AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER

Belongs to ABC Studios and whoever owns the show. I only own the plot. My apologies for this taking so long. I've been going through some personal stuff.

"A loyalty spell?" Ruby echoed. "How does it work exactly and is it an easy or a hard spell to do?" she wondered.

"The spell itself is fairly simple to enact, but the consequences can be unpredictable," came the response.

"What do you mean unpredictable?" the wolf queried.

"Sometimes a spell like this can make a person paranoid, dangerous. They often take on traits of the person who cast the spell, such as Zelena's apparent view of werewolves," came the response.

"So it's just the spell that's turned them against me?" the other woman asked. Thank God that they don't actually think I'm a monster, she thought to herself. She had seriously started thinking that they had changed their minds about her.

"Yes. Spells like this, they can make a person feel things that aren't necessarily there," the former Evil Queen explained. "Fortunately, they wear off after forty-eight hours," she added.

"So that means that whoever the witch is, they'd have to constantly recast the spell," Ruby realized.

"Precisely."

"Could we track her that way? Through her magic, I mean?" Ruby wondered.

"Of course! Everyone's magic leaves a distinct trail. Why didn't I think of this?" Regina exclaimed. Such an idiot, she thought to herself. "I can use a type of locator spell," she added.

"What do you need of theirs?" the other woman queried.

"Anything will do. Just need one item from either of them," came the response and the werewolf nodded.

"I still have some stuff of Mary Margaret's at my place you can use. Sometimes….when she seems to be herself again, she'll come over and then…"

"She goes back to hating you and she stays away."

"Yeah."

"Give me something and I'll be able to send it to her and we can use it to spy on the Charmings and figure out how to get them back to normal." And yes, she could readily admit, she was feeling protective. And why not? This was her stepdaughter they were talking about. No one was allowed to mess with Snow but her. Yes, she could admit that as much as she had hated the younger girl back in the Enchanted Forest, she was now that protective of her. And she'd be damned if anyone would hurt her. Well, more damned. Whatever. She just didn't want anyone to mess with Snow. Without another word, Regina teleported them both to Ruby's place and the wolf immediately went to get one of Mary Margaret's shawls, handing it to Regina when she came back.

"Yes, this will do quite nicely," the woman approved. Now then, let's see if we can't figure out who placed them under the spell and how to undo it, she thought to herself. Without another word, she quietly began an incantation, waving her hand over the garment and then her lips curved into a satisfied smirk.

"How are you going to get it to them?" Ruby wondered.

"I'll return it to them. Make up some excuse about sneaking into your place and finding it and now I'm returning it," Regina replied.

"So you'll basically pretend to be on their side," Ruby surmised.

"Precisely," Regina confirmed and Ruby nodded. Before either of them could say anymore, Regina's phone rang, and the formerly Evil Queen couldn't stop the smile that curved her features at the familiar ring tone. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, her smile widening when she saw the name. She pressed the "talk" button and put the phone to her ear.

"Hey Babe," she greeted.

"Hey," Robin responded. "You got time to grab a bite with me and Roland? Me and my men decided to take a quick break from the search," he stated.

"Always. I just need to run a quick errand," she assured with a smile. So happy I met them, she thought to herself. And to think, the man was her husband now. Husband. Yeah, that was going to take some getting used to. Especially since she only had fuzzy memories of the wedding itself. To be honest, that didn't sit well with her. When she had a wedding, she wanted to remember the whole damn thing, thank you very much! But at least they were happy together, and she had a family. Well, more of a family. With that, she grabbed the garment, and then teleported herself to Mary Margaret's home, landing outside the front door, knocking on it. A moment later, it opened to reveal Mary Margaret.

"Regina. What are you doing here?" the younger woman queried in surprise.

"Just thought you'd like this back," she replied, handing the shawl to her.

"Oh, this is wonderful! I had left it over at Ruby's and I wasn't about to step inside that place any time soon," she stated, taking the shawl.

"I don't blame you." Mary Margaret grinned. Of course Regina would understand. She had always had high standards. "Would you like to come in?"

"I'm sorry. I can't. I promised to have lunch with Robin and Roland." At this, the younger woman's smile grew. So glad she found her happy ending, she thought to herself.

"Of course. Go on." Regina smiled.

"I'll see you later." With that, she walked away. A few moments later, she was at Granny's and she waved at Robin, going to the table he and Roland were at. The boys smiled at her and quickly made room for her to sit down, Robin stealing a quick kiss from her once she had.

"Hello, husband," she greeted. Husband. Wow. I still can't believe it, she thought to herself. That sounded so good to say. Never thought I'd get the chance after Daniel, she mused. After Mother had killed Daniel, she had been sure that her chance for a happy ending had been ruined. But apparently, this wasn't the case.

"Mmm…that sounds good," Robin murmured. Never thought I'd be someone's husband again, he mused. After Marion's death, he had resigned himself to being a single father to Roland. But now he had a wife who loved his son just as much as he did. Meanwhile, Emma had started searching the mines. Granted, Gold and Neal didn't frequent them, but they would be the perfect spot for the witch-whoever it was-to keep them captive. Her nerves were jangling and she had the distinct feeling that she was being watched. Maybe I'm just feeling paranoid because Neal and Gold are missing, she thought to herself. She had never liked the feeling of her family or friends being in danger and Neal and Gold were definitely in danger-if not dead-so, of course she'd be on edge. Dead? No. She couldn't think like that. Neal and Gold were alive. She couldn't think otherwise. She wouldn't allow it. Hearing footsteps, she whirled around, gun raised.

"Whoa, Easy, Love. It's just us," a familiar voice assured.

"Damn it, Hook. I could've killed you!" she scolded.

"I told you we should've made our presence known," Tinkerbelle stated.

"What are you doing here?"

"I believe you call it 'back up'," Hook responded.

"That's appreciated," Emma stated. Okay, normally she'd rather handle things on her own or with her father, but the man was acting like a pod person and she had no idea what she was fighting here, so she'd take all the help she could get. Okay, we can figure this out, she thought to herself. They had to. Neal and Gold were in trouble, and she didn't like that one little bit. But at least she had a little help now.

"Of course," Tinkerbell responded. We'll get to the bottom of this and we'll find Baelfire and Rumplestiltskin, she thought to herself. Baelfire had always been nice to her when they were in Neverland which had resulted in a friendship and she never left her friends behind. Hold on, Baelfire. We're coming, Killian thought to himself. He had let the lad down once before and he wasn't going to repeat that mistake. No, this time he was going to do what was right. Okay, so he didn't much care about the Crocodile, but it only stood to reason that Wherever Rumplestiltskin was, Baelfire would be there also. So yes, he would look for them both. He just wished he knew where to look.

"Okay, we should probably split up. Hook, you take the Troll Bridge, Tink, you take the mines, and I'll check around the Town Line," Emma instructed and the other two nodded before going off to their designated areas. While this was going on, the dwarves were combing the forest. They needed to find the witch. Need to keep Regina and Roland safe, he mused. And he couldn't do that if there was a witch running around town. So yeah, he wanted the witch-whoever it was-out of Storybrooke.

"So if we defeat the witch, our memories will be restored?" Bashful queried. Sick of trying to figure things out, he thought to himself. Only remembering things half way was getting annoying.

"I have no idea," Doc admitted. I hope so. I'd like things to go back to normal, he mused. Well, as normal as things ever could be in Storybrooke. Okay, focus. He had to focus here. They were looking for a witch.

"Hey, over there," Dopey called, pointing. His brothers followed his gaze as a house suddenly came into view. As one, the group silently walked up to the house.

"Okay, remember, we need to be very quiet," Doc stated. Wish Stealthy was still around, Grumpy thought to himself. He would've loved a mission like this. But he was dead and there was no bringing him back. Okay, he had to focus. They had the house and soon-hopefully-they'd have the witch. At their brothers' reminder, the other dwarves nodded. The last thing any of them wanted was to be caught by the witch that they were hunting. Silently, they walked up to the house. Sleepy let out a silent yawn and then peered in, his eyes widening a moment later.

"Holy crap!" he exclaimed, barely remembering to keep his voice low.

"What? What is it?" the other dwarves demanded as they crowded around him.

"The witch," they all chorused in a hoarse whisper. The witch who had done this to them was Zelena…