Henry wisely didn't say much on their way into the town. He'd followed her out of the house, and she hadn't stopped him, hadn't told him to stay, not when Emma was… different. Not that she thought the blonde would hurt Henry, but she could understand him wanting to be away for some time, to process everything. Still, she was glad for his silence. Regina wasn't sure what she would have said if he had asked questions. Emma's intentions were good, but that didn't change the fact that she had unleashed an angry Zelena on the town, with no real thought (or care, she reminded herself sternly) for the consequences.

And then there was Robin Hood. Her soulmate. The word used to fill her with joy and hope, but more and more lately, it had started to taste stale in her mouth. It felt like another shackle, another relationship she had no say in. And, now that Robin was showing his true colours, one she wasn't sure she wanted to be in at all.

But that wasn't the point right now, she told herself. The point was that, despite what he had said while under the influence of painkillers, she had no doubt that her sister would take savage pleasure in extending his pain as much as possible, and no one - not even an apparently misogynist boyfriend - deserved that kind of punishment.

In the end, she didn't have much time to ponder the future of that relationship. As she took the turn down Main Street, she had to slam on the brakes.

Zelena was standing in the middle of the road, manic grin on her face. She had one hand wrapped around Robin's arm, and the other held a wand. Jumping out of the car, she noticed Snow and Charming come running towards her.

"Grandma, Grandpa, what are you guys doing here?" Henry asked, looking at the two in shock.

Snow, slightly out of breath from what had clearly been a brisk jog from the loft, smiled sadly at him. "Emma called."

"Did she now," Regina muttered, surprised.

"Yes. She said she thought you might need help?"

Sighing, Regina nodded in acceptance. She'd mull over Emma deciding to help clean up her own mess - while still doing as she was told and staying put, which she very much appreciated - later.

"Then let's get this over with," she said.

All four turned towards the two figures further down, and stalked towards them.

"Zelena, let him go."

"Ah, there you are, sis! I was wandering what took you so long."

"You didn't exactly call to inform me of what was happening," she sneered.

"Well, I thought it would have been obvious something was wrong when your boyfriend here missed breakfast."

Regina felt her stomach bottom out. In all her worry over Emma and how to help her, she had completely forgotten Robin was supposed to have stopped by the mansion for breakfast that day, before the four of them - Robin, Henry, Roland and herself - headed out for the day for a picnic away from the rest of the world. Quality family time, Robin had said, and she had agreed, because after the mess of the Author's world, she'd felt the need to know that her family was still there and still wanted her.

But then Emma, the stupid, brave idiot, had sacrificed herself, and all thoughts about anything not related to how to help the blonde had flown out of her mind. There was a message there, she thought, but it wasn't one she wanted to analyse too much, especially not now.

Instead, she rolled her eyes and pretended she hand't completely forgotten all about her plans for the day. "I was a bit preoccupied."

"Ah yes, with dear Emma," Zelena laughed, smug. "Do remind me to thank her later, won't you?"

Clearly Zelena was hoping to provoke some kind of reaction from her, and Regina deduced that her sister thought Emma hadn't actually told her how Zelena had gotten out.

Regina smirked. "Emma's methods may be misguided, but at least we know her sense of good and fairness is still in there."

Surprise flashed across Zelena's face, and Robin frowned deeply at that.

"You think it's fair that Emma set your insane sister loose on me?"

Regina forced a smile at her soulmate. "No, of course not, Robin. But maybe..." she trailed off, still unwilling to voice her thoughts. She heard Emma's voice telling her you would never make him face all the shit he's done. She'd sworn she'd never let herself be walked over again, would never let someone else own her, but now she wondered.

Zelena's eyes sparkled and she cackled. "Oh, she's growing a spine!" she told Robin, grinning wickedly at him. "Looks like the honeymoon phase is over, sweet cheeks."

"Zelena, enough. Let him go and we can talk about it."

"Talk about it? Talk about it? About how you have everything you ever wanted - a comfrotable life, a soulmate, a son; a family. Even a Dark One that apparently adores you, while I have, what? Insults from the father of my child, and no family to speak of? Is that what you want to talk about, sis?"

"Zelena..."

"No, you don't understand! I had everything in the Author's world, okay? I had a loving husband, and a family, something to look forward to. And now I have nothing again." She lifted her hand, the one holding the wand, and lightining flashed. The wind picked up speed, whipping their hair in their faces, and Zelena cackled madly. "Aand now I'm going to take away what you value most: your happy ending."

Regina had a second to be glad she'd told Emma to stay at home, before lightining arced from the clouds towards Zelena's outstretched arm, still gripping the wand. And it was all too much, too soon. All too similar to the position Emma had been in only last night, hand thrust up and out, dagger in one hand and an apology in her eyes.

That second of deja-vu almost cost Robin his life. The lighting raced from the tip of the wand, heading towards Robin where he stood, held to Zelena's side by her firm grip on his injured arm. Blinking out of her reverie, Regina put up a force shield between Robin and Zelena, forcing her to let go of him, and the lightining to bounce off harmlessly. He stumbled towards her, and she caught him before he fell, then quickly passed him on to a waiting Snow, before swooping up to Zelena. Charming was right behind her, and grabbed her sister's arms while Regina grabbed the wand from her sister's hand while quickly snapping the cuff back on in one fluid movement. One it was on, Charming grabbed one of her arms and started directing her firmly back towards the hospital.

As she was led away, Zelena looked back at Regina, where she stood, still holding the wand gingerly in one hand. Her sister smirked, not looking too put out at all at being taken back to her padded cell.

"Good luck with that, sis," she said, head tilting towards Robin Hood behind Regina.

Regina frowned but didn't comment, silently agreeing with Zelena.


When she got home, it was to a smugly grinning Emma, sitting on the bottom of the stairs waiting for them. The smile faltered a bit when Charming, Snow and Robin followed in behind Henry, but she still turned proud eyes on Regina.

The mayor bit back a sigh, wondering what the woman had done now.

"I know where to find Merlin," she announced, the smugness never quite fading from her voice.

All of them, except for Robin, who seemed to be whining under his breath about his painkillers not working anymore and kept sending Regina significant looks that the brunette studiously ignored.

Emma in turn sent the man a baleful glare, but otherwise didn't seem to even notice his presence. She kept her focus mostly on Regina, who titled her head in silent question.

Emma shrugged. "Everyone knows Merlin lived in Camelot with King Arthur and the Round Table guys. So I gave Belle a call. Turns out Camelot is an actual place in the Enchanted Forest."

Henry was practically vibrating with excitement beside Regina at what this meant, and she sighed.

"That's great, Emma, really. But we have no way of getting there, not without..."

"A bean?" Emma asked, holding up her hand, a white bean held between two fingers.

"H... How?"

The blonde shrugged again, leaning back against the stairs, her smugness growing even more. "We'd started growing them a while ago, remember? To get Elsa, Anna and Kristoff back to Arendelle? They would have taken too long for their schedule, but the timing worked out rather well for us, I'd say. Belle gave me two - one for the trip there, and one for the trip back."

Regina gaped at her silently, as did Emma's parents. Henry darted forward and grabbed the bean from Emma, staring at it in awe. It was easy to forget sometimes that he'd never actually seen one before.

"Well then," Snow spoke, finally breaking the apparent trance they'd all been in. "I guess we have a trip to plan."


It took a surprisngly short time to get everything ready. Hook was found snoring on the Jolly Roger, and all it really took was another phone call to Belle from Regina, asking her to keep the town running in their abscence. She had done a "decent enough job", Regina had grumbled to an amused Emma, while they were in Neverland.

Regina, who had taken custody of the beans, because she "didn't trust Emma not to trip and fall, accidentally opening a portal and taking away their way home", threw one in her back garden, and they all took a deep breath and jumped.


The first thing she saw when Emma opened her eyes, was a canopy of trees above her, and the very pointy, very near tip of an arrow. So near, in fact, that she was going slightly corss-eyed trying to keep it in her field of vision. Giving up, she followed the tip with her eyes, mouth opening to scream at Robin Hood, before her gaze landed on the hand holding the bow. A feminine hand. But surely her mother wouldn't have pulled a bow and arrow on her? Careful not to make any sudden movements, she let her gaze travel further up, and was met with a shock of bright red hair.

She dropped her head back down to the ground with a groan. "Seriously, now we're adding in Pixar characters too? Bad enough when it was only Disney; this is getting ridiculous." She paused, popping her head back up again. "Wait. Did the bean not work? Am I in Scotland?"

Merida frowned at that, but pulled the bow back slightly, enough so Emma didn't run the risk of going cross-eyed anymore.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Oh, right. Hi, I'm Emma Swan. Daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, former Saviour and current Dark One."

In restrospect, she mused, maybe she shouldn't have mentioned the last one. The bow flew up again, and Emma had no doubt that, if she decided to let that arrow fly, it would hit home. She was too close for her to even be able to throw up a magical shield in time.

"Um. I'm trying not to be the last one, though?"

Green eyes eyed her suspiciously. "How did you get here?"

"Magic beans, we used some magic beans, I..." it suddenly dawned on her that she couldn't see any of her travelling companions. "Dammit, Regina, I knew we should've held hands," she grumbled. "Look," she said, turning back to Merida, hands held out in a placating gesture. "We're looking for Camelot. I cam here with my family, but we must have gotten separated during the trip."

She was silent for a few seconds, before lowering the bow again. "That them?" she inquired, gesturing towards the trees to her left, where Regina was just stepping out from.

"Yes!" Emma said, relieved. Beind Regina, Henry popped his head out from the trees, wide eyes taking in everything around him, and she could hear rustling that suggested the rest of their companions had made it too.

"I can't believe I'm back here. This had better be worth it," Regina said, disgust prominent on her face. She turned to Merida. "Who the hell is this?"

"Mom!" Henry exclaimed, horrified. "That's Merida," he whispered.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course it is."