A/N:I'm not sick, I really have uploaded this fic two days in a row. Procrastinating away from applying for jobs- I've found the one I want, and I'm a terrible optomist- will have that effect. Hopefully the result is enjoyable to read :) Let me know!


"... We think Ursula may have completed- or at least started- working on a way to get us home... It's a long shot... But for lack of a better option, we're seeking out the porthole... As for where it is though- if it even exists- I'm afraid we don't know anything more than you do."

"Well... In that case... You might be in luck."

Wide eyes fall on Snow as the blonde releases her from her embrace and takes a step back, and Regina moves forward so that they stand in a small circle.

"How?"

Dark eyes narrow, but the schoolteacher notes that- for once- there is no malice behind that expression, simply a desperate curiosity. Nibbling her lip, Mary Margaret approaches the subject cautiously.

"I said might... Okay? Just in case I'm wrong..."

"For god's sake, woman-"

"-Spill it."

Emma interjects before the brunette can finish. She doesn't find Regina's reaction all that strange- they're working against the potentially fatal clock here, after all- but she would prefer that the reasons for such quick anger remain between just the two of them. Offering what she hopes is a winning smile, she nods that Snow should continue.

"... These creatures; they're strange... They stand there at the door and they don't say a word to one another, except for the other night... There was a switch in the guard and I... Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say they almost seemed, you know... drunk..."

"After the gala..."

The blonde suggests, shooting a look towards Regina who shrugs, and mumurs that it's possible.

"Anyway, whatever was going on, the two that took over started talking to one another. They said that they might receive visitors as the the Sea Queen's guests were rumoured to have questions for me... I... I waited, but you guys never showed up, and-"

"-There are others... Other guests."

"I see... Well, anyway, one of them- I never saw them usually; they stayed down below unless bringing me food, and even then, it'd only be one of them- expressed nerves at changing position the following day. He- I think it was a he- spoke of his displeasure that he would be standing guard within Ursula's quarters to flank 'the Chamber'... H-he said that given what went on in there, he wasn't wanting to watch as 'Nineve had been taken on by Ursula during the evening'... I'm not sure what that means... but... I deduced Nineve to be his daughter... Or perhaps sister, it-"

"-Get to the point, Snow."

Regina growls, glancing back to the stairwell once again.

"Yes, right, okay... Well, he said that he needed to guard this Chamber as the Queen would be working in there to finalise preparations for her guests after the 'big show'... I... I'm not sure what that means, either, or where her quarters are, but-"

"-We do."

The brunette assures, watching the Sheriff mouth the words 'the big show' to herself and shooting her a measured look.

Don't even think about it. It's over. Don't you even think about all that.

Easier said than done, as she feels her own anger wash over her with alarming alacrity. Shaking it firmly away, she offers Snow White the most genuine smile either of them can recall since finding out about the young Princess's betrayal.

"We know where that is, and from the sounds of it, that's exactly what we're looking for..."

Smiling sheepishly back, the Fair Queen nods towards the stairs.

"Then let's go home."

Following the others, she feels her adrenaline begin to kick in at a higher level, in no way helped by Emma turning to her and commenting amiably enough

"I hope you like fire."


"Damn them! Damn that little bitch and her devil's wench! Curse them to hell! Find them!"

The Sea Witch screams; stood out in the crumbling coral with her gaze cast up at the flames engulfing her Palace.

She'll make them pay. Oh yes, she will make that insolent little harpy and her whore pay for this.

She will see to it that the cobbles run red with their blood before the night is over.

But it's hard.

So hard to think, to plan, to remain in control when it's light- so bright!- in the thrall of the flames.

Itches- oh, how it itches- and the rage that boils inside her seethes like a toxin turning her mind black.

Tearing her gaze away from the destruction and its blazing tongue, she faces her guards; the right side of her face flaring with pustules and charring flesh.

"What news?"

What news indeed... Two dead. Two of her own dead, but not by her own hand.

The blonde.

How!?

How? she doesn't know- it shouldn't be possible- but she will damn well make the little shit pay.

To her side, the Nereids scream an ungodly scream; their translucent flesh crusted with great red welts and giving off a rank stench as it smokes visibly.

How could this have happened?

A fire?!

A fire in the Underwater Kingdom?

Never.

And yet, as she watches, several darting flames dance around outside the entrance to the Castle.

But, of course, they're not really flames. At least they weren't an hour or so ago.

People.

Her people.

Turning to her guard once more, she utters words she never imagined would leave her lips.

"Disengage the Dome."

Silence follows- well, from the guards at least, the wailing and shrieking from behind her seems as though it will go on forever- but her words are met only with a glassy stare.

"Do it! Do it now! Those devil's bitches may be able to escape a room, but we will drown them yet!"

Madness plays havoc in her gaze.

"... But, Your Majesty-"

"-You think you know better?!"

"... The Dome has held our Kingdom for the best part of the century... Without it... The Kingdom will be destroyed-"

"-And so will those whores from hell!"

There is a raspiness to her shrieking as her vocal cords strain to do their Mistress's bidding.

"They will pay! Do you understand me?! Poseidon gave you gills, you worthless cretins! We will simply rebuild! Now DO IT! GO!... Wait! You! Come to me... Come here..."

She beckons those closest to her to come before her as the others leave to begin preparations. The four she has heralded over cower in a sickening fashion, but whether it is from herself or the flames that turns their delicate hide a painful red as their eyes begin showing the first signs of milky white, she neither knows nor cares.

"The Dome will lift slowly, it is not to my pleasure, but it is the way. Once deep enough, unleash my babies... Unleash them all..."

A look passes amongst her obsequious vermin, and she smiles a terrible smile of knowing.

They may be her people, but it is to she alone that the eels show loyalty, and now she offers her slippery minions a chance to dine out at the buffet.

It matters not.

All that matters is that she's there to watch when they take the first bite of the bitch and her girl.

She imagines their screaming will put her in an altogether much better mood.

"DO IT!"

They flee, and she smirks to herself as the pitted fat of her arms begins to boil beneath the skin.

She turns for the castle and stalks back towards its flaming mouth; shrouding herself in a fast moving current of water. It is weaker than she would have liked- the blonde wretch's surprise attack having dampened her power somehow- but she muses that it is for this reason that she will simply force the little harlot to watch as she destroys the other two first.

And then...

A shark-like grin finds her lips as she staggers towards her chambers.

It's under the bed.

It's there, waiting, and it will do what I can now not.

The trident.

It's under the bed.

And then she'll see what the cunning little witch is truly made of.