crew and I journeyed here in search of a certain woman, a beautiful woman with dark hair and violet eyes. My name is Eric, by the way."
"Prince Eric?" Emma asked while memories of too-many-Disney-movies-watched-while-in-the-foster -system suddenly went through her mind.
Eric puffed his chest out. "You've heard of me?"
Emma hesitated. "Well, is the woman you are looking for by any chance a mermaid?"
Everyone looked at Emma as if she had suddenly sprouted radishes out of her ears.
"A mermaid?" the old man asked. "Oh dear me, and I thought that young folk from our world had some odd ideas."
"Grimsby, be polite to our guests," Eric rebuked the old man. "As we are new to their world, we should respect their ideas and customs, even if they involve mystical sea-creatures that simply do not exist."
Hearing that they had also journeyed there from another world, Emma thought that it might be safe to confide in them some of the truth. "Actually, we are not from here either. And we are also looking for someone. Perhaps we can help each other out."
At the mention of aiding each other, Hook and Grimsby simultaneously looked up at the sky as if asking for divine patience.
"Emma, may I have a word, please?" Hook roughly grabbed Emma by the arm and pulled her aside. "Look, we don't know who these people are except that they are not from here, and I don't think that is a very good reason to suddenly trust them."
"But we don't know that we can't trust them," Emma retorted, "And I think we need all the help we can get to get Henry back quickly." Hook opened his mouth to argue back, but before he could say anything, Emma had already turned back to the crew. Everybody was staring at Emma and Hook with curiosity, except for Mr. Gold, who was wandering around the deck of the ship with a faint smile on his face.
"Very well, Prince Eric," Emma exclaimed, "Where do you think we should sail first?"
Eric looked at Emma with a sheepish look. "Well, first we need to find land so we can restock on supplies."
Hook rolled his lined-eyes and said something that Emma couldn't quite catch but sounded like it would have been censored out of the show anyway.
In the past
Regina finished packing everything that she absolutely could not live without in a knapsack before slinging it over her shoulder and leaving her quarters for the last time. The sliver of a moon shone dimly through narrow windows lining the hallway that she briskly tiptoed through on her way to the castle grounds. Once outside, she stayed in the shadows as she headed in the direction of an old willow tree—the designated meeting place.
As she walked, discordant thoughts went through Regina's mind. Part of her was excited to start a completely new life away from Leopold, Snow White, and memories of Daniel. But the more hesitant side of her was slightly scared of running away from all she had ever known.
"There you are. I was afraid you had decided not to go through with it, milady."
Regina jumped slightly as Vanessa's voice pierced the still night air. It somehow sounded more confident and commanding than Regina would have believed the timid little servant-girl capable of.
"Your fears are for nothing. I have to go through with this—I have no life left for me here."
In the dull moonlight, it was hard to see Vanessa as she held her flask out to Regina. "All this needs is a few of your hairs, and then I drink it and turn into you."
Regina scrunched her nose in disgust. "You're really going to drink something that has my hair in it? What kind of a magic potion is that?"
Vanessa shrugged. "Grandmother told me that the recipe came from another world—one without happy endings. So maybe that explains why there needs to be hair in the potion. Anyway, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get you out of the country to safety."
Something about the brusque tone of the servant-girls voice made Regina suddenly pause and look at her suspiciously. "Why is it so important to you that I escape the country?"
"Because, milady, in the brief time that I've known you, I've come to care for you and your happiness. You've treated me with such kindness even though I'm a lowly servant, and the least I can do for you is see that you don't have to marry someone if you don't want to." Vanessa said all this as if listing it off from memory, and if Regina hadn't been in such a hurry to flee, she probably would have noticed that something seemed very wrong. As it was, she quickly ripped a couple of hairs out of her head and handed them to her confidante. Vanessa unstopped the flask, dropped the hairs in, and drank from it. Regina watched anxiously as Vanessa started changing right in front of her. Her skin bubbled and distorted before transitioning to the smooth, flawless skin that Regina was so familiar with, while her eyes darkened from violet to brown and her hair changed from lanky and snarled to sleek and long. Within a few minutes, Regina was looking at her mirror image.
"And now," said Vanessa while happily examining her hands, "We switch clothes, you turn invisible, and off you go."
The two women quickly exchanged clothes, and then Regina opened the leather bag of invisibility. "What do I do?"
"Just sprinkle the bag over your head."
Regina diffidently did as she was told, and something that resembled dried cloves fell over her body. She didn't feel any different once that was done, but Vanessa was suddenly looking right through her.
"Oh good, both my grandmother's spells worked. And this is where we say goodbye, milady."
"Just to be clear, this invisibility spell will work—"
"—On all means of sensing, not just sight. You have nothing to worry about."
Reassured, Regina thanked the servant and hurried off. Once she arrived at where the guards were guarding the entrance way, she barely breathed as she edged around them, but it seemed that Vanessa knew what she was talking about when she had said that nothing would be able to sense her.
Finally, she got to the outer boundary of the castle's land and took off at a run. Suddenly, a tree root seemed to reach out and snag her foot. Regina fell to the ground with a crash.
"Be a little quieter, dearie. A fellow's trying to get some rest."
Present day
They anchored next to an island covered in tropical trees and sandy beaches. Emma wandered by the shore with Mary Margaret and David while they waited for the sailors to stock up on water and food.
"Where do you think Tamara and Greg took Henry?" Emma asked her parents.
"I don't know but they must be close by," David said reassuringly. "We entered Neverland from a location in Storybrooke that was close to where they left Storybrooke."
"Which means nil," said Mr. Gold as he limped over to where the trio was standing. "Time and space don't always operate rationally when using magical portals, especially when the portals are formed by beans."
"Well, do you have any suggestions then?" David said roughly. He was tired of the way Mr. Gold always one upped everything he did or said; it made him feel emasculated.
"We must keep sailing. I have a feeling that Henry is not on this island, and the sooner we leave from here, the sooner we can find Henry."
"Why do you want to find Henry so badly?" Regina had crept up behind them. "I thought you didn't care for anything other than yourself and that harlot."
Mr. Gold's face colored with suppressed rage. "It's only thanks to you and the false memories that I lost out on precious time with Belle, and Henry is my grandson, so of course I want to find him."
Something in the tone of Mr. Gold's voice and the way his eyes kept shifting as he spoke made Emma pause. She walked right up to him and peered into his face. "My lie detector is going off. I have a feeling that you are not telling us the complete truth about why you want to find Henry."
Mary Margaret looked embarrassed. "Emma, please," she whispered into her daughter's ear. "What did we say about discussing your superpower in front of other people?"
Emma frowned. "I just don't trust him. I mean, he finds out that Henry is his grandson and doesn't really act any different toward him. And now, all of a sudden, he wants to help?"
Hook then came strolling over. "Sorry to crash the party, but His Majesty Prince Eric says that we are going to spend the night on the island. Something about repairs needed to be done on his ship."
"Repairs?" Regina asked quizzically.
"Aye. He claims that while we were anchored next to shore getting supplies, something boarded the ship and drilled some holes in it." Hook smirked. "He just doesn't want to admit that he didn't notice damage from the storm right after it happened."
Mr. Gold looked slightly worried. "But, we can still sleep on the ship during the night?"
Hook chuckled. "Unless you can sleep through loud hammering noises, you're going to be bunking right on this island. Don't worry, I'm sure the crew will allow you to bring a feather mattress out," he said mockingly.
"But, the repairs will be done soon, right?" Emma asked worriedly. She could see that Regina looked just as distraught about being further delayed on the island.
"Oh sure! Someday!" Hook raised his arms as he said this, and Emma saw that in each hand he was holding a bottle.
"Is that beer?" David asked in a hopeful voice.
"David!" Mary Margaret elbowed her husband and looked at him disapprovingly.
"Oh, right." David put on his best leader's voice. "We are going to get through this and find Henry. But we have no other choice right now except to make a camp for the night."
Emma went back to the ship with the others to gather food, blankets, and other provisions for their night on the island. Hook had already wandered off somewhere into the forest, and Regina stayed on the shore and watched them row back and forth. Although she was tempted not to get anything for Regina, Emma knew that would just mean more work for some poor soul later, so she ended up packing for her in the same manner that she packed for herself.
The small group made their camp in a clearing in the woods further inland. Hook eventually stumbled over to them after they had finished setting up and went to sleep in a pile of blankets. After unsuccessfully trying to start a fire with the moist wood that they found, the group settled on eating a few pieces of dried fruit that they had brought with them from the Infinity. Then Mary Margaret distributed the rest of the blankets among everyone and they bedded down for the night—Emma near Mary Margaret and David, while Regina, Hook, and Mr. Gold all tried to get as far away from everyone else as possible.
After what felt like only a few minutes, Emma was awoken by a hand shaking her shoulder. It was Regina.
In the past
"It's you!" Regina gasped as she tried to rapidly get to her feet.
"I should feel the same way about seeing you crashing around out here," Rumpelstiltskin cackled. "Aren't you supposed to be keeping the king company right now? Or is it traditional for new queens to run around the countryside at night scaring all the poor animals away?"
"Wait...you can see me?"
"Of course I can see you. That dismal masking spell might fool a few dimwitted peasants, but anybody with any real power can see right through it."
Regina frowned. Something about this situation seemed like a set-up. "Were you waiting for me here?"
"Today I had a vision that you would try to escape tonight, and that if you did somehow manage against enormous odds to leave the country, there would be disastrous consequences for the kingdom. But what I am most curious about is why I sense you are not married already? When I last talked to you, you were just about to marry the king."
Regina shuddered as memories of their last meeting went through her; he had helped her shove her mother through a looking-glass. "The king postponed the wedding until next week; he said he needed more time to get used to the idea of another woman taking his wife's place. He...he doesn't love me."
Rumpelstiltskin looked at her oddly as she said that. "I would think that you would be indifferent to whether he loved you or not, seeing as you're hell-bent on running away either way."
Regina sniffled. "It's just that it makes me feel...like a figurehead. Like he values my shell, but not anything that's inside."
Rumpelstiltskin suddenly shook his head back and forth, as if he couldn't believe that he had just had a conversation about emotions. "Anyway, what I actually am here for is that I want to make a deal with you."
"A deal?" Regina asked warily.
"Yes, a deal. Here is how it will work. You turn around and go back to marry precious Leopold, and in return, you get...happiness and true love."
Regina threw back her head and laughed callously. "True love? You think I'm going to find true love with the king?"
"Oh no. I didn't say you would find true love with the king, dearie. But I can see that there are two paths before you right now—one leads to marrying the king this week and eventually finding love. But the other path, well, that leads to probable destruction for the kingdom. And I see no certainty of true love for you down that path either."
The brunette looked the imp squarely in the eye. "Do you mean it is certain that I will eventually find happiness and true love if I marry the king?"
For the first time that evening, Rumpelstiltskin looked serious. "Yes. I can't tell you when it will happen, or what person you will fall in love with. I can just see that it will be there."
Regina looked torn. "I can't just go back to that life of imprisonment."
"You can't very well go on, either. The king will send his best sorcerers after you, and like I said, that masking spell isn't fooling anybody."
"But the woman who gave it to me said—"
"—I happen to know that the woman who gave it to you is a weak and conniving little witch who makes her money by deceiving people weaker than her...like you."
Regina's jaw dropped, aghast. "What? You mean Vanessa—"
"—One of her many identities, no doubt—"
"—That pathetic little servant girl was actually a witch who tried to deceive me into..." the truth dawned on her..."giving her my kingdom!"
"She didn't try to deceive you, she did deceive you."
Regina bristled. "How can you say that? I was desperate and not thinking clearly. But now that I know the truth, I can stop her."
"That's the spirit, dearie. Show her the magic that I showed you. I know that you have more potential for magic inside of you."
Regina's mind was suddenly so full of thoughts of revenge that she didn't listen to another word that the imp said, choosing instead to turn around and run back to the castle.
In the present
"Whadya want?" Emma asked groggily. The snores of her comrades around her informed Emma that it was late into the night.
Regina brought her finger up to her lips in a shushing gesture, and then she pointed over to the edge of the clearing where a small light floated waveringly in the still night air. "I...I had a dream that someone was saying your name, as if they wanted you to come to them," the brunette said hesitantly. "Then the voice was telling me to wake up, I saw that light, and I had a feeling that it had something to do with Henry."
Emma carefully got to her feet and walked over to where the light was bobbing up and down. When she got closer, she saw that the light was actually a tiny winged woman holding a miniature lantern in front of her. The creature moved slowly backwards into the forest when she saw that Emma was approaching.
"What do we do?" Emma whispered to Regina.
"I think it wants us to follow it," replied Regina, surprised that Emma had said 'we' and was asking for her advice rather than immediately waking the Charmings.
As she followed the unearthly glow, Emma felt strangely calm, as if she was still asleep and acting out a dream. The two women followed the light deeper and deeper into the forest until they reached an ancient willow tree taller than any other tree nearby. The tree was draped in lights like a Christmas tree, and a tiny set of stairs spiraled up and around it.
"What is this?" Emma wondered aloud.
"You are here for Henry." A high-pitched voice rent the night, startling Emma and Regina. The dream-state that she had been in just moments before was starting to drain away, leaving Emma with the thought that she had made a mistake in following a strange light into the woods with just Regina for company.
"Do you have him?" Regina asked, a note of excitement mixed with hysteria evident in her voice.
A yellow light descended out from the top of the staircase and gently floated over to them. Emma saw that it was a second winged woman, one in a short green dress.
"I have only news of Henry, but it is important news—news that must be acted on soon or he may be lost forever."
"Is he in danger?! Tell us!" Emma longed to do something immediately to help her son, but was instead reduced to stomping the ground with her foot.
The fairy closed her eyes with a look of concentration on her face. "He is in grave danger. However, there is a chance he can be saved, but you must travel to another world to rescue him."
"All right, where is the portal?" Regina asked, already ready to save her son.
The fairy opened her eyes and looked at Regina in annoyance. "Did I say you? Only the woman who gave birth to Henry can rescue him."
Emma felt bad about the hurt look on Regina's face, but she was willing to do whatever it took to get Henry back. "I will go, and if he really is in grave danger, then I will go right now."
The fairy pointed at a hollow on the great tree. "Take out what is in there."
Emma reached her hand inside the tree and pulled out what looked like a tiny pearl threaded on a leather cord. "What is this?"
"That is a magical artifact that you will need to cross over to the world where Henry is. However, unless you plan on never coming back, you will need someone magical to anchor you to this world. I can sense that there are two other people on this island that have magical powers. You must bind to one of them, and then cross over." The fairy suddenly started to fade away. "My time here is almost up. Just remember to be back before the dawn of the fourth day!"
"Wait!" Emma called desperately after her as she seemed to flicker in and out of existence, "What do I do when I get there? And how do I bind to someone?"
"Just call on Tinker Bell if you need assistance!" the fairy shouted before she was gone for good.
Emma stared blankly after Tinker Bell, feeling more confused and helpless as ever. However, Regina, she noticed, was as white as a sheet. "What did you get out of that that I missed?" Emma asked her.
"We must go back to the ship. Now." Regina commanded.
"But I need to rescue Henry!" Emma shouted at her.
"You heard what the fairy said. If you want to return with Henry, you must be anchored to someone." Regina pronounced the word 'anchored' as if it were a particularly foul word.
Emma peppered her with questions the entire way back, but Regina refused to answer any of them. Finally, Emma gave up, figuring that Regina knew more about magic than she did and so probably knew what Tinker Bell was talking about. Hues of gold and peach were already streaking the sky by the time the two arrived back at the camp. Their four comrades were still sleeping, but the two women were in such a hurry that they quickly wakened everybody and said that they had to get back to the ship.
"Emma, what's going on?" Mary Margaret asked.
"We've found a way to rescue Henry, but we must act now!" Even if Emma completely understood what was happening, she would not have dared explain it all to her mother for fear of losing too much time.
They rowed back amidst the sound of heavy pounding. As soon as they boarded the ship, Regina ran off while yelling "We need to see the captain! Now!"
Emma watched as Regina held a hurried discussion with Prince Eric, until he left and came back with an old man in white robes and a bishop hat. She shot a glance at her Storybrooke companions and noticed they looked as confused as she felt with the exception of Mr. Gold. His face held newfound comprehension, as if he was starting to understand Regina's mysterious actions.
Emma was suddenly whisked away from the group by Regina and pulled into a small room. She then left and came immediately back with Mr. Gold and the man in white robes.
"Regina, what's going on? You must tell me how this will help us get Henry back!" Emma demanded insistently.
But Regina was too busy whispering with Mr. Gold. He looked intrigued by whatever the brunette was saying to him, and he even glanced at Emma once with a smirk. Emma waited exasperatedly until the two finally finished their discussion and came over to stand by Emma. The man in white robes followed, his knobby knees shuffling under his robes as he slowly made his way over to them.
"Ms. Swan," Mr. Gold said slowly, "I have been informed that in order to rescue Henry you must be magically bound to someone with magic, and because Ms. Mills insists that I am not to be trusted with my grandson's life, I will instead be performing the magical aspect of the ceremony."
"Ceremony? What ceremony?" Emma questioned suspiciously.
"And this man will be performing the legal aspect of the ceremony," Mr. Gold announced, ignoring Emma's question while gesturing to the man in white robes. "You may begin, Father."
In the past
Once Regina got back to the castle, she walked right past the guards that she had before taken such pains to sneak around while ignoring their startled stares and exclamations of surprise about seeing her outside the castle walls. She allowed herself to smirk slightly, pleased with the knowledge that even though the masking spell did not really work, she had still had the ability to avoid the sight of the incompetent guards when leaving the castle. Then she marched to the king's chamber. She had a feeling that Vanessa wouldn't delay marrying the king in case something got in the way. Something such as Regina deciding to return.
Sure enough, she found King Leopold and Vanessa-in-Regina's-form clasping hands in front of a priest and the king's head-sorcerer. The sight of the head-sorcerer stopped Regina cold in her tracks with surprise. She knew from her schooling that having a magical-being participate in a marriage ceremony meant that the couple planned to be magically bonded as well as the traditional marriage bond, something which rarely happened.
Leopold, the priest, and the sorcerer all looked extremely surprised at witnessing a second Regina enter the chamber. Pseudo-Regina, the real one was pleased to note, looked angry and scared at seeing her there. This gave her hope that the marriage had not happened yet.
What do I do? she thought to herself.
Just concentrate your rage at her, Rumpelstiltskin's voice said inside her head.
Regina was too wired with fury to wonder at how she could hear Rumpelstiltskin's voice. Instead, she did just as he said. It was remarkably easy for her to let her emotions take over, and her magic seemed to thrive on emotions. Without thinking, she lifted her hand and a beam of golden light flew out and hit Vanessa in the chest. Vanessa seemed to disappear in a sudden onslaught of mist, and as her gown fluttered to the floor, a speckled bird flew up out of the mess and out the door.
"Oh, she's escaped!" Regina cried to no one in particular.
"Very good, dearie." Rumpelstiltskin suddenly appeared in the room. "Still, I did boost your magic a great deal there, but you'll learn. Now, to take care of these nincompoops." He strolled over to the king, the priest, and the sorcerer, who still appeared to be frozen with shock, and waved his hands, making them suddenly fall asleep standing up. "There. That should make them forget this whole situation. Though really, if that was the king's best sorcerer, then I worry for the defense of the kingdom."
"What do I do now?" Regina asked, suddenly drained of all emotions.
"Well," the imp replied, "I suppose you go back to your room like a good little almost-queen. Your marriage isn't until next week, you know."
"I want to get married now."
Rumpelstiltskin looked at her with surprise. "Marrying him earlier won't make your true love come to you faster, you know."
"I know. I just don't want to be tempted to escape again. I want to get it over with."
"Well, if you're sure." Rumpelstiltskin snapped his fingers in front of the priest's face. "Wakey wakey priesty. A marriage needs to happen." Then he looked at Regina carefully. "You don't want me to—"
"No," Regina said firmly, "A magical bond isn't necessary. Just a traditional marriage will do."
Rumpelstiltskin gave Regina an inscrutable smile. "Very well. And now I will wake the king and reset his mind so this all makes sense to him." He did so. "And this is where I take my leave. Good luck to you, Regina."
Rumpelstiltskin vanished. Regina took a few deep breaths and then walked over to the king and the priest, prepared to meet whatever fate this path had in store for her.
Present day
Mary Margaret stood looking over the railing of the ship, knowing that every extra minute they stayed there was a minute lost in the search for Henry. Moments before, Mr. Gold and Regina had taken Emma from her, only pausing long enough to tell her that they needed to do something that involved magic. Next to her, David practiced with his sword to pass the time. She knew that her husband felt even more restless than she did, and starting their adventure only to have their ship immediately wrecked had really frustrated him.
The door to the room that Emma had gone into opened, and Regina and Mr. Gold walked out. Regina looked sickly pale, while Mr. Gold was smiling as if he had just had the pleasure of foreclosing the inhabitation of the Storybrooke nuns.
"What's wrong?" Mary Margaret asked anxiously, "Where's Emma?"
The magical pair looked at each other. When Regina gave no answer, Mr. Gold said "Ms. Swan has gone on a little trip. When she gets back, I'm sure she'll have Henry with her, and then we can all go home."
"Gone on a little trip?! She was locked in that cabin with you! What did you do to her?!"
Mr. Gold was saved from answering by Eric, who swaggered over to them with a bottle of champagne. "I thought we should celebrate the newlyweds! Who's with me?!" He faltered at the looks of horror on Regina's, Mary Margaret's, and David's face.
"Married?!" Mary Margaret shrieked, "Mr. Gold married Regina?!"
"Marry Regina? Certainly not. I have no intention of marrying anyone here," Mr. Gold stated calmly.
"Then who got marr—Omigosh! Did Emma marry...did she marry..." Mary Margaret faltered, unable to say the name of her hated ex-stepmother.
"Yep!" Mr. Gold giggled gleefully.
Regina slowly swayed as if she was about to faint. "I don't know what I was thinking. I was so desperate to rescue Henry that I acted impulsively, and now I'm stuck forever...with Emma."
"They had to be married magically as well as legally," Mr. Gold explained to Emma's parents. "That was the only way that Emma could be anchored to this world."
"Anchored to this world? Where did she go?" David asked with concern.
Mr. Gold shrugged. "I guess she'll tell us when she gets back."
Darkness hung over the strange and magical land like an oppressive thunderstorm cloud. But although the murky gloom made it difficult to maneuver the river, the strangers would not stop and rest, for they were close to their destination. Their captive slept in a drugged state in the bottom of the canoe; bound, gagged, and unaware of his surroundings. Unknown to his kidnappers, spying on them from under the water were a pair of eels, ready to report back to their mistress that the two fools she had duped really were bringing her prey straight to her.