Amelia struggled to sleep the previous night despite being next to Regina for the first time in years. Her mere presence calmed her down but not that night. Her love was too unpredictable so instead she found Henry's storybook she had hidden and read. Only to find it hardly touched on her life before she reunited with the Evil Queen.
Only her dark side could be seen, through the pages of the book. Meaning that only Henry saw her dark side. But that didn't stop him from believing her last night. He truly believes that no one is pure evil. Even the Evil Queen.
Amelia left the mansion after finding a closet full of clothes that fit her in a guest bedroom. She guessed Regina's original plan included her being with her. She decided on a pair of skin-tight black jeans, a red short sleeved shirt with a long-sleeved tan leather jacket. The closet was also full of shoes that would allow her to free- run. She had also found some of her weapons, she was particularly happy to see her flintlock guns.
With the familiar weight of her gauntlets on her forearms under the long sleeves of the leather jacket she walked to the Charming loft and left it on the doorstep knocking on the door and leaving before she ran into David again.
She made her way to the town hall were people were starting to gather to find shelter after the wraith attacked and they were trying to find their loved ones. She had found the fairies or here they were nun's setting up a stall full of bottled water. She found Blue or Mother Superior, their leader.
"Fairies" she gruffly greeted them with her hands stuffed in the pockets of the jacket. Blue who had her back turned to her turned around to face her
"Assassin" she snarled at her "If you're here the Queen must be close by"
"Still at home, I came here alone. I don't want to fight Blue, I just want to help"
"Why would we let you, haven't you done enough damage"
"I have there's no excuse for it, but I'm all for second chances. My ledger is full of red, I'd like to wipe it out, drop at a time if need be" Blue's expression softened at the Assassin as she thought through Amelia's words "I'd like to prove to Henry that my story in his book isn't as it seems, I'm written as a villain when I'm not. Or I don't think I am. I was cursed as well because I helped Charming get to the wardrobe. Let me help."
Blue softly nodded "Okay Assassin. But if you step out of line"
"Then I'll surrender myself to a punishment fit for the crime" she stated "And I do have a name. Its Amelia"
Blue simply nodded as she put the assassin to work. As the morning wore on more and more people came to the town hall seeking help. Dr. Hopper was offering counselling sessions to anyone who needed it. Amelia had been assigned to the medical tent tending to some of the resident's injuries during the attack, when she saw Geppetto walk up to the notice board. She finished up with her 'patient' and sent them on their way. And approached the man. She had to tell him.
"My boy…My poor boy" he said to himself as he pinned a sketching of his son on the board. Red or Ruby was walking around in a hurry with blankets.
"If you are looking for a family member, come to the front table" she continued her instructions as Amelia tapped the old man on his shoulder. He turned to see her
"Assassino" he seethed at her, she rolled her eyes at the man.
Amelia huffed and rolled her eyes at the older man "I have information about your boy"
"What did you do!" he exclaimed in anger making bystanders look towards the pair. Amelia shushed him and pulled him back away from the group.
She spoke quietly not to be overheard by anyone "I found him in that enchanted tree you built for the royals" His eye went wide knowing what he did "I didn't touch him, I have done a lot of things, but I have never hurt a child" she told him. He could tell that she was telling the truth. He seemed to relax "He was still in the tree when I left to find Charming, he may be in this world since Emma made it through, but I don't know anything more"
"Please you cannot tell them" he pleaded to her
"I haven't told either of them, nor do I plan to"
"Thank you" he sighed and closed his eyes in relief
"But I can't tell you how Snow would react, she's lost the last thirty years with her daughter. I can't see she would ever forgive you for saving your son over her daughters. Parents always want to protect their own children"
"You have children?" he looked at her with disbelief
"I did" she swallowed "A boy". Geppetto saw a flash of pain though her face
"I'm sorry" the older man sympathized to the woman. It was the worst pain in entire world to lose a child
"-but I understand why you did it" she quickly changed the subject "I would have done the same if it came between my son and someone else's"
"Amelia!" the red-head looked for the voice to see Henry running towards her. Marco saw her expression soften hearing Henry's voice and chuckled making the woman turn to him confused.
"I can see you have already fallen for the boy" he told her with a smile and turned to walk away as Amelia shook the comment off and kneeled for Henry to jump into her arms into a hug, it was like he'd known her for years not only a day.
"Henry, where's David" she asked him once she pulled him off her.
"He dropped me here while he went to speak to my Mom" That was either very brave or stupid of him to do 24 hours after the curse was broken "Did you read it?" he asked referring to the book
"Yes, Henry I did, last night I couldn't sleep" she told her
"Are you okay? That doesn't sound good"
"I've learnt to continue on small amounts of sleep I'll be alright" she reassured to the boy.
"That's so cool, could you teach me how to be an assassin, you know running in trees and hiding in plain sight" the excitement made Amelia smile
"Maybe when your older, but you need both your mother's permission for that first"
"Really?" he whined
"Yes, now let get back to work" Henry nodded and helped around the square as much as a ten-year-old could anyway. Ruby watched the whole exchange between Henry and Amelia. For a long as she knew the Black Widow, she never went to harm a child she even saw her protect one, it made her wonder more about her past.
The Black Widow sat in the Queens carriage as it made its way through the endless woods. Regina needed to visit an old friend of her's. Jefferson. He was in possession of a magical hat that allowed users to travel between worlds. Amelia sat in her blank and red robes the Queen had made for her, with a leg over her knee, chin down and arm's folded sat opposite The Evil Queen.
"You're brooding dear"
"I'm not brooding" she told her Queen dryly "Simply thinking of ways to disembowel Snow White and her Prince"
"You shouldn't had trusted them in the first place dear"
"They had information I needed" she needed the Dark One. He was currently being held in the royal couples dungeon at least she was free of his contracts. Which reminded her see needed to pay Cinderella a visit as soon as she was done with the Queen.
"At least you know now you can't trust Snow White with your secrets" the carriage stopped, and Amelia looked out of the widow to see a small cottage, the current residence of the portal jumper. One of the guards ready to open the door for the Queen and hold out his leather covered hand to help her out of the carriage. Amelia followed Queen as she headed for the cottage.
"Wait out here, maybe the good weather with help with your current mood" Amelia scoffed and went back to the carriage and leant against it as Regina entered the small home.
Amelia surveyed the forest that surrounded the cottage. Bored she turned on her sixth sense as the forest turned shade of blue and dark blue. Slowly looking around she came to a stop when he saw a mass of dark blue that looked like a child. it wasn't an enemy or a target it was neutral. Why was it hiding?
"Stay here I'm going for a walk" Amelia tells the guards as she started walking away from the carriage
"Yes Ma'am" a faceless guard told her and nodded.
Going deeper she came up behind the peasant girl looking through the foliage at the cottage
"Are you lost, girl?" Lia asked the girl. The girl let out a squeak of fright as it whirled around, she started to crawl backwards away from the Assassin.
Amelia put her hand up showing her she wasn't armed "I'm not going to hurt you girl, I merely want to know why you're hiding" Lia crouched down one knee and pulled her hood down, to show the girl her face giving the girl a tight-lipped smile. The reassurance seemed to calm the girl down to stop trying to get away from Lia.
"My name's Amelia, what's yours?"
"Grace" she told the red head
"Pretty name for a pretty girl, now why are you hiding?"
"My Papa told me to hide while he talked to the Queen" this is Jefferson's child. Amelia's lips quirked up in the corner with the piece new information.
"Well your Papa sounds like a smart man"
"He is, I like you hair" she said pointing to the fiery ringlets of red hairs that fell over her shoulders
"Thank you, Grace. I like your dress" the girl smiled at the woman who spoke to her, she wasn't as scary as she first though she was.
"Assassin!" Amelia heard the Queens voice call out for her
"That's me" she told Grace standing up and pulling her hood back up "It was nice to meet you Grace. Now run along to your Papa" Grace nodded and got up from the floor and ran off.
Amelia made her way back to the carriage and climbed into the wooden box and took her seat back up opposite Regina with a small smile on her face.
"Well I see that the weather has helped with your sour mood" Regina observed. Amelia noticed Regina slight sour mood after talking to Grace's father
"What's wrong Your Majesty?" she started with a smirk "Maybe we should stop and walk, the weather might help with you mood"
A while later after she helped around the crisis centre when she saw David in the distance be surrounded by the townspeople. They were hounding him asking him questions until he spotted Blue and approached her.
"Blue!" he called out "Could there be a tree on this side? The one we sent Emma through as a baby. Maybe I could go after them that way"
She sighed "Its possible, but without fairy dust to guide us here…No, its hopeless"
"You'll find another way. In the book, things always look worse right before there's good news" Henry said hopeful. This brought a small smile on Amelia's face.
"Terrible news! Terrible news!" Leroy and the other dwarfs came running to the crisis centre towards the Prince "We were out at the town limit" her turned to Sneezy "Tell them who you think you are, Sneezy"
"Oh, will you stop calling me that. You know who I am. I'm Tom Clark. I own the Dark Star Pharmacy. What's going on here?" He answered as the Pharmacist. Amelia had to laugh, he worked at the drug store when he was constantly sick. She'll have to give Regina her praise for that.
"If you cross the border, you lose your memory all over again" Leroy deduced for the town
"A-And coming back doesn't fix it?" Archie asks
"If it did, would I have come running in yelling 'terrible news?! If we leave, our curse selves become our only selves" the crowd began to panic and yell at the prince looking him for guidance since Snow was missing.
David separated himself from the crowd and attempts to leave, while Henry and the rest of them followed. David turned back trying to get the crowd under control as they panicked more. Amelia had enough and pulled out one of her flintlock pistols and pointing it in the sky and pulled the trigger, creating a load bag to echo the surrounding area, the crowd went silent flinching. David sent her a appreciated nod towards her for silencing the crowd as her ears started ringing, it had been a while since she'd fired one of those.
"Everybody meets back here in two hours. I'll tell you my plan to fix everything" he told the crowd, he waved Amelia over to join him outing away the gun. Ruby followed him
"What's the plan?" the werewolf asked him
"I don't know. But I got two hours to figure it out" David turn to the assassin "Do you think you can get your thieves to patrol the border, make sure no one gets out"
"I'll do my best, but they'll want something in return" the red head told the Prince.
"Whatever they want, we can figure it out until we can get Mary Margaret and Emma back" Amelia nodded headed for her car parked on the side of the road
This temporary alliance would certainly be interesting.
Amelia observed from the shadows as Jefferson took his daughter to the local market place. The town square was full of people trading goods. Jefferson was guided to the toy stall by Grace. Regina's plan was to play on Jefferson's anxiety on not being able to provide for Grace. She watched at the 'merchant' refused Jefferson's coins for a stuffed rabbit.
Watching the girl, she wandered onto her former life she had made for herself with John on The Godspeed. Would they had been able to provide for Thomas?
She forced herself to shake the thoughts from her head. She couldn't have that life again until they were all dead. She was nearly there. She only had Lady Ophelia and Claudius to send to the other side. Her friends there would see to their eternal damnation for their crimes against the Brotherhood.
Getting Puck and the others to agree to help was harder than Amelia had thought. She received a phone call from David. He was trying to find someone called the mad hatter. There was only one person that fitted that name in the Enchanted Forest. He would be easy to find.
After following the golden trail with the young Puck, she found herself in the middle of a street with an upturned car, and Jefferson still in the driver's seat. With Pucks help they dragged the portal jumper out of the car. And she gently patted his cheeks to wake him up
The hatter fluttered his open to be greeted with a smirk "Hello Jefferson, miss me?"
"Oh Crap"
Amelia sat on the edge of the ornate sofa that sat in front of the fireplace as they waited for the guards to escort Jefferson to the Queen. Amelia rose from her seat her hood down as Jefferson walked into the room followed by the guards, holding a tan leather hat box.
Lia quickly dismissed the guards for the Queen to speak "Jefferson. So good to see you looking more like yourself. I assume you're here because you've reconsidered my offer?"
"I want your guarantee. That, if I do what you ask, my daughter will want for nothing"
The Evil Queen bowed mockingly at the portal jumper "You have my word". Jefferson looked to the Queens right to see the young woman that would he would find frequently at the Dark Castle working for the Dark One, only in white and red robes like the black and red one she wore here.
"This is the famous Black Widow? Will she be coming with us?"
"Yes, she will, and you'll find out why they call her that if you keep asking questions. Now, let's open that box of yours and see what it can do" Jefferson crouches down and opens the hatbox and pulls out a top hat
"I do so like a man who dresses for the occasion" Regina teased the man as Jefferson places the hat on the floor. Jefferson only glared at the Queen, clearly not amused by the Queens comment.
"What about a woman?" Amelia whispered into Regina's ear. The Queen slowly turned her head to the red head behind her and gave her a wink. Jefferson chose to ignore the obvious flirting between the two women as he spun the hat. Melia watched closely as the hat spun by itself as Jefferson warned both women to step back. They followed his instruction as a purple haze is created by the hat with the assassin stood in-between pulling her hood over her head the portal jumper and the Queen.
"Ladies first!" he yelled over the vortex growing vortex
"Together!" Regina suggested to them as Amelia forced her arm around his and Regina's slender arm snaking around hers over her robes. Amelia wasn't sure if the hat had grown or they had shrunk as Jefferson told them to hold on tight to another as they jumped into the vortex
Amelia sat with Jefferson outside Granny's with a pot of tea between them waiting for David to arrive after she called him. Amelia found a child tea play set in his car and a stuffed white rabbit. She remembered he had a daughter in the Enchanted Forest. Grace, she remembered.
"You still with the Queen?"
"It's complicated"
He scoffed chuckling to himself "Last time I saw you, you hung on every word she said"
"Things change" the both heard footsteps to see David approach their table and place Jefferson's hat on the table. David glared down at the mad hatter while they stayed silent until Amelia cleared her throat and turned to Jefferson
"Jefferson this is the Prince. David this is Jefferson owner of the hat" Jefferson offered his hand to David but her simple put the hat on the table in front of them and sat down on the empty seat glaring at the man across from him
"Can you get me through?" David started
"No" the portal jumper told the Prince
"Can you get them back?" Jefferson rolls his eyes, earning a swift hard kick to his shin under table from the assassin "Can you get it to work?
Jefferson laughed in David's face and chuckled out "If you only knew"
"Okay, Amelia said that you had a little girl's tea set in your car and a stuffed rabbit toy, so I'm thinking you have a daughter you love. Well, I do, too. And a wife. And they're out there somewhere. In the Enchanted Forest, or a void, I don't even know. But I'm going to get them back."
"They're in the Enchanted Forest, that's for sure. I just can't get there"
"It still exists?" David asked Jefferson
"It exists. I don't know if that matters, since we can't go there"
"So, you won't help me?"
"I'm a portal jumper, and you destroyed my portal, so you're out of luck. The Widow will back me up on this" David stood up leaning over the table between them grabbing Jefferson by his scarf as Amelia yawned at the Princes threat.
"Well, I'm the closest thing left to a sheriff here, so I can just throw you in a cell until you figure out a way" he seethed at Jefferson
"Then all we'll do is both sit. Stuck…. Two lives in our heads, cursed worse than ever" Amelia watched the Prince closely as something went through his eyes, guilt, regret and pushed the portal jumper back into his seat
"Two lives, forever at odds. Double the pain, double the suffering" Jefferson suddenly flips the table and bolted from the chair and begins running down the main street. Amelia jumped up starting to chase down the portal jumper with David when Ruby stopped both.
"David, Amelia stop!
"Get out of my way!" he yelled at the she-wolf as Amelia continued to run after Jefferson
"Regina has Henry" Amelia stopped letting Jefferson go.
"But he has the way!" David ignored her trying to get away from her
"She has Henry! She's threatening everyone"
"She has Henry?" Amelia asked the she-wolf making her turn to face the read head and nodded
"She showed up at your town meeting" she turned to David "the one you missed. Her magic's back. Everyone's panicking. They want to leave town – they're going to lose everything"
"Okay. Okay, but I have to go after him first. He's my only hope of finding a way to get Emma and Snow back" David told Ruby
"Back to what? This town is about to come apart. You've got to do something"
"David" the prince looked to the Assassin who looked scared, he'd never seen her scared before "Go to the town line I'll deal with Regina" David couldn't reply as Amelia turned and sprinted down the road towards the Mayors house
The three ended up inside the hat. Once Amelia got her bearings of using this magic, she looked around to see the velvet lining of the top had and several doors different designs' some were not even doors, one was a green and gold curtain. She knew that green. She didn't want to go back to OZ anytime soon.
"I forgot how magnificent you are" Regina said in awe
"I'm not here to relive the past. I'm here for my daughter" he scolds the Queen and points towards a door that looked like a golden framed floor length mirror
"Here – this is the entrance. It's important that we stick together. Same amount of people that go through have to come back. No more, no less. It's the hat's rule, not mine"
"I understand" Jefferson looked to Amelia who looked too interested in the door that sat next to the 'mirror' who gave him a nod in understanding. Jefferson hesitantly pokes his finger into the mirror making the glass ripple like water around his hand as he pushed himself through into the other world. Amelia followed him through and stepped onto a yellow path, closely followed by Regina herself. Amelia looked around in awe in the new realm. Grass grew taller than her and mushrooms towered over her. Everything was also so much brighter here than the Enchanted Forest.
Jefferson led the two ladies down the yellow stone path as they came to a stop as they saw a giant caterpillar wearing a small red hat on its head an eye monocle and was smoking a pipe. The creature saw the three newcomers.
"Who...are…you? Who? Who?" he spoke between puffing out circles of smoke which floated into Jefferson's, Regina's and Amelia's face.
"I hate Wonderland" Jefferson grumbled out as they continued down the yellow path.
Amelia panted as she ran across Storybrooke to the mansion and ran up the path leading up the house just as Henry started to climb down a rope of bedsheets from his bedroom. Amelia easily climbed up the side of the house and grabbed the back of Henry's shirt and backpack and pulled him back into his bedroom. Once he was back in his room Amelia climbed through the window panting, she hadn't run like that for twenty-eight years.
"Lia! What are you doing!" he shouted at her in disbelief at the red head as he sat on his carpet floor in a heap
"Saving your ass kid" she forced out between breaths
His door suddenly opened to see Regina smirking at her and Henry "Hello dear I was wondering where'd you gotten to"
"You want to go in there?" the trio had stopped at the entrance of a large (to say the least) hedge maze
"What I want is a short walk through" Regina demanded out of the portal jumper.
"A short walk?" Jefferson scoffed. Regina looked to Lia who was already one step ahead of her Queen. Using her sixth sense her eyes darted back and forth and she shook her head as she found she struggled to use it the vision in the maze to find a way through to the centre.
"You know who this belongs to"
"The Queen of Hearts. She's not one for subtlety" she drawled Regina looked back at the heart made of roses that decorated the entrance to the maze
"This wasn't part of our deal. You know what she does to anyone that crosses her" Jefferson argued with the Queen
"Indeed. Better than most" Regina mused, she knew exactly who sat on the Wonderland throne
"You can't leave Wonderland without us" Amelia pointed out to the man "Three go through, three go back. You're not going to let the Queen of Hearts keep you from returning to your daughter, are you?" Amelia knew exactly how to push his buttons. Regina smirked at her assassin. Jefferson says nothing and begins to follow Amelia and Regina down the maze "That's what I thought" the red head added
"Wait" he called out making the women stop, he picks up a branch from the ground and throws it towards one of the hedge walls. The hedge grabs the branch and pulls it into the wall. "Stay away from the walls" he warned them.
"I've got a better idea. The walls should stay away from me" the Queen magically creates a fireball and blasts a path through the maze creating a straight path to the middle.
"It seems you've found your short walk my Queen" Amelia gave the Queen a small smile as she grabbed the assassin and wrapped her arm around Amelia's and proceeded to walk arm in arm to the vault with Jefferson following them
The two of them walked until they reached the vault that was in the middle of the maze. Amelia let go of Regina's arm as the Queen continued forward to unlock the vault and find the box within, they were looking for as Amelia surveyed their surroundings as Jefferson waited for Regina to return with a box in her hands
"Okay? You got what you need" Jefferson hurried the Queen out of the vault "Shall we?" Amelia lead the pair but were stopped when several guards ambushed them
"Trespassers! Halt!"
"Go!" Amelia told them as they went down another path. Amelia found the small black ball in her pockets and threw it to the ground creating a smoke screen for the three to flee them. Amelia saw them turn a corner but saw the hedge entryway start to close. Diving through the small gap and rolled forward onto the ground making her hood fall from her head as the living hedge put a wall between her and the oncoming guards.
"Melia!" Regina called for her assassin as she pushed herself off her knees and followed her Queen down another path of the maze. Amelia reached the pair as Regina used her magic to send them into the hedge wall and instantly be taken into the maze.
Jefferson threw another guard into the hedges and the trio doubled back on themselves and ran past the vault to the path Regina had created with her fireball.
"Amelia!" the red head instantly stopped running as she heard the feminine voice from behind her. With the vault behind her their stood Lady Ophelia. Blood boiled under her skin simply looking at the woman she trusted with her life
She was in Wonderland. No wonder no one had seen her.
Regina noticed that Amelia was no longer following her and Jefferson and stopped to look back. She stood frozen looking back at the vault.
"Bring her to me alive" Ophelia ordered the guards that ran either side of her.
Jefferson stopped to see both the women had stopped. Regina heard the order the woman that Amelia was fixated on. Regina ran back and grabbed the red head's arm and tried to pull her away from the oncoming guard
"Amelia please we need to go!" she begged the assassin, but she didn't move. The guard got nearer as she tried again tugging harshly on Amelia's arm
"Lia! Please!" the assassin turned to see Regina holding onto her arm pleading with her. Reaching in her belt she took out another black ball and threw it front to them making the guard run into the white smoke screen making them stop to cough and splutter as Amelia grabbed Regina's and caught up to Jefferson who continued to run after seeing the Black Widow snap out of her day dream.
Running back through the burnt path hand in hand with the Queen who hadn't let go of her until they reached the entrance to the maze and Regina waved her hand to magical make the hedges to reform with the guards weapons sticking through the plant. Regina chuckled darkly at the guards expense
"Regina" Amelia called out for the Queen talking her hand to encourage her back to the Looking Glass
"How long am I in prison? Till I grow up?" Henry asked Regina. Amelia stood downstairs using her sixth sense to listen in on the conversation upstairs
"Henry, I rescued you because I love you" Regina replied
"So, I'm a prisoner because you love me. That's not fair"
"You know where I come from. That was really not fair. Of all the places I've seen, this is the fairest of them all"
"You ruined lives. You sent away Mary Margaret and Emma"
"That was an accident" she argued
"The way you treated me wasn't an accident. You made it so no one believed me. You made me feel like I was crazy".
"But that's all going to change, now. Henry, you can know all the secrets. You can live in a house with magic. Look what I could do"
"And I can teach you. You can do this and so much more. You can have all the friends you want come over any time, and you can show them everything in your book"
"No one's going to want to come over here. They're scared of you"
"You can make then not be scared" she said a little too harshly "You can make them love you" Amelia couldn't help but feel a shiver go down her spine.
"I don't want that. I don't want to be you" he told their mother. Amelia didn't want to hear anymore and turned it off. A sharp stabbing pain went through her head as the world around her went back to normal. She wasn't worried about it for now it hurt the first few times she used it back home for a long period of time, she'd have to get used to it again.
She waited at the bottom of the stairs as Regina walked down the stairs alone. "I take you listened in on our private conversation"
"You know I did Regina" Regina walked past the Assassin to the dining room as Amelia followed her "You can't keep him here against his will. How long will it be until the Prince rallies the town behind him to get him back. We both know I won't be able to hold off everyone"
"Then I'll deal with them myself, I'm back to full strength again"
"I'm aware. Even you have limits, how would it look to Henry if you're killing his friends his family"
"Like you know how to protect your own son" Regina spat out bitterly. After a beat and Amelia's stunned silence Regina regretted her words to the red head. "Melia…"
"Save it" she told the woman with tears threatening to spill "I'm going choose to ignore that comment about my son, but if you even mention him again, like that you'll find out exactly what it's like to be on the wrong end of me" she warned Regina with clenched fists. Regina didn't take the threat on lightly, she knew how dark Amelia could go whenever someone mentioned Tom or John.
Regina meekly nodded at the red head. Even the Evil Queen didn't trifle with The Black Widow on a bad day "I'm sorry" she whispered as Amelia nodded and turned heading up the stairs. Maybe getting her powers back wasn't the best way to get Amelia and Henry back.
Jefferson led the women up the path back to the looking glass "The Looking Glass! There it is!" he exclaimed in relief, but he stops when he sees both the Queen and the Black Widow stopped at a large mushroom "C- What are you doing? We can't stop now. We got to get out of here" he stomped back to the women
"There's something I need to do first" Amelia slices a piece of the mushroom off with her hidden blade as Regina caught it "A little snack" Regina and Amelia walked past the portal jumper
"Are you mad? Do you know what the food here does?" Jefferson reminded the Evil Queen
"I'm well aware" The Evil Queen sets the opened box on the ground and places the piece of mushroom inside and steps back clutching Amelia's hand as purple smoke emerges from the box and materializes into Henry
Regina let go of Amelia's hand to embrace her father "Oh, daddy!" once out of the embrace Amelia stepped forward and lowered the dark hood to reveal her face to the older man, he recognised that face as the face that saved his daughter all those years ago. Jefferson finally saw the Black Widows full face. Her fair skins clashed with the long dark red hair that sat on her shoulders in tight ringlets.
"Amelia?" he questioned the woman "Is that you?" for her to nod at him confirming his suspicions.
"This is what she took from you? Your father?" Jefferson questioned the Queen
"The Queen of Hearts has always seen me as a threat. So, she wanted some leverage. I got it back" Amelia snapped her head to look past Jefferson as they heard heavy footsteps.
"The Queen's soldiers – we must hurry" Henry warned his daughter and Amelia waving the red-head over to him as Jefferson realised the Queens plan
"You knew only three can go through the hat… Which is why you didn't tell me about your father" he stated
"It was the only way to make sure you'd help me" Regina told him bluntly. Jefferson tries to go after them, and Amelia flicks out both her hidden blades in warning to the portal jumper, but his feet are swallowed by the ground by Regina as the three headed for the Looking Glass, but they were stopped
"Wait! Wait! Wait, please. My daughter… My Grace… She's… She's waiting for me. I promised her I'd… I'd be home for tea"
"A promise which you now have broken. If you truly cared for your daughter, you never would've left her in the first place. You were right, Jefferson. You don't abandon family" The Evil Queen and her father go through the mirrored door. Closely followed by Amelia who is stopped short from Jefferson's pleaded to her she stopped closing her eyes tightly trying to tune out his voice.
"Amelia please! You had a son…please" she turned her head to face him.
"Get a message to Lady Ophelia. Tell her I'm coming" and she stepped through the Looking Glass
Amelia knocked on Henry's open door as he stared out the window of his current 'prison' leaning against the headboard of the bed.
"You okay kid?" he ignored her question as she stepped into the boys bedroom and sat herself on the bed twisted her body so that she faced him "You know the silent treatment doesn't work right?" he continued to ignore her "I remember giving my father the silent treatment for three days straight, I wouldn't train with any of the others I shut myself in my bedroom I didn't even talk to Paola. Then he caught me sneaking out of my room on the third night to go to the merchants. I didn't know, but he'd been following me every night I snuck out for food. The thing is that I found I wasn't even mad at him; the other masters had wound me up so much I took it out on him"
"You didn't know he was your Dad though" he told her
"Oh, so you do have a voice then" smiling at the boy he laughed at her trick she had used on him, but the smile quickly grew serious "Look I know everything's a little messy now, but everything will work out"
"How, I'm the Evil Queen's prisoner" Henry asked the red head "And now Emma and Mary Margaret are gone"
"Henry trust me when I say you're not a prisoner, and they'll come back like I said last night. Snow has an annoying way to get back to the people she loves. And I don't doubt for a second the Emma would be doing anything she can to get back to you. I know I'd be doing the same for my son"
"I didn't know you had a son" Henry told the red head
"It's not in the book. My pasts a lot messier than what the book states. And for your Mom" Amelia let out a sigh "She's just complicated"
"What do you mean?" he asked the assassin tilting his head to the side
"I don't think she knows how to love. She hasn't had the best of upbringings. Her Mother was a monster and her father couldn't do anything to stop her from controlling their daughters life. He could only watch from the side-line's as Cora used your Mom as a pawn in a greater game"
"And you betrayed her" he reminded her
"I know, and she betrayed me when she hurt someone I saw as a father. But we know why we did it" she told him "We both we're moulded into the worst version of ourselves. But there's proof there's a lot of good in her"
"Where?"
"You, silly" she answered with a gentle smile "Why do you think I can change?"
"Because you already have, by letting my grandpa put Emma in the wardrobe"
"No. its because you were raised not to judge people by the actions and their pasts. Letting Charming go is only a freckle compared to the other thing's I've done working for Rumpelstiltskin and the Evil Queen"
"But Emma's the saviour I must be good"
"But what if she let everything that has happened to her after going through the wardrobe made her a bad person. She didn't let her past get the better of her present. Even the purest hearted person can get darkened from a single action. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
"I think so"
"Think on it and get back to me" The front door slamming open made Amelia stand up from the bed and go on full alert "Stay here" the assassin tells the boy as she leaves his room and shut his door too.
Going down the hallway she reached the staircase and looked down to see David holding his sword up to Regina's neck. Regina's eyes flicked up to the stairs to see Amelia gripping the banister.
"Henry, come down!" Regina called up the stairs. David looked up to see Amelia with her fingers wrapped around the banister, so tight that her knuckles turned white. David whirled around to see Amelia above him with a dangerous look on her face as she gripped the banister tighter
"Stay up there!" David warned her with his sword
"And here I thought we were friends your highness" she told him sarcastically with a tight smirk
"You won't be using your sword" Regina told the Prince gaining his attention again
"Whatever you conjure, I can fight" he told her turning so he could see both between him
"Trust me she won't need to conjure it Shepherd" she said through gritted teeth "It's already here"
"I mean, you won't need your sword" the former Evil Queen corrected pushing the sword away as Henry ran past Amelia stopping on the flight of stairs as Regina met him halfway
"Henry, you're going to go home with David" Amelia let out a breath of relief
"Really?" Henry asked his mother
"Really. I shouldn't have brought you here. I was… I don't know how to love very well. I wasn't capable of it for a very long time, but I know I remember… If you hold onto someone too hard, that doesn't make them love you. I'm sorry I lied to you. And that I made you feel like I didn't know who you are. But I want you to be here, because you want to be here. Not because I forced you, and not because of magic. I want to redeem myself" she looked at Amelia for the last sentence "Go get your things." Henry ran back up the stairs and to his room
Regina turned back to David walking back down "Then prove it" he told her
"How?"
"Answer one question – does it exist?"
"What?"
"The Enchanted Forest- our land. Does it still exist?" he pushed
"Yes. But I have no idea how to get back there" this brought David more hope "I can see I just launched you on a heroic quest. Just also make sure you take care of my son?" Henry went to go down the stairs but stopped behind Amelia making the red head to turn and knelt to him. David and Regina watched closely from downstairs
"I'll think about what you told me while I'm with David I promise"
"That's all I ask" she whispered back as Henry wrapped his arms around her neck and she returned the hug holding him tight against her.
"That, I can do" she heard David promise downstairs.
Amelia sent Henry on his way and stood back up and watched as Regina said goodbye to him and leave with David. Amelia walked down the stairs to join the woman seeing her son off with the Prince gently taking her Queen's hand in hers.
Amelia watched as Regina was tempted to put her mothers book in the open fire but changed her mind at the last minute and locked it in a cabinet. Thinking back on her conversation with Blue this morning and Henry this afternoon, she couldn't expect Regina to change if she was still going to fall into the hole she relied on.
Regina went to lock the cabinet when Amelia stopped her. Regina looked at the red head as the she approached as she unclasped the leather gauntlets turning the safety on her blades and pulled them off her forearms and handed them to the former Evil Queen.
"What are you doing?" the Queen asked her
"Wiping the red out of my book" she simply told her. Regina seemed to understand and took them off Amelia and placed them up on end next to the book of spells and locking them together in the black cabinet.