The Cricket Game

Hook grinned to himself as he anchored the Jolly Roger to the docks of Storybrooke, quickly jumping off the side and onto the dock when he saw that the coast was clear. He turned in after thought to assist Cora down, "Well, my dear Cora, this is where we shall part ways. Thank you for everything. It's time for me to skin my crocodile and find my lady love," he gave her a mocking bow before he turned to walk off.

Cora, however, had other ideas, merely disappearing in a plume of purple smoke and reappearing before him, "You might want to rethink this."

"We had a deal," his expression soured to a glare, "Get out of my way."

"Believe it or not, I'm doing you a favor."

"By preventing my desires?"

"Ask yourself how I'm doing that."

"By using your dark magic," he nearly rolled his eyes at her.

"Exactly," she nodded, "Magic is here. And that makes matters a bit more complicated. If you go off half-cocked after an empowered Rumpelstiltskin, do you know what'll happen?" Hook was silent, but his expression said it all, "So, you do. Good."

"Hey!" a voice called from the side, a fisherman spotting them and heading over, "You folks need anything? Tackle shop don't open until morning. But, if you want to go out and try and snare some of New England's finest pescatarian creatures, I'd be happy to open early for ya."

"No, thank you," Hook muttered, "We're fine."

"It's a fine vessel you got there," the man eyed the Jolly Roger, "When'd you get in?"

"What vessel?" Cora smirked.

"Why that one right…" he blinked as Cora waved her hand, making the boat disappear, "Hey, that's a neat trick. You some kind of magician back in our land?"

Cora rolled her eyes now, seeing that the man wasn't afraid of her, clearly not recognizing her and waved her hand at him, turning him into a fish.

Hook huffed and turned, kicking the flopping creature back into the water with the smallest bit of compassion he could muster. He should have just based its head in and cooked it for dinner, but there was something about being in this place, knowing he was going to see Lyssa again that kept him from doing so.

"What did you do with my ship?" he demanded of Cora.

"I hid it from prying eyes," she waved the question off, "For what we both want to do, we need the element of surprise. Now you ready to listen to me?"

His jaw clenched at that, but he gestured her on, "Go on, Your Majesty. What now?"

"Let's go have a little look at this Storybrooke, shall we?"

~8~

Lyssa frowned as she stood before a floor-length mirror in Regina's bedroom of her manor-style home, eyeing herself in the reflection.

"You don't like it."

She glanced back to see Regina sitting on her bed and shook her head, "No, it's not that…"

Regina just smiled softly, getting up to move beside her daughter, "Almost 30 years later, I can still tell when you're lying."

That…actually warmed her heart, both that Lyssa was attempting to lie (it meant the girl hadn't changed much in not wanting to hurt her feelings) but also that she could still tell. She would never tell anyone, not even Lyssa, the thoughts that had plagued her over the near 20 years she'd been alone in Storybrooke, the fears that struck her about why her daughter hadn't managed to come there. She had made arrangements, she had enchanted Hook's ship to transport his crew and Lyssa to Storybrooke with the curse, to give them memories but in a way that was similar to herself, that they would still retain knowledge of their former lives, or at least Hook and Lyssa would.

It had been the deal she'd struck with Hook, his memories retained so his revenge against the Dark One could be sought, for Lyssa's safe arrival in the land the magic would create in the Curse.

She hadn't wanted Lyssa to be caught in the chaos of the curse, she hadn't wanted the girl to be near her if it failed. So she'd made precautions, ensured that Hook would guard her, that his ship, once he and his crew were onboard, would be enchanted to withstand the curse and arrive in Storybrooke with everyone.

When Lyssa hadn't appeared, when she'd gone to the docks and seen no ship…she'd thought of all sorts of terrible things. That Hook had betrayed her, that he'd hurt Lyssa, that her magic had failed and trapped her daughter in a desolate wasteland of the Enchanted Forest, that the Dark One had known about her daughter all along and had done this on purpose, made it so Lyssa couldn't cross to this realm to spite her.

She had been stuck, there was no magic in Storybrooke, no way to get back to the Forest without destroying everything she'd worked so hard to build. And she'd had hope, at first, she had actually had hope that Lyssa would come, and when she hadn't…she knew nothing short of death would keep her daughter from finding a way to her. She'd feared the worst.

But she still couldn't bring herself to confront Gold openly, at the time she had thought he wouldn't know what she was talking about. She had gone to great lengths to making sure the Dark One never found out about Lyssa or her attachment to the girl. But she'd feared he had discovered it. The opportunity to confront him had come when she began asking questions of adopting a child. She had watched his reaction and expression carefully, and saw that he genuinely thought this was going to be her first child raised. He still had no idea, looking back on it, about Lyssa…till now.

There was little he could do in this realm, he wasn't as powerful as in the Forest. Because this was an echo world, one created by magic and that magic used to sustain the town. Magic was dimmed there when used by others, not as powerful. Things she could have done easily in the Forest couldn't be done the same there, and it was true for the Dark One too.

A wraith? Really? That was the BEST the Dark One could come up with? It was small compared to what she knew he was capable of for making people suffer. It had told her all she needed to know about his power in Storybrooke. She was sure she could handle him now, she was sure she could protect her daughter more here than she could in the Forest. Here she was Mayor, she wasn't Queen, there were more laws here that would make harm towards Lyssa Emma's responsibility to see to on top of it all.

Still, after so many years apart, she had feared that she had forgotten details about her daughter, things that faded with so much time going by. The smallest things that mothers could do that she had been distraught to think she wouldn't be able to do again. Telling when Lyssa was lying or trying to lie was one of them.

She often found herself observing Henry as he grew older, seeing what mannerisms he might have similar to Lyssa, comparing the two of them in her mind. How Henry reacted to being told 'no, you can't have cookies before dinner' was vastly different from how Lyssa did. How Henry handled being grounded, or sick, or hurt, they were different. But the things that made him laugh, the tickle times, the bedtime stories, so much more were close to Lyssa. She felt like she could remember her daughter through observing her son, and was so relieved to know she still knew her daughter well after all this time.

Lyssa gave her an apologetic look, "The clothing here is…odd."

"It DOES take some getting used to," Regina agreed, thinking about the pant-suits she was fond of wearing now, looking at the girl and what she was wearing.

It was a dress she had found in the back of her closet, a royal blue dress with three-quarter sleeves, a bit of an asymmetrical neckline, that went down to the knees, and black heels, her hair up in a french bun. The girl looked SO out of place and uncomfortable in the dress, despite blue being her go-to choice for outfits in the forest, it really just didn't suit her.

She smiled, a thought striking her, "How about this?" she waved her hand, as swirl of smoke moving around Lyssa, the girl completely unflinching as magic was used on her, and when it cleared… "That's better."

Lyssa turned, beaming as she saw the dress her mother had magically changed her into, "It's perfect, mama!"

It was a lighter shade of blue, closer to the color of her eyes, a little fitted on top, with thin straps over her shoulders, a flowing skirt that went to her knees and had more movement to it, making her want to spin around and watch it expand…which she did. She even had little blue flats on her feet instead of heels, which she was relieved about. Her hair was held back, half up, half down, by a light blue ribbon to. It was very her, even if it was a little shorter than she was used to, but it seemed to be the 'norm' for Storybrooke, for the clothing of this land, that the skirts not cover the ankles as was proper in the forest.

"I love it, mother," she turned to smile at Regina, "30 years later, you still know my tastes," she teased, leaning in to hug her mother.

"You have very simple ones," Regina murmured, relishing in the hug. She hadn't gotten many of them in her life, and she marked Lyssa's growth by the changes in the hugs, from her legs to her knees, to her waist and chest, to her shoulder…she was a grown woman now, near enough, and the fact that she still enjoyed their little dress-up times meant a lot to her.

For as much as Snow White had wanted to play dress-up in the Forest, constantly changing in and out of dresses and forcing her to do the same, it was never forced when it came to Lyssa. The girl had seemed to notice how unhappy it made her mother to do that with the princess and never asked to do it…till Regina had suggested they play it instead. It had been a lighter time for them, something they enjoyed.

Lyssa had been the only bright light during her time as Queen, the girl often making things that she resented doing with Snow or Leopold enjoyable to do with her.

And it meant more than she could say that Lyssa trusted her to use magic on her, even after everything that happened in the Enchanted Forest, it meant the world to her that one of her children appreciated her magic and didn't try to restrict it. Henry, it seemed, couldn't get past the 'magic,' seeing it as something inherently evil, just because she used it or Gold used it.

He had tried to run away when she'd attempted getting him back from David, as was her legal right in this world as his adoptive mother, especially with Emma having signed away ALL her rights to Henry in the adoption. Henry had gone up to his room...and tried to sneak out through the window.

The window on the second floor of the house.

The window with no tree, gutter, or lattice close enough to make it to the ground unharmed.

He had used BED SHEETS, of all things, bed sheets to make an unsteady rope to climb to the ground on!

Name one woman, one mother, in any realm that wouldn't be scared out of their mind that their child was going to fall and get hurt when they had the 'brilliant' idea to use sheets tied together to climb 20 feet down out of a window! Name one woman, one mother, that wouldn't try to pull them back into their bedroom and ground them till they were 30. She had used the first thing she could to get him away from the sheet rope and make sure he wasn't going to fall, her magic, to create vines to reach out and snatch him off of it, to get him back into his room.

And he saw that as being evil, he hadn't even stopped to consider he was using bed sheets that could not have been tied tightly enough by a child to sustain his entire weight without, at some point, coming undone, he hadn't stopped to think he might fall quite a number of feet that would have hurt him severely had she not gotten to him when she had. He just saw that she used magic, and on him, and called it evil. Only fairies, to him, it seemed, had good magic. Everything that came from HER had to be evil magic or dark, he just assumed every use of magic was bad if it was her doing it. And that broke her heart, because she could remember a time, using magic around another child who beamed and clapped and adored the little tricks she would play with her magic to entertain the girl.

It was funny, that Lyssa had actually SEEN her being the Evil Queen, had experienced her at her height, and still trusted her and didn't judge her magic, didn't think it was an automatic evil, yet Henry, who had only READ about the Evil Queen in a book thought everything had to be dark if it came from her. It was funny how Lyssa had encouraged her magic, but Henry used it as an ultimatum to winning him back, to stop or he wouldn't want anything to do with her.

Then again, Lyssa was the only one that knew the truth of the entire situation.

Daniel...when Daniel had come back...she had checked on Henry afterwards, her son had NO idea who the stable boy was, to him Daniel was a stranger...despite Daniel's story being IN the storybook he was so fond of, despite him being able to recognize other people as their characters from the pictures in the book. Which meant that...he hadn't actually READ her story at all, not her past, not who she used to be before she became known as the Evil Queen. He didn't see her as Regina, he just saw her as evil, and that hurt to know her own son hadn't bothered to read her story and see WHY she became what she was, to see who had had a hand in making her what she was.

But here was Lyssa, the girl who still adored being magically dressed up just as much as she had as a child, who still trusted her, despite everything, and words couldn't describe how grateful she was for that.

"I had to get them from someone," Lyssa nudged her as she pulled away, recalling the more simpler dresses her mother had preferred to wear whenever she could, her face scrunching as she recalled the outfits she'd worn most of the time though, "When you weren't trying to be the Evil Queen."

Regina gave a light chuckle at that, "Those dresses were rather provocative."

Lyssa nodded, "Leather isn't easy to move in either."

Regina began to nod at that, before blinking and looking at the girl, "When did you wear leather, young lady?"

Lyssa's eyes widened, not having wanted that to slip, but talking about those days reminded her of Killian and the pirates and the events they had all gotten into and it just came out, "Um…pirate ship?" she hoped that would be enough for now, she wanted to speak to her mother about Killian, tell her about the man she loved, but do it properly, when her mother wasn't half dead on her feet and overwhelmed by their reunion.

Regina's eyes narrowed at that, "Telling me Hook continued to guard you during the curse breaking in the Enchanted Forest does NOT explain you WEARING leather," she crossed her arms, "Explain."

Lyssa gave a little embarrassed look, "We're going to be late for the dinner…" she tried to remind her mother about the invitation they had gotten from Emma, a celebration at Granny's to welcome back their lost princess and Savior, they were invited.

Regina let out a small huff, knowing that Lyssa said it because she knew she hated being late, "We are going to have a LONG talk afterwards," she warned.

Lyssa just smiled, "I look forward to it, mother."

They hadn't gotten much time to really catch up. Regina had asked her about the Forest, how she'd survived the curse for 28 years, only to find time had been frozen there for most of it. It had been very vague and generalized a story, but now they were going to a dinner and had less time to talk.

Even a threat of having to tell her mother of when she'd gotten to be a 'Pirate Queen' one time, well, she would be all too willing to say the entire story, even the harder parts to speak of, the ones that she knew her mother would be disappointed and disheartened to hear she'd done, if it meant they would talk more.

They had 28 years of talking to do, and she knew her mother was DYING to talk to someone about Henry, more than she already had, and the heroes and all of that.

She always had been the ear the Queen would speak honestly to, that would never change.

~8~

Lyssa smiled widely as she held the door open for Regina to enter the 'diner' as it was called, Granny's, for the party they could hear going on inside. There had just been a loud cheer of, 'To Mary Margaret and Emma!' when they stepped into the room, Regina holding an odd glass dish with a crinkly thin metal, tin foil she'd called it, over the top.

"Sorry we're late," Regina offered when the room fell completely silent, glares turning in her direction.

Lyssa gasped as a man with a beard grabbed a knife and held it out towards Regina, reacting instantly and holding up her hand…

The room turned to look at her in shock when the knife went flying out of Leroy's hand and embedded itself in the ceiling with a little white flash of magic.

"Sorry," Lyssa winced, "Sorry, that happens sometimes…"

"You haven't been practicing," Regina tsked her in a motherly fashion, the only one there not seeming surprised by her display of magic.

"No," Lyssa admitted with a sigh, "It was best not to let the others know I had magic. YOU taught me that, always keep an advantage to yourself."

"Yeah, I'll bet she taught you that," a man Lyssa recognized as Snow White's husband, David, scoffed, sending her a glare as he wound his arm around his wife.

"She taught me many things," Lyssa defended, seeming about to continue when Regina placed a hand on her arm to stop her. Lyssa took a breath, trying to smile despite the wary looks they were getting, "We really are sorry we're late. Mother was teaching me how the oven box works…"

"Just an oven, dear," Regina commented automatically.

"Right," Lyssa beamed at her in thanks, turning to the others that were now shifting and not seeming to know what to make of her, "It's this very useful box that cooks food and warms it and…"

"We know what an oven is, sister," the man that had grabbed the knife sneered, "What we DON'T know is what she's doing here?" he jerked a thumb at Regina.

"I invited her," Emma sighed, only to get pulled across the room by her rather peeved parents for a private word.

Lyssa frowned at that and looked at Regina in question, "They aren't happy I'm here."

"Oh," Lyssa sighed, "But if it wasn't for you, they wouldn't have been able to get back to Storybrooke. You saved them!"

"I also tried to kill them yesterday too," Regina reminded her.

Lyssa seemed troubled by her words, "You tried to stop Cora coming instead," she shook her head, recalling what her mother had said about the situation and why she had been injured at the well, "You weren't trying to kill THEM, you were trying to stop HER."

Regina felt her lip quirk up at Lyssa's defense, "I did," she nodded, as though reminded of something, "Thank you dear."

Lyssa smiled, though it seemed sad, "This is why I should have stayed with you, mama, you shouldn't have sent me with Killian. Being alone for almost 30 years?" she grew sad at the thought, "You're starting to forget what it was really like, aren't you?"

Regina let out a long breath, not having missed the way Lyssa called Hook 'Killian' as she had done a few times already, but knowing this wasn't the place for such a conversation. She nodded to a table, moving to sit down with the girl across from her, "Maybe I am."

"The stories are just stories," Lyssa reached out to put her hand on her mother's arm, "We know the truth," she squeezed it, "As always."

"As only," Regina agreed, smiling at little more, "I am glad to have you back, little fox."

"I don't think I'm that little anymore," Lyssa rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest to huff playfully.

"You always will be to me," Regina reminded her, starting to pull the tinfoil away from the glass container, "You're my daughter, you'll always be a cub."

"So she really IS your kid too?" a voice spoke beside them, the two women turning to see Henry standing there, frowning though it seemed almost like a pout.

"As much as you are," Regina offered, leaving it up to him to determine how much that would still be. Whatever would make him feel better about the situation.

Though her words seemed to make him shift, likely unsure how much he still considered the woman to be his mother compared to how much Lyssa obviously did.

"I'm Henry," he held out a hand to Lyssa, despite the situation, he should be polite, he was a hero, and they had manners…though he conveniently left out the fact that none of the heroes had been around to teach him the manners he had, that had all been Regina.

"I know," Lyssa smiled, reaching out to shake his hand, "Mother told me SO much about you already. I'm Lyssa, er, Analyssa."

Henry nodded, "Little fox?" he looked at his mother, a hint of betrayal in his voice.

She raised an eyebrow at the almost jealous tone mixed in there as well, "Little prince?" she countered, making him look away, caught. He couldn't be upset she had a name for Lyssa when she had one for him as well.

"So you can do magic?" he turned back to Lyssa after a moment.

"Mother taught me," Lyssa nodded, "Or, she tried to…"

"You were doing VERY well," Regina reached out to put a hand on her arm this time, "It takes time."

Lyssa tried to nod at that, to understand but it just felt like her own lessons had taken so much longer than her mother's. It WAS understandable though. Regina had a natural gift for magic, her mother had magic, she was taught by the Dark One, a powerful sorcerer…SHE, on the other hand, she wasn't that strong in magic just yet. She had a talent for it, but not a natural gift. Anyone could learn to use magic, but those that were born without the gift for it struggled more to be able to use it. Like her. They used to joke that she was a sorceress's apprentice in the Enchanted Forest.

Her mother had only taught her it when she caught her reading Cora's spellbook one day. She had NEVER seen her mother as angry as that day, and that was saying something for the Evil Queen. From that point on, Regina had decided to teach her herself about magic and how to use it. She could heal, smaller wounds and bruises so far, but she hadn't been able to practice in a long time. She could move small objects, conjure small things that were in sight. If she was really angry or really desperate, she could use her magic to shove things away from her, people or other heavy things, but it took a lot of concentration. She was pretty good with shields though, with creating protective barriers and wards, that was an area she did very well in. Regina had refused to teach her how to conjure fireballs though, she hadn't wanted to teach her many offensive spells or tricks, not wanting to think of her daughter needing to use them to fight, so a lot of her spells were about protecting herself and others, which she was grateful for…but here, in this town, with all the heroes and everyone else knowing who she was to the Queen…she would feel better if she knew how to be a little more offensive too.

"But it was white," Henry frowned.

"What?" Lyssa seemed confused at that.

"Your magic, when you moved the knife, it was white, you have GOOD magic."

Lyssa blinked, starting to frown at his implication, "You think just because the…the 'Evil Queen' taught me magic that it HAS to be dark?" she shook her head, upset now, "Fairies have different magic colors, are THEY evil? Is the Dark One's magic black? Is Cora's? No. His is red, hers is blue, mother's is purple. We ALL have different color magics! Just because someone's magic is white, doesn't mean it's good! Why else would the BLUE fairy…"

"Calm down, dear," Regina stroked her arm, knowing how upset and defensive Lyssa could get about that, about the types of magic used and what the colors meant.

It was an assumption, she knew, that many heroes made. White was light, Black was dark, and anything that wasn't white HAD to be bad magic. But it wasn't like that at all, only magic users would understand that, you didn't get to choose what color your magic was, it was just that color. Some spells could create a different color result, but for the most part, internal magic was just a color, no one knew why they were different or why their colors were what they were. It seemed, to heroes, the different colored magics only came with villains instead of those deemed good. There were fairies with blue magics and green, red and pink and orange and yet no one batted an eye at the fact that their magic wasn't white. It was only when a villain was involved did it become about colors not being pure.

"I'm sorry," Lyssa murmured to Regina, and then to Henry, "I'm sorry. But…you shouldn't assume things."

"Yeah…" Henry said awkwardly, clearly surprised at her outburst but also a little embarrassed that he…he actually HADN'T thought about that, "Me too."

"It's alright," Regina placated, looking between them, "How about some of my famous lasagna."

"Ooh, what's that?" Lyssa smiled, the tension from earlier seemingly vanished. She had been napping from the rather lengthy and emotionally draining events of yesterday when Regina had been making the meal she'd brought with her and was curious what it was. It smelled divine though.

Regina chuckled, "It's a pasta dish with layers of cheese and sauce. It's quite good, I make the best in town."

"I'm sure you do," Lyssa nodded, eager, "Your food was always the best, even in the Enchanted Forest," she gave a wistful sigh, "The apple tarts you would make for my birthday were the most tasty of the realm."

"I'll make them for you later, as a special treat," Regina winked at that, turning with a piece of lasagna on a plate for Henry, "Do you…want to join us?"

Henry, however, was looking back and forth between Lyssa and Regina, a frown on his face at Lyssa's words. She seemed to imply that Regina always made her something special to eat on her birthday, that she had cooked in the Forest for her, but…that would mean that Regina did them even when she was the Evil Queen…why would anyone accept apple-anything from the Evil Queen? But Lyssa was there and alive and…and HIS mother had done special treats for birthdays just like she had him…

"Yeah, it's my favorite," he nodded, trying to convince himself it was more because he liked the lasagna and wanted some than that he wanted to show up Lyssa that he knew what it was and that Regina had made it special for HIM too, "You always make it for my birthday…"

"She's a wonderful cook, isn't she?" Lyssa beamed, not sensing the second tone to his voice.

Henry could only nod at that, taking a bite of the lasagna, "I'm glad you came," he admitted to his mother.

"Me too," she nodded, "I'm glad that you and Lyssa could meet officially."

Lyssa's eyes widened, "Henry is my brother!"

Henry nearly choked on his next bite at that exclamation, Regina automatically reaching out to pat him on the back.

"I'm glad you realized that, dear," she chuckled at the girl.

Lyssa flushed, "I just meant…you adopted me, and you adopted Henry, so if you're both our mother, then we're siblings! Mama I always wanted a little brother or sister!"

Henry's eyes widened this time at the admission, "You did?"

She nodded, her smile starting to fade as she thought about it. She had wanted one, till she learned where exactly babies came from and how. After that point, she had never brought it up again. Because the only brother or sister she wanted was one from her mother and 'father,' as she had come to equate Daniel in her mind, and Daniel was gone, he would never come back and if she couldn't have a brother or sister from Daniel and Regina, then she didn't want one.

It was a sentiment someone else in Regina's life shared, someone she hated with all her being for it.

"Gina would have been a wonderful mother to them," Lyssa murmured, Regina's gaze growing soft, knowing Lyssa's thoughts had gone to Daniel, "I bet she was, wasn't she?"

Henry cleared his throat at that, honestly not sure what to answer. She…had been, at one time. She'd been a good mother to him, but recently, too many things had happened to say yes.

He didn't realize, though, that Lyssa wasn't asking about the last few months, but about his life in general. He hadn't even stopped to consider if Regina HAD been a good mother to him before he'd found out about the curse…

Luckily he was saved from answering by Leroy approaching, "What's this?" the man eyed the container warily.

"Oh, I made a lasagna," Regina moved to cut him a piece.

"What's the secret ingredient? Poison?"

"Why would it be poison?" Lyssa tilted her head, sounding genuinely confused, "There are only two people mother would poison, and she already did."

Leroy nearly gaped at her for her words, for how easily she was talking about the queen poisoning someone, and knowing full well that it was the King and Snow White, "Yeah, she did, didn't she?" he grew angry at that, his face hardening.

"You would want mother dead, wouldn't you?" Lyssa frowned at him, nearly startling him from her observation.

"Of course I would," Leroy grunted, "Or was my grabbing a knife not clue enough?"

"Why?'

"Because she deserves it!" he snapped.

Lyssa's expression grew solemn even as she gave a small smile, "So did they."

"Red pepper flakes," Regina cut in, sending Lyssa a warning look that these were not the people to try and defend her to, these were people fiercely loyal to Snow White that wouldn't ever consider the fact that the punishments given them might be deserved, they were the ones that would never, ever consider WHY she had gone after the two royals just see that she did, "Gives it some kick."

Leroy shot Lyssa a glare, seeming even more angry that she would imply Leopold or Snow White deserved death, and grabbed the plate, walking off to deliver it to Granny and Ruby to sniff out if there was poison in it or not.

He wouldn't put it past the Evil Queen's daughter to slip some in even if the Queen hadn't.

~8~

Lyssa did her best to stifle her yawn as she and Regina sat in the booth at Granny's, Henry having left soon after finishing his lasagna to rejoin the Charmings, much to Regina's sadness. So she had taken to trying to cheer her mother up, talking about the food of the Enchanted Forest that she used to make, compared to the food on the Jolly Roger. It had seemed to do the trick though Lyssa soon found that, the more she spoke of the Jolly Roger, the more she missed Killian. She really wanted to talk to her mother about the man she'd fallen in love with, but she would NOT do that around the heroes. Her mother had taught her many valuable life lessons, an important one being never let someone you didn't trust see your weakness.

"Come on, dear," Regina chuckled lightly, "You're going to be dead on your feet soon."

"I'm an adult now, I can stay up later," Lyssa's effort to sound adult was thwarted by her yawn right at the end.

"I'm sure you can," Regina gave her an amused look, "But you've had a very trying time and many things have happened. You must be tired."

Lyssa sighed, knowing Regina was just looking out for her, "I suppose."

"And how can you expect to rise with the sun if you stay up longer than the moon?"

Lyssa smiled at that, it was such an old saying between them. She had always been an early riser, up with the sun both her mothers used to say. But she'd always been a little harder to get to bed despite that. No matter how tired she was she always was up with the dawn, despite the time she went to bed. What Regina had said was always what made her go to bed at night, she couldn't rise with the sun and enjoy it if she was cranky from lack of sleep, and she hated being cranky.

Her mother had enough sadness in her life without her adding to it, she wanted to be like the sun to her mother, a ray of light to brighten the darkness.

"You're right," she nodded, "As always."

Regina smiled and shook her head, getting up, leading Lyssa to the door and out into the brisk night air, waving her hand to conjure a jacket for Lyssa as they went, something long and flowing, not quite jacket material but thick enough to protect her from the chill.

"Archie made a cake," Emma's voice called out from behind them as the jingle of the door sounded, "You don't want to stay for a piece?"

Regina tensed at the sound of Emma's voice, what remained of the slight happiness she'd managed to find in the middle of an evening surrounded by the glowers and distrustful looks of her enemies vanishing as she rounded to face the blonde, "We're fine, thank you."

"Ok," Emma nodded slowly, before turning to go back inside.

Lyssa glanced between the two, nudging Regina and giving her a pointed look that had the woman rolling her eyes but calling out, "Thank you."

Emma paused and turned to face her, "You just said that."

"For inviting me," Regina huffed, seeming to be struggling to say that much, "Us."

Emma shrugged, "Henry wanted it."

Lyssa looked over at Reinga for that, knowing that it meant a lot to the woman that Henry seemed to be opening himself up to her again, despite the shock of her having another child was to him. But…also knowing how much it hurt her too that they'd been invited, that SHE had been invited, just because one person wanted her there instead of it being a broader group desire. It was upsetting to her how ostracized Regina was there, how little people seemed to want to know the true woman behind the Evil Queen title.

But she knew, it was one of the burdens her mother had to bear for the choices she'd made, though she knew, as much as it pained her, the woman would never regret a single action.

"I'm glad you guys got to spend some time together," Emma added in the silence.

"It was nice to meet my brother officially," Lyssa tried to smile, though her words seemed to make Emma tense, her expression growing a little blank and hard at them. She could guess why though, Emma had NOT been happy that the Evil Queen adopted her son, that, in this world, the Evil Queen was his mother too…she doubted Emma would be happy to have the Evil Queen's daughter acknowledge that Henry was her brother too.

"Yes," Regina agreed, "I'd like to see him more. Maybe you'd consider letting him stay over some time? I…I have his room just…just waiting for him…"

Lyssa turned a concerned gaze to her mother, hearing how tense and pained she sounded, it was taking a great deal of effort for her to ask that question.

Regina, however, was feeling more than just tense or pained, she was feeling angry, a justified and righteous anger.

Because that was NOT how it should be happening. SHE was the adoptive and legal mother of Henry, SHE had the legal rights to the boy. What Emma and the Charmings were doing was against the law. Until they got papers and had a trial where they determined she was an unfit mother, something she knew was ALL too easy in this town, Henry was still legally HER child to raise and have a say in who he spent time around.

SHE should not be asking if she might see her son. SHE should not be asking the birth mother who signed away all rights to him if EMMA would consider LETTING her see her son.

Until Emma served her with papers nullifying her legal rights to the boy, she knew she would continue to feel that this was completely wrong. Because it was. In the eyes of the law, it was wrong. But the Charmings, despite their daughter being the sheriff and upholder of the law, seemed to be operating on Enchanted Forest law, where they, as rulers, could do as they pleased. They forgot this was NOT the Enchanted Forest and they were NOT the rulers here.

But she bit her tongue, because she knew that Henry would hate her more if she fought against the beloved Savior over him. It would just make him see her as even more the villain despite the fact that ANY adoptive mother on the planet would fight the same battle against the birth mother trying to take their child back.

Instead of it being a natural and human reaction, it was now a villain's.

"Oh…" Emma, for a moment, seemed startled by Regina actually asking instead of demanding, but shook her head, "I'm…I'm not sure that's best."

"Because you know so much about parenting in the five minutes you've been with him," Regina snapped, feeling the anger that had been rising in her take over, "Talk to David. At least he took care of him while you were away. Like I did, during the ten years you were away the first time."

Lyssa had to admit it was a sound argument, at least the second half was, Emma HAD given Henry up for 10 years and Regina had taken care of him, more than that, legally adopted him.

Emma, however, just glared at her, "Ok, thanks for coming."

Regina sighed, "No, wait," she called out, biting back her pride for Henry's sake, "I'm sorry. I…I'm…I'm sorry. Snapping at you, I shouldn't have done that. Will you accept my apology?"

Lyssa hoped very dearly that Emma would understand, that she would see what SHE saw in Regina's words. Everyone was so keen to see the Evil Queen instead of Regina that she feared Emma wouldn't stop and realize what had happened just now. She was terrified Emma would miss this proof that Regina was providing that not everything was what it appeared to be.

If the Evil Queen was as evil as they said…she wouldn't have apologized.

But if Regina was every bit the mother she knew the woman was, she would do anything for her child, including apologize to a woman whose entire family had wronged her so badly.

Emma did appear to notice something, not quite what Lyssa was hoping, but enough to admit, "You're right. Archie said you were trying to change. And, well, you are."

Regina tensed at that, her lips pursing at the information that had just let slip, "Dr. Hopper said I was trying?"

"Dr. Hopper?" Lyssa frowned, confused.

"Jiminy Cricket," Regina answered instantly to the question.

Emma nodded, "He said you came to see him. That you're trying not to use magic…" she trailed off a moment when Lyssa opened her mouth to say something about that, only to have Regina hold up a hand not to speak, the girl quieting though she looked troubled, "That you're trying to be a better person. You understand, I was hesitant to invite you. I asked him, and he thought it was a good idea."

"Thank you," Regina repeated, though her voice was hard, "It was. We should be going."

Lyssa threw a glance back at Emma and turned to follow her mother as she stalked away, "Henry wants you to stop using magic?" she asked, deeply troubled by that.

Her mother had tried to tell her a little more about her life in Storybrooke, about Henry, after she'd gleamed over her life as a pirate, but there was so much to tell and it had been such a long day that all she'd managed to retain was Henry had been adopted by her other, was Emma's child and Snow White's grandchild, and that he had gotten a storybook of their history, became obsessed with it and proving the curse was real to those that forgot they were fairytale characters, and had eventually broken the curse (though she hadn't made her mother add in that it was when he'd eaten a poisoned apple turnover instead of Emma).

The part about the magic ceasing was something else.

"Yes," Regina muttered, her expression hard though Lyssa could tell it was because of the cricket and not the conversation, she had tensed and gotten very cold when Emma revealed that Jiminy had told her something that was clearly private between her mother and the man, "He all but demanded I stop using magic or he would never forgive me or want to be around me again."

"But…mama, that's impossible," Lyssa sounded worried now, "For a sorceress like you to just STOP using magic…" she shook her head, reaching out to still her mother's face paced walk, turning her to face her, "It's never GOOD."

"I know," Regina sighed.

"It's going to hurt you," Lyssa was truly alarmed at Henry's request, "It could KILL you!"

"I know."

"Does HENRY know?"

"No."

"Then we need to tell him!" she turned, seeming about to run back to the diner, but Regina stopped her.

"We can't."

"Mother…"

"Do you think he would believe us, Lys?" Regina sighed, shaking her head, "He won't. He won't even think to ask others with magic, he'll just assume I'm lying about the effects to have an excuse to use magic, and it's not like the Un-Charmings are going to know anything about magic of the sort anyway, they'll just encourage that thought."

"But it would be the truth," Lyssa frowned.

Magic, for people like her mother, was an inherent thing. It was something she was born with, even if it took a while to manifest and harness due to her mother's very deep fear of her own mother's magic and a subconscious desire to be NOTHING like Cora. To ask someone born with magic to stop using it after it had manifested would be like asking someone to stop breathing, to stop BEING. And, worse yet, magic operated on emotion and intent, it needed release even if it was in the smallest of ways. To bottle it up? It would be like packing a cannon with powder, more and more and more till it was full and then lighting the fuse so it would just explode!

And then where would her mother be?

If she held the magic in to the point where the smallest thing set her off?

The destruction alone, she'd be unable to control it, and then, of course, the heroes would call her a monster and a villain and all her efforts to redeem herself in Henry's eyes would be for nothing, and none of them would admit they caused that event either.

None of them even realized her mother wasn't the one that needed redemption, but that THEY were the ones that needed her forgiveness, for the harms they caused her, for the assumptions they made about her.

They didn't even know the reason WHY she had agreed to cast Rumpelstiltskin's curse!

Oh she knew they thought they knew, but they didn't know what she knew.

She shook her head, getting confused in her thoughts and looked at her mother, seeing her appearing so defeated by the situation, by how the heroes would just assume she was lying when it was really a very deadly thing that Henry was asking her to do.

SHE may not have much magic, but when she got truly upset, she couldn't control her magic…and they were trying to ask a powerful sorceress to stop?

"You're willing to destroy yourself for Henry," Lyssa breathed, not asking a question, because she knew even as Regina nodded, that her mother would be willing to destroy much more than herself for her children.

And this? This situation? It would not end well for anyone.

~8~

Lyssa paced around a small metal room in the sheriff's station as Regina sat at a table, waiting patiently, as prim and proper and poised as a Queen should be, even if neither of them had the faintest idea why Regina had been called there by Emma. It had been such a nice time, after the diner celebration of course. She and Regina had gone back to the manor and she'd fallen asleep to Regina brushing her hair. The next morning Regina had taught her a little more about the kitchen and appliances as she made them breakfast, before going out on business in the mayor's office. She was going to pick up papers for the day and bring them to the manor to get them done from home.

Her mother had NOT returned in the best of moods, having run into Jiminy Cricket apparently and gotten into an argument. She'd walked away in the end, despite being angry with the man, and headed home to find her kitchen nearly destroyed with Lyssa covered in what looked like milk and flour. She had been trying to make a lunch for her mother and the appliances had revolted against her, or so she'd claimed. Regina was sure she hadn't laughed so hard in years and quickly magiced the place spotless…before explaining to Lyssa what a shower was and showing her how to use it, leaving the girl alone till she was sure the hot water had run out to experience it herself.

Afterwards they had sat together on the couch, Regina telling her more about her time in Storybrooke now that Lyssa was fully awake and alert, talking about the hopes for her return, the void of being a mother without her child, how Henry had helped her heal, the 10 years of raising him…before the dreaded topic of adoption came up, before the storybook appeared, before the Savior arrived to break the curse.

Lyssa had tried to find the courage to explain to her mother more about her time on Killian's ship, but kept turning the conversation back to Henry and her mother. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk, she very much did. But whenever she opened her mouth to bring him up, it felt like someone was squeezing her heart, it hurt so much to just mention his name, she didn't know how she would be able to talk to her mother and explain that he was trapped in the Enchanted Forest and she needed a way, now that magic was back in Storybrooke, to get him back.

She had vowed though, that she would tell her mother at the end of the day.

Because she really, really had to get it out. And she knew her mother would understand and do anything she could to help her. She just had to push past the initial pain…maybe she would start with the story of being the 'pirate queen,' that would actually be a very good way to introduce Killian.

Her mother would certainly ask her WHY she would play that role the way she had and she would be able to explain…it was because of love.

"Glad to see the Sheriff's station's now a family business," Regina's dry voice nearly made Lyssa jump out of her skin as she turned to see Emma and David enter the room, "Why am I here?"

Emma cast a glance at Lyssa, "You should step out…"

"Whatever you want to say to me, you can say in front of her," Regina gave her a hard look, "I assure you, she's probably heard far worse in the Enchanted Forest."

"No doubt about that one," David muttered.

Emma threw him a warning look but sighed, "You know why you're here. Because of Archie."

"Oh, it's now against the law to get into an argument with someone?" Regina rolled her eyes.

"It is if you go to their office later that night and kill them!" David glared.

"What?!" Lyssa's eyes widened.

Regina, however, while surprised, was more sedate in her reaction, "Archie's dead?"

"Stop it, Regina," David took a step towards her, "Ruby saw you going into his office last night."

"That's impossible," Lyssa stepped up as well, "Mother was with ME all night."

He snorted, his attention on Regina, "As though we'd believe one of your lackies."

"She is NOT my lackey!" Regina stood, her hands slamming on the metal table before her, "She is my daughter!"

"Whatever she is, she's lying to save your skin."

Regina snorted with derision at that, "Have you ever considered your precious wolf is the one lying? After everything I've done to change, to win Henry back, why would I toss it all away now?"

"She wouldn't kill Jiminy over one argument either," Lyssa defended.

"And if I HAD, you would never know I was the one that did it. The fact that he's dead and you caught me shows sloppiness."

"You've been caught before," David shot Regina one more glare, before turning to his daughter, "Come on, Emma. Who do you think's lying, Ruby or her? She's incapable of change, no matter how many times we've given her the chance. Why should this time be any different?"

Lyssa's expression hardened into something Regina knew only occurred when she was very irate over someone else, an expression not even SHE could talk the girl out of expressing her thoughts on, so she sat down as Lyssa stormed out of the room after David and Emma a few moments later.

"…know that you want to believe that Regina can change for Henry, but…" Mary Margaret was saying when Lyssa spotted the two talking to the woman, having been watching the interaction through some sort of magic mirror.

"The old Regina would've reduced this building to ashes," Emma cut in, "That woman in there is a woman who wants to change. She just wants everyone else to see it. I know that look. I know her. I believe her."

"With all due respect, you don't know her like we do," David remarked.

"And none of you know her like I do," Lyssa spoke up, unable to bear keeping silent any longer, making the three heroes spin around.

"I doubt YOU know her either," David huffed, "You go around defending the Evil Queen and…"

"And you go around condemning her, and without proof!" Lyssa stomped her foot, completely furious, "You don't know her! You don't know Regina."

"Regina doesn't exist anymore either," Mary Margaret said quietly, "I'm sorry, I know you want to think the best of your…your 'mother' but…"

"Just like you want to think the best of your father?" Lyssa shook her head at her, "I defend my mother, because I know the truth about her. I was there beside her when EVERYTHING happened. I was there for every decision, ever attack, every challenge she faced, I was beside her, I saw it all. I doubt you even know half of it, Snow White, I wouldn't expect you to even realize what was happening if it was staring you in the face!" which it had, Snow White had had a firsthand look at Regina's descent into unhappiness so deep that it turned her into the Evil Queen, no matter how much Regina had acted around Snow, if she really LOOKED, she would have seen it, noticed it, but she didn't, "You didn't even recognize ME and I was her principle Lady-in-Waiting for three years before the king died!"

"Hold on," Emma held up a hand to cut Lyssa off, "YOU were her SERVANT?" she shook her head, seeming almost disgusted by that, "Regina actually turned her kid into her servant? I thought that was Cinderella's story…"

"She didn't turn me into a servant," Lyssa defended, getting so frustrated that they were missing the point. Snow White hadn't even realized she was beside Regina the entire time, the princess barely noticed servants besides her nurse-maid Johanna, so how could she claim to know Regina now? How could she expect to condemn her when she had no idea what Regina was like? Even now, they were ALL jumping to assumptions about her and her position as Lady-in-Waiting, "She did it to protect me."

"How was demeaning you protecting you?" David challenged, "How could that protect you from anything?"

"Because it meant the king could NEVER be alone with me," Lyssa half shouted, only realizing after the words had left her lips that she should NOT have revealed so much.

"What is THAT supposed to mean!?" Mary Margaret demanded, infuriated at the implication in just those few words.

"You see!" Lyssa pointed at her, as though her argument had been proven, using that in a desperate bid to move the argument along and finish it, "You would defend him and you don't even KNOW him! You don't know the truth about him, and you would defend him, unjustly, to the death. I KNOW my mother, I know her better than all of you. And if you knew even a little about her, you would know she didn't murder a cricket!"

Emma shook her head, getting a headache from all the shouting and how ridiculous this all was starting to sound, the Evil Queen's daughter arguing with Snow White about a Cricket, "Look, guys, guys!" she snapped, "We're getting off topic," she shot her mother a look to STAY quiet, despite how much she could see the woman wanted to ask exactly what Lyssa meant in regard to the king, it wasn't the time, not when a man had been murdered, "I know in your kingdom, she was the Evil Queen. But here, she's Regina. And I'm still the Sheriff, and I say she's innocent until proven guilty. So this is what we're going to do, we're going to let Regina go…"

"Emma…" David began, but she shot him a look.

"And then we find the truth," she had listened to Henry when he said he believed with his heart that Regina was TRYING to change. And she realized then, she couldn't just assume the worst in villains, not the way her parents had been doing, Hook had proven that to her as well. She'd assumed he would betray her, because he was a villain...and he hadn't, he wouldn't have. SHE had caused his betrayal in preemptively acting, she wasn't going to make the same mistake, not without actual PROOF that Regina had done this.

"Thank you," Lyssa let out a breath, nodding her thanks to Emma as well, "I know you'll see that she didn't do it."

~8~

"I don't like this world," Lyssa murmured, a faint sniffle in her voice, as she laid across Regina's large couch in her home, on her side, Regina sitting at the end with Lyssa's head resting on her lap, running her fingers soothingly through the girl's hair, "It's changing me."

Regina let out a pained breath at that, "You snapped at two people, dear," she remarked, "That's hardly changing."

"I don't usually though," she murmured, "You always said to have patience. To be understanding of others and their opinions, to be calm and peaceful and not give in to the anger or bitterness or other darker emotions…"

And wouldn't the heroes just have a heart attack to hear that the Evil Queen had given THAT advice to her.

But it was true, she had.

Just because Regina had become the Evil Queen, it did NOT mean she wanted her daughter to follow in the same path.

And she tried to live by that, to look on the brighter side of things, to find the good in others and the light in the dark. At first it had been for her mother's benefit, to give her something to make her days even a little better, but it had grown over the years into her personality. Being here though...it felt like she was angry all the time, any time it wasn't just her mother and her. It was probably because almost everyone in the town, at some point or another, had harmed her mother in some way, and it just made her resentful. She had never been so close to them before, had never been able to be only mere feet away from them and reach out to touch them. She had always been too far away, and now she was surrounded by them, confronted with all the people that had contributed to the hell that was her mother's life...and she didn't know how to handle that.

This was a new experience for her, to be surrounded by others, especially enemies, and have them know exactly who she was and what she was to the Queen.

She wanted to defend her mother, to finally be able to protect her the way Regina always had, but she didn't know how. It all just bubbled to the surface whenever she was around other people. They looked at her mother with such distrust and expectation of villainy that she just got so...so angry! They treated her mother so terribly and disrespectfully and she just wanted to shout at them to stop, to leave her mother alone, that they'd done enough to her through her life. But, at the same time, she knew that most of them had no idea the true magnitude of what they said or thought about her, they didn't understand what she did in the Forest or why. It just confused her and made her feel off balance around them all.

She started snapping at them, finally able to confront them, in some small way, and voice her displeasure with them.

Or at least that was what she hoped it was.

"Sometimes…sometimes others get to us, they say something that bothers us deeply and we can't help it, sometimes they say things they don't even realize will affect us, and sometimes they say it exactly because they know it will," Regina countered, "Do you feel guilty about it?"

"About snapping at Henry," she admitted, implying she wasn't all that sorry for snapping at David or Mary Margaret.

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about snapping at the Un-Charmings," Regina tried to reassure her, "Chances are they deserved worse."

Lyssa gave a small smile at that, "I just…I feel like everything is different," she admitted, "You've been here for so long, alone, and it was such a short time for me. And the people here…they're worse than I remember…"

"Well, you did spend a year on a pirate ship," Regina squeezed her shoulder playfully, "I think that would make any hero seem twice as bad as they were normally."

"Maybe," Lyssa considered that, "They were very nice pirates though."

"I'm sure they were, dear."

Lyssa was quiet a moment, before pushing herself up to face her mother, her arms locking around her bent knees, resting her chin on her legs to observe her mother, "Mother…there's something I should tell you, about the pirates, about…about their captain…"

"Did he hurt you?" Regina asked, suddenly dead serious, her face set in an expression that promised the worst torture imaginable followed by a long, drawn out death…

"No!" Lyssa's eyes widened, "No, no, not at all. He really did protect me!"

Regina let out a relieved breath, closing her eyes a moment, relaxing her rigid body, "Don't scare me like that, little fox…"

"Sorry, mama," Lyssa had to smile at her mother's reaction, that was very her, "I didn't mean to. I just, I wanted to tell you, I…that I…"

And, of course, the moment she was about to tell her mother she'd fallen in love with a pirate…

There was a pounding on the front door of the manor.

Regina sighed, looking to Lyssa who shrugged and nodded at the door. She reached out to squeeze Lyssa's hand a moment before getting up to go answer it, Lyssa following close behind.

It wasn't entirely a surprise to see Emma, David, and Mary Margaret standing on the other side, they had been expecting some sort of news about Archie and the true murderer, which made Regina smirk, thinking that they had come to say they were sorry for their accusations, "Miss Swan. I assume you're here to apologize."

Emma, however, seemed far from it, "I saw you do it."

"Do what?" Lyssa shook her head, moving to her mother's side, completely befuddled.

"I saw it!" Emma snapped, glaring at Regina, "You choked the life out of Archie!"

"What are you talking about?" this time Regina's reaction was one of complete shock and confusion while Lyssa's was more sedate.

"You…SAW her?" Lyssa frowned at that, not sure how they could when they hadn't seen the trio since the interrogation.

"Magic," David answered, his expression hard, his gaze fixed on Regina.

"I saw what happened, and it was you," Emma accused.

"You used magic…to see mother kill Archie?" Lyssa shook her head again, trying to make sense of that, "How? There are different ways to use magic for visions and not all of them are reliable and…"

"It was Gold," Regina realized, he would be the only other suspect Emma would think to go to, and if HE needed to clear his name, there was every chance in hell that he would use his magic to frame her instead, "He helped you. You're going to trust him, of all people, when he's probably the one behind this?"

"We didn't trust him," Mary Margaret lifted her chin, her expression shouting more 'disappointment' than anger, "That's why Emma used magic instead."

Regina blinked at that, "You can use magic…" she rolled her eyes as the reason hit her, "The Savior. Of course."

Lyssa reached out for her mother's hand, sensing more in her tone than she knew the heroes would pick up on. Henry's entire argument was that he wanted Regina to stop using magic, that he wouldn't ever come back into her life while she used it…but he would be awed and happy that his other mother had magic, that the Savior had magic and could use it if his 'Evil' mother ever let loose again. It was a terrible thing to think, that Henry would be overjoyed Emma could use magic, but condemn Regina for using the very same thing.

"Well, I can only assume he warned you, then," Regina stiffened, clearing her throat so as not to give away her feelings.

"About what?" Emma huffed.

"Magic always comes with a price," Lyssa recited an age old lesson.

"Yeah?" Emma scoffed, casting only a glance at Lyssa, shaking her head at how the girl was STILL standing with Regina despite the evidence they now had, before focusing on Regina once more, "Well, that's a price we're both going to pay."

"How's that?" Regina crossed her arms, having given Lyssa's hand a light squeeze before releasing it.

"Henry," Emma stated, "He believed in you. His heart's going to break. That's both our prices."

"You're going to use your son as a punishment?" Lyssa seemed horrified by that, "As though having him play messenger in a burning room wasn't bad enough? You're going to fill his head with lies about my mother just to…"

"It's not lies," Emma defended, "And once he sees the proof…"

"No," Regina cut in, her expression hard, taking a step towards Emma, "I will NOT let you poison Henry against me!"

Emma almost smirked at that, "It's an interesting word choice, since you already did."

Lyssa's hand flew to her mouth at that, her eyes wide at the low blow Emma had dealt.

And that was a hero? Someone that threw the past back at someone already suffering and dealing with the guilt of it?

She could feel herself shaking in anger at Emma's words, at the condemnation in her tone. They were never ever going to see her mother as anything but a villain, were they? And it infuriated her so badly, because she knew that her mother deeply regretted what happened to Henry, that it was going to haunt her for the rest of her life, the same way her guilt about Cora having harmed HER STILL haunted the woman, and Emma and the others were just…walking away.

No chastisement of what their daughter had said, the deeply hurtful words that the heroes likely thought were deserving.

But NO mother needed to hear something like that, a reminder of their failure in the past, not when they were TRYING so hard to be better!

She nearly called out to them, nearly strode forward to slap Emma herself…when her mother beat her to it.

"I want to see him!" Regina snapped, striding after them down her walkway, "He deserves to hear my side of the story! He's my son!"

"He's not!" Emma raged, spinning around in a righteous fury, "He's mine! And, after this, you're not getting anywhere near hi…"

Suddenly Emma was thrown back by a blast of white light, "Don't you DARE talk to my mother like that!" Lyssa shouted, rushing to her mother's side, feeling twice as angry as before at how Emma was speaking.

She may not know much about what adoption was like in this world, but she knew enough from her own that there was FAR more to being a mother than blood. Regina WAS Henry's mother, in every way that counted. She was the one that had soothed his tantrums, had nursed him when he was sick, kissed his pains away when he was hurt, changed him, fed him, cared for him, loved him. When all Emma had done was give the boy away.

And why?

Because she was 18?

Regina had raised a child and become a mother at 18, in a land and during a time where, for her to do it, could mean DEATH to the both of them.

And Emma had given away her own child, and now expected to be called the only mother?

It infuriated her like nothing had in her entire life, to hear someone say that Regina was not a real mother, to hear them threaten to keep her child from her.

And she knew, she KNEW, if she hadn't stepped in when she had, Regina would have reacted. Her mother did NOT do well with people who tried to take away those she loved. She had seen it, first hand, what her mother was like when someone threatened to take her child away. She had lived it, more than once.

"Do it!" Emma shouted, not retaliating to Lyssa's magical shove, but calling out to someone else.

Regina, thankfully, turned in time to see the Blue Fairy, dart out from behind a tree with her wand, firing a blast of blue magic at them both, and caught it, moving to step in front of Lyssa in the process, "Did you really think that would work again?" she nearly sneered at the Charmings, tossing the orb of magic at their feet, "You will NOT keep my son from me," she shook her head, glaring at Blue, the woman running to the Charmings' side, "So much for fairy dust," before turning to look back at Emma as she stood, "Maybe some of your newfound magic can save you now."

"I don't need it," Emma replied, "I already won. There is no way Henry will swallow your lies about Archie. You can pretend all you want, but we know how you are, and who you will always be."

Lyssa frowned at that, reaching out to grab her mother's arm rightly, seeing tears forming in Regina's eyes that she would NEVER let fall, "You know nothing," she stated, the firm tone in her voice, the surety in her words, almost giving the heroes pause, "Mother," she turned to Regina, the woman seeming frozen in place, "Away."

Regina swallowed hard but brought her hand up at the whispered command, making them disappear in a swirl of purple magic, Mary Margaret frowning when she managed to catch sight of Lyssa pulling Regina into a tight hug just a split second before the smoke surrounded them entirely.

~8~

Lyssa kept her focus on her mother as they sat in a metal box on wheels that was called a 'car' later that day, paying more attention to her than the scene going on that her mother was so clearly watching in a mirror on the side of the car. She didn't need to look back to know what was happening.

Her mother had been distraught with Emma's accusations and threats, and she knew she couldn't approach Henry like that. But it had taken her too long to calm down and Henry had already gotten out of school…to find Emma and her parents waiting for him.

Her mother had watched as Emma took Henry aside and likely told him what happened…what they THOUGHT had happened at least. But they would never say that, they would say it was real, it was true, they had undeniable proof. And Henry would believe them, he would believe them, his family for all of a week, over the woman that raised him for 10 years. He would believe the heroes over the villains.

She knew, the exact moment Henry gave over to the 'truth' and likely cursed his mother in his mind…because her mother started to cry as she watched.

"It will get better, mama," she murmured, reaching out to place a hand on Regina's back in comfort, the woman trying to be strong and not break down entirely as she watched her son sob in the arms of another mother when he was hurting, as she watched him believe her to be the murderer her stories called her, "I'll find a way to prove to them it wasn't you. I'll find a way to make them see."

Regina was silent at that, her shoulders shuddering from the effort to keep her tears in.

She wanted to hope that the truth would come out, but she had learned enough in her life that it likely wouldn't happen, not for her, not when everyone was so quick to paint her the villain in every situation.

Lyssa though, well, she had to have hope enough for the both of them.

~8~

Hook looked up from where he was sharpening his hook on the docks, his gaze half turned to Storybrooke, almost willing Lyssa to take a stroll along the docks and see him there. He wanted to go to her, to see her, but…as much as he did, he couldn't just part ways with Cora just yet. The woman clearly had a plan that involved Regina, and if he could sniff out what it was, he would have an advantage, he would have something to give her to explain the time between getting to Storybrooke and reuniting with her.

When it came to her mother, the girl would do anything. And if he could find out what Cora's plans were and tell Lyssa them soon, he was sure she would forgive him his tardiness.

"You're back," he remarked, seeing Cora appear in a swirl of blue smoke, "So, did you get what you wanted?"

"Yes," Cora smirked, "My daughter's lost everything she had in this town now."

Hook forced himself to not react to that, knowing it was Cora's way of making him aware that she still had Lyssa…whether she'd have the girl for long, he didn't know, but he couldn't risk reacting to the small threat and giving Cora more reason to go after the girl. He already knew Cora saw Lyssa as leverage, as a tool that had already been effective in getting her daughter to do what she wanted in the past. He wouldn't put it past her to use Lyssa against the both of them if he didn't play his cards right.

And to do that, he had to seem unconcerned with Regina, "Ah. Well, aren't you mum of the year?"

"I did what was needed," Cora defended lightly, not seeming to care what he thought.

"What about what I need?" he stood, growing serious, also trying to redirect the conversation away from Regina and Lyssa, "You promised you'd help me get my revenge on Rumpelstiltskin."

"And I've already started. Or didn't you notice the little gift I left you in the hold of your ship?"

Hook stiffened at that, "A gift? What is it?"

"Not what. Who," she smirked, gesturing towards a blank space beside the dock and leading him up onto it, stepping past an invisible barrier and onto the deck of the ship, the boat now visible to them once they were on it. She continued her gliding pace, leading him into the bottom levels of his boat, to a grate inside a store room, and opening it.

Hook blinked, seeing someone huddled inside it, "Who's that?"

"Someone privy to Storybrooke's deepest secrets," Cora informed him, "Including Rumpelstiltskin's. Someone who can help us determine his weaknesses here…can't you, Dr. Hopper?"

Hook tensed at that, he had heard rumors already, from the small handful of his crew that he had taken with him on this journey, the men he had sent into town, disguised as those from this land in clothing, to hear tell of Lyssa and report back to him. He had heard that Regina had killed a man, this Dr. Hopper that was now bound and gagged in the bottom of his ship…yet very much alive.

And of course he was, because Regina had never met the man at night. She had never laid a hand on him in the last few hours. It had been Cora, using her magic to appear as though she were Regina, making sure she left enough evidence for the town to think it was her and turn on her once again.

It seemed the only one that hadn't, was Lyssa.

"If that's him, then who did you kill?"

Cora shrugged, unconcerned, "How do I know? It's my first day in town."

"You disguised the body to look like him," Hook reasoned, "If death wasn't punishment enough…marvelous work."

"Thank you," Cora smiled, "Now you'll have all the knowledge you'll need. It may take some work, but this cricket will chirp."

"Aye," Hook smirked down at the frightened man, "That he will."

He had quite a few questions for the man…and more than enough time to ask it now that the town thought he was dead.

And if Cora thought he was asking just about Rumpelstiltskin, well…then she would never know if he happened to ask a few questions about another royal 'villain' infamous in this land as well.

If he knew what the Queen's other weaknesses were, then he would know what NOT to tell Cora.

As though he would just give her that advantage, as though he would tell her the truth when he knew she would betray him at the drop of a hat if the situation changed.

Always keep an advantage to yourself, Lyssa had always said, and this one was far too good to hand over to Cora.

A/N: The way the heroes leapt to believing it was Regina, not even considering that there were other magic users in the town (besides Gold) that could have made themselves look like Regina will NOT endear them to Lyssa at all :( Lyssa is thinking in terms of magic having been around and everywhere as she grew older, so her the first thought and suspicion is 'was magic involved in causing this and how?' whereas the heroes haven't been around magic in 28 years and are thinking more in terms of 'was a villain responsible for this and why?' :(

I was SO angry at the Charmings in this episode. How a single argument and a missing file suddenly equated to 'a lot of evidence' to quote their exact words that someone murdered another was beyond me. They were just SO set that it HAD to be Regina, they wanted it to be her so badly, that it really irritated me :( As you can probably tell, assumptions and who makes them and about what are going to come around to bite A LOT of people.

This chapter might seem heavy on the 'the heroes are in the wrong' in terms of the law and how they're reacting to the situation and heavy on the 'Regina as a good mother' thing, that you can argue 'that's NOT why she did something' in the show. But this is a story that's going to look at a Regina that's been a mother since she was 18 and how that mentality comes across in the things she's done in the show. I feel like any mother would freak out if they saw their 10 or 11 year old child trying to climb out their second floor window using bed sheets, you know? This chapter is also mostly told from Regina and Lyssa's point of view and I think that really affects how they interpret the situation and what's being said, what their thoughts are on the heroes and everything happening ;)

We're going to see a lot of possible thoughts and reasonings for some things Regina's done that may seem evil in the past (and future) but take on a different meaning with the added context of the archetype 'mother' really emphasized. I feel like that quality of her was lost in the writing of OUAT. While in Storybrooke, after she adopted Henry, she was 'mother' not 'evil queen' and she was still 'mother' to Henry when Emma was there, but I think viewers saw her actions and, because of the emphasis on 'villain' and 'evil queen' that Henry and the others put on her, immediately thought the worst about her. But a lot of things that Regina did, I think, if looked at from the view point of 'mother' and 'survivor' (survivor in the sense of she's constantly had everything good in her life taken away from her and didn't let it kill her), it takes on a new meaning and understanding. The heroes and their POV color A LOT of the show, even when we have flashbacks that help us understand the villains, a majority of the show is colored, at first, by the views of heroes and how they see villains as villains.

Regina isn't just a villain, she's a mother too, and I feel like that aspect of her was lost in the early parts of the show and the writers only brought it out here or there instead of exploring it. I mean, in the real world, what would an adoptive mother's reaction to the child throwing a tantrum and running away to bring the birth mother back, and then the birth mother not respecting the law or adoptive mother's wishes for them to leave, be? I don't think it would be good. Add on magic and years of having everything you love and every hope of happiness ripped away from you, I feel like a lot of what Regina did could be explained as a mother reacting to fear and years and years of abuse having her act out the way she did. I'm not justifying what she did, just trying to understand why she acted/reacted how she did. And this story will explore the more mother-side to her ;)

Some notes on reviews...

Cora is definitely a piece of work :( I feel like, if she could crush the heart of the man her own daughter loved in front of her, then she would care even less about crushing the heart of some random servant in front of a child too :( We'll see a lot more of Lyssa and her trying to overcome the trauma from those losses :( I have a flashback coming that just broke my heart to write, because the Lyssa there is SO different from the Lyssa we saw as a child that it almost killed me to write her and to write Regina's interactions with her :'( But I feel like it's needed, trauma like that doesn't just go away overnight :'( Henry, at the moment is a little confused and conflicted about Lyssa. On the one hand, he sees her as a nice person, but she's so defensive and protective of 'the Evil Queen' that he's not sure about her. He also feels a little jealous that she has such a strong relationship with his mother, that she has all these memories of the Enchanted Forrest, but also knows that she likely stood by as Regina went Evil Queen on everyone and is still defending it :( He's not sure what to make of her at the moment, but as he begins to reconcile with Regina, he'll start to see her as a sister-figure to him I think ;) Lyssa and Regina's torture...that will be a very intense chapter }:) As for Gold, Lyssa won't like the fact that he manipulated her mother to be able to find his son, I think she'll empathize with him only slightly, but for the most part, she'll be very wary and frightened of him. I can say Regina went to great lengths to keep Lyssa off Rumpelstiltskin's radar and the few times she was a blip there, she made sure it was only in the sense of him seeing Lyssa as a random servant or her lady-in-waiting ;) So he may know her vaguely, having glimpsed her around the castle, but he won't know how important Lyssa was to her till now ;) I'm glad you're excited for Graham's OC, I can't wait to get to her too :) As for a Loki/OC, I actually already have a series up for that ;) I did a Loki/OC before the Thor/OC, it's called the Seer's Edda series, and the titles are 'Is it Madness?', 'Is it Revenge?', and 'Is it Redemption?' :) I'd say my favorite ships are Swanfire and Outlaw Queen. For writing a Hook/OC, I'm not quite a huge fan of Hook, more so the relationship he has with Emma, it feels a little unhealthy to me. Snowing became boring to me after Series 1, and Rumbelle also strikes me as very unhealthy too, just my opinion on them ;) I feel like we didn't see enough Neal and his POV to understand some things he did, so this story will try to explore his reasons for some events and help him reconnect with Emma now that Hook is less a 'threat' lol :) I do like Harry Potter :) It's funny, I was a Harry/Ginny fan from the very first book...but it all changed when Luna was introduced lol :) Now I find myself a Harry/Luna fan but I also like the idea of Harry with a Slytherin, maybe Daphne Greengrass or someone else that doesn't seem to be around Draco a lot :)

Thank you for the advice, but I'm going to keep the format as it is for flashbacks. It worked well through 4 stories of my other OUAT series, and the pattern is the same here. Episode, flashback, episode, flashback, as stated at the start of the story too ;) The titles, save the last one, follow the episode titles for an episode chapter and a made up title for a flashback to help identify ;) If I ever skip a flashback I always put a note of it to warn not to expect one in the next chapter ;) Also, you can't change the font on this site beyond making the words bold, italics, or underlined, and all of those options would be headache creating to read an entire chapter in lol :)

Lol, I call him Danny in my head now too :) I blame Lyssa :) The same way I blame Piper for being unable to think of Gold as anything but 'Rummy' now also lol :)

I can say there will be a few Regina-Hook moments to come yup ;)

Lyssa will be a little empathetic towards Gold in the sense that he did everything to find his son, the same way she knows Regina would do anything for her children. But at the same time, she'll be very unhappy with how he manipulated her mother to get what he wanted, she'll be frightened of him because he is a very powerful dark sorcerer, and she'll be wary of him because she knows he was the one that put her mother down the path of learning dark magic :( So she'll more side with Hook and Regina in a sense of being untrusting of Gold and fearful of him, but not being openly 'he's evil!' like the heroes are ;)

Lyssa will have many things to reveal to many characters ;) We got a small taste of it here when she lost her temper with the Charmings, but there will definitely be times where she explains more about her life both with the 'Evil' Queen and with 'Queen Regina' and living in Snow's castle around the girl. But eventually Emma, Henry, and David (and Mary Margaret) will know why she dislikes and distrusts Snow so much ;)

Emma will start to try and form her own opinions about the 'villains' yup :) I feel like the Enchanted Forest times were a confusing time for her, being around her mother and having just come from a world where the Evil Queen poisoned her son, she was a bit more black/white about things. But when Hook revealed he wouldn't have betrayed her, I think that was the wake up call she needed to realize she couldn't think like the heroes, so biased, and she needed to be more realistic about things ;) Whether she'll keep that mentality or fall back to the hero-thought later in the story, we'll have to wait and see ;) Gold won't be as outright a jerk as he is in the show, but he won't be above using Lyssa to try and get to Regina either. Lyssa will always be wary of him and fearful of him, having grown up seeing what he was teaching her mother and the person he was trying to turn her into, but she'll understand Belle's stance on him. Though she will, likely, point out the flaws in Belle's defenses. She'll have something Belle won't, which is 18 (and more) years around her mother and having Regina's honesty and trust, so she'll be able to say with certainty things and defenses about Regina that Belle won't for Gold, and she won't mean to be hurtful to Belle, but her words will make Belle realize she needs to KNOW Gold a lot more to understand him the way Lyssa does Regina. Lyssa will help her realize she's going to need Gold's TRUST in order for any sort of relationship to work ;)

Curses are definitely confusing :/ And the OUAT writers seem to just love backtracking and throwing random loopholes into things. Like 'there's NO way to get back to Storybrooke' oh but we could actually just cast the Dark Curse again. And 'if you leave Storybrooke with Marian it will be FOREVER' oh but really it's just 9 weeks because we have this scroll we didn't think about using till it was convenient... :/ I feel like Snow would have also loved her unborn child the most, yet they still used David's heart instead, which I can understand the writers not wanting to go for 'kill the baby' in the sense of actually killing the baby, but still, loopholes :/ I also feel like the wording is weird about that ingredient, 'the heart of the THING you love the most' so I still don't understand why Regina's horse wouldn't have worked if it was meant to be taken literally as a thing you love most, which could be anything with a heart. And if it's meant to be broader, then it could have been the parent you love most, the child you love most, the friend you love most, the spouse, etc :( Like, what if a mother was casting the curse and had more than one child? You can't choose just one to say you love most, you would have to say you love them equally, which would also mean having more than one thing you love most. It's so weird and I feel like OUAT is just getting weirder :/

Oh I CANNOT wait till Maleficent gets into the picture }:D But I agree, expecting Regina to keep a secret when Snow couldn't keep one herself was a little hypocritical :/ I always found it odd the thought that 'kids can't keep secrets' as a justification for why Snow blabbed. I mean, my sister took psychology and had a class about abuse, because she originally wanted to be a social worker, and kids who are abused keep that secret. Really young kids keep it quiet, so do older kids, but even other secrets. Kids CAN keep quiet. If they think they're going to get in trouble, if it's a surprise for someone important to them, if they and a best friend pinky swear not to tell. There are numerous ways and much simpler reasons and deeper secrets that kids can keep, so saying Snow couldn't keep a secret because she was 10 doesn't make sense to me. I know I've kept secrets from when I was a kid younger than that and still haven't told them :/