Author's note: Wish!Robin doesn't go to Storybrooke in my version of events. There was a Wish!Robin, but he died offscreen years ago, and was basically the same as real Robin (but never met Regina). Regina and Emma go through the bean portal.


The Hermit Tarot card, numbered as the ninth Major Arcana, depicts an old man standing in the wasteland with a staff in one hand and a lantern in the other. We are alone and abandoned. Time to see where we are standing and find our own path. Our only illumination is what we carry ourselves.


It had been a good year for Captain Manzana. Regina's contract with Pan was broken, and she was truly a free agent for the first time in her life. With Facilier at her side, she and her crew ran enough successful missions that they could afford to take the winter season off. Regina took the Malus to Kingsport, the capital of the Maritime Kingdom.

"They have the best seafood in this land," Regina said. "Which is slightly disturbing, when you consider that the queen is a mermaid."

"Well, cannibalism is a way of life under the sea. Not that it's unknown on the land, either," Facilier said.

"It's uncivilized," grumbled Regina.

"Not if you do it right." Facilier smirked, and Regina slapped his arm at the innuendo.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Facilier."

"By all means let us retire to this villa you've rented."

Two weeks later, their idyll was cut short by a voice speaking to Regina straight out of the air. She knew the source by the faint roar of the ocean that underlay the message: it came from one of the magical conch shells she left with her agents in seaports across the realm. It brought a smile to her face. "It's from young Henry. He wants to hire me."

"You made an impression," noted Facilier fondly, kissing her hand to make his point.

"He didn't divulge any details, but he sounded serious. So, ready for a trip to the Enchanted Forest?" Regina had been magically banished from the kingdom, but after thirty years, the spell had weakened. She still couldn't directly transport herself across the border, but as 'Captain Manzana', she could ride through the barrier.

Regina and Facilier bought horses and traveled overland. She left her crew behind, being unable to transport them all by magic if it came to that. Besides, what could the boy want that she and Facilier couldn't handle by themselves? They arrived at the capital of the Enchanted Forest to find it in a festive mood for the princess's birthday celebration. The inns were packed, forcing Regina and Facilier to find shelter in a nearby cave, magically enhanced for comfort.

"No chance of a discreet word with Prince Henry in that mob," said Regina. "I'll wait for a quiet moment afterwards."

The moment never came. Facilier woke up the next morning from a nightmare that left him shivering yet drenched in sweat. His eyes were wild and unfocused. He groaned, clutching his head, oblivious to Regina's frantic questions.

"They're gone," he mumbled, eventually. "Silent. Never there. Wrong."

Regina sat with him, holding him as if she could anchor him to reality. "Who's gone?"

"I am..." He shook his head violently. "Ahhh! No." He grimaced, clenching his jaw hard enough that Regina heard his teeth grate.

"Breathe," she urged him. "Easy... I'm here. Let me help."

"Nothing you can do," he said at last. Some of the tension eased from his face. "It's... think of it this way: even when there's no other noise, if you put your hands over your ears, you can hear the sound of your own blood."

"I suppose."

"It's like that. Only it's gone. Do you understand?"

She didn't. She raised a hand to her own head, but he caught her wrist.

"I'm not talking about blood, but the presence of the spirits. I could always feel them, you see. They're gone. The world is empty."

"I... I don't understand," Regina whispered. None of her magic revealed anything to her. She took out the Serendipity Deck to see what she could read in the cards. They came up blank. Every single one of them, no matter how she shuffled the deck or dealt the cards. "What...? This can't be right."

Facilier hissed. He picked up one of the empty cards and ran it through his fingers, then held it up to his face for closer examination. "These cards... they came from Wonderland?"

"Yes."

He dropped the card back into the pile. "I'm afraid they have no magic in them now."

"Impossible." But it was true. Regina met Facilier's eyes. "Something's happened, something big."

"Indeed." He seemed calmer now, but his voice betrayed an edge of fear and his hands still shook slightly. "I feel... I fear that I've been abandoned. Cut off." His eyes narrowed as he held up a hand, conjuring a light to his fingers. "Weaker."

"Look, stay here and rest, see if that helps. I'll go into town, find out what's going on."

"Take care, Regina. There may be danger."

Regina nodded. She cast a glamour over herself to walk unseen, then transported herself to the palace. Her magic seemed to be working perfectly, all her skills as strong as they had been before the thirty years she had been cursed. She mingled with the crowd, listening and watching for any clue to explain the mystery.

And received the shock of a lifetime. Had time jumped a track?

The Evil Queen walked out of the past and straight into the throne room to wreak havoc on the royal family. Regina watched in disbelief as Snow and her shepherd were kidnapped. At that point she knew she couldn't let this imposter steal her name. She followed the 'Evil Queen' to the upper chamber...

...and was promptly knocked unconscious by the spells warding the hallway.


"It's impossible!" Regina woke up in the midst of an uproar, with the entire population of the Enchanted Forest baying for the Evil Queen's blood. Thankfully Regina's invisibility had held, and she made herself scarce before something could break it. "That woman, whoever she really is, overpowered me with barely a thought. Yet for a moment... I felt a connection. The magic felt like mine. Just... stronger."

Facilier frowned. "Hmm. And you say she killed Snow and her Charming consort, crushing their hearts."

"Yes. Exactly as the cards showed me all those years ago." She had never expected the prophecy to be fulfilled this way, and now she had to take all the blame and none of the satisfaction of revenge.

"So this was fated."

"Damn fate, playing games with me. Every time I think my life is mine, something like this happens!"

A pensive look crossed Facilier's face. "Perhaps. This reminds me of another prophecy a dead man once babbled to me. I took it for gibberish at the time, but..."

"Well, what did he say?" Regina asked when he didn't continue.

"The details elude me," sighed Facilier. "But I wrote it down in my journal."

"And that's, where, back in your shop? Let's go, then."

"What of your business here?"

"The meeting's off, considering there's a kingdom-wide hunt for a woman with my face. If Henry still wants to hire me, once this mess is cleared up..." Regina shrugged. "That's a bridge for another day."


The official coronation ceremony for King Henry was set a month hence, but with the sudden violent deaths of the rest of the royal family, they couldn't wait that long to establish the succession. To prevent the descent of chaos, Henry took the oaths of the Enchanted Forest nobles (the ones already in attendance for the princess's birthday) even before his grandparents were buried.

Hansel stood at his side, informally appointing himself as his friend's steward. Henry made it through the swearing of fealty on his feet, but his voice was flat with weariness and grief. Finally he was permitted to escape to his private chambers. Hansel stuck by him, making sure he didn't collapse along the way. Miraculously, he didn't have his breakdown until the doors were shut.

Hansel removed Henry's armor piece by piece as the young king stood with his fists clenched, tears streaming down his cheeks. Hansel's own eyes felt damp. They had both of them lost the only family they had.

But Hansel had had a month longer to come to terms with it, so he knew it fell to him to comfort his friend. Lightened of their physical load at least, Hansel led Henry to sit on the bed, hopefully to get some rest. It was a long time before Henry said anything, but Hansel hugged him as he sobbed wordlessly.

"It will be better in the morning," he whispered, kissing his friend on top of his head as Henry buried his face in Hansel's chest. "Nothing changes, but you'll be stronger. And they may be gone, but we have each other. I'll always be here for you — I swear it."

Henry looked just as ghastly in the morning, but Hansel coaxed him into eating, after ordering the servants to bring food to the prince's — king's — chambers.

"No one's seen any sign of the Evil Queen or your mother," Hansel told him, having quietly gathered the reports from the household guards and the commander of the kingdom's small standing army. "The fairies set new wards around the castle to keep her out, but they say they don't know where she went."

"Magic," said Henry dully. "None of us saw where she went. And I couldn't move! It was like I wasn't even in my body."

"I know. It was like that for me, too." Hansel wondered if it had been like that for Gretel — your own flesh turned into a cage as you waited helplessly for death to take you. Bandits would have been kinder. He shuddered, hating that magic could do this to people, and there was nothing to stop them. He wanted to believe a few feet of steel could stop anyone, but the brutal truth was that it couldn't. Then another thought occurred to him. "Your grandparents defeated the Evil Queen before, that's true. But I've heard that they had help. They had a curse they got from the Dark One."

"Yes... they don't — didn't — like to say so, but... yeah." Henry's eyes went wide as he stared over at Hansel. "Are you... are you suggesting...?"

"Well, you were the one who suggested hiring an outside party in the first place," Hansel said, trying to sound casual. "But if she really is the one who attacked us, then it's only logical to go over her head. So to speak."

"But... the Dark One," whispered Henry, as if afraid said sorcerer might hear him.

Hansel forced a smile. "Your father captured him and suffered nary a scratch. Maybe there's some power in your bloodline... anyway, he's locked in a dungeon. What's the harm in talking to him?"

"He's dangerous! Devious."

"Well, you're not stupid, either, Henry. As long as we keep our wits about us, we should be safe. Safer than running after the Evil Queen waving a sword!"

Henry gulped, then nodded. "All right. Do you know where his cell is?"

"Yeah. Gretel showed me. She... she was obsessed with... you know. Magic. She said she saw him once. But she didn't stay to talk to him. Wasn't worth the risk. Not then. But now? I think... maybe."

It wasn't easy to escape the watchful eye of the guards, now that Henry was the king, but after a day of coming to grips with the administration of the kingdom, he pleaded exhaustion and retreated to his chambers. Sneaking out the window was hardly a kingly act, but it worked. The cell was hidden in an abandoned dwarf mine.

"No guards?" Henry sounded surprised.

"Gretel said there used to be, but they were in danger of getting corrupted by the darkness, so once the kingdom was at peace, the queen had the Blue Fairy cast a spell," Hansel explained in a low voice. 'Corrupted by darkness' was one of those nebulous magical dangers that he hated to acknowledge, but Gretel had taken it seriously. "No one harboring ill intent is even supposed to be able to find the place, so maybe think about how much you loved your grandparents rather than how much you hate the Evil Queen..."

"I'll try."

"Yeah." Hansel paused, lifting his lantern to the wall to check the inscriptions on it. "This way, I think."

The cell was empty, the bars raised.

Hansel's eyes darted around the space, lifting up the lantern in case the Dark One was lurking in some crevice. Nothing. "I don't understand."

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Henry asked. He stepped gingerly over the threshold and peered around the cell.

"Yes. It has to be."

"Well, he's gone. Do you think he's behind the Evil Queen's attack?"

"I... I don't know. None of this makes sense. He had no quarrel with your grandparents," said Hansel. He examined the winch and rope that controlled the gate. It worked just like the ordinary portcullises in the castle gatehouse. Whatever magic was woven into it was beyond his perception.

"That was before they locked him up... Maybe this isn't such a good idea, Hansel."

"Someone must have let him out," Hansel guessed. "If he could have gotten himself out, he would have done it a long time ago."

Henry looked sharply at Hansel. "Your sister? You said she saw him..."

Hansel shook his head. "No! I don't... that was three years ago. She wouldn't have done that and not warned me." Gretel had her secrets, but she had always tried to protect him.

Henry sighed. "However it happened, he's not here."

"Who's not here?" The voice was pitched too high, and the giggle that followed was simultaneously cringe-worthy and terrifying.

Hansel and Henry drew their swords, instinctively standing shoulder to shoulder, angled to face any threat. Before they could react, the portcullis slammed down, the winch whirling of its own accord.

"Show yourself!" Henry's voice was harsh, but Hansel could hear the edge of fear underneath.

Hansel charged at the bars, but it was useless.

"Were you looking for me, dearies?" The man who sauntered out of the shadows was slightly built, vibrating with suppressed energy. He grinned at them, exposing blackened teeth. Clad all in leather, his glittering skin and reptilian eyes betrayed his inhuman nature.

"You... you're..." Hansel couldn't get the words out.

"Rumplestiltskin," the man finished. He bowed mockingly. "At your service... for a price."

"Open the gate," Henry ordered. "You have no right to imprison us."

"Perhaps not, but I find swords in my face an impediment to intelligent conversation."

Hansel slowly sheathed his sword and nudged at Henry to do the same. "We can't hurt him with them anyway. Remember what happened before."

Henry glanced sidelong at Hansel, then nodded and followed suit. "Fine. Anyway, we didn't come here to fight."

"Smart lads." Rumplestiltskin snapped his fingers. The portcullis raised itself with a sullen rattle. "Now tell me, why were you looking for the Dark One?"

"The Evil Queen murdered my grandparents and kidnapped my mother." Henry went straight to the point.

"Ah." The Dark One's expression was unreadable, but he nodded slowly. "Tell me everything." When Henry hesitated, the Dark One cackled. "Tch, didn't I move heaven and earth to ensure dear Snow and her true love's fruitful union? Would I do less for their grandson?"

"You know who we are?" Hansel blurted out. He stepped warily back out of the cell, Henry a step behind him.

"I keep myself informed. Come now, you found your way down here. Speak freely, or why bother?" The Dark One stalked, stiff-legged in his leather trousers, around the two boys. "Don't waste my time with half measures."

Bit by bit, between the two of them, the full story spilled out. The Dark One's unnerving mannerisms had an almost mesmeric effect on them. Hansel knew he couldn't trust the demonic sorcerer, but here in this dark cell, it seemed his only hope. Once the tale was told, the Dark One turned his back to them, pacing and rubbing his fingers as he mulled their words in silence.

"So? Can you help us defeat Captain Manzana, and rescue Henry's mother and avenge his grandparents?" asked Hansel at last.

"I could. But it's not 'Captain Manzana' you want. She had nothing to do with this," the Dark One said slowly.

"But we saw her," said Henry.

"Ah, ah, ah!" The Dark One held up a finger. "The woman you saw was the Evil Queen from another realm, with a different history than your Captain Manzana. To that Regina, your grandparents' lives meant nothing. She was here for your mother, and took Emma back to the other realm."

"Then we have to go there!" Henry stepped forward eagerly, his hand going to the hilt of his sword.

"It's not so easy." The Dark One let out another insane giggle, that sounded more like a cry of pain than an expression of mirth. In a lower voice, he added, "I tried for hundreds of years to find a way to that realm."

"Then you must know how," Hansel said.

"Of course. But it won't... it won't get you what you want." The Dark One's gaze was fixed on Henry, and Hansel wondered what he was thinking. There was something sad about those inhuman eyes. Then the face twisted into a mask of cheer, and the voice followed suit. "Tell you what. You be the best king you can be, and I'll look for a way to help you."

"That's very vague," muttered Hansel.

Henry watched the Dark One with the same intentness the Dark One had fixed on him. "You'll help us?"

"In time. As much as I can." The Dark One pivoted away, his hands flying up in a dismissive flourish. "Despite what you may have heard, the Dark One isn't actually omnipotent."


If he had been omnipotent, thought Rumplestiltskin, his grandson wouldn't be walking away from him, orphaned and family-less. Bae would be alive, and Emma...

He choked out an inarticulate curse and slammed his fist against the dungeon wall. Gods. It was Milah all over again. How could he tell Henry that his mother had abandoned him without a care? He had told young Bae that Milah was dead. This time, he had let Henry think the Evil Queen had stolen Emma. In a way, she had, in much the same sense that Hook had 'stolen' Milah.

Once again, he was left spinning truths and half-truths, trying to spare a child the pain of abandonment. How could he tell them that they didn't matter, because none of them were 'real'? Looking into his grandson's eyes, could he say that his suffering meant nothing?

It means nothing. They will all be gone in the blink of an eye. Only darkness is eternal.

Rumplestiltskin, this ersatz Rumplestiltskin, would be gone, too, when the world popped like a bubble — in a year, two years, ten at most. He was tempted to dig out another magic bean. He had found one for Regina in the grave of a giant and restored its power with the water of Lake Nostos; he was sure he could find another. Then a path to the Land Without Magic, to this 'Storybrooke'... to do what? Murder Emma for her faithlessness?

A nightmare vision of Emma with Killian Jones flashed across his mind's eye, and Rumplestiltskin laughed bitterly. History repeated itself, with little improvement. Emma's death would achieve nothing, no more than Milah's had. And he wouldn't outlive her by long, in any case, once the wish-made reality collapsed. And as for his other self...

Rumplestiltskin didn't want to know. He had seen his son's grave in a vision, a stranger's name on the tombstone. It seemed fate had cut Baelfire's life short in every version of reality. To meet the other Rumplestiltskin would only double their sorrow. The other vision he had glimpsed — a human-seeming Rumplestiltskin with a living Belle — he dismissed as wishful thinking. Belle was dead. After all these years, he had finally traced her remains — to Regina's magic castle, and not in Avonlea as Regina had told him.

She lied. He could have wept at the irony. Regina had imprisoned Belle, and Rumplestiltskin had ensured Regina's defeat, but that defeat had killed Belle when the magic castle had been abandoned, its gates sealed shut. The castle was a ruin now. Nothing barred Rumplestiltskin from retrieving her bones from the lonely cell in the tower. By the marks scratched into the wall, she had been there for nearly two years.

Does it matter? None of you are real. Give yourself to the darkness. Put this world out of its misery. It will end anyway... you may as well have some fun in the process.

He could start with Regina. Or rather, 'Captain Manzana', as she was calling herself these days. Before he could act on the impulse, fate brought her right to his doorstep. He was tempted to shove her into the cell and lock her in. See how she enjoyed starving to death in a dungeon. Or would it be more amusing to strangle her with her own entrails? He did neither, choosing instead to step forward and speak.

"My, my, loads of visitors lately. Must be something in the air!" He couldn't stop the maniacal cackle that escaped his throat.

"Rumple! You're free?"

"Are any of us truly free?" At that moment, he felt they were no more than puppets dancing to the amusement of some demented god. Damn fate and its machinations.

"This is no time for games. There's something wrong with the world, and we need to fix it."

"Fix it?" Another hysterical laugh bubbled out. He flicked his wrist, a sack whipping into existence. He emptied it onto the floor. "Can we fix this?"

Regina stared as bones clattered out into a sad heap. "What is this?"

"I went looking for Belle..."

Regina gasped and took a step back, a fireball forming in her palm. "Rumple..."

He bared his teeth at her. "I should make you suffer for that."

"Please, Rumple. I... I didn't mean for her to die."

A quick tug at the darkness easily snuffed the fireball. "Well, dearie, if everything worked out according to what we meant, we wouldn't be where we are." He watched Regina swallow nervously, her fingers twitching as she tried to reach for her magic through his block.

"And... where is that, exactly?"

Rumplestiltskin sighed. A wave of his hand sent the bones back into the sack and then into his otherspace vault. "Belle died in your castle, but that was also where you saved Henry's life. I suppose that earns you a measure of forgiveness."

"Henry?" Regina shot him a bewildered look. "Why would you care about Henry?"

"I have my reasons." Reasons which he kept to himself, but it was a delicate line between protecting the boy and endangering him by expressing overmuch concern. "Let's say I would be greatly irritated if someone removed him prematurely from the board."

"Fine. I have more important concerns. What do you know of prophecies of the end times?"

Rumplestiltskin chuckled darkly. "Taking up eschatology, are we? Not what I would have expected of the Evil Queen."

"It's been thirty years, Rumple. I've put that behind me." Thirty years, yet so easily she fell back into their old dynamic — impatient student, mercurial teacher. "And I've recently read some disturbing texts."

"Yes, I imagine it's disturbing to find out that the world will end within the decade."

Regina stared at him in shock. "You mean it's true?"

"Yes, dearie. I've recently been visited by someone claiming to be the real Regina. Imagine my surprise at finding her claim at least half-true."

"The imposter! The one who killed Snow and David and kidnapped their daughter..." Fury suffused her face. "Where is she?"

Rumplestiltskin shook his head. "Haven't you been listening? She really is the real Regina. We are but shadows conjured for a brief moment of illumination, soon extinguished to the endless void."

The color drained from Regina's face. "No. No... you're serious? But you must have a plan. You of all people won't simply fade away! You always have a plan."

Rumplestiltskin giggled. "Such, such confidence you have in the Dark One. I'm flattered." He waved a hand with deliberate casualness. "But yes. I may have an idea or two."

"And it involves that boy, Henry?"

"Mmm. Not telling." He paced back and forth, making Regina wait. Finally, he snapped his fingers in her face. "The Dark Curse. It wasn't at your castle. You have it, don't you?"

Regina frowned in suspicion. "I may have picked it up last time I was there."

"Give it back to me. With the right modifications, it may save us all."

She hesitated. "Not even the Dark Curse is that powerful."

"But it could be."

"And the price to cast it? No. You're not manipulating me again into casting it for you... I'd rather die than kill—"

"Ah yes. Your necromantic paramour." Rumplestiltskin grinned viciously at her. "But if you won't do it, I'm sure I can find someone else willing to make the sacrifice."

Regina glared at him, but reluctantly brought out the scroll. "Fine. Have it. But only if you promise to do your best to save our world."

Rumplestiltskin shook his head. "Our world is doomed. But I promise to save as many of its people as I can."

Regina sighed and surrendered the scroll. "Very well."