I know it's been over a year since I updated this and I'm sorry, but here's chapter 2! Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Regina was immediately immensely thankful that she landed on soft ground. The magic bean had deposited her in a wooded clearing, the trees around her so much older than the ones in the Enchanted Forest, the leaves crunching under her feet. Looking around her, she immediately wished that she had worn more sensible shoes, as she couldn't see an end to the surrounding foliage. The attire suitable for sitting on a throne did not appear to be compatible with stomping through the forest- not that she would ever stomp as a queen. She thought for a moment, then tried to change her clothes with her magic, but something stopped her. Normally, all she had to do was gather her emotions and her magic would do whatever she wished. However, it seemed as if an invisible brick wall had sprung up between her and her magic and from what she could detect in the wall's few cracks, the well she normally had to draw her magic from had run dry. All she could feel was the smallest stirrings of her magic, drops that were nowhere near enough for her to use her magic to accomplish even the most trivial of tasks.

Frustrated, she sighed. She had been hoping to change into one of her riding outfits. Perhaps not one that made her look like the quivering doe she had been on the day Snow betrayed her and her mother destroyed her happiness, but perhaps one that was as scarlet as a cardinal's wing, with black riding pants to match. She enjoyed the power those outfits or the tight corsets of her dresses gave her, and regretted that she couldn't adjust what she was wearing to fit her surroundings.

Knowing she had to simply deal with what she had, Regina set off, unsure of her destination. As she was pondering that, she felt something shift in the air. She paused, trying to determine what it was, but instinctively, she knew: someone else clearly had harnessed the magical power available in this land, and was using it to do something powerful. What exactly was happening, she didn't know, but she was determined to find out.

To that end, she set off in the direction of the magic she had felt. She didn't know what she would find, but at the very least, she was hoping she'd find answers.

(********)

Seb assessed the air around him, hoping to find where the strange magical energy had come from. He followed it south, down a path he knew well, so far that he wondered if he would ever find the source of the unknown magical force. However, the feeling that something that possessed a strange form of magic was present in his land kept getting stronger as he walked, which told him he was on the right track, even though it may not seem like it.

Finally, when the sense had grown so strong it was almost overwhelming, he collided with something hard, yet soft at the same time. His hands automatically reached out, ready to cast a spell to cushion his fall, but before the correct spell came to mind, he felt something that oddly felt like flesh beneath him.

His eyes darted up, ocean blue meeting the deepest pair of brown eyes he had ever seen. He pulled his eyes away from the magnetic force of the gaze to see that the person he had run into was a woman, and though he had always harbored a preference for men, even he had to admit that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her olive complexion was a stark contrast to her eyes, which were the color of whiskey. Her body was slim, the shape of her figure enhanced by the tight blue satin dress she wore, which was covered in tiny diamonds.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, standing up and brushing herself off. "How dare you! I am a queen. It's bad enough I have to wander through these woods, the least you could do is make my job a little easier." She grumbled something that sounded like "Mal," but he doubted that he had heard the name of his old friend correctly. "Mal" could be the shortened form of a variety of names, and he knew that "Maleficent" was the most unique of those names. Besides, knowing Mal, she was likely wreaking havoc a world away. The chances of someone in Fillory knowing her besides himself were slim to none.

In any case, he was more interested in getting to the bottom of her statement. He was the ruler of Fillory and no one else. Either this woman was mad, or she was from another realm, and in either case, he was eager to find out more. "You're wandering through my forest," he informed her smugly, his mouth curling into a knowing smirk. "If anything, I should be asking you what you're doing here instead of the other way around. After all, this is my kingdom."

"So…" she said slowly, slowly circling him. "You're the Dark King?"

"At your service," he told her, sweeping into a bow. Normally, he didn't like to advertise his identity. In fact, at times concealing it had served him well- after all, people tended to either cower at the feet of a king or conceal their honest opinions, neither of which were useful scenarios to him. However, given that this intriguing woman had already declared herself to be a monarch, he felt that he needed to make an exception to his usual rule. "Why do you ask? Who are you?" He felt that he needed to sway the exchange of information in his favor. After all, as he had told her, she was an unknown traveler in his land, yet she seemed to know much more about him than he did about her, a situation he wanted to rectify immediately. .

Everything about her as she regarded him spoke of her noble upbringing: her shoulders were set back, she stood tall before him, despite her shorter stature, and the way she looked at him: sternly, as if she would tolerate no nonsense from him. "For your information, I'm Queen Regina of the Enchanted Forest. And from what I've seen so far, Seb, of the two of us, I am the superior monarch."

He stopped in his tracks. No one called him Seb, no one whom he had recently encountered, anyway. How was it that this woman knew any part of his real name? Unless… unless that name she had uttered earlier was in fact the name of the woman who had once been his friend. "You know Maleficent." It wasn't a question, more accurately a demand for information.

"I do."

Well, that answered a few things, but not all of them. "So… why are you here? Aren't you happy in this Enchanted Forest of yours? Last I heard, that's where Mal said she was going."

She nodded. "I am. But Mal seemed to think I needed a vacation, so here I am."

He nodded slowly. "Why did she send you here then?"

She shrugged. "She seems to think we'll get along. Though from first impressions, I'm not sure she's right about that."

He chuckled. It was clear that she had a fire that matched his own, though she may not be as sensitive as he was to the feelings of others. "I don't know, Your Majesty, it seems that we may both have a wit that can only be matched by each other, wouldn't you agree?"

"We'll see," she hedged, clearly unwilling to admit that he was right. Changing the topic, she asked, "So do you know somewhere I can stay around here that's halfway decent, preferably fit for a queen?"

He shrugged. "There's always a room for you at my castle." His advisers may warn him against it- after all, she could use vital information to overthrow him. However, he knew that being a friend of Mal's, he could trust her… he hoped.

She seemed to have had the same thought. "How do I know I can trust you?"

You don't trust Mal?" he asked, his eyebrows raised. It was one thing for her not to trust him, another entirely for her not to even trust her own friend. Though he supposed one always had to watch their back when their friend was a dragon.

She sighed. "I do. But you can never be too careful, can you?"

"I suppose not," he answered slowly. He knew that offering her shelter was a risk, but one that he was willing to take, considering she had a ringing endorsement from their draconian friend. He knew Mal well enough to know that she didn't trust easily, and that may be true of this queen as well. "Regardless, my offer still stands. You are welcome to stay at Whitespire if that is your wish, Your Majesty."

She scrutinized him for a moment, then said with a huff, "Fine. But I'm keeping my eye on you, Seb, and don't you forget it."

"I won't," he chuckled, bowing once more and ushering for her to walk ahead of him. "After you, Your Majesty."

"You're not going to show me the way?" she asked, her eyebrows raised. "You realize Mal didn't tell me hardly anything about this land. How am I supposed to be able to find your castle?"

"You feel the magic in the air, don't you?" he asked. "Surely you feel it, it radiates off of you." He didn't see how she wouldn't. If he could feel that she possessed magic, surely she could feel his.

She nodded. "What of it?" Then she seemed to realize something, and she frowned

"Follow it," he instructed. "If you follow the trail magic leaves in this land, you'll find Castle Whitespire." He knew that magicians had lived in Castle Whitespire even before he had come to dwell there- after all, didn't he overthrow a group of magician rulers when he first returned to Fillory? Their influence, others' and centuries of his own magic had left a residual imprint on the castle, a trace, if you will, that made it easy for other magicians to find.

She paused, appearing to gather her bearings before she risked setting off in the wrong direction. Sure enough, when she set off, she was in fact heading in the right direction, and he followed, smirking. Oh, did he have plans for Fillory now that she was here…

(*******)

Regina followed the trace that magic had apparently left on this king's castle. It was surprising, how strong the trail was. She didn't remember magic ever being so noticeable before, except perhaps when she had first started practicing with Rumple. Back then, magic had been a dark and mysterious force, a beast she didn't dare go near, let alone tame and harness for her own purposes. Now, even though her own magic seemed to be blocked by some kind of barrier but remained detectable to others, she was able to feel the strange new magic of Fillory dance around her like an excited puppy ready and eager to play.

She followed it, the trees around them gradually growing thinner, until at least they reached a broad clearing, where the imposing structure of the castle (what was it he had called it? Castle Whitespire?) stood.

It was an imposing structure, she had to admit. Towers that reached to the sky, black gates that appeared intimidating enough that she doubted any intruders would want to climb over them to reach the castle within. As they got ever closer, she was able to deduce that the magical aura surrounding the castle seemed to emanate from the gates, meaning that it was likely caused by a protection spell of some sort.

She asked Seb about this, and he nodded. "As I'm sure you're aware, magicians are stronger when they work together, and therefore are able to cast stronger spells. Nowhere is this more true than in Fillory. A group of magician rulers cast a defensive spell on the castle many centuries ago, and the effects remain to this day."

"I can feel that," she mused, the air just as permeated as ever by the unusual magical energy. It sounded a lot like her Dark Curse to her. Ever curious about different magic, she asked, "How did it work?"

"There were four rulers at the time, but other magicians who worked with them," he told her. "The spell required a full moon, as well as much of the magic they had."

"All magic comes with a price," she murmured, looking up again at the castle. It was a mantra that Rumple had drilled into her mind over and over again, ensuring that she never forgot this most important of lessons. He himself certainly took the price of using magic to heart, always making people pay a price for his help whenever they crossed paths with him and especially when they came asking him for something. She had never fully comprehended the appeal of making people grovel at her feet. The few times citizens of the Enchanted Forest had dared to make a request, she had immediately made her disdain known to them. She had only granted them what they desired if there was some way they could benefit her, which didn't happen often. In a way, she supposed she had become like Rumple, but she would never be as cruel as him. She would never prey on the innocent, young children never directly touched by her wrath.

He nodded. "Precisely." He became silent once more, and despite herself, she wondered why he was silent in that moment. He had talked during the entire walk to his castle, so clearly something she had said now resonated with him, likely a price he had to pay for some magic he had cast. Though she knew the information was likely personal, thinking of her own plans, she wondered if she should ask him about it someday, if he was willing to share the information with her. Typically, magic that had a price that high was something the person who performed the spell or curse didn't want to talk about. However, if she was truly considering casting the Dark Curse, she would need to know if killing the thing she loved most would really be worth it.

As she had been lost in thought, they had entered the castle, and she marveled at the militaristic air of the place. Though her castle seemed to be far more opulent, she had to admit that Seb's castle was impressive in its own way. Though decorations were scarce, decorating the castle clearly not a priority for its owner, the color of the walls and other furnishings was a sleek black, mixed in with some shades of brown and gray. The air smelled clean, a clear indication that every inch of it was scrubbed thoroughly regularly. She would have to ask him for tips- though she always enforced that her castle had to be spotless, those who worked for her had no qualms about leaving random specks of dirt, something she didn't understand considering that each of them knew exactly what would happen to them if they didn't comply with her wishes: they'd have their hearts ripped out of their chests. She had an endless supply of boxes for those hearts and room in her vault to keep them guarded, but she would have thought that people would learn to do her bidding, that they wouldn't want to suffer the consequences of disobeying.

However, she wasn't truly impressed until they walked into the throne room. The throne was positioned so that sunlight fell directly on the seat of power. It was truly a sight to behold, and she knew that had Seb been sitting in his rightful place, he would have been bathed in sunlight. She could imagine that when he was there and the sun was shining on him, he felt like he was king of the world- which, of course, he was… in this realm, anyway. She made a mental note to arrange something similar in her own castle. Though she had detested the circumstances that led to her holding the title of Queen of the Enchanted Forest, she did enjoy the power it gave her, a truth that she hated to admit at times.

"So?" Seb asked, a hand sweeping across the view in front of them. "What do you think?"

Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of her full approval, she told him, "It'll do, I suppose. How can you stand all this…" she paused, looking for a way to phrase her thoughts. "Lack of decoration?"

He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why do I get the impression that that's not really important to you either?"

"Oh, I wasn't talking about anything opulent," she assured him. "I was simply commenting on the fact that you could maybe add a black banner here, maybe a portrait of yourself there…"

He smirked. "A painting of myself? You think I'm handsome enough for that?"

"Stop right there, you knew what I meant," she bit back. "You kings always have a portrait of yourselves on display somewhere."

"What about you?" he asked, that infuriating smirk still plastered on his face. "Is there a portrait of you hung on a wall in your castle? In your own throne room, perhaps?"

She snorted. "In your dreams. Only conceited kings do that. I'm a queen and a bit more refined."

"Oh, are you?" he asked, his eyes dancing with mirth. "So if I went to your castle in Misthaven, I wouldn't even find any mirrors so you could ensure that your appearance was impeccable at all times?"

"One," she admitted. "But that's for seeing… other things."

He laughed. "Oh, so you spy on people? I suppose I can understand that. After all, it is wise to know one's enemies."

"It is," she acknowledged with a nod. "Don't tell me you don't do the same thing."

"I don't," he protested. He grinned sheepishly. I will admit that I do send out spies from time to time though, just to gather information about the wellbeing of the kingdom and its subjects. After all, it's unlikely that my subjects will be honest with their king about the true state of the kingdom in every situation, so I need to make sure my information is as accurate as possible."

One of her eyebrows rose. "See? Can you really blame me for having my own ways to gather pertinent information, then?"

"No, I suppose I can't," he said thoughtfully. He glanced over to the windows and she followed his gaze, noticing to her surprise that the sun was starting to set on her first day in Fillory. It had been only noon when she had first left the Enchanted Forest, and she couldn't have been there for more than three hours. Apparently, time in Fillory was different from that of her own land. "Look at the time! I'll show you to the room where you can stay for the duration of your time here, and I'll send someone to alert the kitchens. I'll give you some time to rest from your journey, if you wish, but afterwards, I would be honored to have your company at dinner tonight."

"I think I'll do that, thank you," she acquiesced,

"Then let me show you to the chambers where you'll be staying," he requested.

To Regina's relief, they walked in companionable silence to a set of rooms that he told her she could call her own while she was there.

Not long afterward, she found her way to the great dining hall, and after they had eaten, she decided to explore. It was strange, but the longer she had been in Fillory, the more she could feel the strangest sensation that she was supposed to be finding something.

On discovering that the strange force wanted to lead her to the dungeons, she stopped short. She had no desire to go somewhere as dank and dark as a dungeon, not even in her own castle. She turned back and decided to go to bed, contemplating everything that had happened that day. It had certainly been a memorable one.

(********)

Robin felt the strange sensation all day. As hours passed by, it grew stronger and stronger until it became obvious to him that wherever the unknown force was coming from was gradually getting closer to him. At one point in what he judged to be night judging by the lack of light coming from the narrow window that was too high for him to reach, the force became overwhelming, making it so he could think of nothing else. Then suddenly, it retreated again as if it had never been so close to him that if not for these four walls and bars, he could touch it.

He spent the remainder of the night obsessed with the entity that he could still feel in the castle. As a part of his mind remained preoccupied with that, another part of him examined the cell, futilely looking for a way out of his enchanted prison. One thing he knew for sure: he was more determined than ever to escape to find out whatever had transpired that day, so he would find a way.