The Queen is Dead

"Careful, love," Killian warned, his one arm wrapped around Lyssa's waist as he helped her keep balance, the girl leaning over an opening in a panel reaching for the minute hand of the clock, not willing to wait till it got closer.

"Sorry!" she called, "Almost…got it!' she cheered, letting him pull her back. She threw her arms around him, spinning to hug him, very, very careful not to cut in with the dagger clenched firmly in her hand, "Thank you, Killian."

"No need to thank me, love," he pulled away, smiling at her, "Cora or the Crocodile having possession of this thing is not something anyone wants."

Lyssa nodded at that. She stepped away and moved over to where she'd placed her 'purse' as Regina had called it. It was a small 'clutch purse,' a little bit of fabric meant to hold her possessions while she was out and about. She didn't have much in it, just a key to Regina's house…though she had never needed keys before. She still kept it, because it meant something more to her in this world. Back in the Enchanted Forest, she'd never felt right keeping the key to Regina's room with her. It would be too easy for someone to take and use to get to her mother who, for most of that time, had just been starting to learn her magic. And, once she'd become the Evil Queen, it would be too easy for someone to steal it and use it to get into her room to assassinate her. There was also the notion that the key had belonged to Leopold, it wasn't REGINA's home, it wasn't her castle, it wasn't a place she would have wanted to stay, so it never felt right to keep it.

Here though, it was Regina's home and house, it was a trust and a symbol of always being welcome. And now she had something more secure to hold it in, so she'd kept the key. There was also a 'cellphone' that Regina had given her, with the woman's number in it as well as numbers for the very important areas of the town. The hospital and the sheriff's department. Not that she ever thought she'd call Emma Swan for help, the girl being the sheriff of Storybrooke, but her mother had insisted that the number remain. Whatever Emma's feelings were against Regina or anyone else, she'd hoped that, if there was ever a true danger, Emma would put aside her feelings and uphold the law.

There was just enough room in the clutch for the Dagger to fit.

"Now, we've got the Dagger, all we have left is getting my hook."

Lyssa nodded and looked at him, holding the clutch in front of her, "If the sheriff took it from you, it's probably in their office here."

"Aye," Killian agreed, "Once I've got that, I can finally get my revenge on the Crocodile."

This was probably the only time he would have to go after Rumpelstiltskin while he was mortal and vulnerable. The only time he'd be able to end the man without needing to use the dagger. That was something he desperately wanted to avoid having to use. To kill the Dark One using the dagger made the holder turn into the next Dark One. He'd spent his life hating and loathing the creature, he did NOT want to become that monster. As far as he was concerned, there was no room for love in the heart of one so dark, regardless of what the croc had fooled himself into thinking he felt for Belle. And he had something to live for now, someone that his heart beat for, he did not want to risk losing his ability to love Lyssa over the imp.

He knew, to most, his quest would seem pointless. He wanted revenge against the Dark One for killing the woman he loved, but he loved another now. Why should he enact his revenge when his heart had healed enough to love someone else? Those people didn't understand. One love did not erase another, Milah would always have a place in his heart, the same way Lyssa would have a place, different though both women were. He loved them in separate ways and for different reasons. The gain of one didn't void the loss of another.

What's more…Lyssa understood.

He had spoken to her, once, about his revenge against the Dark One, why he wanted it, what it meant to him. And he'd offered to give it up if that was what she wanted. Because she was someone he loved now, and if his revenge, his quest in memory of another lover before her, upset her or made her feel poorly about herself or doubt his love for her…he would stop. He had lost one love to the Dark One, he hadn't wanted to lose another over the Dark One, even if it was over revenge.

Lyssa had merely given him a tight hug and thanked him for the offer, but expressed that she would never ask that of him. He learned more about Regina during that time he spent with Lyssa on his ship. How Lyssa had wanted nothing more than for her mother to be happy again, after the loss of her own love, how she wanted her mother to have love back in her life. More love than a mere child could provide. She hadn't been blind to her mother's efforts to ensure her daughter grew with the ability and strength and courage to love with her whole heart, that she would not be scarred or damaged from what Cora had done. Lyssa had been very aware of Regina's efforts, and she had wanted to return that sentiment, to try and find ways to encourage her mother to love.

But just because she wanted her mother to be happy and open to love again, it didn't mean she would ever want her mother to forget Daniel. That hurt that came with the loss of someone you deeply loved would never go away. Yes, she wanted her mother to be happy, but she also understood that her mother did not want Snow White to get away with doing to Regina what she had, the girl needed to learn a lesson and understand consequences that came with actions. Daniel was a good man who deserved to be avenged from the death he'd suffered and those who caused it.

As did Milah. The Dark One had taken something from him that hurt him deeply and if revenge was something he felt he needed, he should be able to have it. The Dark One should not be able to get away with murder in such a way, to do so just to hurt others around him. Whatever Milah had done in her past, however much it hurt to have her leave her family, she didn't think the woman deserved to DIE for it. She knew her mother hadn't planned to fully kill Snow White either, death was never the epitome of revenge, there could be no lesson learned if one was dead. Snow White had caused harm to her mother and suffered no repercussions for it, Regina hadn't had the ability or power to do so until much later in her life. The same was true for the Dark One, he killed someone Killian loved and had suffered no consequence for it. It wasn't right, in her mind, especially when Villains seemed to suffer nothing but consequences for harm caused.

It was one reason, he knew, why Lyssa had a more difficult time supporting or understanding the things the Dark One did as opposed to Regina. The Dark One had done everything for selfish reasons, he had caused all the hurt he himself felt, yet used others as a way to try and help himself. He was the reason behind Regina becoming the Evil Queen, yet Regina was blamed for everything when all her life had been manipulated by Cora and then Rumpelstiltskin. The Dark One also hurt other people for the sake of hurting them, like with Milah, hurting her for the sake of hurting Captain Hook.

And he was sure many people would argue Regina did the same, hurt others on her quest to get to Snow White, murdered and burned villages and launched attacks. But the way Lyssa spoke about her mother…the way she reacted to the heroes…there was something more there that even he didn't understand, she knew something no one else did that allowed her to support Regina when others would see nothing but guilt.

He shook his head from his thoughts and looked at Lyssa, reaching out with his hand to brush a strand of hair behind her ear, "You know I'll come back."

Lyssa gave him a sad smile, but nodded. He didn't want her to be there when he enacted his revenge, it was something he had been saying since he'd first asked her if she wanted him to let go of his plots for her. She wasn't fully sure why he felt that strongly about her being absent during that moment, but she could guess there were quite a few. He may not want her there to potentially be a target of the Dark One, to be turned into a threat against HIM, the way Milah had. He may not want her to actually SEE him kill the Dark One. She had seen him in his pirate days, observed Captain Hook and all his methods, so seeing him end someone as cruel as the Dark One would not be something she flinched at after all the things she'd seen. But if he wanted to spare her having to see it? She wouldn't deny him that request. Perhaps it could even be that he just didn't want her there to remind him he had moved on and healed and found love in another. To be reminded in the heat of the moment that the revenge may not be as satisfactory as it would have been before he'd found love. Or even to keep him focused that this was to avenge Milah, she didn't know.

This was something he felt he needed to do by himself, and he'd also made a good point that, with Cora there, someone would be needed to help Regina. He assured her he could do this and return to Storybrooke, to her, and she believed him.

"You had better come back in one piece," she poked his chest in a small threat.

"I've seen the Dark One when he's powerless," he reminded her, "He's no match for me without his magic. He won't see me coming," he promised, placing a kiss on her forehead.

He reached down to take her hand, leading her back to the stairs to continue their quest.

~8~

Killian smirked as Lyssa opened the back door to the sheriff's station with a small pulse of magic, gaining them access. Her little trick with locks would come in quite handy if his hook was stashed away somewhere else for safe keeping. He'd had his fair share of experience with vaults in the Enchanted Forest, he doubted they had anything quite so large in an odd town like this, but they had to have somewhere to keep valuables and dangerous items somewhere.

He paused in his trek into the building, hearing something rustling from within and put a finger to his lips to quiet Lyssa as she followed him. She mimicked his move, showing she understood. He came to the edge of the doorway that led into what appeared to be the main room. He could see the prince, Snow White's husband, pulling off his coat to hang up, and made his move while the man's back was turned, slamming his fist into the man's face as hard as he could just as he turned around, knocking him out.

He smirked down at him, "Apologies, mate, but I think you have something of mine. Lys?" he looked at her.

She nodded and quickly moved to anything that had a lock on it, using her magic to open the cabinets and drawers, searching for his hook, "Found it!" she shouted, pulling it out from a bottom drawer of a desk nearby.

Hook grinned, carefully taking it from her and locking it in place on his stump, "Now," he looked at her, pleased, "We're the ones on top."

~8~

Regina huffed as she entered Granny's Diner, Lyssa beside her, having gotten a call from Mary Margaret to meet her there, claiming that Henry had called. She hadn't been willing to elaborate more on what Henry had to say, which had made her nervous. Lyssa had noticed, of course she did, the girl had seen enough of her 'faces' over the years to be able to read each and every one of them. And once she'd found out that this meeting was going to involve Snow White, she'd insisted on attending. Regina wouldn't lie and say she didn't want her daughter there with her, she always felt more sure of herself when Lyssa was around. Having just one person believe in you did wonders.

Mary Margaret, who had smiled when she saw Regina enter, began to frown and tense when Lyssa slid into the booth with them.

"So how is Henry?" Regina asked as soon as they sat, "Is he ok?"

"He's fine," Mary Margaret rushed to explain, "Everything's fine."

"What'd he say?"

The woman shifted uncomfortably in the booth, "I didn't actually talk to him…"

Regina frowned, "Then why am I here?"

"Is this a trap?" Lyssa tensed, looking around at the very few people in the diner at that time.

"No!" Mary Margaret insisted, "No, no nothing like that, I just…" she sighed, "I know you've been lying, Regina, and I thought it was time we talked about it."

Regina's lips pursed at that, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"No, no, no, no. No more lying. I know you've been with your mother."

Lyssa snorted a little at that, "What did you honestly expect would happen? You accused her of a murder she did not commit, without considering the use of foul magic by the dozen other magic users around, turned her son and the town against her again, and then sit here and wonder why she'd be against you now?" she shook her head at that,

"We were wrong," Mary Margaret agreed, "And everyone in town, Henry too, is aware that Regina didn't kill Archie. But this is so much more than that," she looked at Regina, "I know you're looking for the dagger."

Lyssa shook her head again, looking at her mother. Regina just reached below the table where Lyssa was holding her hand to pat it with her free hand, knowing exactly what Lyssa was upset about. The woman before them and her spawn had literally been out to prove her guilt in Archie's 'murder' and keep Henry away from her, causing her tremendous pain and hurt over it all…and she'd just brushed it aside because of something else that SHE deemed more important.

"What I'm doing is my business," Regina told her.

Mary Margaret glanced at Lyssa, but the girl didn't seem surprised that Regina was after the dagger, she had to have known about the plan then, "There's a war starting, Regina."

"That much is clear, yes," Regina agreed.

"Lucky for you, you've earned enough good will with me to give you one last chance…"

Regina squeezed Lyssa's hand tightly at that, just sensing the girl about to get fired up about that. That, just because Snow White had decided that she'd 'earned enough good will' that the entire decision should fall to Snow White. As though Snow White hadn't harmed and earned bad will over anything in her life. It was not up to Snow to decide, it was not her right and Lyssa was furious that the woman was trying to get Regina to bend to her will, to just assume the worst and deliver ultimatums without every shred of evidence to make an informed decision. Snow White was not the authority or law of this land.

"A chance to choose the right side," Mary Margaret continued, "The side of good."

"Did it ever occur to you that my mother might BE good?" Lyssa couldn't hold back asking, "That it was only because of YOU that the Evil was ever added to her name?"

"It was her actions that earned her that addendum," the woman defended, "Good doesn't do what she did. Why? Regina, why go back to being this way after how hard you tried?"

"And what did it get me?" Regina huffed, "Dinner with a bunch of hypocrites who pretend they'll forgive me, when, in their hearts, they know they never will. You're giving me the chance? How about I give you one? Stay out of my way."

Lyssa gave Mary Margaret a glare as she got up to leave, Regina following her.

"Listening to your mother is a mistake, Regina," Mary Margaret called.

Regina scoffed, "Because listening to you will work out so much better."

"You don't listen to anyone, why should we listen to you?" Lyssa remarked bitterly.

Mary Margaret flinched at that, knowing that she was referring to Daniel and that entire mess, "She doesn't care about Henry. All she wants is power."

"Power is how you get things," Regina countered.

"She doesn't care about you!"

Regina rolled her eyes, "Really?"

Lyssa had to bite the inside of her cheek at Regina's tone to keep from smiling or smirking. She supposed there was one good thing about how self centered Snow White had been as a child, she hadn't spent nearly enough time around Regina to be able to understand what that tone was. How sarcastic and exasperated it was, how Regina sounded, to her, more like she was commenting on something that was so obvious she didn't understand how Mary Margaret could think that it was some secret that needed to be exposed.

To the woman in question though, she was sure Mary Margaret thought it was just Regina being irritated and scoffing.

"And what would you know about mothers?" Regina added before she turned to storm out, Lyssa after her. She huffed to herself as she began to walk down the street instead of magically teleporting the two of them back to her manor where Cora was working on reconstructing the map which had NOT led them to the dagger but some random patch in the woods they'd spent all night digging through.

"I hate it when they do that," Lyssa murmured from beside her, "How they just…assume."

Regina nodded at that, "And condemn without proof or trying to understand, no benefit of the doubt. Just like before."

Lyssa took a deep breath at that, feeling a familiar sting of disappointment in the so called 'heroes.' There had been no pause to consider that Regina knew what Cora was after and was going along with it for another reason. There was no thought given to what Regina might do if she DID get the dagger, no possible thought that she'd do the right thing. Just the assumption she was going along with Cora because she agreed with her.

"And to use mother?" Regina continued, "As though I don't already know that mother cares about nothing but power?"

Lyssa moved closer to Regina, reaching out to link her arm with the woman, "I care."

Regina smiled at her, "I know," she patted Lyssa's hand and wound their arms tighter, "I don't need her. She just needs to think I do."

That had been something that had taken her many, many years in the Forest to realize. How little she really did need her mother in her life. And how there were other people she needed more. In the forest, it had been 3 people. Daniel, Lyssa, and her father, and she'd lost two of them. She'd thought she'd lost all of them at one point. Now she had Lyssa back, and she knew the only people she really needed were her children, Lyssa and Henry. She would do anything to protect them, even play along with whatever Cora's plan was until she could find out exactly what it was and turn it around on the woman. She wasn't stupid, or blind, she knew her Mother, FAR more than Snow White ever had, knew what she was capable of and what she cared about. She knew how dangerous her mother was and it was the safer road to play along than be in opposition with Cora, to be in a place where she wasn't privy to Cora's plans and in the dark about what would be coming. It was better to go along with her and keep the woman from using Lyssa or Henry as leverage against her, if she thought her daughter was willingly taking part. From beside her, she could see everything her mother was doing and planning, and work out plans of her own.

"I know," Lyssa mimicked, nudging her mother in the side with a smile of her own, "I wish it wasn't so hard, sometimes, the path you chose."

"I would choose it again in a heartbeat if it meant it kept you safe and led me to Henry," Regina reassured her, "And I will keep you safe, little fox, you know that, right?"

Lyssa's smile grew a bit more, "I know, mama. I'd do anything to keep you safe too."

"Then you need to keep the dagger hidden," she remarked.

Lyssa stopped walking at that, startled. She was not ever going to keep such a secret from her mother, but she hadn't gotten a chance to tell her just yet that SHE had the Dark One's dagger. Regina and Cora had arrived at the manor only a short while ago, and then Snow White had called and Regina had been rushing out the door.

"You know?"

Regina laughed, giving Lyssa a nudge to keep walking, "You're my daughter, I know when you're up to something. You never wanted me alone with mother after what happened to Daniel, even if it meant hiding in the same room while she was there. If you could help it, you would have gone with us, but you chose to stay with a pirate who had JUST worked on a map to where the Dagger was," she wagged a teasing finger at Lyssa, "Fess up, missy."

Lyssa smiled at that and playfully swatted the finger away, "I do have the dagger," she admitted, "It was hidden in the clock tower. I was going to tell you," she promised.

Regina nodded, understanding, "There isn't much time to tell me when mother is standing right there."

"I wanted to ask your help making a fake one to put back in the clock."

Regina considered that, "It makes sense," she could agree, "Snow knows we're looking for it, it will only be a matter of time before they find out where it really is and go after it. If they find it already missing…it can spell bad news for all of us, even more if mother finds out someone took it before her. Let me see it?"

Lyssa looked around, making sure no one else was there, before she took the clutch from under her arm and pulled the dagger out, showing it to Regina. The woman reached out and held a hand over the dagger, waving it up and down the weapon before snapping her fingers and a replica of it appeared in her hands.

"There we go," Regina smiled at the replica.

Lyssa carefully put the real dagger back in her clutch and took the fake.

"Here," Regina offered, conjuring up a bigger bag for her to fit her clutch inside of as well as the fake, "Go back to the tower and put the fake in place."

Lyssa nodded, "Keep an eye on Snow White," she offered, "If she and the others are going to be looking for it too, maybe you can use them to lead you right to 'the dagger.'"

Regina laughed.

"What?" Lyssa frowned.

"Nothing dear," Regina reassured her, "Just…hadn't realized you'd picked up what air quotes are just yet."

It had been adorable to see Lyssa literally using air quotes when she said 'the dagger' just before.

"Go," Regina urged her, "I'll keep watch for Snow White."

Lyssa reached out and hugged Regina quickly before hurrying off to do just that. Anything they could do to keep Cora from the dagger was necessary. And the fact that Regina was on the side firmly against Cora holding that power over the Dark One, it already proved Snow White wrong.

~8~

Lyssa had just come down the steps of the clocktower when she heard the bell jingling near the entrance and the voice of Snow White shouting something. She looked around, her eyes wide, before she rushed into the library and ducked behind a shelf, waiting and listening as the sounds of rushing feet hurried past and nearly pounded up the stairs. She let out a breath, thankful that she'd managed to secure the fake dagger right back into the minute hand as before.

She moved to the door, managing to make it a few steps outside and about to call Regina and tell her that she'd just seen Snow White and her husband rushing into the library when Regina and Cora both appeared in front of her in a puff of smoke.

"Regina!" Lyssa gasped, "Snow White…"

"Is inside," Regina finished, "Yes, I was watching her through my mirror, I saw her and her pesky prince heading for the building."

"They're already up there," Lyssa warned, reaching out to Regina, touching her arm to stop her following Cora just a moment as the older woman began to stride into the building, "Mother…"

"It'll be fine, Lyssa," she reassured her, placing her hand on top of Lyssa's on her arm, "As always…I can handle my mother and whatever she might do up there. I did push her through a mirror to another world before I even really had magic."

Lyssa blinked, starting to nod slowly, taking in her mother's words as she slowly glanced up at the face of the clock tower, understanding what she was saying, especially about the mirror. She looked back at her mother, "Then I'll keep watch down here."

"Good," Regina smiled, reaching up to touch her cheek, giving her a wink before she followed after Cora.

Lyssa took a deep breath and let it out, stepping back from the entrance to the building to stand a good distance away, just across the street and began to wait, her arms crossed, one hand by her mouth as she started to bite her lip and fidget, her gaze locked on the face of the clock, hoping that her mother's fears would be wrong…

Not even three minutes later, there was a shattering noise as someone was thrown through the glass of the tower, a woman falling towards the ground with a scream. Lyssa gasped and threw out her hand, rushing towards the building as a soft wall of white appearing just under the woman, catching her before she could hit the ground.

"Don't move!" Lyssa spoke to her quickly and quietly, "Don't move, please, Cora could be watching."

Just the mention of the sorceress was enough to get the woman lying as still as possible though she trembled slightly, she made no outwards sign of moving beyond that.

Lyssa leaned forward to cautiously look up at the tower, spotting a waft of purple smoke drift out through the broken glass, signaling those within had disappeared with magic, and let out a very long breath before crouching down and gently touching the woman, "You're alright," she soothed, "You're ok..." she reached out and took hold of the woman's arm, slowly moving her to try and stand despite how shaky she was.

She looked over as she heard a sobbing noise from the doorway of the building, to see Prince Charming helping Snow White walk out of it, the woman leaning heavily on him, heartbroken.

"Oh my god, Snow!" the prince gasped.

Snow White looked up, her breath catching in her throat when she saw the woman Lyssa was holding onto, a white hazy trace of magic disappearing from where the woman was kneeling, dropping her to the ground a few inches. But it gave her enough footing to stand on her own.

"Snow," the fallen woman gasped, stumbling over to the sobbing girl and latching on as well, both of them seeming completely shocked that the one was still alive, Snow White muttering 'Johanna!' over and over.

Lyssa stepped back a few feet, giving them privacy. As much as she did not care for Snow White, she could admit that what just happened was quite a jarring experience and they both seemed in need of comfort. She wasn't going to interrupt, she was honestly debating trying to get away while they were all distracted. She knew they would want to know why she was there and not with Regina in the tower, she wasn't sure how she could explain it without revealing too much to them. Part of what Regina was doing relied on the heroes doubting her and mistrusting her, she couldn't give away too much or Cora would become suspicious. It was why she'd told the woman not to move despite how scared she was. Cora could not know that the woman was still alive, or that SHE was the one who had saved her. Even more...if anyone found out that Regina was suspicious about what her mother was doing and going to do? The comment about the mirror, pushing someone through glass? She trusted that Regina could handle anything that happened up in the tower, she'd be able to talk her mother out of things, keep it from escalating, because the last thing they needed was the heroes out for blood over another death. But there were threats that Cora posed outside the room, actions she could take that Regina wouldn't be able to stop. She hadn't thought of it before, but Regina certainly had, that being that high up there was always a threat of a fall.

She nodded to herself, she should get out of there quickly, but before she could even move, it seemed Snow White had remembered she was there.

Mary Margaret slowly approached Lyssa as the girl stood nearby, watching the three of them silently.

"You saved her," Mary Margaret breathed, staring at Lyssa as though she didn't know what to make of her, and she really didn't. Here was a girl who seemed to truly hate her, who sided with Regina, who was assisting the woman with whatever plans she and Cora had...and yet she'd saved Johanna's life, risked Cora's ire to do so too, "Why?"

Lyssa shook her head as she eyed Mary Margaret, not as surprised as others would think that, instead of leading with a thank you, Snow White had gone straight to questioning motives, "I don't believe others should die on a person's quest for revenge."

David snorted at that, having come to his wife's side, though Johanna was curled under one of his arms, "And yet you support Regina."

Lyssa looked up at him a moment, her eyes searching his face for something none of them could guess. Whatever it was, she seemed to find it as her expression didn't change from a cautious, distant facade, "I was the one who drafted the notices of execution, the death certificates, in the Enchanted Forest."

Mary Margaret seemed horrified by that, her mind racing back to every execution done in the quest for apprehending Snow White, the villages that were burned to the ground, the people murdered in Regina's quest for revenge...and unable to reconcile the knowledge that the girl before her was responsible for recording them with the fact that the same girl had just stated her belief that others shouldn't die for one person's revenge.

"Then how can you stand by her?" Mary Margaret shook her head, lost.

Lyssa turned her gaze back to Snow White, not seeming at all disturbed by what her words had implied, but actually offering them a tiny smile instead, "That IS the question, isn't it?"

Lyssa didn't say another word, only turned to walk away from the heroes, leaving them more conflicted than ever.

A/N: Lyssa truly is against killing anyone else just to see revenge to the end, as witnessed in her reaction to the village Cora murdered. She understands, in the course of action, some people may get hurt, some people will side with and defend the person who is the target of revenge and, in that sense, it would be their own fault if they were harmed stepping in the path of that revenge knowingly. She understands sometimes people are harmed even though it was never the intention of the person enacting the revenge and only when that intent becomes WANTING to harm everyone else in their path that's when the line is truly being crossed between 'hurt' and 'evil.'

We've seen that Lyssa doesn't see Storybrooke as being a true 'harm' to people, they have a better quality of life here and, with the heroes trying to come up with a way to break the curse in the Enchanted Forest, there was always a chance it would be broken anyway and everyone would have their memories restored, with time frozen, it wouldn't really be like they lost years off their life since none of them grew older. So she doesn't quite count the curse as killing other people just to get to Snow White.

But that brings up the question of Regina and her 'Evil Queen' days. HOW can Lyssa have been the one to record all the deaths and executions when she is firmly against killing other people to get revenge? HOW can she still side with Regina and LOVE her as a mother given that belief and what we've seen Regina do in the past? We'll have to wait and find out }:D

Some notes on reviews...

I feel like Lyssa may have some mixed feelings about the real Milah. On one hand, she's somewhat similar to Lyssa's own mother, a woman who didn't really seem to want to be a mother and didn't fully care for her child the way a mother should and who sort of hated the father of her child. So she can relate to Baelfire in that sense, not having a great biological parent. But I feel like she was also at a place, being so young when it all happened, that she might have, at one point or another, felt it was 'her fault' that her mother wasn't happy. That maybe she was just too much a handful as a child and it made her mother sad, so she might, in some sense, wonder if her mother would have been like Milah and left, or sent her away, and what sort of woman it would turn her into without a child around to need to take care of. It seems like there are two very wide points of the spectrum for Milah, Gold's memories of her and Hook's, what sort of woman WAS Milah like when she was with Hook? Did she become the sort of woman that Hook does remember her to be? Was the only way she could be truly happy was out at sea with him instead of in the village with her husband and son? Would Lyssa's mother have been the same, happier if Lyssa wasn't there? A lot of questions Lyssa's going to be thinking on when she learns more about Milah from Baelfire, but she'll definitely learn more about her ;) I feel like, even if Hook hadn't gone after Belle, Gold still would have had it out for him because of Milah, then later with Bae, and even later with trying to sabotage Hook and Emma, and then needing Hook as a sacrifice to separate himself from the Dagger. In this story, Hook's only reason to go after Belle was to make sure, whatever happened in the future, Gold would stay away from Lyssa because he would stay away from Belle, sort of proving a point to Gold. But Lyssa will eventually learn about how Hook shot at Belle, and we'll see her reaction to it ;) Yup, in this story, the hot chocolate and cinnamon is going to originate with Regina ;)

Aww, I'm torn between apologizing for making you cry and sort of evilly smirking that the chapter was able to inspire that emotion :)

I didn't want all of the finale, mostly because I just was not a fan of the Hyperion season so most of the stories will probably end with Season 6. But I did watch the ending scene on youtube and I thought it was a nice way to have it all come full circle :)