Author's Note: Yay for a new chapter! The amount of followers this story has is crazy! Thank you so much for your support and reading it! Although shorter than the other chapters, I believe this one will answer some questions you may have about the wizard and what happened to dear Snow White. Kudos and enjoy! :) (No Beta, so all mistakes are mine, and the moment I get more of the story uploaded I will read and foolproof it again. Or, if any of you want to be a Beta for it then do PM me :)

The Previous Night At the White Kingdom

When Snow White got told by one of her guards that Manohara was summoning her to the prisoners' hallway, she immediately assumed that her stepmother had fallen into her trap and brought back to the dungeons one messenger. It was a matter of urgency for her to know what they were facing, and based on the rumors that some of her guards were whispering, the Queen grew concerned about the meaning of the sudden acts of benevolence (like refusing to kill one of her battalions and instead leaving them near the Palace's gates). Was she doing it so she could gain the support of the people? Or was she doing it to create confusion between them? Anyway, the group of soldiers were a liability, as she had found out after they were released, since rumors about the Evil Queen started to spread around the villages. In fact, the main reason that made her want to release these men was to cause fear and hesitation in her villagers. That way, her stepmother's unpopularity and dark ways would be remembered.

Nevertheless, before being called by Manohara, Snow got told that peasants were migrating from the White Kingdom and heading to the Dark Castle, hoping to be a part of Regina's rebellion. Her guards even captured some of them under the grounds of treason towards the crown, but arresting them sent a message that confirmed the rumors about the Evil Queen. Not only did it tell her people that she was aware of her stepmother's plans to lead a civil war against her, but it also confirmed that she was doing it with no other person than the White Princess herself. Snow was slightly worried about Emma's involvement, reality just being that she wanted her back because it was getting more tedious to stop Prince Killian from leaving the White Kingdom. The only reason he and his advisors chose the White Kingdom first was because they had benefited from Regina losing the throne (since she had eliminated trade with the Underwater Kingdom when she chose to favor the Atlantis Kingdom) and an alliance with the White's would be seen as a token of their appreciation. Although wealthier and with better products than Prince Killian's kingdom, the Atlantis Kingdom was ruled by mermen, magical beings that had a fin instead of legs. Because of the Sorcerers' Wars, the mermen were led to extinction and the fishermen that had previously been in competition with them took ownership of their lands and named it the Underwater Kingdom.

It wasn't lost on Snow White that in order to make human habitation underwater possible, Prince Killian's kingdom had employed magic. Their excuse was that the magic was cast before the end of the war and that since then there has been no use of it in their kingdom. Nevertheless, her main problem was stopping the royal Prince from finding out that her daughter was running around the forest following the Evil Queen, who was becoming more dangerous with each passing day. She had to stop the news of her survival from reaching the other kingdoms since it would also be considered an act of treason from their part (and she still had not forgotten about the fact that someone did betray them 18 years ago). She had an idea of who it could have been, but alas the Blue Fairy was dead and there was no way for her to confirm her suspicions.

Going around the rooms, she saw Manohara already waiting for her near the entrance of the prisoners' hallway. Smiling softly at him she started to walk, expecting him to follow.

"Your Majesty." Manohara told her while kissing her hand.

"Manohara" Snow replied while smirking at the man who had been staring at her breasts without shame. "I assume there was a reason for you to summon me at this ungodly hour?"

"Indeed there is." he said while opening a door for her. "It appears that your plan worked out just as the way you said it would."

"So he is back?" Snow smiled to herself when the man nodded. "Did she kill the others?"

"She didn't." Manohara replied and Snow stopped death in her tracks, surprised by those unwanted news. "They were all injured and knocked out, but other than that completely fine."

Snow tried to hide her anger and stop herself from screaming in exasperation. What did this woman want from her now? And why was she acting so unlike herself by forgiving guards and even returning them to her castle?

"Too bad." she muttered in annoyance. "She would have done me a favor by getting rid of these men." she said, already thinking of a way to make this situation work for her advantage. She had a plan already and, unlike last time, she was not going to do the same mistake she did.

"Has he spoken to anyone else?"

"No, we got notified the moment he appeared in a purple cloud." Manohara answered her while smiling darkly.

"Good. I don't want people from knowing that he faced the Evil Queen and lost. It would only cause panic."

"But he will surely speak the moment we let him go your Majesty. You know how these men are and how tongue loose they can get after a couple of drinks." the man told her with a knowing smirk.

"Which is why I don't plan on letting him go." she simply said.

"Of course your Majesty." he teased her and opened the doors that led to the dungeons.

It was disgusting to see the people that were inside this part of the castle. Snow always evaded it, leaving all of official documentation to Manohara. In fact, the only cell she found tolerable was the one of the Dark One and that was because it was magically built: Odor and human feces were eliminated and she sometimes regretted making the wizard's stay in there too comfortable.

"Mr. Robin Hood." Snow said mockingly once they reached his cell. All of the men were beaten up and some even had some cuts and injuries that would make them unable to yield a sword forever. Still, that wasn't good enough for her. "It seems that your army was defeated."

"She had magic." he explained while coughing. "Powerful magic your Majesty. And your daughter also fought next to her."

"No daughter of mine would consciously betray me in such a way." Snow spat angrily at the man, refusing to believe what she somehow already knew.

"I thought so too, and after we were defeated by them, the Evil Queen decided to send us back so we could give a message to you." Robin said while standing up and approaching her.

"And what was this message?" she asked.

"She told me to tell you that she will see you on the battlefield and that next time you should make sure of sending someone that does not go against your orders."

"Against my orders in what way?" Snow asked him intrigued. He had done something more than what she ordered him. Good thing she planned on getting rid of him.

"I did what you told me to do your Majesty: I went to kill the Evil Queen but when your daughter got in the way and injured my men I had to do something about it: I had to make her pay the price for such insubordination." Robin said while puffing his chest.

"What do you mean by this?" Snow asked coldly, fearing that her daughter had been injured during this fight. An injured princess would never get the attention of Prince Killian and all would be lost.

"I told my men to kill her the moment she showed allegiance towards the Evil Queen." he then huffed in anger. "But the Evil Queen protected her."

"My orders were to kill the Evil Queen and bring my daughter back." Snow whispered. "And here you are telling me that you tried to kill her? Luckily for you, your group of men are so incompetent that you failed at your task. I need my daughter alive so she can marry Prince Killian and here you go trying to kill her." the Queen then looked towards the man standing next to her and smirked. "My, my, what should I do in face of this direct disobedience?"

"Disobedience?!" Robin yelled. "I was doing my duty as a member of your Elite Army."

"One that you obviously failed. In fact, it's quite disappointing to see that my stepmother spared all of your lives. She probably did this in order to annoy me." she turned around and smiled darkly. "It appears that we have to fix this small mistake."

"Indeed." Manohara said while getting closer to the cell.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Robin screamed. "Get away from me. Queen Snow!"

"Don't 'Queen Snow' me." she huffed in annoyance. "We cannot let you or your men talk about what happened. You see, it would cause panic in the kingdom and we must certainly avoid this. So you see, what you will do is your duty as a member of my army: You will keep the peace and order in the kingdom."

"Please don't! I have a wife and a child!" the man started crying.

"Then good thing that I will not try to kill them just as you tried to kill my daughter!" she screamed and with one motion the man in royal clothes tore the man's heart out of his chest.

Snow saw in complete delight how with a flicker of his wrist, darkness poured from Manohara's finger to the already dark heart of Robin Hood. With a loud gasp that meant that the organ was inside the thieve again, the two royals smirked at the man.

"Now, the moment we leave this room you will see that your cell with be left open and a knife will be in your hand. With this knife you will kill your fellow Merrymen and yourself. Do you understand?" Snow told him and the man nodded.

"Good, then our business here is done." Snow smiled and took the royal man's hand, not even glancing back when they closed the door.

The moment she left the dungeons she felt she could finally breathe. It actually made her feel better to know that the man and his group of forest thieves had been dealt with, and in such a way that she could put the blame on her stepmother for the crime. Now being thankful for her strange merciful behavior, she turned around and saw that Manohara was following her closely, also quite happy with being able to use magic. The two of them had met during the Sorcerers' Wars, and for some strange reason she had just felt intrigued by him and his presence. Although a magical being himself, he was the one that convinced her to join the other kingdoms during the war. In fact, before his arrival she had been feeling quite conflicted because her kingdom was the one that had the largest populations of these beings, along with the fact that most of them were closely involved with her. It had been sudden, the change inside of her, and how that guilt towards them just disappeared when she met the man.

(Beginning of Flashback)

"Your Majesty." the man kneeled before her and she suspiciously looked at him.

"What are you doing here?" she angrily told him while covering herself and moving towards the door. "And where are my guards?!"

"I'm afraid that they will be out of commission for a while." he absently pointed to the left and Snow saw the men in a deep slumber.

"Well, I don't know what you plan to do with this, but if you think that you will get something from me then you are clearly mistaken. I would rather die than help you."

"And that's your problem." he made a chair appear with a movement from his hand and sat in it. "You can choose other people to die for you and yet you don't do so. You're a Queen now, Snow White, you should start acting like one instead of having this tedious hero's complex that you and your husband seem to share." he finished sarcastically.

"I will not listen to any more of this." she grabbed a sword and charged, missing the man when he disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

"Do not be so hasty." the man chuckled and looked at her. "I came because I have found a solution for your dilemma."

"I have no dilemma."

"Of course you do." he smiled. "You are hesitating about joining the other kingdoms on the war against magical beings."

"No one should know about this war, it hasn't even started yet." she tried to see the face of the man, tried to find any recognizable trait.

"I have my ways." he stood up. "And as I told you, a solution."

"You will tell me to not join." Snow spat sarcastically.

"On the contrary, I insist you do." he laughed. "You see, if you don't, then your kingdom, along with the rest of magical beings, will be destroyed. The land your dynasty built, and the one you recovered from the Evil Queen, will be redistributed between the victors and no one will remember the heroic actions of the White Kingdom."

"I cannot do that to my people! They were the ones that helped me recover the throne, they have been by my side during this whole time."

"And if you keep them by your side they will be the ones that lead you and your family to the grave." he gave her a knowingly smile. "And isn't Princess Emma's birthday coming soon? It would be a shame that she were not alive to celebrate it."

"You bastard!" Snow screamed at him while trying to hit him with the sword. "Do not talk about my daughter!"

"I'm merely telling you the facts that no person inside your council is brave enough to mention. And the reason they are not the ones giving you this talk is because..."

"Because they are all magical beings." Snow finished for him while looking down. "You are trying to manipulate me."

"Yes, I am." he answered honestly. "But by doing so I am helping you and myself." he winked at her.

"I would have to kill you too." she tried to scare him. "Every person that possesses magic has to be automatically executed."

"Well, that is of course, if you tell them that I have magic." he winked at her. "Your guards captured me a few hours ago. I will not make them forget that if you don't want me to." he promised. "But I think you will want them to not remember this evening."

"You, a person that I don't know and is most probably manipulating and using me, are telling me to go against the advice that my friends are giving me and kill an entire population!" Snow screamed and threw the sword to the ground in surrender. "Tell me why I should do this."

"For Emma." he simply answered. "So she doesn't have to live the life you lived. So she can grow up with her mother and father in a castle, so she doesn't have to worry about evil stepmothers poisoning her father and trying at every instance to kill her. She would never have to kill another human being for survival, her heart would never be tainted with the guilt of sacrificing the needs of others so she can be good. Without magic there is no way for her to be manipulated by it."

"You know about that?" Snow murmured. "You know about what we did?"

"More reasons to get involved in this war. Revenge will not come knocking at your door, it will throw down Emma's. A child for a child." he whispered darkly and Snow's heart sank in fear.

"If I do this." Snow looked down in embarrassment at her own weakness but felt that this was the only way to keep her family safe. To have everything they deserved and finally get their happy ending. "No one will ever forgive me."

"You don't need anyone's approval. Whoever made you feel that you were flawed or unworthy, you need to take that pain, the fear they were right, and use it as a root of your power. A power that will give you freedom." the man told her and Snow looked up with tears in her eyes.

"Is this the part where we make a deal?"

"I believe so, your Majesty." the man stood up and approached the trembling woman.

Snow saw him determinedly get close to her, and although she wanted to move away, refuse his advances, she felt her feet stuck on the ground. Looking up, she saw brown eyes stare deeply at her, and after looking down in an attempt to avoid the temptation of closing the distance between the two of them, she felt a finger move her head up.

"Now..." the man whispered. "It's all up to you, your Majesty." the man whispered while looking at her lips and licking his own.

Snow White whimpered at the action, and after closing her eyes she groaned in surrender and moved forward, clashing her lips with his and that way sealing away their deal. Unbeknownst to her, magic moved around them, encircling the two and softly but surely entering her already tainted heart. This, apparently, had been the final act that the darkness needed so it could make way inside of her. For you see, before this action, the mistakes of Snow White were done in blissful ignorance, a fact that did not made them forgivable but still gave her hope of rectifying them. But right now, while kissing this man and giving up to the easy path that he was offering her, and willingly doing so, she had cemented in her own heart a black patch that would only grow further and further.

Snow finished the kiss, and after taking a look at herself and the man that was calmly seated at the chair he appeared for himself, she went back to gather her sword.

"Make sure to clean this mess you created, Manohara." the White Queen finished and left the room.

(End of Flashback)

"Where did you just go?" Manohara asked while grabbing her hand and kissing it softly.

"I was remembering the day we met." Snow answered honestly.

"You have come a long way from there. Now you are a True Queen."

"Indeed I am." Snow said proudly and her gaze fell on the man's crotch. "And what you just did in there, the way you used your magic, has left me quite excited." she murmured while roughly pushing him against the wall. "Did you do as I asked you to do days earlier?"

"If by that you mean move your troops from nearby villages and send them to the ones that are near the Dark Castle, then yes I have." he smirked at her and openly gazed at her. "If it excites you so then you should allow me to do it more often."

"You know why I can't." she murmured while kissing his neck. "No one can know that you have magic."

"I know." he laughed and grabbed her face. "But that doesn't mean that I can't use it with you now." he finished and crashed his lips with her, the tenderness around them becoming warmer because of the magic.

Groaning, she separated from him and held him roughly, feeling his growing erection. "Now, you will take us to your room and you will finish this." she panted.

"Your wish is my command, your Majesty." he smirked, and with a movement of his wrist the two of them disappeared in a purple cloud.

Currently Somewhere in The Enchanted Forest

"Am I dead?" Emma asked when she opened her eyes and saw soulful brown eyes stare deeply at her.

She heard someone chuckle.

"What could possibly make you believe that?" that voice that she loved so much whispered to her.

"Because the first thing I saw and heard was you." she smiled at the older woman. "The woman I love and owner of my heart."

"She is such a charmer." this time she identified Red jokingly say. "And they say that chivalry is dead."

Regina blushed softly at the blonde's compliments and gave her a reassuring kiss. "Well dear, I am afraid we are not quite done yet with our earthly matters: We still have to head towards the Dark Castle and lead a rebellion against your parents' kingdom."

"Then why did we stop to take a nap?" Emma asked while trying to get up, only to be stopped by Regina.

"We didn't stop." Granny said. "You threw a Sleeping Beauty on us."

"A what?"

"You know, fainting out of nowhere..." Red further explained.

"I don't faint." Emma looked down in embarrassment. "I never faint." she mostly said to Regina who smiled condescendingly.

"I believe you did this time." she murmured.

"Were it not for her being stuck to you like glue then you would have probably hit your head." Granny said and the two women blushed.

"I am not stuck to her like glue." now Regina said while blushing.

"Yeah you are." Emma said and got Regina's famous stare. "But that's not the point." she immediately added. "The point is that I would never faint."

"You always seem to have a hard time at remembering previous events when you wake up." Regina muttered.

"Oh, she does this all the time." Red agreed. "Emma is officially non-functional until she has eaten something."

"Can someone please tell me what I'm not remembering?!" she screamed and got the attention of the two brunettes, who looked at each other.

"Oh for the love of all deities." Granny huffed in annoyance. "How hard is it to tell the girl that she fainted because she just learned that her mother is a political monster that is cheating on her True Love with a wizard?"

"My mother is what?" Emma murmured while looking at Regina for confirmation, who merely nodded.

"Because of that!" Red said angrily. "We were thinking of the best way to give her the news so she wouldn't go into another panic attack!"

"The girl kills men as if she was preparing for tea time." Granny murmured while getting her crossbow.

"I believe that for Emma it is harder to accept that the only stable relationship she has seen during her whole life is not as stable as she believed it to be." Red said back in anger.

"Panic attack?" Emma said completely panicked and distracted from the discussion. "Why would I have that?"

"Emma." Regina ignored the two bickering women and took hold of the young woman's shoulders. "I need you to concentrate on my voice."

"But... Regina, I'm so confused. It's simply not possible, my parents, they, they love each other." Emma whispered dejectedly and it broke the brunette's heart.

"Some times that is not enough." Regina smiled sadly. "I will be honest with you because I made you a promise that said that I would not hide anything from you." she continued and Emma nodded in understanding. "Do I honestly care about your parents' current situation? No I do not. Do I care about how this situation affects you? With my whole being. Am I concerned about your parents' situation? Very much so. Will I help you find out what happened? Yes I will. Will I help you fix it? Yes I will because I would do anything for you."

"Oh Gina." Emma whispered and hugged the older woman tightly.

"Gina?" the brunette asked while smiling softly.

"Regina is too long right now." Emma murmured and hugged the brunette tighter. "I love you."

"And I love you." Regina said back and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Yeah, still not used to seeing the Evil Queen be all mushy and loving." Red said from the back and Regina groaned in annoyance.

"Remind me why I have not gotten rid of them?"

"Because they helped?" Emma teased. "And because they still have plenty of explaining to do." she said seriously and stood up.

"So panic attack averted?" Granny asked.

"No thanks to you." Emma joked. "You have no touch at all old woman."

"We have no time for bullshit." she said while smiling sadly. "We have stayed here for far too long."

"I agree." Regina said. "And I cannot use my magic to put a protective barrier around us because the wizard may be able to detect it."

"The wizard that is now with my mother." Emma said sadly and the three older women looked at each other.

"Emma..." Regina started but the blonde raised her hand.

"You told me that you were worried about my parents' situation." Emma said. "Can you tell me why?"

"I would also like to know that." Red added.

"You already know because I already told you." Regina smiled softly. "True Love is magic. In fact, it is the most..."

"Powerful magic of all." Emma finished for her.

"That magic should not have been able to be broken." Regina muttered. "Not with the two people that have it still alive."

"Then what can this mean?" Granny was the one that asked.

"Well, it can mean many things."

"Perhaps I am not a child of True Love." Emma said dejectedly.

"That is definitely not a possibility. We have seen your magic and it is as white as they come." Regina said determinedly." No, it can mean that a curse is involved."

"A curse?"

"You said that your mother started to grow cold and unattached from you." Regina reminded her. "A curse could make a person believe that they cannot love."

"But even with the curse, it should have been able to broken because of True Love's kiss. The fact that this didn't work further proves that they no longer love each other." Red told the witch.

"Not necessarily." Regina told them while mostly focusing on Emma's reactions. "If a heart does not believe it can feel love then how can it feel True Love?"

"She does have a point." Emma whispered dejectedly.

"Well, we do know that this started way before Regina came back from the death." Granny said. "So it's not like we can blame her."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence." Regina said sarcastically.

"I know Regina, and even in her darkest moment she would have never used something that would make my mother forget about her True Love: It would have been too easy of an escape." Emma simply explained and the three older women looked at her.

"It's scary how calmly she talks about these things." Red whispered to Regina who nodded.

"Sometimes I wonder how much she can take." she whispered. "I am scared that one day something will finally make her realize and see the monster I was." she confessed.

"If I know anything about monsters, and trust me, I know." she winked at the witch. "It is that sometimes life may take you through a path that forces you to be someone you are truly not. Then, if life offers you a chance at redemption, and you decide to take it and live it, then the monster you were is simply gone." Red smiled warmly at her. "I can see it in your eyes Regina: They are a window to your soul and right now the only thing I see is love and devotion towards my goddaughter."

"She makes me not regret my past." Regina laughed softly. "Can you imagine how much I must love her that I know that if asked to do the same horrible things I did, with the knowledge that at the end I would be with her, I would them again in a heartbeat?"

Red smiled knowingly and squeezed the brunette's hand. "I do because I know that if it were Peter and me the ones in your situation, then yes I would do it, what you did, as long as I could end up with him."

"Well, don't." Granny interrupted the two women who just noticed that they had an audience. "Because I want to be able to someday live peacefully."

"Noted." Red smirked and gave Emma and Regina some space when she saw the tears in the blonde's eyes.

"Did you really mean all of that?" the blonde asked her softly. "Even with knowing that you lost your chance at being happy with Daniel?"

Regina smiled sadly and nodded. "I do not know what my future would have been like with him because Fate did not plan that path for me. We could have been happy or we could have realized that we were not meant to be. Each day with you makes me realize that although I loved him, that love was nothing in comparison to the one I now feel for you."

"Our True Love." Emma looked down. "One that could be easily broken just like my parents'."

"Is that why you are so afraid of learning what happened to your parents dear? Because you are afraid it may happen to us?"

"I cannot imagine my life without you." Emma confessed softly. "I had it all planned, every adventure that I wanted to take and every place I wanted to see. Now the only thing I see is you." she murmured. "And I don't want to lose this feeling of completeness that I have."

"You will not." Regina promised her. "We will never lose this connection we share."

"But you just told us that True Love is considered the most powerful magic of all."

"And yet it can easily be tricked if one knows the correct spell." Regina said. "Besides, the person responsible for breaking your parents' True Love is not a mere mortal. That fact is no coincidence at all. Somehow he managed to convince your mother about his value."

"You know what the most upsetting thing is?" Emma said angrily. "I cannot remember his face at all. Like I would know who he is if you put him in front of me but if I want to recollect how he looks like then I just can't."

"Red." Regina normally said. "I know you can listen to us, and did you experience the same thing Emma just told me?"

"Yeah." Red said, surprised at not having realized this sooner. "It's the weirdest thing ever."

"Not if you know about magic spells. He is using a concealment spell. It makes a person forget about any physical traits that could help them explain how the person looks like while allowing the wizard to keep an unique, recognizable identity."

"And let me guess, it's very advanced magic."

"Very." Regina agreed. "Not many could do it. The only people that I can think off are my mother, who is dead, the Dark One, Maleficent and myself."

"I saw Maleficent's body." Red told Regina. "I saw her body burn."

"But you also saw mine and yet here I am." the brunette muttered.

"Could she be capable of pulling something like this?" Granny asked.

"Create a curse that could eliminate True Love? I do not think so." Regina shrugged. "The years and knowledge of magic a curse like that would take are tremendous. "

"You suspect it was the Dark One then." Emma told her lover.

"Some reasons make me suspect of him, others do not. For example, he always works with deals and reveals his identity to others. To hide himself is unlike him. Second, he uses others to do his dirty work, never getting directly involved." Regina said angrily. "But at the same time, he is the only person powerful enough to create a curse such as this. And, your parents did stop him from going to the magicless realm by stopping me from casting his curse."

"Enough motives to want revenge."

"And no one knows what happened to him." Red said excitedly.

"Knowing this does not help us." Regina huffed in anger. "In fact, I am more concerned about having to face a manipulated and controlled by Rumplestiltskin Snow White than facing just an upset Snow White. One is more dangerous than the other."

"I agree with her." Granny gave her input.

"But if she is being controlled then that also gives us hope that we can save her." Emma said excitedly. Perhaps that's the reason why she couldn't love me. She didn't have a heart."

"Perhaps sweetheart, but do not get your hopes up. I know the Dark One, and he is a manipulative imp that takes joy in corrupting people. It would have been just too easy for him to take her heart and order her around. No, he would have preferred the long game where he transforms and molds his apprentices into becoming what he wants them to be."

"And how would you know that? Granny asked. "Is it so hard for you to believe that Snow White is not being herself."

"On the contrary, it is obvious that she is not being her usual self-sacrificing self." she snorted sarcastically. "And I know because that is what he did with my mother and then me."

"So summary of what we just discussed." Emma interrupted the two women from starting a discussion. "The Dark One being in control of my mother is bad news."

"That is a way of oversimplifying it." Regina muttered.

"I know, so bear with me." Emma huffed. "The way he could have done this was by using a curse or by taking her heart out. Although that last scenario is the least possible one." she added to appease her lover. "What we can do to fix this?"

"Until I have Snow White in front of me then I cannot know with certainty what we can do for her." Regina told the blonde woman. "And based on how she is playing this game, the only place we will see her is the battlefield."

"I agree with Regina." Red told them. "And although it hurts me to say this because Snow is my best friend, we have more important things to worry about, like getting to the Dark Castle so we can meet with the people that are heading there."

"I did promise them that we would be there in five days." Regina told the group.

"Then that gives you two more days to reach your castle." Granny huffed in annoyance. "Barely enough time if we take into consideration that Snow moved all of her troops to the villages that are near the Dark Castle."

"So annoying that darkness makes Snow White become a good war strategist." Regina remarked and Emma could not stop herself from laughing.

"You just can't let her have one, can you?"

"Well dear, when she was a child she was so self-centered that she refused to pay attention during her tutoring classes. Forgive me for being surprised that with a little bit of darkness all those lessons came into light."

This time Red and Granny also laughed with Emma.

"Little Snow White must have been quite the terror then."

"Indeed she was."

"And yet you never killed her, even when you had the chance to do so while she was a child." Red said.

"I would have never done so. A child's life, no matter how much hatred I felt for said child, has always been sacred to me."

"Noted." Granny said. "I think it's time I mention that I smelled some White guards not too far away from here?"

"Shit Granny!" Emma shrieked while getting their stuff. "And when were you planning on telling us this?"

"I just did, didn't I?"

"Smartass." Red huffed in annoyance.

"Let's just move." Emma groaned and took her lover's hand, softly blushing when she got a wink from Red and a 'I know what you're doing' look from Granny. "We will fix this right? We will make things right?"

Regina looked at the young woman and saw her hopeful expression. She decided right there and then that she would try and do her best for Emma, even if it meant saving the life of the woman she had spent half of her existence trying to get rid off. "For you Emma, I would do anything you asked." she said and got a dashing smile in return.

Totally worth it.

P.S: So I hope this chapter helped clarify some things, and maybe make some of you know who the mysterious man is (I'm surprised some haven't figured it out because I left some clues in previous chapters hahaha) But alas, maybe it's for the best so that when our characters find out you will react the same way they will probably react. Btw, Regina agrees to save Snow White just because she loves Emma (and I guess that's what being in love means, putting the person you love needs before your own).