She could already feel it. A slight drain on her magic. She forced herself to breath normally as she approached the chapel, the Dark One glowering beside her. He kept his eyes peeled as he spoke, both of them on lookout for any of Pan's forces who might decide to show up early. "You know, dearie, I can't help but think that you're holding out on me. If we did face Pan in this other timeline, then I can't imagine we didn't try to contain him."

Regina's mouth twisted into a frown. "Pandora's Box," she dismissed, driving to the heart of the issue, "Pan has a way around it." It wasn't entirely a lie. Regina had no doubt Pan would find some way to avoid captivity in this Storybrooke if they attempted to use the box, but she had other concerns. It was too close to the original events for her comfort. Besides, Storybrooke was no longer hidden amongst the realms, and—and this way we return to the Enchanted Forest. Regina couldn't quite push that thought aside. There probably were other ways they could defeat Pan that would leave the town intact. True, this was the most readily available. But not so deep down Regina knew that she had supported this plan because it would place her firmly in the same realm as him.

Rumple chuckled darkly. "Of course he does. Still, this is all very noble of you, volunteering yourself as a distraction to save the town. I rather expected you to take up Emma's offer to babysit me, or at least one of the Charmings."

A face looked out suspiciously from a shop window, but Regina recognized it as belonging to Mr. Knoll, a villager who had once crossed her path with a rather large flock of goats if she recalled correctly. He'd delayed her carriage for more than an hour and in return she'd turned three of his prized flock into trolls. "You know I couldn't keep the portal open long enough," she dismissed.

He made a general noise of agreement but continued, "Not long enough for everyone. Long enough for two."

She glanced at him but he wasn't looking. "That's something I would have done. Once," she answered coolly.

He chuckled at that, the mirthless sound of a man who knows when a trick is being played. "Despite this act, dearie, I still see the darkness in you." Regina could feel his eyes on her now. Cold. Calculating. "You can't deny it's still there and very much alive—"

"Do you have a point or are you just trying to get a fireball thrown at your head?" she cut him off.

His humorless grin widened. "People don't change, dearie. Not really."

Regina smiled, the words sparking a memory. "I said something like that once. People don't change, they just fool themselves into thinking they can," she quoted herself. She had believed it. Believed it with every fiber of her being, but she had also hoped that it wasn't true. Even knowing what she was, Regina also knew that she would never give up Henry and so she had needed to be wrong. For her son. "But I was wrong."

"A pretty thing to say, but you still helped me seal that well," he shot back nastily.

Regina shrugged. "A precaution."

"Heh," the laugh came out dry. "Regardless, that magic is as dark as it comes. You put on a good front, but I'd wager that if we were to see your heart it'd be as black as it's ever been."

His words struck a chord. Regina knew she had changed, but her heart hadn't. Not really. Out of some morbid curiosity, she'd checked before casting the spell to return to this Storybrooke, perhaps out of a need to assure herself that she wouldn't be corrupted by her own ambitions. That she wouldn't repeat past mistakes. At the time, she'd convinced herself that there was more light than she had ever remembered seeing before. Now, she wasn't so sure. It was comforting that her practice with light magic was yielding better results, but that wouldn't stop her from making the wrong choices again, and she had a knack for finding the wrong choices. But you haven't done that this time. Still, "You're right. A few years of good deeds can't purge the effects of decades of evil," she smiled at her once mentor with the confidence of someone who has finally found the right path, "but it's a start."

It was the Dark One's turn to fall silent, perhaps from scorn or perhaps in reflection of how many centuries it would take to alter the hue of his own black heart. Maybe a mixture of both. Whatever the cause, Rumple's mouth settled into an unhappy line. "Let's hope Pan takes our offer. Otherwise, none of that will matter."

.

.

.

It was well past midnight and Pan still hadn't showed up. The Charmings were on stand-by on the other side of town, waiting for a signal to start sending people through the portal. Goodness knew what they'd said to keep everyone there for upwards of six hours. Maybe the truth, not that it really mattered anymore. If Pan didn't arrive within the hour the plan would be moot anyway. The failsafe had already absorbed almost all of the magic from the pixie dust. Once the last of it was gone, then the town would start to be affected, and if that happened then there was no chance that Pan wouldn't know the type of trap this was. Regina glanced at her watch again.

1:31.

She released an audible sigh. "He's not coming."

Rumple didn't move from his spot on the front pew, hands steepled over the head of his cane. "He'll come," he said softly. "In fact, he's probably been here for quite a while, finding out where everyone else in the town is."

"That I have," Pan announced his presence from the suddenly open front door. Regina started slightly, surprised by the entrance. Pan strolled down the aisle, taking in the interior with a deceptively casual glance. "Curious time for a town meeting, and an even more curious place for a negotiation. It's a bit stuffy in here, wouldn't you agree?"

"The fairies cast a barrier to dampen magic in the chapel, undoubtedly as a precaution against us," Regina lied easily, including Rumple in her statement.

"Hmm. Ideal then," Pan grinned. "So, how have you been, laddie? You look a bit, aged."

Rumple offered his father a grimace as he stood. "Let's skip the pleasantries, shall we? You want the heart of the Truest Believer to keep living, but you can no longer have it."

"Yes, your message was a bit vague on that point," Pan pointed out, "but what's to stop me from tearing apart this little town to find him?"

"You could, but that won't help you," Regina spoke up, drawing his attention. "For your little heart swap to work, the heart of the Truest Believer has to be given willingly, but no one can take Henry's heart. Not even Henry."

Pan's eyes narrowed. "That impossible."

"No, dearie, just very, very rare. You see, Henry's heart has been protected with a life lock, so even if the person who cast the spell dies, his heart can't be taken by anyone."

Uncertainty flashed across his face before returning to the usual cruel calm. "And which poor sap did you convince to sacrifice part of their life to make this little scheme work? Emma? Baelfire? One of Henry's other grandparents perhaps?" Rumple's lip twitched upward in a snarl, but he didn't otherwise respond. Succeeding in getting a rise out of him, Pan smirked and turned his attention to the barrels of pixie dust instead. "Well, it doesn't really matter. You had a business offer for me."

"The deal is simple. You can have this stockpile of magic, perhaps buy you enough time to find another way to extend your miserable existence," Rumple ground out, "and in exchange you leave me and my family alone. No more spies, no more tricks. We are off-limits."

Pan cocked his head, considering. "From your tone I'm gathering that list of names is longer than you'd like."

Over Pan's shoulder, Regina shot Rumple a look. Keep him talking. "Not really," Rumple barred his teeth into something that might have been a smile. "Just myself, Belle, Henry, and Regina of course."

"Sounds fair," he agreed lightly, "if that is in fact pixie dust."

Prepared for this, Regina popped the lid off one of the closest barrels and stepped back. "See for yourself," she said.

As he moved to inspect the goods, Rumple took up a flanking position. Pan ran greedy fingers over the top layer before turning a sinister smile on his son. "You really shouldn't have let me this close," and plunged his arm into the barrel. Regina and Rumple were thrown back in a shockwave as Pan absorbed the remaining magic into his body. He practically glowed with the excess magic. Rising a few feet into the air, he looked down at them with gloating eyes. "I propose a new deal: I take everything and you—" he stopped mid-sentence, just noticing the first tug from the failsafe. He strained against the invisible tether, trying to fly away, but instead he slowly drifted towards the center of the barrels. Eyes wild, "What did you do?"

"Oh, that," Regina said conversationally, taking time to dust off her pants. "Did I forget to mention that there's a magic-absorbing device in here? It works on the largest sources of magic first, like pixie dust or Dark Curses. Normally, killing people is just incidental but with all that pixie magic in you now, well," a slow smile finally broke through, "it looks like you just moved to the top of its menu."

Real panic now. Pan struggled harder, using more magic to try to break free, which only sped up the process. "No!" Another magical burst and an even harder tug towards the failsafe. His foot had disappeared, the rest of him warping as he was sucked backward. Rumple offered a cold smile. "NO-!" The cry was cut off as the rest of Pan was pulled in.

Any parting comments were cut short by the building shaking. It wouldn't take long now for the failsafe to tear apart the curse maintaining Storybrooke. Stumbling towards the door amidst the tremors, Regina called out, "We have to move away from the failsafe!" More tremors shook the chapel, tree roots and vines climbing through the floorboards. Outside wasn't any better with the tops of trees forcing their way through the pavement. Regina ran a bit further for safety before reaching for her magic. The failsafe immediately pulled back, but this small spell was nothing compared to the Dark Curse it was absorbing. She reappeared inside town hall, the Dark One close on her heels.

The portal was already open, a great swirling maw where the podium used to be. Only Emma was there, sweating with the strain of keeping the hat open. "We took the landscape change as a hint to get started," she called over the roar of the portal. "Did it work?"

"Yes. Where's Henry?"

"He went through with Neal."

"Time to go, dearies," Rumple cut the questions short, his point punctuated by the rapidly approaching wall of full-grown pine trees shooting up across the street. Rumple led the way, jumping straight in.

Between the howl of magic and the havoc outside, it was getting hard to hear. "Come on! It's time to go home."

Emma cast a glance at the crumbling walls and back at the swirling portal. "Yeah," she muttered, "home."

.

.

.

35 years. 8 months. 2 days. That was how long it had been since she'd spoken to her daughter. She had seen her since then, of course, compliments of her other daughter and her own magical devices, but no words.

Their first meeting had to be perfect. Untainted by unpleasant memories. This was why she took the other daughter's heart and crushed it. Why she vacated her daughter's castle, left her a present in her seat of power. Everything was set for their reunion so they could join forces and conquer the realm together. Her revenge on Ava's offspring would finally be complete, and she would take the Dark One's power. With their enemies dead, the realm would be at their feet, and then Regina would finally see that her mother had been right all along. Power really could get you everything if you were just strong enough to take it.

The story will continue in S03...