Regina found Alexander in his study hunched over his desk reading an old, thick book. The papers were as thin as silk, the cover almost peeling off, and so he handled it with great care. His dark brown, shoulder-length hair was tied back in a loose ponytail and he wore a thick cotton robe over his shoulders. He looked up when he heard her footsteps approaching.
"Good evening, your Grace," he said to her, hardly keeping a yawn out of his voice.
"Alex, it's well past midnight," Regina scolded him gently. "You ought to be in bed."
"I know," Alexander admitted, "But I've been reading up on the history of the kingdom and time got away from me."
Regina leaned over to see what he was reading. She scoffed, "This is ancient, hardly relevant information."
"But I feel as though there's so much I don't know. I just to...learn everything."
"A good king knows how to take himself, and that includes going to bed at the proper hour," Regina replied with a light smile.
Alexander shook his head, but agreed to retire for the night when he finished the chapter he had been reading.
As she began to exit the room, Alexander said, "Wait. Can I ask you something?"
"Of course, anything," Regina answered as she returned to his side.
"What were my sisters like?"
Regina's face fell. "What?"
Alexander elaborated, "I mean, what were they like as children? How did they get along with you and with my father? People talk about him all the time, but no one ever seems to mention my sisters. Weren't they good queens?"
"Half-sisters," Regina corrected snappishly. "Snow White was never a queen, and Rose Red was a child. You don't need to compare yourself to them. Why would you even ask that?"
"I grew up an only children and now I have two half-sisters I'll never get to meet," Alexander frowned. "I guess I just wanted to be able to imagine what it would have been like to know them. I didn't mean to upset you, your Grace. It must difficult talking about them after what happened."
Regina attempted, "It is. You don't have to apologize for that, I understand why you're curious. And I told you, call me Regina. I'm your mo-stepmother, that practically makes us family."
"Can I ask you something else, Regina? Why do you like me?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Regina replied with a short laugh. "You're kind, intelligent, hardworking, eager to help others - just like...just like your father."
His smile sent a dagger into Regina's chest. "Thank you. But when I first arrived, before you knew me as person, you were already to welcoming and nurturing toward me. I thought you'd be upset that I was taking your children's throne."
You're my child, she longed to say. Instead, Regina composed herself. "Snow White killed my husband and Rose Red met a untimely end. Neither of those had anything to do with you, so why would I direct my anger toward you? You were my innocent stepson, the only son of my beloved...Leopold. You're all I have left of him."
Alexander murmured, "I didn't realize he meant that much to you. Cousin Edward said you had an arrange marriage, that neither of you looked forward to the wedding."
"That's true..." Regina answered carefully, "But things changed as we got to know each other."
They didn't change for the better, but they certainly changed, Regina thought bitterly. When they first got married, Leopold had been all bland smiles and empty compliments. He had his amusements - his hunting companions, his gambling parties, his wine, his women - so he left Regina alone in their shared tower like a porcelain plate meant to be occasionally displayed but never touched. That time was the better part of their marriage. After his father died and he became king, Leopold gradually became something darker.
It began with his jealousy. She had to come out of the tower to hold court beside him as his queen, and he hated watching her interact with other men - never mind the fact that he spent half his nights in some other woman's bed. Then the empty compliments became veiled insults...and unveiled insults. Whenever she ordered a new gown, he would snidely ask, "Who are you trying to impress?" Nothing she did was ever good enough for him, everything she said seemed to anger him.
At night she would lie in her bed half-frozen with fear that he would visit her, spread her legs open, and take his pleasure from without no thought to how much he would hurt her. When she became pregnant with Snow, and later with Red, all she was haunted by the cries of the only child she actually wanted, Daniel's son, who her bitch of her mother had handed off to random pair of farmers the moment he came out of her.
She had wanted to love her daughters. Leopold didn't become kinder when they were born, but he left her alone more often after they were born. They were a reprieve from his cruelty. But how could she looked them in the face and not think of the horror she endured for them to exist? How could she not think of the daughters she was suppose to have with Daniel? She kept her distance from them; if they needed hugs and kisses, they had their father.
It only got worse as the girls grew up and began to idealize their father. He kept his vices and viciousness well hidden from his children, leaving them solely for Regina's viewing pleasure. Leopold spoiled them both rotten, especially his firstborn and heiress, and left the actually parenting to Regina. Parenting, of course, involved discipline, so it didn't take long for Snow and Red to start seeing her as a sort of enemy. And didn't that please Leopold?
Alexander smiled again, "That's good to hear. I'm glad you two were happy together. Maybe we could talk about another time?"
Regina forced herself to return his smile. "Of course. Now, finish your book and go to bed. You need your rest."
When Mary got out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to face the morning, she found Emma in the kitchen downing a cup of coffee. Her blonde hair was uncombed and pulled into a low ponytail, the natural black color peeking out at the roots. Emma's face looked washed out and exhausted; her eyes were red and puffy, her mouth sagged into a scowl.
"Morning. Are you okay?" Mary walked over and poured yourself a cup. "No offense, but you look terrible."
"I know," Emma replied, with no emotion in her voice. "I've just been having these weird, vivid nightmares and I can't sleep."
"For how long?"
"Since, um, I think it was since I visited Mr. Gold and he told me all those things about Regina," Emma stated. "You know, I think that might have something to do with it, because all of them have been about her."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Mary asked as she took a seat at the counter. "It might help."
Emma sat down beside her, "Okay, so, all my nightmares have been roughly the same. I'm in a car driving through the forest before stopping in Storybrooke, then the next thing I know, I'm on a hospital bed, chained to the bed with handcuffs on my wrists and ankles. And I'm...having a baby."
"Good morning!"
Emma flinched at the interruption.
Ava rushed down the stairs and hugged Mary, then Emma. Emma kissed her foster daughter's forehead, "Hey, kid. Is your brother up?"
"No, he's still asleep," Ava shrugged. "Can we go to the park today?"
Mary raised an eyebrow, "Last I checked, I'm pretty sure your teacher assigned you plenty of homework for the weekend."
Ava pouted. "There are two days in a weekend. I can do it tomorrow."
"Sorry kid, I'm gonna be busy today," Emma said with an apologetic shrug. "Maybe tomorrow. Right now you should brush your teeth."
"Fine," Ava huffed.
Once she was out of earshot, Mary turned to Emma expectantly, waiting to hear the rest.
Emma took another sip of her coffee before she continued, "I don't know, I'm just suddenly nine-months pregnant, and in labor, and then Regina walks in. She puts some kind of cloth over my face so I can't see anything, and when the baby's born I can hear her walking away with it. And its terrifying because I can't get loose, I can't do anything, and I don't know what she plans to do with it. Then everything goes black and I wake up. What do you think it means?"
Mary furrowed her brow, "It sounds like this has to do with Henry."
"Henry?" Emma blinked. "He's not in my nightmare."
"What if the baby is Henry, or a representation of him?" Mary suggested. "You're angry that Regina has been keeping you from him and worried that he's starting to resent you for it."
"I guess that makes sense..." Emma replied, though her voice had a trace of skepticism.
"Since you've gotten here, Henry's been talking about possibly being your biological son. I think subconsciously you wish he was your, that you hadn't lost your baby, so your mind came up with a scenario where he was."
"I don't know about all that," Emma chuckled nervously.
Mary grimaced, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit a nerve."
"It's okay," Emma reassured her. "I know you're just trying to help, but I don't think psychoanalyzing me is going to help."
"Yeah, you're probably right. But still, it's weird. How long have you had these?" Mary asked.
Emma frowned as she tried to remember. "It was after that weird meeting with Mr. Gold."
"That was right after he told you Regina was dangerous, which mean-"
"Mary..." Emma warned.
"Sorry," Mary blushed, before she took another sip of coffee.
"Look, I've got a meeting at the courthouse this morning and I don't want to be late. Can we talk about this later?"
Mary cocked her head to the side, "A meeting for what?"
"One of the clerks said they had the info on the twins' biological father," Emma replied in a low voice.
"Oh," Mary's tone was filled with sympathy. "Good luck. I'll let Ava know you went out."
Emma gave her a tight smile before gathering her things and walking out the door.
"I'm so happy for all three of you!" Snow White cried as she embraced her sister and sister-in-law, then her brother-in-law.
Ye Xian had not been able to keep a smile off her face since she learned that she was pregnant. Her wife and husband stood at either side of her, and each held onto one of her hands. The triad had only been married a year, in a lavish ceremony that doubled as a celebration of Queen Regina's finale defeat. Snow had announced her own pregnancy only a few weeks before and nobody had expected another round of good news so soon.
"We wanted you to be the first to know," Red replied. She couldn't have been happier; by the year's end, she would become an aunt and then a mother.
Charming shook his head and laughed, "Oh god, we're gonna have nine kids under the age of ten running around."
"We've handled worse," Nagaraj laughed.
The two pairs of hurried footsteps interrupted the conversations. The young monarchs turned to see two of the lower ranking warlocks approach them, their faces severe and concerned, and bowed respectfully.
"What is it?" Snow asked, immediately recognizing that something was wrong. The joyful mood evaporated into the air.
The elder warlock, a pink-skinned woman with two thick blonde braids falling over her shoulders, answered the young queen, "A witch from the realm of Oz has come seeking an audience with you, your Grace."
Snow and Charming locked eyes; they both thought of the witch that Charming had caught spying on them.
"Gives a second," Snow replied. She turned to her sister and Red gave her a sad smile.
"A queen's work is never done," Red squeezed her sister's hand. "Go - we'll go tell Grandfather the good news and write to Nagaraj's parents."
Snow nodded, then looped her arm around her husband's as they followed the warlocks to the throne room. Inside Snow took her position on the throne and Charming stood beside her with one hand on the hilt of his sword. Stiff-backed and stern, they waited a few moments for Frau Holle to escort the witch inside. She was a tall, handsome woman with long red-and-grey hair, wearing well-made green clothes and brown leather boots. She tried keep a neutral expression, but beams of doubt, fear, and anger escaped from her eyes.
"I presume you're the same woman who spied on my husband and sons several weeks ago?" Snow began coldly. "Tell me your name?"
The witch had the grace - or cunning - to look penitent. "I am Zelena of Oz." She paused a moment, as if waiting for a reaction, but Snow and Charming did not move. "I gave my sincerest apologies for scaring your family, your Grace. I only want to get a measure of what kind of people you were before I delivered my message. But rest assured, I would never hurt those my own niece's family."
Snow's eyes widen. She leaned forward on her throne as Charming's hand tightened around his sword. "Your niece?" Snow exclaimed.
Zelena nodded, with a small, bitter smile on her lips. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised my sister, your mother, never told you about me - my very existence vexes her to no end."
"Your lying," Snow scoffed. "My mother talked about her family all the time. And my grandfather loves his entire family, despite...recent conflicts. He would have mentioned you."
"He doesn't know about me," Zelena explained, bitterness creeping into her voice with each word, like a fog coming in on the wind. "Before she married him, your grandmother conceived me with a common gardener, gave birth to me in secret, and sent me away to Oz so I couldn't interfere with her plan to become royalty. I was adopted and I was happy, until Regina decided I was a threat to her achieving her goals."
Charming raised an eyebrow, "You expect us to believe that Lady Cora never told her husband about you, but that she told Regina?"
"I was finished," Zelena snapped. "No, Cora took the secret of my birth to her grave, but she wasn't the only one who knew about me. She gave me to the Dark One as part of a bargain she made with him; he's the one who brought me to my adoptive parents."
Snow grew impatient with Zelena's ridiculous tale. "Why would the Dark One bargain for a woman's child only to give it to someone else?"
"Give me a chance to finish my story and you'll find out," Zelena answered sternly. "My mother's father bragged that she could spin straw into gold and a local duke ordered her to do - with the promise that she would pay dearly if her father had lied. She was desperate, and called on the Dark One, only half believe he would actually appear to her. But he did, and he performed her task for her in exchange for her firstborn child - me."
"My adoptive parents told me the story while I was growing up, but I never believed them. I thought it was something they made up to make me feel better about being abandoned. But when I became a young woman, the Dark One sought me out. He told me I had been with innate magical abilities and offered to take me on as his protegee. How could I not accept? It wasn't for another decade that I learned about Regina - he'd been training her whenever he wasn't with me. I believe she was already married to your father by then. I wanted to meet her, so I traveled to her realm behind the Dark One's back. Regina wasn't happy to find out she had an older half-sister than her mother had give up. She accused me of lying and threatened to have me tortured if I didn't go and stay gone." Zelena took a deep breath.
Snow gripped the arms of her throne. That did sound like her mother. "So, what, now that she's been exiled, you want a family reunion?"
"You didn't what the Dark One was training us for?" Zelena cocked her head to the side. Snow and Charming answered with silence, so she explained, "He wants something in the Land Without Magic, and he's been trying to find someone to create a portal there."
"The Dark One is an incredibly powerful magical being," Snow noted. "If anyone could create such a portal, he could. Why would he need to train others to do it for him?"
Zelena explained, "It involves a curse - a curse that comes with a price he's not willing to pay himself. He's been trying to manipulate others into paying it for him."
"What price?" Snow asked, dread began to slither around lungs and heart.
"The heart of the one you love most. It's human sacrifice," Zelena stated. "This curse is like nothing I've never ever seen before. It was take hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people to the Land Without Magic, but they won't be themselves. They'll be trapped in a small geographic area, with their memories erased and replaced with whatever the spell-caster fancies. Knowing Regina, she'll be sure to make everyone involved as miserable as possible."
Snow straight in her seat, "So Regina is alive?"
"I saw her face-to-face several months ago. Since the end of the war, she's been in hiding as a common witch," Zelena answered gravely. "She's angry and desperate, which doesn't bode for anyone."
"So, you came here to warn us that she might be desperate to cast this curse," Charming noted.
"She told me herself that was her plan."
"What can we do to stop her?" Snow demanded. "Tell us everything you know!"
The bell above the door jingled and Ruby looked up instinctively too see who it was. Mayor Mills walked into the diner holding a sulking Henry by the wrist.
"C'mon, it'll be nice," she tried to coax her son. "You love going to Granny's."
It was sad, almost, watching her flail around trying to get her own kid to like her, but when Ruby remembered how Regina tried to take Ashley's baby from her, her sympathy dried up like a puddle on a hot summer day. She just hoped they didn't-
They sat at her table. Ruby groaned internally as she gathered her notepad and pencil and got ready to take their order. As expected, Regina was about as warm as a glacier as Ruby greeted them and got ready to take their order.
"Give me a second, I need the ladies' room." Regina said after she had ordered some pasta, a salad, and some apple cider. She cooed to Henry, "Order anything you like sweetie. You can have double desserts if you want."
'What he want is to see Emma, Mary, and his friends,' Ruby thought to herself as Regina got up to leave.
"Hey, buddy," she told Henry, "You've been feeling okay."
Henry's "Yeah, fine," sounded like a complete lie, and Ruby felt silly for even asking.
"I'd understand if you were feeling pretty down. Your mom isn't the easiest person to deal."
"You can say that again," Henry agreed.
"We all miss having you around, Emma especially," Ruby told him.
"Emma doesn't miss me!" Henry snapped. "Not when she has Ava and Nicholas."
Ruby's mouth fell open in surprise, "You don't really believe that, do that? Of course Emma misses you, she cares so much about you."
Henry said nothing.
"Are you jealous of the twins?"
"No, I just," Henry searched for the right words, "I guess Emma does care about me, but she's been spending so much more time with them."
"Well, she's their foster mother and you're under lock-and-key until your mom learns to chill," Ruby noted. "That doesn't mean Emma loves you any less."
Henry looked up at her for the first time, big brown eyes close to shedding tears, "Do you really think Emma loves me?"
"She changed her entire life for you," Ruby pointed out. "I know things suck now, but you have faith that Emma will be there for you no matter what. Things are going to be better, I promise."
Henry smiled for the first time in what felt like forever.
"In the meantime, maybe be a little nicer to your mom." Seeing the disgust on his face, Ruby added. "I'm not saying she's not terrible, but she's trying really hard to make you happy. If she thinks you're meeting her halfway, she might be more willing to let you off your leash."
"But I can just pretend, right?"
"Sure buddy, whatever you think is right."
"Henry, you still haven't chosen what you wanted?" Regina exclaimed as she returned from the restroom.
"I just did!" Henry quickly ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with onion rings and hot chocolate with cinnamon - Emma's usual.
"Coming right up," Ruby grinned.
