Author's Note: Please excuse all typos! I'm pumping out these chapters without really checking for spelling or grammar and really I'd need a whole team of Beta's to keep up with me! :( The last section is a little confusing, but I'm being obscure for a reason. Big twists coming soon...so buckle up and get ready for the ride!
"You. Are. An ab-solute idiot." Sarah said the words slowly, enunciating each word. Closing her eyes she shook her head, her fingers reaching up to rub her temple.
August didn't know how to respond to that. Especially since he felt the same way about himself.
He should have instantly gone to his father when the curse was lifted, but August didn't know how he could face his father - let alone Snow White and Emma.
Emma had every right to let him suffer after what he had done as a young boy. His father had told him to look after her…to make sure she was safe.
In the end he had let everyone down.
How was he going to face anybody.
"Alright…alright. Now that I have all the missing pieces of how this whole mess with my mother raising Henry and Emma not being close to her happened - I think I know how to fix things. I'm kind of use to getting you out of trouble by now." Sarah said as she looked at the ground with her arms crossed. Trying to work things out in her head Sarah bit the corner of her lip in concentration.
August noticed how the light that came into the trailer shined on her long hair that cascaded down her back. Her teeth bit her pink plump lips and her curly lashes framed her brown eyes that held flecks of green in them. The white shirt that she wore hugged her curves as well as the black suit pants she wore.
His mind brought him back to when he was a young boy, when the Queen had come in search of Snow White. He remembered the black clad evil Queen's face as she tried to convince someone to tell her where Snow White was hiding.
When he had come back into town and seen her for the first time he had felt the familiar stir of fear.
As a man though, he knew that she was indeed very beautiful.
But standing in front of this woman, a woman who he still didn't know the name of, he was reminded of the Evil Queen's beauty.
"What's your name?" The question left August's lips, astonished that he asked the question without really wanting to.
Sarah jerked her head up to look at August with a startled look, then slowly the look faded into hurt.
"Sorry. It's just…I've known you since I was a little girl. It's hard to keep reminding myself that no one here knows me." Sarah said this with fleeting looks into August's eyes and around the trailer. It hurt to see the empty look in his eyes when he saw her.
Pinocchio's eyes always seemed to light up. It hurt to see them dull now as he asked her name.
Trying to relax she sighed and politely smiled.
"I'm Sarah."
"Sarah…huh…that's a…nice name." August said the name, thinking that the name somehow fit her. But not remembering any Sarah's from when he was a boy in Fairy Tale Land.
"Thank you. My grandmother helped name me. But mom made sure that it was a name I could live with…and not have to live up to." Sarah said with a smirk on her lips.
August found himself smiling. And at the moment he really had nothing to smile about.
"Why's that?" August asked, curious as to how Sarah knew him.
Sarah laughed with a wide smile, her eyes lighting up beautifully, and the sound of her laughter causing a tingle to zoom up his back.
"Because my mother had to live up to her name. It was kind of cruel of my grandmother to name her 'Queen' but, Grandmother wasn't exactly her true self when she did." Sarah said with a shrug.
August felt himself freeze at the word 'Queen.' There was only one woman that he knew of with a name that meant 'Queen,' and she had become just that. In that moment everything clicked in his mind.
Her smile. Her clothes. It screamed The Evil Queen. Though Sarah wasn't really intimidating in attitude. Cocky…yes. Intimidating…not really.
"You're The Evil Queen's daughter?" August asked, half hoping he was wrong.
At the title Sarah's smile evaporated.
"My mother is not evil. And because you've been my friend since we were children I'm going to pretend you never called her that." Sarah said in a serious hurt tone.
"Sorry. Just…I'm…I didn't mean it like that. When I was a child everyone called her that. Everyone feared her. But I never knew she had a daughter…" August said as the look of hurt on Sarah's face made him want to hit his head against a wall. He didn't want to upset her. Especially if she really could get him out of the mess he created.
Another reason entered his mind, but he immediately tamped it down. There was no way he was going to do something deadly stupid like what he was thinking.
Sarah tilted her head back and rubbed the back of her neck, "Well technically she didn't. My sister and I are from another dimension. We some how fell into this dimension. As a matter of fact my family and friends are wandering around the woods looking for us as we speak. They found the 'hole' and came running to the rescue."
August didn't know what to say to that. Most of his adult life he had adjusted to a world without magic.
The word rescue hit him like a sledgehammer to his brain, immediately he went back to the very real problem he had. THEY had.
"How are we going to stop the woman I was telling you about?" August asked as he looked up to the first ally he had since he was a small puppet.
Sarah gave him a raised eyebrow at the question. "Are you really asking how I'm going to stop a woman that's intent on hurting my family?"
August knew that Tamara was dangerous, and even deadly, but he didn't know anything about Sarah to determine if she meant she would kill her.
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" August asked in the most delicate way he could.
Instantly he knew he had said the wrong thing.
Sarah stiffened and eerily turned her head towards him. Her eyes burning with a purple black flame that slowly turned back into the lovely brown green he had seen earlier.
August backed away from her without thought, his instinct telling him that Sarah was more powerful then The Evil Queen.
"I'm not going to wait for her to hurt the people I love. You may not know me Pin, but one thing that you should know about me is that when it comes to my family - I protect them at all costs. Even if it means I'd lose my life."
August didn't know how to respond to the strong words. At the moment all he knew is that Sarah might be strong enough to really handle whatever it was Tamara was doing here in Storybrooke with Baelfire.
Sarah suddenly whirled her head towards the door of the trailer.
August was about to comment on her startled state when Sarah turned her head and held up her finger to her lips with a stern stare.
August didn't move as Sarah opened her hand and a black flame appeared. The sight made August's blue eyes widen at the odd sight.
Sarah had been about to move forward towards the door but stopped suddenly. The black flame in her hand began to sputter as though a window had been opened and the flame was fighting to stay lit.
Sarah stared at her hand in shock.
August saw her eyes staring at her hand, trying to work out something that he didn't understand.
Sarah slowly straightened her back, a look of cold anger on her face as she slowly let the flame in her hand die.
Under normal circumstances she would have grabbed Pin's hand and used her magic to transport them to her sister and mother. But under the circumstances she knew whoever was behind the door had the ability to block her powers. And if that was possible - her mother and sister wouldn't be able to help them.
Guessing who was outside made her all the more determined to open the door and show them how foolish they were to think she even needed magic to hurt them.
Sarah's face slowly lightened as a smirk that was identical to her mother's took over her face.
"Pin..."
"It's August."
Sarah's eyebrows furrowed.
"It's a long story." August said with a sigh.
"Ok...August. Whatever happens in a few minutes...you are never to tell my mother or Snow anything. Agreed?" Sarah asked with one arched brow.
August nodded his head.
"Good." With that Sarah didn't turn towards the door, but past August to the back of the trailer.
"Rumplestiltskin!" Sarah said loudly with her arms crossed.
August felt his jaw drop. She was calling the Dark One.
Before he could protest or even run and cover her mouth, he appeared behind Sarah, staring at her back.
"Well now...this is unexpected." Rumplestiltskin said with his raised lipped smile.
Sarah turned and immediately spoke before he could get out another word.
"Bae might be in trouble. Help me now and make sure he won't be."
Rumplestitlskin's face instantly fell. "How?"
"The woman claiming to be his girlfriend...Pinocchio says he knows. She's not who she says she is."
The Dark One was about to comment on that meaning nothing when Sarah raised her hand again. This time instead of a black flame a blue flame appeared. Again it flickered as if it was exstinguishing.
When Rumplestiltskin saw this he looked up into Sarah's eyes, wanting an answer for how it was happening.
Sarah nudged her head towards the door behind Rumple and said, "I know someone was following me here. I didn't see them - but whoever it is I think that can take away magic."
Rumple eyed Sarah with accusation and skeptisicism.
Sarah sighed and rolled her eyes at the same time, extinguishing the flame in her hand. Looking up into his eyes with determination she spoke bluntly.
"I love Bae. He's good to my niece, he gave me a great nephew, and he's a good person that didn't deserve a mother abandoning him because of her own selfishness. You may not believe me but believe that I will stop whoever this woman is with or without your help. I just wanted you to know. He's your son, and I know you'd want to know if anything or anyone wanted to harm him."
Rumple could see in Sarah's eyes that she was telling the truth about the way she felt about Bae. And if there was even a remote possibility that she was right...
"What exactly do you want me to do?" Rumple asked as he settled his hands on top of his ever present cane.
Sarah looked into Rumplestiltskin's eyes, she could always read him since she was a little girl. At the moment she finally saw that he was willing to help her defend Bae.
"I need a back up plan. If it is her outside that door I'm going to confront her...I need you to get to Bae. Keep him and Henry safe."
Sarah noticed the little twitch in his eye when she said Henry's name. A memory from years ago popped into her mind then. Seeing Rumple about to turn away from her with that look in his eye made the memory come to the forefront. Grabbing him she jerked him back towards her.
"Henry is your grandson Rum. Your blood runs through his veins. If you do anything to Henry it would be like you doing it to your own son. And for Bae - you're helping me right now! Willing to risk your own safety for his. As long as I'm around I won't let anything happen to Bae, Henry OR you! I love you enough to stop you from doing something stupid. And I can tell you're thinking things you shouldn't." Sarah had held him the entire time, staring him in the eyes and not backing down from his angry stare.
Rumple jerked his arm away from her. "You know nothing about me."
Sarah shook her head, "You're wrong. I've known you my whole life. And despite not knowing all of your secrets - you and I have always been connected in a way that has frightened everyone. I risked my life for you once...I'd do it again if it need be. And right now you need to let me! Please!" Sarah pleaded with Rumple.
August didn't know what to say or do. Listening to Sarah it seemed that she was doing this out of love, and she would most definitely risk her life since he knew no one that would dare put their hands on The Dark One.
" Get to know your grandson...remember why your son's life is so valuable to you. Look into Henry's eyes and see that it's a part of Bae looking back at you." Sarah insisted.
Then she pushed past Rumple, not catching the look of contemplation on his face, walking towards the door to face whoever was outside when he finally spoke.
"What exactly are you planning to do? If it is her, and she has the ability to block magic..." Rumple turned towards her, "you'd be walking into a fight without a weapon."
Sarah gave a huge smile that made her look identical to her mother. "I am the weapon. And if something does happen - get to Bae!"
With that Sarah reached the door knob and pulled open the door and closing it behind her.
Little Snow and Henry were laughing when Queen Regina walked in.
Queen Regina couldn't help but smile at the happy faces.
Ruby looked up as the jingling of the bell above the door announced someone had entered.
Instantly Ruby knew it was Queen Regina and not the Evil Queen from her clothes and smiling face.
Ruby suddenly found herself not knowing how to address her. Thinking back to what Sarah had said about knowing her and being friends with her their entire lives led her to believe she was maybe a little less formal with Sarah's mother.
"Ruby? Where's Sarah?" Queen Regina asked with a furrowed brow as she walked further into the diner and looked into the back to see if she had just missed seeing her.
Then again...Ruby was sure formality would help save her from knowing Sarah had gone off alone looking for Pinocchio.
Just as she was about to open her mouth and lie her tail off, Little Snow turned and answered with a smile.
"Sarah said she was going to help Gepetto find Pinocchio." Little Snow informed Queen Regina.
Queen Regina's smile fell slightly. "Why does Gepetto need help finding Pinocchio? Did something happen to him?"
"Um...a very long story short - Pinocchio didn't get cursed to Storybrooke, but when the curse broke he started to become a puppet again. He's been missing ever since." Ruby had pieced the information together from what Emma had told her.
"Wait! You mean to tell me she went looking for him without taking anyone else with her?" Queen Regina instantly knew Sarah was in trouble. It never failed. The second Sarah was by herself trouble found her...or she found trouble.
A lifetime of trying to protect her from danger was always thwarted in some way or another.
Ruby saw the fear instantly enter the once calm Queen. Ruby could smell it.
"Is Sarah in trouble?"
Queen Regina looked at Little Snow who had asked the question with worry on her face. She tried to contain her fears. It wasn't right for Little Snow to be scared for Sarah. Sarah may have been her 'little' sister, but Sarah was twenty eight years old and Little Snow was still a child. And knowing her children like she did, she knew that Little Snow would want to go find her if she thought Sarah was in any kind of danger.
"Is she in trouble mom?" Henry asked with worry on his own face.
Queen Regina was taken aback at the title Henry called her by, but recognized the mirror image of Little Snow's worry on his face. Moving towards them she caressed both of their faces trying to calm them both down by touch alone.
"I don't know. But I don't want either of you doing anything that would put you in danger. Do you both understand me?" Queen Regina tried to convince them both not to do something foolish.
Both Henry and Little Snow shared a look, then both turned and said in one voice. "No."
Queen Regina's eyes bulged out, and her mouth dropped. "Excuse me!?"
Both Henry and Little Snow stood up from the bar stools. "She's our sister mom." Henry began.
"And if she's in trouble we're going to help her." Little Snow said with confidence.
Queen Regina was too shocked at the show of unity between the two that all she could do was look between the two.
"Seems like you have a revolt on your hands your majesty." Granny's voice made Queen Regina raise her eyes to the older woman.
"You really think Sarah's in trouble?" Ruby asked with her eyes darting between Queen Regina and the window front of the diner.
Comically it was Little Snow that turned and said with a heavy sigh, "I think my baby sister always gets in trouble. Why else would she have a personal guard assigned to her."
The jingling of the diner's bell along with the voice making all turn to see who was entering.
"Of all the foolishness I have ever heard, why in the world didn't you call me before venturing through the portal?! If my family is in trouble I'm not going to sit in a castle waiting to know if the people I love are dead! You should have told me Regina! Do you have any idea how angry I am at you?!" A thick accented feminine voice rang out.
"I'm sorry Regina I tried to make her see reason."
Both Ruby and Granny felt they're mouths drop at the sight of the owner of the second voice. Their hearts stopping and then suddenly racing at the sight before them.
With a sigh and repressing her own anger Queen Regina responded.
"It's ok Anita. I know how my sister never listens."
Emma moved along with her mother. Her thoughts over what Rum had said about Sarah and about her being in trouble making her worry. Not to mention the way that Regina had handled the meeting with these alternate versions of themselves badly.
Very badly.
As weird as it sounded, Emma knew Regina enough to know that she felt lost and unsure of just about everything at the moment.
Discovering that she had a daughter in another dimension, having another Snow White act like they were intimately close...
Actually Regina had seemed to be fine with that - which did nothing but confuse Emma.
Her eyebrows furrowing, Emma cautiously asked her mother the sudden question that had entered her mind.
"Mary Margret...mom..." Emma felt herself revising herself feeling that the intimacy of the question would be understood from just this one word.
Upon hearing the title Mary Margret straightened and looked worriedly at Emma, her full attention on her daughter as they continued to follow the others through the woods.
"Was...did Regina...did she ever act like..." Emma tried to ask her question, but the words she needed didn't come to her.
"Yeah. She did." Mary Margret responded sadly. Thinking back to how truly radiant and jovial Regina had been when she had first met her. Mary Margret saw that same person when she looked into Queen Regina's eyes.
"No." Emma said as she saw her mother looking in the distance to where Prince James and Queen Regina had gone, knowing that she had misunderstood the question. "No. I mean...did she ever act like she would have ever forgiven you?"
The words caused Mary Margret to stop dead in her tracks. Whirling and giving Emma a look of hurt making Emma realize that she had phrased the question wrong.
"Forgive ME?" Mary Margret stressing the last word incredulously. "Emma...she tried to kill..."
"Iknow. I know. That's...that's not how I meant it...ok. I meant..." Emma raised and dropped her arms to her sides, "I mean did she ever...did she ever want to stop being the villian? Did she...did she just once want to stop?"
Mary Margret's eyes furrowed at the unexpected question. What made her think of something like that at this moment?
And still Mary Margret knew the answer.
It had been once. Just once.
Even now she wasn't certain that it wasn't Regina trying to manipulate her or make her vulnerable. She had thought it had been a trick for the longest time.
But as her mind replayed the events of that day in her mind, as she spent hours each day wondering if there had been a moment to change the way Regina had felt about her, that one day would enter her mind.
"Yes." Mary Margret whispered the word. Her mind taking her back to the sight of all of those people dead in the woods. All of them having been killed because they had helped her. How just before seeing the sight she had thought she could have forgiven Regina for wanting to kill her.
All of those dead people...she had known that the Regina that she had known was gone.
Emma's mouth had dropped open at the answer.
"What? When?" Emma's shocked voice bringing Mary Margret back to the present.
"It was before you were born." Mary Margret actually huffed out a laugh. "It was before I even knew your father."
Emma shifted her glance to random spots around them, her mind screaming at her that there could have been the possibility of never being separated from her parents. That there was a way to have stopped the curse from ever occurring.
Tears filled her eyes as she thought this.
The possibility that she could have grown up like Princess Emma - that this nightmare of a life would have never happened...
"The curse would have never been cast..." Emma murmured to herself. But Mary Margret heard it.
"Emma..." Mary Margret was going to launch into all the things that wouldn't have happened if the curse had never been cast.
"Please don't. Just..." Emma closed her eyes fighting the real want to cry.
After having told Princess Emma about how the curse had been enacted and how she and everyone had been in a curse for twenty eight years...Princess Emma had told her about how she had grown up.
Told her how she had been groomed from her youth to take over the thrown. How she had been overwhelmed with the responsibility of what ruling the kingdom meant.
No freedom to do what she wanted. Every move she ever made watched. How her parents had unintentionally made her feel pressured to always do the right thing. That she had an obligation to her people.
But that the one person that had always sided with her had been her Nanna.
How no matter how imprisoned she felt that her Nanna had always looked the other way when Sarah and she would go on their adventures. That she had always known about them sneaking out of the castle but only since Henry was born had she found that little tidbit out.
Emma had been enraptured by the brief story of how Queen Regina held her when she had cried about wanting to be free and not be condemned to a life of royalty - how the Queen had wiped away her tears and told her that she would rule as long as she could...to keep the burden off of Princess Emma's shoulders.
Emma knew that she would have felt the same way...that she still did feel that way. Being the 'Savior' had been no different a responsibility, and she had felt trapped by her parents and even her own son to be that.
No one had been on her side. No one had seen her point of view.
She had been alone...even surrounded by her family. She had been alone.
"I'm jealous of her." Emma finally admitted out loud.
"What?" The soft question coming from Mary Margret's lips.
Emma looked up with her eyes gleaming from unshed tears. "I'm jealous that she got to live with her parents...and I didn't."
Mary Margret felt her mouth slacken at the words. In her existence their was nothing she regretted and hated more about what Regina had done to them - then take away the ability to raise her own daughter.
"I'm jealous of the fact that she grew up with Regina acting like her grandmother and not her enemy. I'm jealous that she didn't have to be sent into a different world to meet Neal or...Baelfire. I'm...I'm jealous that she's happy and I...I'm just..." Emma couldn't help but let a tear or two fall.
"Hey..." Mary Margret quickly moved towards Emma and wiped the tears away from her face. Seeing her daughter crying hurt her inside in a way that wounded deeper than a blade. Hearing that she was unhappy...she wanted to do anything she could to make her daughter happy. "Emma I know this isn't the life that you wanted...It isn't the life that I wanted for you...but we can't change what's happened. I would do anything to have been able to raise you...to...to see your first smile. To hear your first laugh...I..."
Mary Margret's smile at the thoughts melting away, pursing her lips as she herself began to cry.
"I know." Emma whispered never looking away from her mother's eyes.
"Is everything alright?"
The voice caused them both to jump, both finding Cora standing there looking between the two of them. The very regal clothing letting them knoq that this was Queen Regina's mother.
"Why are you both crying?" Cora tried to suppress the anger. The very sight of Mary Margret crying bringing her back to the day she had sworn to be her grandmother. To protect her at all cost.
"Nothing." Emma said quickly, wiping away the few tears that were cascading down her face, hating being caught crying by anyone.
Cora said nothing as she walked up to Emma and lifted her chin up and made her look into her eyes.
"Emma. If there is one thing in this world that I know...it's that you don't cry for nothing. Sweetheart I know this is all very strange for you...but I am your Grandmother. And I love you very much..."
And before Cora could continue on Emma had begun crying in earnest, her face crumbling miserably at the words.
Cora felt fear grip her at Emma's reaction and instantly wrapped her arms around her, engulfing her in a strong embrace. Mary Margret caressed Emma's hair and whispered assurances that everything would be ok.
Mary Margret watched the way Cora held tightly to Emma and the way she placed a kiss to Emma's temple whispering her own assurances.
In that moment Mary Margret knew why Emma's jealousy had led to this huge show of emotions.
This was why.
This very moment.
Emma had never had this affection as a child. This comfort.
It was the same way she viewed the way Regina treated Snow.
Seeing the potential way that it could be...and being able to actual feel it, it made the envy rise up in you in a huge wave that overturned every emotion you had inside you.
Knowing what you could have had is one thing.
But feeling what that meant...
It made you wish for what you couldn't have.
Rum continued to walk towards where he sensed her magic.
Since his days of being the Dark One he had been sensitive to it.
Hundreds of years of life, and only in the last few years had he truly been free of the evil that had taken him over.
But something had remained.
A knowing of sorts.
Nowhere near as strong as he use to be, but he could still protect those he loved.
At the moment he knew that the people he loved the most were in a danger that he had been known was coming for years.
Fear of what it meant had engulfed him the second that Bae had come to ask for his help.
All of the dirty secrets that he had never told anyone were close to being unveiled.
Things that he knew could cause him to lose the very people he would die to protect.
Since Sarah and Snow had gone missing his worst fears had come to life. The prophecy was coming true, making him scared for the first time in so long. Making each step he made closer to the magic harder and harder to take.
Leaving the others while they were distracted he had sought her out. The one person in the world that he had been willing to hurt the most, the one that had been innocent until he had begun to corrupted her - manipulate her to do what he needed.
As he approached the tomb he stopped to look at the entrance.
He could feel her here. Lowering his head he let out a huge sigh.
Not knowing what to expect he knew that he had to face her. They didn't need an audience for what he needed to say to her.
"Regina...please let me in."
Rum waited in the quiet of the cemetery, half expecting to be brushed off by her, suspecting how the other version of himself had treated and acted towards her.
And she would have brushed him off too.
But the tone of voice, the way he even said her name - it was different then any way she had ever heard him say it.
She had been in her secret chamber, staring at her mother's things. Things that over the years she would come and caress, things that would make her remember that at one time she had been young...and loved.
Remembering who she was becoming difficult with the arrival of Sarah and Snow. Along with everyone else that had come with them.
Thinking about how her mother...this other version of her mother scolded her - it had felt like she was a child once more in front of the one person she wanted to make happy above all others.
The way James had grabbed her and tickled her...it had reminded her of Daniel. Of the way he use to make her laugh...the way he use to make her smile by the way he looked at her.
She hadn't laughed that hard and long since Daniel had been taken from her.
Yet James...her...her brother could make her laugh so easily in the span of knowing her a few minutes. As great as it had felt - it had hurt more to know she hadn't felt that...that happy in all this time.
The only thing that had ever made her feel as happy was Henry. Her little boy.
But now...with Sarah and even with Snow, she had begun to feel it a little bit more.
Regina had been thinking about how even the arrival of Little Snow made her feel needed. Wanted even.
It was confusing her how Little Snow acted like she loved her. Like she wanted to be around her.
Which was the opposite of how it had truly been, with the Snow White she knew as a child would act.
The hand maiden that her mother had recently killed in front of Mary Margret, Johanna, she had always been the one that tended to her.
Regina had even been cast aside from Snow's upbringing.
The very reason that King Leopold claimed why he was marrying her had been a lie.
The small amount of affection she had held for the child had quickly morphed into hatred.
A hatred so strong that she had felt herself changing into her mother. Felt herself becoming like her...and it had scared her.
Having imagined choking Snow to death when she was a child had horrified her.
That's the moment she had known.
Known that she was changing into something she had fought her whole life till that point not to become.
Now she was all these years later, a testament to just how far a person could go to be happy.
She heard someone call out her name suddenly.
Stiffening before she turned and viewed who was standing at the entrance, she realized who would dare come find her here.
It was Rumpelstiltskin...but she had instantly known it was not the man that she had grown to know by his clothing. She had never seen Rumpelstiltskin in such common clothes.
Hearing the man that had helped mold her call out her name asking to be let in to her sanctuary after all this time was odd. To be let into this one place that had been solely hers - to hide away from the world from.
As her eyes scanned this man's form, Sarah's words of what she called him came to her.
Rum.
The way that Sarah had talked to Rumpelstiltskin, the way she had to referred to the man that she had known him to be...
Waving her hand over the mirror she caused the front doors of the mausoleum to open.
Rum wasn't expecting the doors to open, not after how long he had been standing there, but when they did he let out a breathe he didn't know he was holding and slowly entered.
Regina didn't really know why she let him in, all she knew was that she wanted to find out if he knew why she had never had a daughter of her own. Why - if by some way - she had not had Sarah in her own dimension.
If anyone would have an answer to that question it would be Rumplestiltskin. And she knew that the only one that she might be able to gain the answer from was the one Sarah called Rum.
Before she knew it, there he stood in front of the hidden doorway, obviously knowing where the opening was. Still he said nothing and waited again, and all she could do was look at his older face and brown eyes and wonder how one man could look so different from one world to the next.
Something about his eyes were softer than those of his counterpart.
"Regina...I...I know I may not be the person that you normal speak with..." Rum's words were soft and almost frail in tone, "and as you can see I'm not exactly the man you once knew."
Making no move to actually open the barrier between them, Regina agreed with his self assessment, still remaining weary of her initial decision to allow him to enter her small sanctuary.
"But due to the circumstances...I think it best if we work together." Rum struggled with his words, unsure of how to approach a darker version of Regina.
How he had tried all those years ago to corrupt her...it made bile rise in his throat.
Many years had been spent by her side, even as the Dark One, trying to right a wrong that he had masterminded for over half a century.
Difficult was not the word he would use for the struggle that he had gone through during those years.
It was horrific.
The day that everything had changed for him...he had finally realized what even he - The Dark One - would not do.
A line he could not cross to reach Bae had been found.
Everything in him had argued, fought, agonized over how he couldn't cross this line he had finally found...no matter how much he wanted to reach Bae.
When Cora had called him seeking help he had relished the moment. Over and over in his mind he had imagined the look on her face when she realized that she had never been able to get out of their agreement.
Even now as he stood waiting for Regina to make her choice to let him in...he remembered the choice of what kind of man he was...all those years ago.
*******************************************Rum's Memories*************************************************
Smiling incredibly widely he had appeared where he had sensed her. Facing away from her he tried to hide his excitement of the moment.
He wanted to see the anger on her face after all these years of thinking that she had won the battle, when he had all along won the war. That despite her thinking she was able to walk away from him unscathed, he had still gotten what he wanted.
Regina.
Years had passed and Cora had forgotten that before he had ever fallen in love with her...he had still wanted her child.
It had to be her child.
Seeing the future was one thing...manipulating things to your advantage took time and thought.
Having Cora find a way around giving him the child had been of no importance.
Time was on his side.
All he had to do was wait for his opportunity.
And he had.
"Well Dearie...I don't know how you managed to get back to this realm but I am impressed. What do I owe the plea..." Turning to face her the smile slipped from his face as he saw the red eyed tear stained face before him.
Suddenly his dark dead heart clenched at the unforeseen sight before him.
"She needs you..."
Closing his eyes at the sudden shiver that had zoomed up his spine at the words spoken with a heartache that he had never witnessed from this woman. Not even when faced with death had she allowed tears to smear her face.
Something must of happened to cause a sight so devastating.
"Who?" He asked confused of whom Cora could possibly want him to help.
"Snow...and Regina." Cora's voice was still shaky as tears continued to flow down her face.
For certain his face showed how shocked he was at her answer.
"Please..." Cora pleaded.
That word from her instantly made him understand why the sight before him was so odd. How she could shed tears with such emotion after so many years.
All those years ago he had noticed it in the way she had kissed him that last time. Known the second he pulled away from her that she had been different. The kiss...it had lacked something. Something that he had learned seconds later was why she could walk away from him.
Ripping out her own heart had left her able to walk away from him.
Now here he stood looking into her eyes...knowing how she could be so distraught.
"You put your heart back..." Whispering the words out he slowly approached her, everything in him instantly wanting to comfort her.
But immediately she stepped away from him with a , "Stop." Reading his intentions in his eyes clearly she had known immediately what he had been about to do. And she couldn't allow that.
Not now.
Not after what she had caused to happen. What her vengeance had caused to occur.
"She needs you. We don't have much time."
"What happened?" The question sprang from his lips with worry at the urgency Cora spoke.
The next few moments would change everything that he had done to try to get to Bae. Because in those moments he would realize something about himself.
He may have been a murderer, a thief, an opportunist...but he wasn't a monster.
The story that Cora would tell him would change the course of his life forever. It would change who he was forever.
Mouth hanging open slightly he absorbed everything that Cora had told him.
"Did you know?" Cora whispered the question...afraid of the answer.
"NO!" Rumple jerked his head at her with a glare.
"I had to check." Cora whispered her response, afraid to raise her voice and alert people where they were.
"You really think me capable of doing something like that? I may be the 'Dark One' but even I would never cross that line." Rumple's teeth grounding out the last six words, trying to keep his anger in check.
"And WHY do you think I would place my heart back? I would have done anything to make sure Eva's child suffered for her mother's actions. When I realized what my hate for that stupid woman had caused I knew I could never look my own daughter in the face for what I've let happen." Cora's own anger was barely held back as she glared right back at Rumple, tears barely being suppressed as her eyes replayed the scene she had found her daughter and Snow in.
"I've killed, tormented, and done everything possible to have power...but if I had known..." Cora's words trailing off as she tried not to remember the image of earlier in the day to haunt her.
"Where are they?" Rumple asked as he agreed with what Cora was not saying.
If they had known things would have been much different.
If HE would have done things differently, not started on this path of finding someone to make a curse for him to find his son, none of this would be happening.
Helping Snow and Regina after what he had done could never make up for what he had been planning to do.
Nothing could redeem him from his choices.
No amount of good could ever counterbalance what he had done to these three women.
"They escaped through the secret passages. They're traveling deeper into the Enchanted Forrest then where we are."
Scanning around the forrest surrounding them, worried that they were somewhere close to the castle with how much light lit up the clearing where they stood. The Enchanted Forrest though beautiful became dense and darker the further in one traveled.
Most hiding from the law used it's cover.
"You do realize though the forrest is vast, the King's men will be searching for them there." Rumple looked up at Cora, "I may know of a man that can help them until a plan is formed."
"They need your protection Rumple. Why would I trust some man when the best person who can keep them safe is you?" Cora's suspicions of Rumple's actions suddenly heightened by the suggestion.
"Because I," Rumple raised his hand and extended his pointer finger, "will be the first person they come to accuse. To keep them safe they need to stay as far away from me as possible. And I...will make sure they are absolved of any crime."
Cora nodded her head. Already knowing that both of their days of deceiving and manipulating were not done yet. Only when Regina and Snow were safe would they both finally end this way of life...and not a moment before.
Because what they would both need to do to keep them safe would require all of their acquired skills.
"I need to go back. Make sure they suspect nothing. If anything be able to calm the people of what's happened." Cora let out a sigh and swallowed down the lump in her throat as she looked back towards where the castle stood.
"Cora..." Rumple wanting to tell her to be careful, but there was no need to.
She had taken care of herself. Somehow, someway she had always managed to do so.
"My time here is limited Rumple. Regina cast a spell to bring me back...but my time is limited." Cora had remained turned away from him. Explaining more would do no good, and the more time she spent with him the more she endangered Regina and Snow.
"I know how to bring you back if need be. Right now do what you can to explain your sudden return...tell them...you received this..." Waving his hand he produced a scroll with a puff of his magic.
Turning back around Cora moved to take the scroll and inspect it.
A smirk formed on her face.
"You always were quite good at improvisation. It will definitely explain my return. But when what this says does not come to pass..."
"Ah ah ah! Let me worry about that." Rumple admonished Cora.
Cora looked up from the scroll and stared at him with such a grateful glance, that for a second he was not sure if this was really the same woman from all those years ago.
"I love her Rumple. After all this time of having her and not knowing that feeling...I now know just how I've hurt my own daughter. I know what I did with her by my own hands and I can't..."
She looked back towards him with a look of pain written across her face.
"Can we ever make up for the things we've done? Could our children ever love us after what we've put them through?"
Questions he had asked himself a million times, and always the same answer entered his mind.
"We have to try."
*********************************Alternate FairyTale Land********************************************************
Galloping towards the camp, the man was pushing his horse as fast as he could.
He knew there wasn't much time.
Arriving close to the camp grounds he barely stopped his horse before dismounting and running towards the largest tent among the others surrounding the prairie.
The guards at the tent did not stop him as he strode through and quickly knelt, "Your majesty we followed their trail towards the mountains. The animals were found but there was no sign of the women."
The man did not turn and face the man kneeling, continuing to gaze at the map laid out on the table before him instead.
"Are you to tell me that you aren't able to find two women running through a forest in panic while being chased by wild beasts?"
"We have been searching for days your majesty, but recently a caravan with the Queen and her mother were seen close by. The Queen's mother was suddenly ill but they did not turn back. Knowing that your majesty has ordered not to attack the Queen unless ordered directly by you we waited and stayed hidden from view." Keeping his head bowed the soldier explained without shame what had occurred.
"Did they find them?"
"No your majesty. But we discovered why we were unable to find them as well. They found a portal where they might have run into. As we speak they pass through it."
At these words the King finally turned.
"Who is passing through?"
The soldier lifted his head and finally looked up into the cold eyes of his King.
"Everyone...your majesty."
The King's eyes hazed over as he began to think of what this could mean.
"Are you certain that the Queen and her mother passed through?"
"Yes your majesty. The Queen was one of the first to walk through with Rumplestiltskin." The solider knew he had said the wrong thing as his King straightened almost immediately at the name.
"Ready my horse."
"Your majesty?" The soldier asked incredibly confused.
"I will go through the portal as well. If what you say is true then my time is better served following them." The King turned and picked up his sword from atop the map where he had placed it.
"Ready the men and have them stationed around this portal once I am through."
The soldier rose and crossed his arm to his chest, "As you command King George."
King George turned and locked pale blue eyes with the dark brown of his soldier's.
"What of the Queen's siblings? Did they pass through?"
"Yes my King. The eldest was just seen with the Queen's personal bodyguard passing through."
King George reacted drastically at the words, grabbing the soldier by the collar and jerked him towards him with his eyes flashing dangerously.
"That's impossible. She does not live in this realm. For her to be here..."
"It is why I came immediately after seeing her your Majesty. I knew you would want to know of her presence." The soldier quickly spoke, fearing the King's wrath.
King George pushed the soldier away from him, and quickly began to move out of the tent.
The soldier followed quickly.
"Your majesty..." motioning with a hand for the King's stead to the soldier's at the tent's opening, causing the one to swiftly do so and one to follow.
"If she's gone through the portal then there is no one guarding the castle. Send men to the castle and set up a guard. Make sure no one goes through the portal after me."
"Yes my King." The soldier immediately turned and made a motion to cause the second guard to leave the King's side and ran towards the group of men towards one side of the camp.
Striding towards the end of the encampment both soldier and King found their steads ready. Both quickly mounted up, and were quickly on their way towards the still opened portal.
Pushing the steads faster and faster the King knew there was little time.
Little time to reach the portal.
Little time until the portal closed.
Because it would close. Magic could only sustain something for only so long.
A lesson he had learned many years ago.
When black hair and blue eyes clouded his vision. When he found himself touching another and knowing that he had made the biggest mistake of his life.
His mind continually brought him back to all those years ago, as he raced towards the portal.
How he had been blinded by one woman...
With eyes wide open he had let the woman he thought he loved trick him.
Using him she had inadvertently brought him together with whom he knew now was the only woman for him.
If she had only known that he had tricked her long before she had tricked him, he knew she would have killed him.
Yet he loved her.
He still loved her.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Trading in his heart for the power he wielded as King, he had not turned back from his decision all those years ago.
Like she had done.
They were one and the same that way.
A perfect match.
For that reason he knew she would never leave the Kingdom unprotected. Never.
Despite her 'change' and maternal instincts of protecting her children, he knew her as well as he knew himself.
Wherever they had traveled he needed to follow.
If only to kill her by his own hands. To finally rid himself of the weakness she brought him.
Because love was weakness.
And she was his weakness.
Author's Note: I want ten reviews for this chapter! Or no more writing! This thing took forever to write for some reason! So REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! Pretty please! You know you want to know more!