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Regina was almost halfway through the book she had taken from Gold's pile when her phone rang. For all that she hoped to learn within the tome, she had made no success in either searching for realm travel or figuring out what Gold was up to. The book contained mostly information regarding botany, herbal recipes, and the use of various rare plants. None of which could open a portal to another realm, so why did Gold include it in his pile?

She was pondering this question when she heard the buzzing sound of her phone and before she could even say hello into the receiver, David said, "We found her."

The only "her" David could possibly be referring to was Emma, but still Regina could barely believe what she heard. After weeks of searching, she had thought it would take more to find the savior than what they had found so far. They had only just learned of Merlin's possible existence in Camelot and none of the magic at their disposal had been of any use in guiding them to either the wizard or Emma.

She could tell from the relief in the Prince's voice that he, and most likely his wife, were ready to celebrate the return of their daughter and move on from the last few weeks. But nothing was ever that simple. Regina stood a little straighter, pushing the useless book in front of her aside, "What?"

"Mary Margaret found Emma."

"Where?"

"She appeared in the middle of town." Appeared? Had Emma returned of her own will then? That would mean she had been somewhere in Storybrooke this whole time and they had certainly scoured the town looking for her. Every available hand had helped them cover the territory within Storybrooke's boundaries from the dwarves to Robin's Merry Men, if they hadn't stumbled upon her—but then the Dark One couldn't cross realms and Emma didn't have the scroll that would allow her to pass through the town line.

So where had she been all this time and why hadn't she returned before? After weeks of living under the Dark One's curse, what had become of the savior?

"And? Is she—different?" If Snow White had already faced her daughter and told David of her return as if it were good news, then Emma must have some measure of control over the Darkness. Regina knew the savior had great light magic but that didn't mean it couldn't be twisted.

A shudder ran down her spine, thinking of the feeling of Darkness snuffing the light from her body.

Henry. Robin. Roland. She thought of the people she cared for like a mantra in her head. The darkness won't have me again. But did it already have Emma?

"We don't know, she's been unconscious since we found her." Then they wouldn't know how she had been effected by the darkness in the last few weeks, if she was even still the same Emma. She could wake up an entirely different person than the one they knew before. She could be an uncontrollable force of darkness for all they knew.

Miss Swan's unconsciousness also meant that they still didn't know where she had been and why she returned; they wouldn't know until she woke up and could tell them if they had even been on the right track to finding her. Regina supposed that at the very least now, they might be able to convince her to use the added power of her magic to find the wizard.

"Have you told Henry?"

"I tried calling him but didn't get an answer, is he still at the mansion?"

Regina glanced down at her watch; she had left Henry with the pirate in the mansion hours ago. It wouldn't surprise her if they were still there, the two of them were alike in their drive to find Emma and even though she had expected Henry would be back by now, he recently had spent several long nights researching in that library. He must not have heard David call his phone.

"I left him there with Hook hours ago but I'll go get him. He'll want to see her right away." They both would, she imagined.

She quickly hung up with David assuring him she'd have Henry there in the next hour, she smiled thinking about how happy he would be to be. It was odd, that she could now be so happy to see her son reunited with his other mother. It would make him happy and that was what mattered most to her.

Regina breathed in, soon this would all be over, and they could all get on with their lives. She could live out her happy ending with Robin and maybe the town could finally go back to being the quiet, quaint place it was supposed to be.

Regina thought about how nice it would be to get a peaceful life with her true love Robin, her son Henry, Roland, and now Robin's second child. Zelena would always be in their life as the child's mother, but the witch would have to share her son or daughter with Robin and Regina, and Regina would get to help raise another child, like she had raised Henry. It was more than she ever expected, getting to raise a child with the man she loved, even if the circumstances were less than desirable.

Of course, first they still needed to find Merlin to relieve Emma of the Dark One's curse.

"Looks like we won't be needing your books to find Emma after all." Mr. Gold gazed back at Regina with a perplexed look on his face as he entered the room with a few new books, courtesy of Belle's searching, in his hands.

"And why is that, dearie?" He asked, setting his load on the counter and leaning heavily on his cane.

"David and Mary Margaret have found Emma. I'm leaving to tell Henry now." Regina didn't miss the spark in Gold's eyes when she gave him this news. He hadn't expected Emma to suddenly turn up in town, none of them had, and now his mind must be calculating his next move.

She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, wondering if she should have told him anything to begin with, maybe it would have been better if she had waited until after she had checked that Miss Swan was still herself before she let Gold in on her return. Too late for that now, she supposed.

"Why, that's wonderful news." Emma was safe with her parents for now, they wouldn't be letting her out of their sight after the past two weeks, and Gold was a powerless, crippled old man. He wouldn't be able to get past Snow White or her Prince to attempt anything on their daughter.

Satisfied enough that for now she could leave the former dark one to his shop, Regina grabbed her purse and left the shop.

If she had looked back, perhaps she would have seen Mr. Gold turning the pages through the book she had been reading.

Emma wasn't sure exactly where she was.

She remembered the old hag, Madam Mim, casting her spell, the odd language she had spoken as her voice had grown louder and louder, almost booming throughout the cave. Then a vortex had opened up in front of her and she had felt herself sucked in the same way she had been by the darkness, and then falling and falling until at last, there was nothing, and now here she was. Only she didn't know where "here" was.

She had made a deal with the witch so that she could be free of that cave and so that she could give herself and Henry their best chance at getting away from all the horrible things their life in Storybrooke seemed to bring them. She wasn't sure if Madam Mim had kept up her end of the bargain though or had simple thrown Emma into some new sort of prison or test.

In return for her aide, Emma had promised to bring Madam Mim her dagger for reason she was still unsure about. If the woman had been telling the truth then the trade could do her little harm and it would give her access to all the realms. With her new power, she and Henry could start a life anywhere. But then, Emma still couldn't completely trust the woman.

She couldn't trust anyone.

"Emma?" She heard a soft voice call out to her. A warm hand was stroking her face, she realized. "Oh Emma."

The voice was far kinder than the harsh, hawkish sound of Madam Mim's speech and the hand far gentler. It was then that Emma realized that she did, in fact, know where she was. She was in her own bed, in the loft she shared with her parents. Moreover, the unknown voice was not so unfamiliar; it was her mother talking to her.

As she concentrated on the feeling her mother's hand on her face, she thought she would have to plan her next moves carefully. She hadn't expected to run into anyone so soon upon returning to Storybrooke, evidently Madam Mim's portal between the realms was a rougher form of realm travel than she was used to. At least, now she knew the mad woman had been telling the truth about sending her back.

Her parents must have found her, wherever she had landed, she might've appeared on this very bed. If her mother knew she was here, then surely the whole town would know by now of her return. So much for slipping in and out quietly, she thought.

Maybe this could work though, upon her appearance in Camelot she knew her dagger was not with her but now that she was back in this realm, she could almost feel it in the air of the town calling out to her. Her parents might know where it was located and once they told her where it was, she could take her son and run.

She felt her mother stroke her cheek and she wished she could pull away from her. The affection made her stomach churn; this is the woman who abandoned me. My mother who replaced me. My mother who lied to me.

Emma had to feign sleep though, for just a little longer while she worked out her plan. Once she had the dagger and Henry, something told her that Madam Mim would be prepared to open her a portal back to Camelot, the old hag seemed to have a way of knowing such things. No need to worry about her escape then, no one in this town could follow them once they were in Camelot. Not even Regina, the woman who stole your son. The woman who ruined your life and disrupted every chance you had at a happy ending.

She would pretend to love them all. That's how she would get her dagger back.

Emma wasn't sure how long she had been in Camelot but they had all seen her disappear. Of course, they were a trusting bunch of heroes, they would want to see Emma for the precious little pushover she used to be, their savior. Never again. She would play the savior for them for now, just long enough to get what she needed and go.

They would want to believe her so badly; they would be like putty in her hands. Emma resisted the urge to smirk at the thought of how easy it would be to fool them all.

She took in a deep breath, and opened her eyes.