Author's Notes: A double update today because I felt a little bad for not updating for a few weeks! Sorry! Hope you guys are sticking with me on this one, it's about to get interesting...

Regina woke up several times throughout the night, her dreams waking her up with her heart racing and her body covered in a light sheen of sweat each time.

The dreams felt far too real and far too confusing at the same time. Each time, just before she woke up with a jolt, she woke up in her dream in a strange bed, in a strange little barren room to endless echoes of screams bouncing off the dreary green walls. It wasn't the unfamiliarity of the place in her dreams, it was the too real feeling of being restrained, it was the cuffs around her wrists and ankles biting into her chaffed skin, that made her wake up in a panic.

When she gave up, it was just before four. Each time she fell back asleep, the dreams had become more and more real and she woke up even more disoriented than the last time. It became a never-ending cycle and one she gave up on a little too late. It took her an hour after going about her usual morning routine to remember that it was the last Friday of the month and she always took that Friday off work and allowed Henry the afternoon off of school so that they could spend some quality time with one another.

It was going to be different this time. Instead of lunch at Granny's and a trip to the store to buy new comic books they'd end up reading together afterward, they had some planning to do on how to keep Emma from leaving Storybrooke.

How different things were just from two days ago where Regina feared what Emma's presence in Storybrooke would do to Henry, to the others she interacted with, and to the curse. The more she thought about it, the less she knew when things had changed exactly and the less she knew of when and why her thoughts and feelings had shifted too.

The thoughts about how much things had changed in a matter of day made her forget about her restless night and the dreams she'd had as she moved around the kitchen, wiping down the already pristinely clean counter while she waited for the coffee to brew. She wasn't even bothered by the fact that Elizabeth had denied her their usual nightly encounter, though when her thoughts shifted to the other blonde woman who had become a fixture in her life, her body reminded her that it had not had the release it always so desperately needed and the release that only Elizabeth Crane had been able to give her over the years.

After Regina made her first cup of coffee, she retreated to the study and turned on the lamp on the desk, illuminating the dark room with a soft, warm glow. She sat down at her desk, sipping her hot coffee as she looked at the few papers she had neatly stacked just off to the side. She pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance at forgetting to get the work done, and as she kept her eyes closed, she felt the ghosting of restraints pull at her wrists and ankles. She snapped her eyes open and shook her head.

"It was only just a dream," she murmured to herself. "Just a dream, Regina. Just a dream."

[X]

Emma woke up with a start and she was breathing heavily as she tried to take in the unfamiliar surroundings of Beth and Mary Margaret's loft. She groaned quietly as she sat up on the floor, her back aching from sleeping on the partially deflated air mattress all night, and she checked on Riley who was still sleeping soundly next to her on the couch.

Emma had always experienced vivid dreams, more so in a new and unfamiliar place, but never like she had just experienced. She had woken up in her dream in another unfamiliar place, in a too small bed with scratchy sheets and in a room with bland green walls and bars on the windows with a door that didn't have a handle on the inside. It had been the echoes of screams she'd heard that had woken her up because it sounded so near yet so far, muted by the walls and the thick door.

She quietly made her way through the darkness to the bathroom by the kitchen and once the door was shut, she turned on the light, blinking to adjust to the difference and she turned on the tap, watching the water run for a moment before splashing some onto her face to wake her up properly.

As vivid as her dreams were, she usually dreamt of places she'd been before in the past, places that held nothing but unpleasant memories and sometimes good ones. Yet, the place she'd just been in her dream was not somewhere she'd been before, not in her waking world at least, and it left a feeling of hopelessness, loneliness lingering. It also had that lingering feeling of familiarity that left her feeling unsettled. Rattled.

A knock jarred her from her thoughts and she turned off the tap, using the hem of her white t-shirt to dab at her face as she opened it slowly.

"You're up early," Mary Margaret said quietly. "Would you like me to start some coffee?"

"Yeah, yeah that'd be great," Emma nodded. "What would be even better is if I could get a clean towel? I really need to have a shower. Wakes me up properly, you know?"

"There is a stack over there," Mary Margaret said as she pointed over at the stack of folded white towels on a small table in the corner of the bathroom. "Help yourself to whatever you need in here, Emma. But…" She trailed off and laughed awkwardly. "It is the only bathroom we have and Beth will be up soon."

"I'll be quick."

"And Riley?"

"She won't wake up for a while yet. That kid can sleep through just about anything really. You don't need to worry about her."

"Okay."

Emma stayed true to her word, her shower quick and just under eight minutes. She was surprised to find clean clothes folded and laid out on the sink by the door when she stepped out of the tub, but never one to kick a gift-horse in the mouth, she dressed and walked out of the bathroom with the towel in hand, drying her hair.

"I guess one perk of having a twin is being the same size and never having to worry about not having clean clothes," Emma chuckled lightly as she looked over at Mary Margaret. "Thanks."

"It was Beth," she replied as she cupped her mug with both hands and blew at the hot coffee just as Beth whizzed by and into the bathroom. "Right on schedule too."

Emma laughed and noticed another mug on the counter. After draping the towel on the back of a chair at the table to dry, she added a little bit of milk and sugar to the coffee and picked it up, greedily sipping the hot liquid like it was her lifeline.

"Are you always up early?" Mary Margaret asked and Emma shrugged, taking another sip of her coffee before exhaling sharply.

"When I'm not in my own bed I'm always up early."

The lie was easy enough. She did not want to discuss her dreams with a complete stranger and definitely not before seven in the morning either.

Mary Margaret smiled a little before placing her mug down on the counter and moved to grab another and poured what was left in the small pot of coffee in it. She poured a little milk and three spoonful's of sugar and she just finished stirring it as the bathroom door opened. Emma watched as Beth walked out, rubbing at her eyes tiredly as she reached out for the mug that Mary Margaret held out towards her.

"Thanks, Mare."

"What time do you have to be at the station?"

"Not until ten."

"And you're up this early why?" Mary Margaret asked and Emma watched as Beth blinked before shrugging her shoulders.

"No idea. Habit," she said with another shrug before turning to Emma. "Why don't we go for breakfast at the diner? That way we can spend a little time together before you and Riley leave? My treat?"

"Sure," Emma said with a nod. "But you don't have to pay for us, Beth. I already owe you enough as it is."

"Don't worry about it, Em. Pay me back whenever. Call it an incentive for you to come back to Storybrooke, yeah?"

Emma laughed. "Sure, if you say so."

"Are you going to join us, Mare?"

"No, I'm volunteering at the hospital before school this morning," Mary Margaret replied. "I always do on Friday morning."

"She has a crush on the John Doe there," Beth whispered but Mary Margaret heard it plain and clear, her face instantly red. "He's been in a coma forever and nobody knows who he is."

"Oh?"

"I don't have a crush on him!" Mary Margaret exclaimed, the pitch in her voice giving it away that she was in complete denial. "He has nobody else and I leave him a flower just as I do with all of the other patients."

"I think that's why she's always going there," Beth chuckled and she blew a kiss at the cold, hard stare Mary Margaret gave her. "I saw him a few times when I was there. He is kind of cute, you know, for a coma patient and all."

"He's just a patient, like the others—"

"Nobody knows who he is, what his name is, where he's from," Beth continued. "Story is that Regina found him at the side of the road unconscious one night. He nearly died. He would've if it hadn't been for her."

"Is that right?" Emma asked. "She saved this guy?"

"Basically."

"And you've got a crush on him?"

"I don't!"

"Mare, the kid is still sleeping," Beth hushed at her and Mary Margaret scoffed in annoyance. "And yes, she totally has a crush on John Doe!"

"I hate you."

Emma loved the dynamic between Beth and Mary Margaret. They weren't only roommates, they were best friends, practically family, and a part of her was so very envious of that. She'd never had a friend like that her whole life, she'd never stayed in one place long enough to have that. The night before had been filled with nothing but laughter and it made Emma crave to have that in her life too. Beth and Mary Margaret made her feel like she was a part of their little roommate family in a sense and it had been so effortless on their part. Riley even felt at home there with them and she knew that once they were back home in Boston, Riley would definitely miss them endlessly.

The plan was to get on the road before ten that morning and be back in Boston early in the afternoon, early enough that Emma hoped she could swing around to her boss' office and hope to hell she still had a job. The week had been an interesting one to say the least, and as crazy as it had been from the moment Henry showed up at her door, she almost didn't want the week and her time in Storybrooke to end just yet.

"Emma?"

Emma turned to look at Beth as she sipped her coffee. "Yeah?"

"Emma?" This time it wasn't Beth speaking. Emma blinked a couple of times as the room started to become blurry. "Emma, open your eyes."

"They are open!" Emma said, but her voice was muffled and her mouth suddenly felt dry.

"Emma?"

When Emma blinked, a blinding white light was suddenly shining in her eyes and her body felt heavy, sedated almost, and her mouth grew impossibly drier. She choked back a sob when she felt a needle slide into her arm and then the rush of liquid flowing into her vein. The light in her eyes suddenly disappeared and she blinked several times as the room came into focus.

"Emma?" An unfamiliar woman asked as she leaned in towards her. "There you are."

"What?"

"Emma? Can you hear me?" She asked and Emma barely managed to nod her head, whatever had been injected into her body was making everything feel a thousand times heavier. "Do you know where you are, Emma?"

"N—no."

The woman turned to look at the two men standing behind her and she shook her head. "Emma, you are at The Stonybrooke Institute. You have been here for a very long time. Do you remember why?"

"What?" Emma felt her heart begin to race at the woman's words and she shook her head. "I'm dreaming."

"Do you remember why you are here?"

"No. No. I'm dreaming. This is just a dream. Wake up," she muttered under her breath. "You're not real! This isn't real!"

"Dr. Fuller, I don't think the new medication worked," one of the men said as he put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "She's—"

"This is the first time she's responded in years, Frank. Years! She's never showed recognition to her name, not since she—"

"I know," the man said and Emma struggled to keep her eyes open, but the lids felt heavy and the room was beginning to blur. "We'll try again another day with a different dosage. We're almost there, Karen. Almost."

Emma, confused and scared, tried to move, but with her body feeling so heavy and sedated, she couldn't will her body to cooperate. The people in front of her suddenly turned their attention back to her, but she couldn't hear them as they spoke this time and like before, the room started to grow fuzzy, fading, feeling like that moment in a dream when she was falling into nothingness.

Emma was panicking as her body started tingling, almost as if it were just waking up after a long sleep. Slowly her vision began to clear and the darkness, the nothingness began to fade away. She felt the warmth of her coffee mug in her hands and when she blinked her eyes, she found that she was sitting on the couch in Beth and Mary Margaret's apartment with Riley on her lap talking animatedly to her.

"Riles?" Emma whispered and Riley looked at her in confusion. "What were you saying, baby girl?"

"I want to go see Miss Carla! Tell her about Henry! And Beth!" Riley exclaimed. "Can we, Mommy?"

"Sure, baby, we can go see Miss Carla later."

"You okay?" Beth asked and Emma turned to look at her as Beth sat down in the armchair. "Em?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay?" She asked again and Emma nodded though she was unsure if she was okay or not. "Are you sure?"

"No," Emma sighed and she ran her fingers through Riley's curly hair and leaned forward to place a kiss on her forehead. "I—I don't know what's going on, must not have slept as well as I thought last night."

"Okay," Beth said and Emma watched her cast a glance over at Mary Margaret who was still standing in the kitchen. "Well, I'm going to jump in the shower and then we can go for breakfast."

"I want pancakes and waffles!" Riley smiled up at Emma. "Can I have both, Mommy?"

"That's a whole lot of food, Riles," Emma chuckled. "Where are you going to put it all?"

"In my tummy, silly."

"How about I'll get the waffles, you can get the pancakes, and we'll share?" Emma suggested and Riley shook her head with a pout that melted Emma's heart. "Why not?"

"Don't want to."

Emma felt an ache in her arm and she ran her fingers over the spot, frowning when she saw the small pinprick just over her vein. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to shake off what had happened mere minutes before, but the things she had felt, seen and heard wouldn't leave her mind.

But the one thing that unsettled her as she thought back to that room she'd been in, she knew she'd been there before. In the dream that she'd woken up from, the dream that felt like a nightmare.

[X]

It was definitely not just a dream. Regina found herself back in that room, but she knew she wasn't sleeping. She'd been at her desk, drinking her morning coffee and going over paperwork she had yet to finish, when suddenly, as if by magic, she was pulled elsewhere, into that room she'd been in during her dreams.

This time, she wasn't alone. A woman stood by the door with a clipboard in hand, glasses perched on the top of her head and pen scribbling furiously. Regina tried to move, but her wrists and ankles were bound, restrained. As she blinked, her vision grew clearer and she could feel her body moving lethargically against the hard bed and the tight restraints.

"Dr. Fuller?" A man said as he entered the room. "I have the correct dosage here for you."

"Perfect."

Regina tried to move again as the woman approached the bed, syringe in hand. She placed the clipboard on the small table beside the bed and placed her hand on Regina's left arm. The touch was cold and she shuddered. The reaction pulled a gasp from the woman and she turned to look at the man lingering in the doorway.

"Regina?"

"W—wh—"

"Regina, can you hear me?" The woman asked and Regina tried again to speak, but nothing came out but a whoosh of air. "Regina, nod your head or blink if you can understand me."

She tried to nod, but her head just lolled to the side on the small pillow. She licked her dry, cracked lips and blinked a few times in hope that it was enough. She tried again to speak, but she couldn't as her tongue felt too heavy and swollen in her mouth.

"Regina," the woman said softly and she gave her arm a gentle little squeeze. "Do you know where you are?"

No, Regina thought and she stayed still. Panic was starting to creep up from deep within when she felt the woman squeeze her arm again, just a gently as she had before.

"Dr. Fuller," the man in the doorway said. "We should try the dosage and see if she is any more responsive in a few minutes."

"It won't be necessary if she is responsive now, Frank."

"It worked on the other patient."

"Yes, just for a few minutes, but it didn't work as we had anticipated," she replied and she looked back down at Regina before she slid the needle into her arm carefully. "Regina, we're trying something new. You might feel better and more like yourself in a moment," she said in a voice that reminded Regina too much of a parent speaking to a young child and not a grown adult. "Do you remember the last time we tried?"

The last time? Regina tried to shake her head as she felt the rush of a liquid flowing into her vein as the woman emptied the syringe into her.

"You reacted violently, which is why you are still in restraints," the woman said and she shook her head as she removed the needle.

Suddenly, Regina felt that same pull that had brought her there to that room, but she stayed right where she was as every inch of her body began to tingle and the heaviness started to fade away. She licked her lips and groaned quietly, but when she tried to lift her head, she found she had a little more control than she had just moments ago. She balled her hands into tight fists and gasped as she pulled hard at the restraints.

"Whe—where a—am I?" Regina croaked, her voice harsh and low as if she hadn't spoken in a very long time. It hurt to speak, but it was better than not being able to speak at all. "Where a—am I?"

"You're in The Stonybrooke Institute," the woman replied and she pulled out a small penlight from her white jacket pocket and clicked it on. "You have been here since you were a young child. Do you remember that?"

"That is im—impossible."

The woman shook her head as she shone the light into Regina's eyes, checking for her responsiveness before she clicked the light off and slipped it back into her pocket. "A few months ago, you stopped speaking, you stopped eating, and eventually you stopped responding to any and all stimulation. We're trying to figure out why this happened, Regina. How do you feel?"

Regina shook her head and pulled against the restraints. How did she feel? Like a caged animal fighting for its life. When she tried to speak, her tongue suddenly felt heavy and swollen in her mouth again and she groaned as her body began to grow weak, weaker than it'd felt before whatever the woman had injected into her had started to work.

Wave after wave of nausea hit her, but she couldn't move. She felt like she was choking on her own bile and everything began to blur together, from the sounds of the woman and man in the room shouting at one another to get her out of the restraints, to the endless wave of nausea that rolled through her body.

The moment the restraints were removed from her wrists, she rolled onto her side, shaking uncontrollably as the bile projected out of her mouth and onto the floor. Hot tears fell from her eyes as she willed her body to stop, but the nausea just continued as did the bile that continued to come out.

Her stomach felt tight, her throat raw, the bile burning her dry cracked lips, and a sweat broke out over her entire body suddenly. Never in her life did she wish for her magic than she did in that moment, wanting nothing more than to whisk herself away from the nightmare she'd fallen into…

[X]

Henry pulled on his school uniform navy sweater and smoothed out his hair before he headed downstairs. Every Friday morning he woke up to the delicious smell of eggs and bacon cooking in the kitchen, but that smell was strangely absent as he made his way into the empty kitchen.

"Mom?" Henry called out, noticing the nearly full pot of coffee on the counter. "Mom?"

She knew she was still in the house since her heels were sitting near the front door and her purse was still on the dining room table where she'd moved it after dinner the night before. He knew she wasn't still in bed because the coffee was fresh and still steaming hot. With a puzzled frown, he made his way to the study and found his mother sitting at the desk doing paperwork.

"Mom?"

Regina turned to look up at him but she didn't say a word. She didn't smile either, which he found unusual too. It took her a few minutes before she took a deep breath.

"Hello, Henry."

"What are you doing?" Henry asked. "Paperwork?"

Regina paused to look down at the papers before nodding. "Yes, dear. Just catching up on some things."

"Are we going to have breakfast?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Now, dear."

"Okay," Henry said slowly as he backed up towards the doorway. She was definitely acting weird and he had an unsettled feeling about the way she was acting too. "Can we have apple pancakes this morning?"

"Yes."

"Right," Henry nodded. "Do you want me to get started?"

"If you'd like to, yes."

Henry left the study then, but he grabbed the cordless phone, headed into the sitting room off to the other side of the dining room, and dialed a number quickly while keeping an eye on the doorway in case his mother came looking for him.

"Hey, Hen," Beth said when she answered her phone after the third ring. "What's up?"

"Beth," Henry whispered. "There's something wrong with my mom."

"What?" Beth sounded worried. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"She's—I don't know, Beth, but there's something not right!"

"What do you mean, Hen? What's wrong?"

"I don't know, Beth. I don't know, but—but can you come over now? I have a really bad feeling."

"Henry, talk to me," Beth said calmly. "What's wrong with your mom?"

"I don't know!" Henry cried out and he clamped a hand over his mouth, worried that his mother would hear him and come before he could tell Beth anything. "She's just…I don't know, Beth. It's like she's there, but she's not there."

"You're confusing me," Beth replied. "What do you mean by that exactly? What is she doing?"

"She was just sitting at her desk. She's—" Henry cut himself off when he heard the clack of her heels on the floor out in the foyer. "Can you please just come over, Beth? I'm telling you, there's something wrong with my mom and I—I don't want to be alone with her right now. What if she does something?"

"What would she do, Hen? She would never hurt you. You know that, don't you?"

"I know but—please, Beth? Please come over?"

"I'll be there in a bit, Hen. I just got out of the shower."

"Thank you," he said before he hung up the phone just as his mother walked through the dining room and came to a stop beside the table.

He watched her carefully, lingering just around the corner of the wall, out of her line of sight. She just stood there, staring blankly ahead for almost five minutes before she walked into the kitchen, her steps and every movement very stiff and very unlike her at all. He groaned quietly and stayed back while he hugged the cordless phone to his chest.

Hurry up, Beth, he thought as he trembled at the sound of his mother's voice calling his name stiffly. Please hurry, Beth.

Nothing scared him more than the way his mother was acting this morning. Not even knowing she was the Evil Queen had scared him, but this was different and he didn't even know what was happening or what had happened to her. Last night before bed, she'd been perfectly fine, her usual self. But now? Now she was acting like a pod-person, a shell of herself and that alone was scarier than anything else in the whole world.

Henry slipped out of the sitting room and to the den so he could be near the front door when Beth showed up. He paced the floor by the window, looking out every couple of minutes to see if Beth had pulled up yet in either the cruiser or on her bike. Each minute felt like forever had passed and when he spotted the police cruiser pull up to the sidewalk in front of the gate, he signed in relief, but the relief was short-lived as he turned to find his mother standing in the doorway, staring at him.

"Mom?" Henry tried tentatively. "What are you doing, Mom?"

Regina stood there, unmoving, and with that same blank stare he'd seen before when she was in the dining room. A knock sounded on the front door before the doorbell rang, and that seemed to snap Regina out of it. She turned to walk to the front door, but Henry was quick on his feet, rushing past her and he reached the door before her. He yanked it open and stared up at Beth.

"Hey—"

"Beth, she's really acting weird," Henry said in a rush. "I don't know what's wrong with her. She was fine last night!"

"Hey, Regina," Beth said as she looked over the top of Henry's head. "Sorry to show up so early. I was in the neighborhood, decided to stop by when I saw the lights on."

Henry turned to look back at his mother, but she just stood at the top of the stairs that led into the foyer, unmoving, silent. He turned back to Beth with wide eyes.

"See?" He whispered. "I told you!"

"Regina?" Beth asked and she stepped past Henry, pausing to turn to look down at him. "Why don't you go upstairs, Hen? I'm going to talk to her, find out what's going on."

"But—"

"Just go to your room, Henry," Beth said softly. "I'll come up and see you after I talk to her, okay?"

Henry did as he was asked, but he didn't go to his room, just stayed hidden out of sight at the top of the stairs. He could hear from where he crouched, but as they couldn't see him, he couldn't see them either.

"Regina?" Beth asked. "Are you all right?"

Silence. Henry bit his lip and grabbed on to the spindles tightly as he leaned forward.

"Regina? Hey?"

"Hello," Regina finally replied in a low, monotone voice.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, dear."

Henry frowned and pressed his forehead against the wood spindles, fearing he wasn't hearing their entire conversation. After a few minutes, he saw his mother enter the foyer fully and he backed away a little as Beth came into sight a few seconds later. He watched Beth walk up to his mother and place a hand on her shoulder, but Regina remained unresponsive to the touch.

"Regina?" Beth asked and she moved to stand in front of her with a worried look falling over her features. "Hey, you know you don't have to hide anything from me right? What's going on?"

"Nothing, dear," Regina replied blandly. "Will you stay for breakfast this morning?"

"Uh—no, no I can't. I have somewhere I need to be. Regina," Beth paused as she stepped a little closer to her and Henry watched as his mother remained unresponsive. "I'm worried about you. Henry is worried about you."

Regina didn't say a word as she walked away and headed to the dining room and into the kitchen. Henry watched Beth just shake her head and run her fingers through her damp, curly hair. She turned and looked up at Henry and laughed softly before she headed up the stairs and Henry backed away from the railing and stood up.

"What's wrong with her?" Henry asked quietly. "There's something wrong with her, isn't there?"

"I don't know, Hen, but you were right. She is acting weird. Are you sure she was okay last night?"

"Yeah, she was fine," Henry frowned. "She told me everything, Beth, about the curse, about who she truly is, about everyone in this town too! She didn't deny anything, though she told me that the book is wrong about her because it doesn't tell her whole story."

"She told you?"

"Yes!"

"Hen—"

"She wants me to help break the curse. She needs Emma to stay in Storybrooke so she can break the curse. She's the Savior, Beth. Only she can do it!"

"She's the Savior?" Beth asked. "You're positive about that?"

"Yes, it says so in my book. She's the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and it is her destiny to return here to save everyone from the Evil Queen's dark curse. They put her in that wardrobe to save her so that one day she could save them too!"

"What if the book is wrong, Hen?"

"It's not," he replied, making sure to keep his voice low. "She told me that it was true, that Emma is the Savior that will break the curse this town has been under for the last twenty-eight years."

Henry could see the hurt in Beth's eyes and he couldn't imagine what was going through her mind. She too was the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, but they hadn't saved her like they had saved Emma, and she wasn't the Savior either. She wasn't even written into the book and now Henry wanted to know why and he was sure that Beth wanted the same answers too now.

"How is she supposed to break the curse, Hen? There is no magic here, there has never been and there—"

"Mom said there is magic, very little of it, and that any curse can be broken whether we're in a magical realm or not."

"But how?"

"Just how any curse is broken!" Henry said, but he didn't smile because it suddenly dawned on him that it would be impossible. "Any curse can be broken with True Love's Kiss, Beth. Emma just has to find her true love—"

"What makes you so sure her true love is in Storybrooke?"

"I—I don't know," he frowned. "If it is destined, then he has to be here!"

"He?" Beth questioned. "You know a true love can be anyone, right, Hen? Whether it's between a mother and their child, between friends, it doesn't mean it has to be someone she loves romantically."

"Oh," Henry said and he shook his head as he reached out for Beth's hand. "We have to find a way to keep her here in Storybrooke, Beth. We just have to."

"How are you going to do that?" Beth asked. "She's leaving this morning to go back to Boston with Riley."

"We need to find a way to stop her."

"Henry, we can't," Beth sighed. "Emma needs to go home with Riley. They have a life in Boston. You understand that, don't you? The only reason they've been here all week is because you found her and she brought you home. She ran into some car trouble. If she hadn't, she would've left that very same night she dropped you off here at home."

"She tried to cross the line," Henry said as he let go of Beth's wrist. "She came here because she was destined to and the magic of the curse wouldn't let her leave, Beth. Do you think that'll happen again when she tries to leave today?"

"Henry, I don't think it works like that."

"But it does! Nobody can ever leave! Haven't you ever noticed that before? Nobody ever leaves and nobody new ever comes here. It's the curse. Have you ever tried to leave Storybrooke, Beth?"

"No, I've never had a reason to," Beth replied. "But that doesn't mean that I can't leave, Henry."

"My mom can leave."

"Why do you think that is?"

"Because she's the one who cast the curse. It doesn't affect her like it does with everyone else. Maybe it won't affect you either because you grew up while everyone else stayed the same."

"Henry—"

"Come on, Beth, you know I'm right! You know the truth. You've known the truth longer than I have, haven't you?"

Beth shook her head. "Look, I came over because you had me worried that something was wrong with your mom. I have to go, Henry. Call me if she doesn't snap out of it, okay?"

"But Beth!"

"Maybe she's just tired this morning," Beth said as she backed away from him and headed to the top of the stairs. "We all have our off-days, you know?" She shrugged and shook her head. "Emma was a bit off this morning too. I think it's just been a long week for everyone and—"

"Emma was off too? Like Mom is?"

"I don't know, Hen, but look, I won't be far today, okay? I'll come and check on her in a few hours. I don't know if she isn't telling me anything because you're home or what, but I promise you I'll figure out what's going on one way or another, okay?"

All Henry could do then was watch Beth as she walked down the stairs and headed out the front door. He went into his room, careful not to slam the door as hot tears filled his eyes and his body shook in frustration and in fear, in sadness, and in hopelessness too.

[X]

Regina paced the small room, thankful she was no longer restrained to the bed, but the screams she'd heard before continued at random intervals, echoing through the halls and off the walls in the room she was locked away in. The nausea had passed and she had been left alone and unrestrained in the room without any answers as to where she was or what the hell was going on.

Her view out of the tiny barred window didn't show much else other than endless of miles of trees, trees that were changing color with the season. She tried to look elsewhere, but the window didn't provide much of a view at all, though she did determine that she was on the fifth floor of the building given the height and the view that looked just overtop the canopy of trees.

Regina didn't stop pacing though the linoleum floor was cold on her bare feet and the white pajama pants and t-shirt she wore were stiff and scratchy against her skin. Her hair was still the same length, but the texture wasn't as soft as she was used to, and there was no comb in sight in the small room she could use to untangle the knots that had formed at the back of her head.

Now that her head was a bit clearer, she did all she could to keep from panicking. It had been a dream before, one she woke up from, but this time she couldn't seem to wake herself up, and she was trapped there, wherever she was, trapped and locked in a room she couldn't get out of. Where was she? Why was she there? Why couldn't she just wake up?

After ten minutes of pacing, she shivered and crawled onto the bed, pulling up the white sheet around her body to try and starve off the slight chill that had entered the room. She knew that wherever she was, she was a patient, and the room looked much like the ones in the basement of Storybrooke's hospital where she kept those few locked away as mental patients. Was that what she was? A patient? Locked away for all eternity because she could never function or survive in the world outside like a normal human being?

Why hadn't she woken up in this place before? Was it truly just a nightmare she couldn't wake herself up from? If it wasn't a nightmare, was it a spell of sorts that was triggered by something or someone? It would drive her maddeningly insane if she allowed it, and she wasn't going to let it get to that point. If she lost what control she had over the thoughts in her mind, she wasn't sure what would happen.

She closed her tired eyes as she heard a familiar howl of a wolf just off in the distance. She knew she had to figure out what was going on, but she had no idea where she'd even start.