"You love her."

"With all my heart – and even without it."

Maleficent pulled out a box that held a pulsing red heart. Robin's eyes went wide.

"Then you should have it back."

"You would do that?"

Maleficent nodded.

"Regina was once my friend," she said. "I don't want her to lose another love."

But as she picked up the heart in her hand, the clip-clop of heels on the stairs told them that they were not alone. The door was flung open, and there stood Cruella, a furious expression on her face.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"The right thing."

Cruella let out a high, cackling laugh.

"Don't be naïve," she said. "We can't afford to give up such a valuable bargaining chip. If you let him go, we lose control over Regina. Now hand over the heart."

"Make me," snarled Maleficent.

Cruella made a sound that was almost a growl and dove at Maleficent, knocking her backward off her feet. Robin clutched at his chest as his heart fell to the ground. He scrambled forward to try to grab it, but Cruella's fingers closed around it, sharp nails digging into it. He crumpled in pain.

"You're not going anywhere," she said coldly.

"On the contrary."

It was Rumple's voice. None of them had even noticed that he was there.

"Regina has been … reluctant to help us. I'm certain she's not telling us everything she knows. But we do have a common goal; she wants to find the author as much as we do."

"I don't understand," said Cruella.

"You never were one for subtlety," said Rumple. "But perhaps the best way to obtain her help is to make her believe she's not helping us at all. If he were to escape, she would go back to searching for the author, just as she was before. And if we had a way of spying on her … say, if we kept his heart …"

"No," Robin gasped.

"Oh, yes."

Robin lay beside Regina with his arm wrapped around her waist. In her sleep, she snuggled close to him and sighed contentedly. The words he was forbidden to say stuck in his throat as if they were anchored there with iron chains. His chest felt hollow and empty without his heart, and it pained him to know how close he had come to freedom.

Regina could hardly remember the last time she had been this happy.

Actually, she could: walking down the street that night with Robin and Roland, stopping for a kiss in front of the diner, with no idea that what they found inside would turn her world upside down. Hearing Henry call her "mom" again after weeks of looking straight through her, kissing him on the forehead and seeing the rainbow light pulse through the air around them. Sitting on the park bench, 5 seconds of "I choose you" before Marian collapsed, the freezing spell returning. There had been some very good memories lately; that was what made the bad ones hurt so much.

But still, Robin was here with her. He was safe. A huge weight was lifted from her shoulders as she realized that she no longer had to fear for his heart. It was back in his chest where it belonged, and there it would stay.

Breakfast that day was like a private celebration, just the three of them – Regina, Robin, and Henry. She raised her cup of coffee in a toast over the breakfast table: "to the return of your heart", echoing the words that he had said to her not so long ago.

After breakfast, when Henry was off to school, she called Emma to share the good news.

"No way! That's awesome! So he's okay, then?"

"Yes, he's fine. He says Maleficent let him go. I guess our old friendship was worth something after all."

"That's great. I'm so happy for you, Regina."

"Thank you."

"Hey, it's going to be okay, you know," said Emma. "This is a sign. You're going to have your happy ending."

"I hope you're right."

Regina hung up and turned back to Robin, pulling him into another kiss, only half believing that he was really there with her.

Over the next few days, the search for the author made little progress. No matter how many times Regina flipped through the storybook, scrutinizing every page and every word, no matter how many times they walked through the author's house and entered the room full of blank storybooks, no matter what Rumple and the Queens of Darkness did, new evidence was surprising hard to come by. It seemed that the author did not want to be found.

"This is getting out of hand. You do realize that?"

The author turned to the Blue Fairy and nodded.

"Never before have so many even guessed at my existence," he said. "Let alone sought to overturn my story."

"I'm worried about Maleficent," said Blue. "She came into the convent the other day and swore to get revenge on the fairies. And Gold as well; everyone knows how much he hates us. But it's not just them. Even Snow White and her family have been helping the Queen try to get her happy ending."

"There is no happy ending for her," he said darkly. "For any of them. Villains don't get happy endings."

The Blue Fairy nodded.

"I quite agree. There are some things that are simply too horrible to come back from, and mass murder is one of those things. Even if she truly has changed – which I don't believe – she'll always be a danger. What fate do you have in store for her?"

"The worst."

"So she is to die?"

The author shook his head.

"Not yet, at least. Death would be nothing to her," he said. "She has to lose everything she loves, one way or another."

The Blue Fairy raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't just about stopping a villain, is it?" she asked. "You let other villains be killed all the time. It's about more than that."

"She has to be punished."

"What did she do?" asked the Blue Fairy. "What makes her so much worse than any other villain?"

The author turned away.

"She's a rebel," he said. "She had a chance to be a hero, and instead, she chose darkness. Now that she's a villain, she insists on choosing light. She was the first to begin this plot to find me and change the book. She's a rogue character that cannot be predicted nor controlled."

"She's dangerous, yes, and unpredictable. But I don't think that's all. You can trust me, you know."

He turned to face her, and she saw tears in his eyes.

"A long time ago, before the curse, when I was a much younger man and the previous author had only recently retired, the Evil Queen visited a small village in her kingdom. She asked for information on Snow White, but no one knew, and those who did know refused to say. She ordered her knights to kill them all, and they did – men, women, even children."

"That's horrible."

"That was the village where my brother and his family lived," said the author. "He and his wife and their two little girls all died because of her. She must be punished."

"You're right," the Blue Fairy agreed grimly. "You're absolutely right. Whatever you want to do, you have my full support."

"Thank you."

"Listen, I have to go. I told the fairies I'd be back by three."

"Stay safe. And thank you for your support. You're one of the few people I can truly trust."

She nodded and placed her hand on the wall, which dissolved into an empty archway.

"I'll see you again shortly," she called as she walked away.

The abandoned mansion was more of a mystery than a clue, as Cruella and Ursula were beginning to discover. For all its elaborate rooms – many of them carefully concealed – there were quite a few clues that it belonged to the author, but almost nothing to tell them how to find him.

"Or her," Ursula pointed out. "There's nothing to say the author isn't a woman."

"Could be an it for all I care," said Cruella. "We just need to find them, whoever they are."

"Shhh."

"What?"

"Quiet!" Ursula hissed. "You hear that? Footsteps."

Clearly, they were no longer alone. As they hid themselves behind the doorframe, a woman in a blue nun's outfit walked past.

Ruby crossed off another day on the calendar. The little circle of the full moon was stenciled in tomorrow's square, representing the first day of the Wolf's Time that no longer frightened her. She grinned, eager for the chance to run free as a wolf once again.