To answer some questions/clear up any confusion: Annie comes from a family that had the ability to travel to different worlds without the assistance of a hat. These were the people I was talking about in the chapter with young Jefferson, Regina and Alice. Yes, Grace would have the power to travel with the hat like her father. I do hope to go back eventually and explain what happened to Alice. Regina's a hard one to pin down because she's been through so much. It's hard to imagine how a person would act after having been through everything that she has, so here's the line of my thinking: She still clings to the idea of her happy ending, which involves casting the curse again, BUT, she's also trying to figure out how to work things out so that Henry will stay happy. Is there a way? Probably not, but she's in denial and trying to get things to go her own way (in true Regina fashion). I hope I'm doing her justice, as she is, no question, my favorite character on the show. As for the rest of it, well, you'll just have to keep reading to find out :) Thanks for the questions and for sticking with the story! And now, back to it... :D
Regina was sitting up in bed, watching Henry sleep. She'd been awakened by the same nightmare as the night before. The whole town was tying her to a tree and they were going to kill her. Everyone was cheering for her death, including Henry. When she'd sat up in bad this time, it had taken her a minute to remember where she was. She'd looked down to see Henry asleep next to her and had immediately relaxed. Henry knew who she was and he still loved her. He didn't want to kill her.
Upon closer inspection, however, Henry was not sleeping well, either. His face was scrunched up and an occasional whimper escaped his mouth. She reached down to smooth his hair and was about to wake him from his apparent bad dream when a bloodcurdling-scream filled the room.
Regina jumped out of bed and flicked the light on. Annie was curled on the bed, screaming in terror, sobbing, and somehow – still asleep. Grace had jumped out of bed as well and was staring at her, frightened by the bizarre sight.
Henry looked up at Regina. "Mom, do something!"
Regina hurried to the bedside. Surely by this point, all the guests in the hotel had heard her. She placed a hand on Annie's shoulder and shook her. "Annie. Annie! Wake up!"
The girl's eyes popped open but it took her a minute to stop screaming. Even then, the sobbing continued. They were deep, horrible, shuddering sobs and her eyes looked unfocused, as if she still wasn't aware of her surroundings.
There was a pounding on the door, and a man's booming voice came through. "It's the manager. Open up! I'll call the police if you don't open this door right now!"
Regina walked across the room, slid the lock out of place and swung the door open.
"What's goin' on in there? The screamin' woke everyone up. He poked his head in the door, hearing Annie, and saw the girl curled tragically on the bed. "Hey, is she okay?"
"No," Regina told him. She looked down for a minute, trying to think up a believable story to tell the man so he would leave.
She didn't have to. Henry stepped forward, his eyes growing watery and he looked up at the man with such a pained expression that Regina placed a hand on his back to comfort him. "Our father just died," Henry choked out. "My sister was having a really bad dream about it." He used his arm to wipe a tear that had fallen.
Regina couldn't believe how easily Henry had lied to the man, but it was working so she started brushing back her son's hair gently with her fingers and looked up at the man, putting on her own grieved face. "I'm sorry. We just can't stay in our house right now." She lowered her voice to a pained whisper. "Too many memories."
The manager looked sympathetic. "Geez. That's terrible, I'm sorry. Just–try to keep it down, I guess," he said sheepishly, not knowing how to respond.
"We will. I'm terribly sorry to have disturbed everyone."
"That's alright. Well, goodnight."
Regina shut the door and leaned against it, relieved to have that over with.
"Mom," Henry looked up at her, pointing at Annie, a slightly scolding expression on his face. "You can't leave her like that. You have to do something."
Regina moved back to Annie's side, not sure what she was supposed to do. "Annie?" The girl gave no indication that she'd heard her name. Regina bent down so she was nearly eye level with her. "Annie, can you hear me? Do you know where you are?"
Annie continued to cry, but the noise softened a little as her eyes focused on Regina. Awareness suddenly clicked in and her hand shot out and latched onto Regina's arm. Regina sat up on the side of the bed.
"What were you dreaming about?" Regina asked curiously. She wondered what could possibly cause the girl to scream that way. Surely she'd never done anything so terrible to her.
Annie shook her head violently.
"Okay, well if you don't want to tell us, we should all probably be getting back to bed." Regina moved to get up, but Annie only tightened her grip on Regina's arm.
"Please don't leave me," Annie whispered. "Please?"
"I'm not going to stay here all night."
"Mom," Henry whined. "She had a really bad dream. Can't you just stay with her like you used to with me?"
Regina exhaled. The situation annoyed her, but she didn't seem to have much choice.
"Alright," she told Annie. "Move over. I'll stay until you fall asleep."
Annie looked relieved and moved to the other side of the bed. Regina sat on top of the sheets, propping the pillow up behind her.
"What about you Henry?" She turned her attention to her son. "Want to tell me what you were dreaming about?"
Henry shuffled his feet a bit. "It doesn't matter." He almost sounded guilty.
"Sure it does. Tell me."
"Mom. Can we please not talk about it?"
Regina frowned at his answer. What had he been dreaming? Was it about her? His unwillingness to tell her made her think it was. But she didn't want to upset him so she nodded her head. "Okay. We won't talk about it."
He crawled up onto the bed and wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder. "I love you, mom," he said.
She kissed the top of his head and rubbed his back. "I love you, too."
She looked up to see Grace standing at the foot of the bed. "I don't want to sleep by myself," she said quietly.
Regina nodded her head to the side and Grace crawled carefully between her and Annie. She glanced up at Regina. "Thank you," she said before turning to face Annie. "It's okay," she spoke softly to the older girl. "I have bad dreams, too."
Regina thought of how absurd this all was. They'd left town because of an angry riot started by people wanting revenge for all of the destruction and pain she'd caused everyone over the years; and now here she was, comforting three children. She held Henry close, still rubbing circles on his back, waiting for everyone to fall asleep. It was going to be a long night.
Emma was pacing outside the doors of city hall. The people of the town had come together to officially discuss whether or not they would work with Regina and Rumpelstiltskin. They'd been in there for an hour and still hadn't made a decision. Emma had only been able to take it for fifteen minutes. This would be the third day that Regina had been gone and she was anxious to see Henry again.
"Hey," she heard from behind her. She turned to see August slipping out the door.
"How's it going in there?" Emma asked, putting a hand on her hip. She had a lot of nervous energy, and without the pacing, it was starting to build up.
"They're almost done; things are winding down. It's going to happen." He smiled. "Everyone is agreeing, so you'll be able to call Regina today."
Emma nodded and ran both hands through her hair. "Is this the right thing to be doing?" she asked August, clasping her hands behind her neck and looking up at the sky. She sighed and dropped her hands to her sides, looking at him. "I'm sorry. I keep asking that, don't I?"
"Yes." August chuckled. "But it's okay." He reached for one of her hands and gave it a quick squeeze before dropping it again. "Just focus on Henry. This means you'll get to see him soon."
"You're right." She turned around and flung her arms out slightly with the next words. "You're right! Man, I can't wait for this all to be over. I feel like I haven't slept in weeks. All this crap keeps happening." She turned around, a slight smile on her face, and let out a small laugh.
"What?" August asked her.
"This whole fairytale thing." She laughed a little more. "They're real, and I broke the curse. It's all just…really….weird."
August looked at her, his head to the side, thinking. "How about we take a break?"
"A break?"
"Yeah. Get away from all of this. We can take a ride and just be out in the world for a little while."
"What, now?" Emma asked.
"Yeah, come on. Unless you want to stay here pacing." He cocked an eyebrow.
"Alright," she said narrowing her eyes. "But I get to pick where we go this time."
"Deal."
Regina woke up and immediately felt the aches that accompany falling asleep sitting in an upright position. She frowned, noticing Annie was no longer in the bed, but then heard the shower running. Henry was still snuggled against her, and Grace had rolled over, sprawling out in Annie's absence. Regina carefully extracted herself and tucked the blanket up around Henry's shoulders.
It was nine o'clock in the morning. Regina didn't think she'd slept in this late in years. She heard the shower shut off, and a few minutes later, the door opened.
Annie appeared, freshly dressed, hair still wet, with an empty expression. She didn't look at Regina and didn't say anything. She just grabbed her toothbrush and headed back to the bathroom.
Regina went to wash her face, but paused in the door when she saw that Annie wasn't actually brushing her teeth. The toothbrush lay forgotten on the counter and Annie was staring into the mirror. There was a haunted expression on her face and she looked as if she were searching for something in her reflection. This was an expression Regina knew very well. It was one she'd seen in her own reflection many times, when her thoughts turned inward and she searched for something deep down. There was always the hope that something in the mirror would reveal something she couldn't see otherwise. It was a compromising expression that the genie had caught on her face a few too many times for her liking.
"It was my parents," Annie said suddenly, her eyes never leaving the mirror.
"What?" Regina asked.
"My dream. It was about my parents. They were killed when I was very young." She looked frustrated and angry. "At least, I think they were."
"I don't understand," Regina said carefully.
Annie whirled around, tears shining in her eyes. "I can't remember! No matter how hard I try, I don't remember them. Last night, I dreamed about their death. I know it was a memory, I can feel it, but the second I woke up, I couldn't even remember what they looked like." Her face was pained. "They gave up so much for me, and I can't remember them!"
Regina stood still, not sure what to say. The dream must have been convincingly real and extremely traumatic for Annie to have had such a strong reaction.
"Have you had the dream before?"
Annie shook her head dazedly. "I don't remember. I know I've dreamed about my parents before, but I don't remember any of the dreams specifically. I don't even really remember last night's." She closed her eyes tightly, trying to recall any detail. "I just know that they died. And that…" She focused really hard. "They…they gave me something? Something important, I think."
"You don't remember any of your dreams?" Regina asked interestedly. She wondered if there could be more to Annie's past. Perhaps it was her healing power that her parents had given her. Knowing more about its origins could be helpful in the future.
Annie opened her eyes. "No."
"It sounds like this could be the work of a memory spell. Do you remember when you started living with Elise? You said you'd been in that tower for as long as you could remember."
"I have. I don't remember ever having been anywhere else." She looked desperately at Regina. "You really think it's a memory spell? Like someone made me forget?"
"It certainly sounds like it."
"Well, is there anything you could do?" She looked hopefully at Regina.
"No." Annie's face fell. "Even if we were in our own world, where we could use magic, memory spells are dangerous. If we didn't know exactly which one was used, and how to reverse it properly, we could permanently damage your memory."
Annie's expression looked far away. "I wonder what I'm forgetting or how many years I lived a life before the tower." Her focus snapped back to the present. "I'm gonna take a short walk, get some fresh air. Is that okay?"
Regina hesitated and then nodded briskly. "Don't go past the parking lot."
"I won't," Annie promised. She moved past Regina, who watched her walk to the door. Annie opened it and took a step. "Your Majesty?" she asked quietly. The door was open and she didn't want anyone to hear. She also didn't want to wake Henry or Grace.
Regina raised an eyebrow as indication for the girl to continue.
"People are wrong about you. You're not evil." She hurriedly pulled the door shut behind her before Regina had a chance to respond.
Jefferson once again found himself in the circular room filled with doors. The mirror was clean and shining, seeming to mock him. All of the time he had spent trapped in this world, and now here he was about to re-enter it willingly. He took a breath and stepped through.
He'd expected Wonderland to be abandoned. Devoid of people, everyone having been ripped away from their lives by the Queen's curse. But it wasn't. He realized with annoyance that Regina had only brought the people of their world. She'd somehow bent the rules to bring him – and only him – from this world along with them.
Guards appeared and he raised his arms in surrender. "I need to see the Queen," he told them. The Queen's right-hand man looked at him oddly but then nodded his head. The guards went to grab his arms but he shook them off. "I'll take myself, thank you. I came here on my own, after all." The guards looked to their leader who again nodded his head.
Jefferson spent the walk steeling himself for what was to come. He hated the Queen of Hearts more than almost anyone. But not more than he hated Regina. That was what had brought him back to this horrible land. The Queen of Hearts may be crazy, but she was also very powerful and possessed exactly what he needed to defeat Regina, and destroy the terrible world that she had trapped them all in.
He looked up when they drew near the throne. "Your Majesty," he said, bowing to show respect. He fought back the urge to run up the stairs and choke the woman to death; unfortunately, he needed her. "I wish to speak with you. Alone."
The Queen's page ran quickly up the steps to her side and leaned down as she spoke to him.
"The Queen does not give private audience to anyone. Especially escaped prisoners. She wonders how you managed to leave Wonderland. You must have the hat working again."
"Yes, it works, but that's not how I managed to escape. I was taken by the same woman who left me here all those years ago."
There were several rushed whispered words and the page looked up. "You mean Regina? For what purpose would she help you escape?"
"She did not help me, Your Majesty. I was taken by a curse to another world, a cruel world. And that is why I have come to you. I want your help to destroy it."
The Queen stood up and waved her arms, and everyone filed out. When the very last of them had gone, she descended the steps. When she reached him, she pulled her veil off, revealing her face, and Jefferson gasped.
As he looked at the woman from his past, he realized he had made a terrible mistake. He should never have come here. He wouldn't have, if he'd known the Queen of Heart's true identity.
"Let's start at the beginning," the woman said in her full voice. "Just what, exactly, has my daughter been up to?"