thank you so much for reading my story! if you have any ideas or comments, feel free to review :)
i wasnt sure what to call this, so i will also take name suggestions
Regina glanced around her house, wondering where to start in her quest to defeat her mother. She saw the dresser that contained her mother's spell book and froze. Was using that book worth the cost? Regina didn't have time to think about it before she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door and found the Charming family. Henry walked in, pulling his mother behind him. Regina stepped aside so Snow and Charming could enter as well.
"Henry, what are you doing here?"
"We are here to help with Operation Viper." Henry noticed the confused look on her face and went on to elaborate. "Defeat the bad guys. If they are as evil as Snow and Mom say, then you are going to need all the help you can get. Once we come up with a plan, David can tell the people what to do so they can help too. I know that Captain Hook is Mr. Gold's enemy, but if he is working with your mom he might try to hurt you too so we can take care of him-"
"No!" Four shocked pair of eyes stared at her. "I mean, Killian isn't a threat to me. He wouldn't hurt me. My priority is my mother. We have to stop her. Emma, you have to take Henry out of Storybrooke. You two are the only ones who can cross the border and I won't allow my mother anywhere near Henry."
"What? No! I have to be here! This is my family! You can't just make me leave you all! I'm not a little kid anymore!"
Regina crouched to Henry's eye level. "Henry. I love you so much and I would never be able to forgive myself if my mother hurt you. I need to keep you safe."
"If Gold was correct and Emma does have magic, shouldn't she be helping us? Henry is right; you are going to need a lot of help to defeat Cora. August can watch over Henry until we are sure how to keep him safe." Snow didn't want to be separated from her daughter and grandson, especially not with Cora on the loose. By the way David placed his hand on Emma's shoulder, she could tell he agreed too. "That way he can stay in town too."
Regina glanced at the hopeful look in her son's eyes and sighed as she stood up. "Alright. Just for now. Miss Swan, will you call August?"
Emma left the room to call Pinocchio. It didn't take him long to arrive and although Henry was upset about being left out of their plans, he reluctantly left with him. They said goodbye to him and Regina paused to watch them leave before turning to Snow.
"You cannot help defeat my mother. She is too strong. Take the townspeople and hide. Gold and I will take care of Cora ourselves."
"Do you honestly expect us to leave you to take care of your mother on your own? We want to help you, Regina. This is not just your fight anymore. She is threatening our families and our town here. We have to protect each other. Besides, Gold will be busy dealing with Hook."
Regina looked away, trying to ignore the feelings Snow's concern brought up. "She will kill anyone in her way. I've seen her do it before... But Hook has been with my mother for 28 years. He might be able to help us."
"What makes you think he would help us? Your mother seems to have him wrapped around her little finger. He obviously can't be trusted." Emma thought about how charming he had seemed when they were on the beanstalk, but remembered how he had stolen Aurora's heart for Cora.
"Emma is right. He is a pirate. He does whatever benefits him the most. If Cora can offer him the ability to kill Gold, he will do whatever she wants. We shouldn't trust him." Snow recalled the few times she had met pirates and knew that they were certainly not trustworthy.
"No, Killian will help me. Us. If I can talk to him alone, he will help us." Regina watched as David and Snow glanced at each other.
David nodded. "Fine. But how will we separate him from Cora? Not to mention Gold will be waiting for him."
"I will talk to Gold. I can convince him that his first priority should be dealing with Cora. If Killian can help us, we can finally defeat my mother."
"Why are you so worried about protecting Hook? Who is he to you?" Emma stared at Regina. Why was she so worried about him?
"Right now, he is the only one that can give us a way to deal with my mother. I need to know what he knows about her so we can make a plan. That is all."
Emma knew she was lying but decided not to press the issue. "Fine. So how are we gonna do this?"
The four spent a few hours trying to come up with a plan. Regina was getting frustrated with their lack of progress. None of them knew her mother. Snow never saw the horrible side of her mother, so she didn't understand how hard it will be to get rid of her. David was positive it would work out in the end and Emma had no clue what her mother could do. Sure, she saw Cora's powers, but there was so much more.
"We need to get Gold. We also need more magic. My mother is incredibly powerful. I don't know if I can stand up to her."
"Where else can we get magic?" David could see Regina had something up her sleeve and he couldn't help but feel nervous.
"An old friend." Regina stood and looked outside. "When we came here, I brought Maleficent with me. If she forgives me from trapping her in her other form, she is powerful enough to help us."
"But Emma killed her."
"No, she wounded her other form. She can become human again, but she can't shapeshift until she can be healed. I can heal her."
"Wow. Well what if she doesn't forgive you? We can't just let her go if she doesn't work with us. Can we even trust her?"
"We can trust her enough. She is certainly not a fan of my mother. I will go to her tomorrow and ask for her help."
David's phone rang. He answered it and stepped out of the room to talk to the caller. Emma glanced at Snow before following her father. Regina stopped looking outside and turned back to Snow, who looked thoughtful.
"We will defeat her, Regina. She won't be able to hurt you anymore."
"I certainly hope so. My mother is hard to get rid of. She will stop at nothing to get what she wants. It does not matter who she hurts."
"David told me what happened when we were gone. What Dr. Whale did to Daniel." Snow studied Regina's reaction so she saw her sharp intake of breath. She knew she hit a nerve by bringing up Daniel, so she had to tread lightly. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I told your mother about him in the first place and what you had to do to him. I know that you hate me for what I did, but I have always regretted what happened."
Regina closed her eyes, willing the tears not to fall. "You were just a child, barely older than Henry. I shouldn't have blamed it on you. But I loved my mother. Because of you, she killed Daniel. She forced me to marry your father. I never loved him. He certainly never loved me. I was not happy and when Rumple showed me magic, I thought it could give me the power to change my life. What I did to you-"
David walked in, not noticing the shocked look on his wife's face and Regina wiping away her tears. Emma noticed and gave her mother a puzzled look but did not press when Snow shook her head no. "The ship has landed. Red said Hook is in town, but there is no sign of Cora yet."
"He will find me. I doubt it will take him long. We just have to wait."
Regina paced her house while Snow and David talked quietly. Emma thought about Mulan and Aurora in the Enchanted Forest. She hoped they were okay. But Regina was right, they did not have to wait long before the pirate found her house. They turned at the sound of the door opening and David stood, pulling his sword. He angled himself in front of Regina, effectively blocking her from Hook's view. The suave pirate walked and stood in front of him, smirking.
"Emma, Snow, how nice to see you again. And you must be Prince Charming. Although I can't imagine where that name came from. " Hook nodded at the sword pointing at his throat.
"Killian?" Regina pushed David's sword aside and stepped forward. "Welcome to Storybrooke. It took you long enough." She smiled.
"Regina." Hook stared at her, looking her up and down. "You cut your hair. And there is far less visible cleavage. What a shame."
Regina laughed and Hook smirked at her reaction.
"And you are wearing pants? Your mother will be shocked. Although it seems everyone wears pants here, even the ladies." The captain glanced at Snow and Emma's clothing.
"Yes, mother will not be pleased. 'Regina, ladies do not wear pants. Ladies ride sidesaddle. Ladies don't do that.'" Regina mimicked her mother and rolled her eyes. "We need you to help us get rid of her."
"What makes you think I can?"
"Well, you have been with her for twenty-eight years. Isn't there something you could tell us about her? Like a weakness perhaps?" David asked.
"Technically we were frozen for 28 years. I've only worked with her for a few months. She isn't very open. She doesn't seem to have many weaknesses."
"There has to be something!" Snow shouted in frustration. Her husband rubbed her back soothingly.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I won't be of much help."
"Why is she here?" Regina asked. She was sure she didn't want to know the answer, but there might be something to help them.
"She said she wanted to see you. When you enacted the curse, she told me that once the curse was broken, you would be left with nothing and she wanted to be there for you because you would need her."
Regina looked down. Her mother was right. Everyone hated her. Henry doesn't want her in his life anymore and the only reason the Charmings were here was to defeat Cora.
Hook paused, watching her reaction. "I think that she might go after Henry."
Snow, David, and Emma looked at him, shocked.
"What?" Snow looked angry.
Regina just looked devastated. She collapsed on the couch and ran her hand through her hair. Hook found himself wanting to comfort her.
"Because love is weakness." Regina looked up at him. Emma and David looked horrified. "We can't let her get Henry."
"I thought Henry was Emma's son. Why wouldn't Cora go after someone closer to you?" Hook glanced between Emma and Regina.
"He is her son, but I adopted him. I wanted a child and Gold found him for me. I never knew he was Emma's though."
"You adopted a child from Gold? Are you crazy? What if he had taken him from an innocent mother!? You of all people should know better! What were you thinking, Regina?" Hook was mad.
"He didn't take him. Emma gave him up."
"He tried to take Ella's child when she couldn't give anything to Gold after their deal. Does he do that a lot? Take children when their parents can't pay him back?" Emma hated that man more and more every day.
"Yes. He uses children to get what he wants. You may hate me, but that is something I never stooped down to."
"That's horrible." Emma shook her head.
"What do you mean 'you of all people should know better'?" Snow didn't understand Hook's anger at Regina. From Henry's book, they didn't have much of a past. Hook betrayed her and helped her mother instead. That was all. Why would he care how she got Henry?
Regina gave Hook a dirty look before responding to Snow. "My mother was taught by Rumple. He showed her how to get everything she wanted. But the dark magic she used came with a price. She was barren. She never liked children, but she knew the only way to hold on to my father was to give him a child. So she turned to Rumple for help again. He gave her me. My father never knew. He would have been so upset."
Once again, the Charmings looked shocked.
"Are you serious? What kind of psycho does that?" Emma nearly yelled.
"My mother." Regina gave her a sad smile. "She will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Which is why we need to protect Henry. Unfortunately, he refuses to leave town with you."
"I can try and convince him again later, but he doesn't want to be away from everyone with Cora around. Oh, and Gold said he will talk to us later. Maybe he will help us protect Henry! I mean he has to protect-" Emma stopped herself from saying Belle in front of Hook.
"Belle. He already knows her." Regina smirked.
"Right. She wasn't very helpful last time I tried to get rid of the Dark One. She's the reason I got involved with Regina and Cora."
"Okayy. Let's not get into that drama right now. If he can protect Belle, he can protect Henry."
"Can we trust him to do that?" David wondered out loud.
"If you can make a deal with him, then yes. Why don't you three figure out how to deal with Gold? Killian and I will make a plan to take care of my mother."
Regina stood, and walked to the door. She let Snow, David, and their daughter out of her home. She was tired of trying to come up with ideas, and frankly she wanted to talk privately with the pirate in front of her. She walked back to her couch and nodded for Hook to sit down across from her.