There was something strange happening. The wind had picked up in an odd way and there was a weird whirling noise. Snow and Emma looked around, preparing for some kind of magical attack, expecting to see Cora coming at them. Emma pushed Lucy behind her, her eyes darting around. There was no one around, the only thing any of them could see were trees, and the open expanse of dying land stretched out ahead of them. Something flickered and three sets of eyes scanned the skies but it was Lucy who pointed a few feet away and said, "What's that?"
A small swirling vortex of purple magic began to twist in the air. Emma held her breath. Regina! She waited for the portal to get bigger but it didn't. There was no way they could fit into it but something small could fall out of it. Emma ran over to where the item dropped, ignoring Snow's protests, and picked it up. It was a key. Looking up the portal still swirled but it was fading. In a moment of action over thought she took her necklace off, bunched it in the palm of her hand, and threw it as hard as she could at the portal. As suddenly as the portal opened it was gone.
"Emma?" Snow questioned as she rushed over to her daughter.
"It's a key." An old key like one of Regina's skeleton keys with a note attacked. She pulled the slip of paper loose and unrolled it. "This key is enchanted. It will take you were you need to go. Do try and be quick about it Ms. Swan. I don't like to be kept waiting. ~Regina. P.S. We hope you're both all right. We miss you. ~Henry (OC)
"OC?" Snow asked as she looked over Emma's shoulder at the note.
"Operation Cobra." Emma said with a smile. "He's telling me it's alright to trust this." She put the note in the pocket of her jeans and then started looking the key over. It looked like a normal old fashion iron key. So she whacked it on the palm of her hand as if that would somehow activate whatever it was meant to do.
Snow laughed. "It's not R2-D2, Emma. It's not going to project a hologram that tells us where to go or what to do."
"Than how does it work?" Emma asked.
"It'll glow." Lucy told them. "What's an R2-D2?" When Snow and Emma looked at her as if to ask how she knew about the key she shrugged and said, "Magically obsessed grandmother."
Snow bobbed her head and made a face that said, fair enough. Then she looked at the key. "Then it must work like my ring. It'll glow brighter when we're on the right path."
Emma moved around until she was apparently facing the right direction because sure enough the key began to glow. It took them a little more northeast than they'd been going but still along the boarder. The difference between the side they were on and Snow's side was staggering. Snow's side was all scared earth, and blackened trees, and an oil slicked lake in the distance. Emma stopped when the glow of the key began to fade to get their bearings once more. The key was now telling them to cross over into Snow's kingdom. Emma had just stepped across when Lucy suddenly screamed. Spinning on her heel Emma saw a shimmer of magic as vines wrapped and twisted around Lucy's body.
"Lucy!" Emma cried out as she rushed to the girl, trying to grab her, to pull the vines away. A separate set of vines began wrapping around Emma, and then around Snow. No one was surprised when Cora stepped out of the tree line, her hands raised as she magically controlled the vines.
"I've had enough of this nonsense Cordelia." Cora scolded. "You're coming home with me, and there will be no more of this defiance."
Emma and Snow struggled but couldn't get loose. "Leave her alone!" Emma spat at the woman while she fought against the tightening hold of the vines. "I really wish I had David's sword right now."
Lucy couldn't fight the vines. They were squeezing her so tightly she could feel the edges of darkness as she began to loose consciousness. She did however hear Emma, and then she felt that tingle again. Emma yelped in surprise when she suddenly felt an awkward weight in her hand. She used the sword to cut away at the vines, falling to the ground with a soft thud. Once she was free she helped Mary Margaret and then began cutting Lucy free.
As soon as she was able, Snow went for her bow. She notched an arrow and aimed it at Cora. "You hateful bitch." She growled. "I am so done." It wasn't a kill shot but having an arrow lodged in her shoulder did put an end to Cora's magic and all the vines died away.
"Come on kid!" Emma said as she grabbed Lucy, who'd crumpled to the ground. She moved quickly, half helping half carrying Lucy, as she ran, crossing over the boarder and heading for the cover of the woods. Cora, despite the pain of an arrow wound, followed. But once again there was a sudden scream. Turning towards the sound Snow, Emma, and Lucy as the vines attacked Cora she'd been using against them just moments before. They watched as the vine pulled Cora back over the boarder before wrapped around her body, encasing her. "What the hell?" Emma asked before looking at Lucy. She just shook her head to say it wasn't her while she tried to painfully fill her lungs with air.
"She said she was banished." Snow offered. "Regina must have magically locked her out some how."
"Boundary spells." Lucy whizzed. "Grandmother has them around the estate. The only reason I was able to get away was the magical talisman Nanny had embedded in the garden wall. It made a hole in the spell." She took a few more deep breaths before adding, "Nanny's dying wish was that I go to the Queen so she made sure I had a way out. She was convinced that all I had to do was tell the Queen my name, where I came from, and show her this," She pulled a large coin from her bag. "And the Queen would somehow make everything right for me."
"What is it?" Emma asked, looking at the coin.
Snow smiled softly. "It's a favor, a token that shows a servant is in service to a noble family." The coin would have shown Regina that the girl had been cared for by a woman loyal to Regina's family, perhaps even her own nanny. In the old woman's final days she'd been trying to send Lucy home. "Keep hold of that." Snow told the girl with a smile. "Its very special."
Lucy nodded as she ran her thumb over it before putting it away. "It was Nanny's."
Emma's heart broke. The only person in her life who had ever shown Lucy love and kindness was gone. Putting her arm around her she hugged the girl to her side. "Come on, lets keep following the magic key. I'm dying for a grilled cheese sandwich and I really miss my bed."
"And your son?" Snow teased.
"Yeah him too." Emma chuckled. "But the bed's more comfortable and the grilled cheese is more gooey."
Lucy smiled at the banter. She'd heard a lot about Henry, he sounded nice, but more important she bet Emma was a really good mom. Maybe if she were good enough Emma would think about being her mom too.
Regina was getting really good at playing her roles, the dutiful obedient daughter, the sweet loving stepmother, the humble wife, and the benevolent young Queen. But the truth was that Regina was far from any of those things. When she wasn't completely numb and cold on the inside she was blazing white hot with anger and hate, and no one was clear of her loathing. Her mother, the King, Snow, even her father had in their own ways destroyed her life, her happiness. It was so easy for her to slip into a daydream about making them all pay, and that scared her. This darkness inside her, it scared her.
"Are you even listening to me Regina?" Cora said as she wrapped her long fingers around Regina's chin, forcing the girl to look up at her.
"Yes Mother." Regina said softly. "Of course I am. I think taking a ride through the villages is a good idea."
Cora beamed. "You should take Snow. Seeing you with their beloved princess will help the people love you more."
The last thing Regina wanted was to be around that damn child. How cruel that she should be expected to mother a stranger's child and denied the chance to mother her own. As soon as her mother let her go Regina got up and walked towards the window. "Yes Mother."
Cora droned on about raising tributes, and personal guards, and coat of arms, and banners, and she did it in such a pleased and happy way that Regina just couldn't take it. Yes, she had become good at pretending, at holding it all in, but she was still grieving and just couldn't take her mother's pure delight anymore. "Shut up, Mother!" She finally snapped as she turned to look at Cora. "Just shut up!"
"Regina!" Cora scolded as she got to her feet, moving around the desk she'd been sitting at. "How dare…"
"No Mother!" Regina replied. "How dare you! How dare you be so happy, so blissful, while my heart is breaking! She was your granddaughter!"
"Regina!" Cora snapped. "Do no speak another word!"
"Why Mother?" Regina asked, her voice dropping in volume but remaining just as sharp. "Are you afraid the King will find out about my dead bastard child?"
Cora flicked her hand at Regina, wrapping her in magic so she couldn't move or speak. "That is quiet enough you insolent child!" She moved closer to Regina, slapping her across the face. "I have given you the world and yet you continue to be ungrateful, disrespectful, and cruel." She tightened her magical grip until Regina was struggling to breath. "Enough is enough, Regina." She reached into the pocket of Regina's dress and took out the tiny knit bootie. "It's time to let go. Move on. And do as you're told."
The moment Regina realized her mother was going to destroy the only thing she had of her daughter she reacted. She had never liked using magic, she only used it when she absolutely had too, other wise she fought against it, but now she let it roll over her the way fire burns away paper. Breaking the spell her mother had on her she threw out her hand, capturing her mother just as she'd been trapped moments before. Regina's eyes were dark, full of pain, anger, even hate as she walked over to her mother and snatched back the bootie.
As angry as she was Regina couldn't harm her mother. "Don't touch it again." She warned before letting go of Cora. "Get out."
"You're weak." Cora said as she gasped for breath.
Regina turned her back on her mother, closing her eyes as she pressed a soft kiss to the bootie. She tried to tune out Cora's berating but she couldn't.
"You would have been a weak mother." Cora said. "She's better off dead."
The night before her wedding Regina had taken her mother's book and summoned the magical being who'd given Cora magic, the gold skinned man named Rumpelstiltskin. He had given her a mirror, telling her that it would take care of her mother issue. Regina couldn't do, she couldn't push her mother into the mirror. Turning on her mother now, pure fury and hate on her face, Regina cried out in a primal way as she threw such a magical force at her mother that it sent Cora flying clear across the room and into that very mirror.
There was an odd look of pride mixed with fear and anger on Cora's face as she was sucked into the glass. "Regina!"
Once her mother was gone Regina's fury broke and she gasped in shock and dismay. "What have I done? What have I done!?" Running to the mirror she pressed her hands against the glass only to find it solid and cold to the touch. "Mother! Mother!" Sinking to her knees Regina leaned against the glass and cried. "Mama."
"Dry your eyes dearie." Rumplestiltskin said from the lounge chair across the room. "What's done is done. She's alive and out of your hair. Now she's someone else's issue." Rumple leapt from the chair and nearly danced over to the girl before dropping down beside her. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket with a flourish he wipe away her tears tenderly. "Tell me my dear." He said gently. "How did it feel?"
"I love my Mother." Regina said, heartbroken.
"Yes, yes, I know, fine line between love and hate." Rumple replied. "But how did it feel dearie? To use magic?"
Regina looked away but he made her look back. Looking into his odd eyes she felt unable to tell him anything but the truth. "I loved it."
"And that scares you?" He asked.
"I don't want to be like her." Regina said. "I don't ever want to be like her."
"Well that dearie is entirely up to you." Rumple told her. "The rest, just leave up to me."
When Cora came to she found herself in a strangle land full of odd colors and even odder people and creatures beyond her imagination. Wherever she was she had to find her way back. Regina had to pay for her insolence.
She felt the spark of Emma's touch as Emma cried out her name, "Regina!" She felt the pull of the portal and then the harsh cold of the linoleum floor. "Emma!"
"Emma!" Regina called out as she jerked awake from her sleep, bolting up right in bed. Her breathing was shallow and sharp as her hand reached up to curl around the swan pendant around her neck. She hadn't been expecting anything to come back through the portal but just before she closed it Emma's necklace dropped from it, landing at her feet. Henry had gotten so excited, taking it as a sign that Emma was alive. To her surprise Regina felt the same sense of relief wash over her. Crouching down she'd picked it up and ran her thumb over the swan before standing and holding it out to Henry.
Henry had seen something, a flicker of something, in the way his mom reacted to the necklace. He smiled and shook his head. "Keep it. Maybe you can use it to help bring her back."
Regina agreed and instead of just putting it in her pocket she put the necklace on. She hadn't taken it off since.
Getting out of bed Regina went downstairs to pour herself a drink. Her mind was racing as the emotions stirred up by her dream began ebbing away. She hoped Emma was all right. The sense of dread she felt upon waking had seemed so real and so current, not just something lingering from that night in the town hall. Walking into her living room she curled into her sofa with a glass of apple cider. She was just starting to feel a little more relaxed when there was a pounding on the door.
She wouldn't have answered it, who but an angry peasant would be pounding on her door in the middle of the night, but when she heard Charming's voice she knew she had to answer. What if something was wrong with Henry? Opening the door she was about to make a smart remark but Charming didn't give her a chance. He walked into her home, yet again, and stormed up the stairs. "Couldn't sleep?" She asked as she closed the door. "Want a drink?"
"What are you up too?" Charming demanded, not even phased by the fact that Regina was standing there in nothing but a silk blouse that he kind of recalls Emma wearing. "Henry says they're alive. He said you know they're alive."
"My son asked me to bring them back." Regina said as she walked past him and back into her living room. "So that is what I'm doing."
When she walked past him he saw the necklace. He followed her and before she had a chance to sit he grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. With his free and he reached for Emma's necklace. "Where did you get this?"
"Emma sent it through the portal." Regina answered honestly. As angry as it was making her to be manhandled by him, to have him in her home at all, picking a fight wouldn't do anyone any good.
"You created a portal?" He asked with a small flicker of hope in his eyes.
"A small one, kind of." Regina admitted.
"What do you mean kind of?" Charming asked.
Regina sighed, she hadn't wanted to say anything but apparently Henry felt they should all work together. "I can't create the same kind of portal the hat did. What I'm doing is more of a gateway thing."
"And you can do it without magic?" Charming asked.
Regina's lip curled into a snarl. She didn't like being reminded that she didn't really have magic at the moment. Every time she'd used it since it was brought to this world it had been aided, first by Emma and then the book. "I am the only one who can do it."
Charming knew that was a dig at him. "Why are you doing this?"
"For Henry." Regina answered.
The prince shook his head and demanded, "Why are you doing this?"
"For my son!" Regina shot back.
Again Charming grabbed the necklace around Regina's neck. Why would she wear Emma's necklace? Even if Henry did tell her she could hold on to it, which he didn't understand, why would Regina wear it? "Why are you doing this?"
Regina reached up, grabbed his wrist and squeezed as hard as she could, digging her nails into his skin. "Let go."
Something passed between them and Charming didn't like it. There was something strange, something foreign; in the Evil Queen's eyes and he knew it had something to with his daughter. "If you hurt them, if you're up to something and double cross us, I will kill you no matter what Henry says."
"Consider me warned." Regina hissed. "Now get out before your pet wolf eats my son."
They stood there glaring at each other for several long moments before Charming finally turned away from her, leaving her standing there in her living room flooded with emotions she couldn't comprehend. Snatching up her glass she downed the cider before throwing it at the fireplace. The last thing she wanted was for anyone, especially a Charming, to know that she might have feelings for Emma Swan.