Hook… I Will Always Find You

Chapter Twenty-One

Meanwhile…

After Regina and Robin had left their friends once again in hope of being in time to save her father from her mother's cruel fate she had in store for him, they raced back to the fiery cave where Cora had sentenced Blacktooth to the hellfire now below them. Upon their arrival, Regina cried out for her father when she saw him standing on the edge of the cliff just where the criminal had stood before his death an hour before, then started running towards him until Cora suddenly appeared before her again in her cloud of purple smoke to block her path.

While she kept her eyes between her parents, Regina spoke to Cora as she curtly demanded, "Let him go, Mother."

The Queen's mother turned to face her daughter and disappointedly responded, "You should be on that boat."

"I can't turn my back on those I love," Regina despondently replied, with a shake of her head.

"I know that seems like the right choice, but life doesn't work that way," Cora answered sternly. "I implore you, leave this place."

Henry Sr. faced his daughter as well while he called out to her stating, "No, Regina. Stay here. Help your friends. She's trying to bait you."

The Queen responded, "I didn't come back just to help my friends. I came back to help everyone."

"That's not possible," her mother retorted curtly. "You have to trust me."

"Let him go," Regina pleaded with her once more.

Cora replied firmly, "Oh, please listen to reason. Listen to me. Either way, my time in the Underworld is done. Yours can be, too. Just do what I say."

Regina turned her head to look back at the man she loved while she spoke to him quietly saying, "Robin, stand back."

"Please don't force my hand," the villainess pleaded with her daughter again when Regina stepped closer towards her, even though Cora knew then she was going to lose this argument. "I don't want to do this."

"Then don't," the Mayor pleaded back.

Cora looked at her again darkly and then whispered, "I'm sorry."

It was then that she suddenly used her magic to command the fire to surround her husband and her daughter's father while Regina immediately rushed forward to try to help him until she was suddenly blocked by a barrier of fire, then Regina screamed, "No!"

"One day, you'll understand," Cora said quietly to Regina once more when the younger woman turned around again to face her, then finally magicked herself away.

"Daddy!" the former Evil Queen cried fearfully as she turned back to her father with tears streaming down her face while he continued to become consumed by the fire from the pit below him. "I'm so sorry."

However, the fire still surrounding him suddenly vanished and Regina looked on at him with confusion as she uttered, "Daddy?"

Henry raised his hand out to her to keep her back while he stated firmly, "Stop. Stay there. I'm okay."

"What's happening?" she asked in worry.

"I don't know," he answered quietly while he looked in front of him and beneath his feet into the fires which faded into something more, when a walkway extended from the cliff's edge where Regina's father stood, to a bright white light that suddenly appeared before them so he could move on. "There's… something down here. It's so… it's beautiful. It's where I belong."

However, before he walked towards the light, Henry Sr. turned back to face Regina again and walked towards her, then he spoke again tenderly saying, "I know what my unfinished business was now. It was you."

Regina looked at him strangely as she questioned, "Me?"

"For so long, I let your mother get in the way of who you really are," her father continued sadly. "It was the biggest regret of my life. But now… you're free of her. And I've never been more proud."

"Hello," Robin then stated as he stepped forward to stand with the woman he loved when she started to cry again with joy, then the archer extended his hand out to her father. "I'm Robin Hood. And… I'm in love with your daughter. She's an amazing woman, Sir. Thanks to you."

Henry smiled as he shook the archer's hand and responded, "It's a pleasure and a joy to meet you, son. Thank you, for loving my daughter."

Regina finally stopped crying enough so she could speak again as she laid her hand over her father's shoulder and whispered, "Daddy… Oh, I really wish you could have met your grandson. I named him Henry. I named him after you. He's thirteen now. You would have loved him, as he would have loved you. He really wanted to come, but…"

"…but the Underworld is no place for a boy," Henry Sr. finished for her. "I'm so happy for you, Regina. A father could not be happier for his daughter, than I am for you."

"You take good care of her," he added when he looked at the archer once more, then glanced again towards his entrance to heaven before he faced Regina in finality. "It's time for me to go."

She sadly replied, "Daddy, no."

He reached out his hand in order to caress her cheek gently while he answered, "I love you, Regina. Never forget… who you really are."

"Okay," the Queen responded sincerely, then she and Robin watched on as Henry moved on by crossing the bridge into heaven, tears still streaming down her face while she continued to cry in silence.

"Come on," the archer finally said once her father was gone and then pulled the woman he loved into his arms to hold her so he could comfort her. "We should get back to our friends so we can help them save Hook. Just like your father would want."

She smiled at Robin when she pulled her head back so she could look into his eyes, then replied, "You're right. Let's go find them. And Robin… thank you again for being here with me right now. I'm happy my father was at least able to meet you before he moved on."

He leaned in to kiss her, then when he pulled back, Robin answered, "I'm proud to have met him too. I see where your strength and love comes from. You have more of your father in you than you have of your mother. Don't ever forget that."

She laughed, then without any more hesitation, Regina raised her hand and waved it above them as they vanished within her own smoke cloud so they return to the others who were about to embark on their own dangerous mission. They only hoped they would be in time to save Hook too.