Finding Regina wasn't a problem; it was simply time-consuming.

On the hill, when he'd first brought magic back, he'd felt strong. However, after he collected his dagger from the safe and stepped outside the shop, he cast a protection spell over it as well as Belle making her difficult for other magic to locate, and he felt the magic inside of him shudder. It was like a shiver or a trembling muscle that had been pushed too hard, too fast. That protection spell cast in the Enchanted Forest would have held for centuries. Here he knew it would last only hours, a day at best. He'd felt the same, he remembered, just after he'd cast a spell on the drawer in the back. At the well, it had come out all at once, and he'd been in the midst of it, producing an instant feeling of power and strength. Now, every time he used it, it was like his magic was weakened, as if he wasn't the endless wellspring he'd once been. He tried not to let it panic him and tried to remember that magic would be different in this world; it would need to adapt, and so would he.

So, that was what he'd do. He'd adapt. He'd learn. He'd learned once before, and he could do it again. Perhaps the idea of thinking of magic like a muscle was appropriate for this situation. Magic could be like a muscle. While it was weak and quivering from effort now, he was hopeful that the more it was used, the stronger and less painful it would become. Over time he'd learn to use magic in this place, and he'd be just as powerful as he once was. And who knew, maybe after a few days, once things settled, he'd find it came back to him the way it used to. But for now, he could work around these constraints. Besides, there could be some benefit to it. For instance, the voices in his head certainly seemed quieter. Oh, the Seer and the Dark Ones, they were still there, just as they'd always been, still opinionated. But their voices were distant somehow. They'd have to shout to be heard. If the cacophony he'd heard on the hill was any reminder of how annoying they'd once been, he was perfectly fine with letting them stay as "distant" as possible.

With that hope in mind, he turned his attention back to Regina Mills. Unable to use his magic to find her, he walked to all the usual places, all the while taking note of the magic in his body and what it was doing. By the time he made it to the City Hall, he was certain he could feel it recharging, like a cup that had been poured up but was slowly beginning to refill again. By the time he made it to Regina's house, he felt sure he had enough magic to make the amulet work and then some.

He couldn't be sure if Regina was home or not. But someone else was. The dwarves. They were standing guard with Dr. Whale, the former Dr. Frankenstein. That made him smile. Dwarves and fool-headed doctors he could deal with. Easily. In fact, as Whale stood just outside Regina's property talking to Leroy, he knew that the best way to get them to come to him was to say nothing at all, merely do. He let himself step around the corner of the property, let himself be seen by them, and once Whale caught his eye, he let him see him hobble away, leaning on his cane because he hadn't bothered yet to fix his leg. "Hey, you!" Whale followed in foolish pursuit, certain he was safe. But the second he rounded the corner, he found the bottom of his cane poking into his chest. "Whoa," he breathed in surprise, his arms suddenly raised in surrender. It was all too easy to back him into the bushes and hold him there. Coward.

"Where is the Queen?" he asked of him.

Whale sneered. "She's no Queen. Not anymore. She cursed us, trapped us here-"

He pushed the tip of his cane harder into his chest. "Yes, yes, I know all that, but I'm not here to argue semantics…where is she?!"

"Not here," he admitted. "We cornered her in her house, she tried to use magic on us, but she couldn't, so Emma and the King and Queen took her away to lock her up."

"Away to lock her up..." The police station then. If Emma was running the show, then she'd do what she knew how to do; it would be a comfort in a time of change. She'd take her to the police station. The foolish girl hadn't thought through what would happen if the Queen got her magic back.

"There now," he muttered, releasing Whale. "That wasn't so hard, now was it. Thank you for your cooperation."

And then, on a whim, without thinking it through, he used his magic to do what he'd wanted to do all along; he let himself go to the police station. He was depleted again. Not entirely. The trip certainly took the wind out of him, left him feeling tired and without energy. But he still felt some magic swirling inside of him. There was still enough to power the amulet. There was still enough to-

"So, I'm a prisoner now?" he heard Regina snap before he heard a metal cell door close and lock.

"The Curse is broken. Why didn't we go back?" he heard David demand.

"Because there's nothing to go back to," she answered. "That land is gone."

He smirked. Liar. But if she wanted to stick to that, it certainly wouldn't hurt him in his search for Bae.

"We should get to Gold," he heard Mary Margaret exclaim.

Suddenly he realized he was in the hall outside the jail, that was the reason they didn't see him. But if they rounded the corner-

Before he could think twice about it, he cast a simple spell over himself to turn himself invisible. David, Mary Margaret, Emma, and Henry all appeared but didn't see him as they walked past him and out the door. He smirked as they left. They'd said they were going to see him, and Belle was alone in the shop, but even if they did manage to get there, it was locked. He'd told her to keep to the shadows, and if someone came pounding at the door, he trusted she was frightened enough to stay in the back. He didn't want that for her, but he knew they posed no danger. Besides, he doubted they'd make it there before him anyway.

The Curse was broken, and if the little he'd seen on his hunt for Regina was any indication, the town was going to keep them quite busy. With Regina still alive, the citizens were only going to get more restless. They'd come looking for answers and help and just about anything that the royal family could provide. They'd be kept plenty busy for the next few hours. That suited him. He had work to do.

He let the spell drop once the Charming Clan was out the door. It was a simple spell, but he was surprised just how weak it left him feeling after transporting himself there. He was confident that he still had enough to make the amulet work, though he might need to take his time walking to the forest for the summoning. That would let him regain some of it.

He let himself slide around the corner of the jail and found his former protégé there, huddled in the corner of the cell, staring down the lock, flexing her palm and fingers in its direction. In the air, he could feel magic flaring, power being used, but nothing was happening. It wasn't strong enough to do as Regina wanted and open the door. That was a shame for her, an advantage for him.

"Magic is different here, dearie," he explained, drawing her attention to him.

"I noticed." She sounded confident, she sounded intimidating, but there was too much of it in her voice to be genuine. She was a woman pretending. Pretending to be confident, pretending to be intimidating, pretending to be something she wasn't. And he? He was finally exactly who he'd always been. Perhaps that was why the magic was working already for him. Perhaps that was why the sight of Regina locked away in a cage right now gave him delight like he would never have imagined possible. "I assume this is all your doing."

"Most things are," he stated indifferently as he approached her.

"Get to it, Rumple. What do you want? You're here to finish the job?"

"No, no, no," he huffed, coming close to the bars but not so close that she wouldn't get closer as she felt safer. He was baiting her. It was far more difficult to do than he'd ever assumed it would be. Especially when all he wanted to do was reach through those bars, tear out her heart, and crush the thing in his own hand while Belle watched. But the thought of Belle helped. It helped him remain as civil as possible, it helped him remember their deal, and most important of all, it helped him to remember exactly why he was here, ready to do this. "You're safe from me."

"I feel so relieved."

"I made a promise to someone that I won't kill you."

"Who could elicit that from you?"

He sneered, too eager to see her reaction when he whispered, "Belle."

And there it was, that small, almost imperceptible lift of her chin as she swallowed. Shock. Horror. And then a look of fear in her eyes as she realized the kind of trouble she was in.

"She's alive," she stated, trying to sound surprised, he supposed, but he heard the anxiety in her voice. They knew each other too well. If Regina was that worried, that scared, that threatened by Belle and her freedom, that confirmed everything. He stepped closer to the bars, happy when she didn't back away.

"You are a dreadful liar."

"I could've killed her, but I didn't," she rationalized calmly. Killed her…he hadn't even thought of that he'd been so hung up on the idea of Belle in the asylum for twenty-eight years. But now that he heard the words, the thinking of his former student became clear. Yes, Belle had been here in the asylum for twenty-eight years, but before that, Regina had her in the Enchanted Forest. Her prisoners always knew they were on death row; the only question for them was "when." It was part of the fun for her. To think that Belle had been subject to that…

He felt more magic stir at his anger. Bitch.

"Yeah, you did much worse than that. You kept her alive, so you could kill her when it suited you. A fate worse than death. Which, incidentally, is exactly what I've got in store for you."

Without warning, he reached through the bars and pulled the hand closest to him out through. She yanked and pulled, but he was unrelenting, working on anger and rage alone. He didn't even need to summon supernatural strength to keep her still, not when all he saw in his mind's eye was Belle in that damn hospital gown and a ratty old jacket.

He quickly removed the medallion from his pocket, forced Regina's hand open, and then slapped it down onto her skin. He felt magic sizzle.

"Is that…"

"Yes, dearie," he growled over her pathetic frightful squeak. "The one thing no one can escape-destiny. And, I promise, yours is particularly unpleasant."

He summoned his own magic, as much of it as he could muster. He bound his magic into the mark. He wanted it to be felt. He might not kill her, but he wanted her to know it was his magic that drew the creature to her. It was his will she be marked. He released her hand when he was satisfied, and she pulled it back through easily enough. She was shaking as she examined it. There was no mark upon it, not yet. But there would be. His magic was the reason that it would be there once he'd summoned the creature. And as she sneered up at him, he let out a breathy laugh of "Oh!" at her panic. Then he left her there in that tiny cell alone to contemplate when death would arrive for her.

"Magic works differently here" was a lifesaver not only in this chapter but also for this day and even a few things beyond this day. The truth is that without that line, there are a lot of things that don't make sense to the story, and if the writers hadn't written in it, I probably still would have used that as an excuse because it's perfect. Rumple is a man who relies on magic; heavily. And throughout this time, there are things that he does that are magical, but there are also things he does that are not magical, and without the excuse that magic is different, that's the part that doesn't make sense. It's like a kid at Christmas who just opened his new presents but decided not to play with them and use the old ones instead. Why doesn't he transport himself and Belle using magic? Why doesn't he heal his leg again? Why doesn't he use his magic to locate Regina, zip around Storybrooke, mark her, summon the beast, return to the shop that turns today into only a five-minute chore instead of the hours that it seems to take if you line the story up. The idea that he's adjusting to his magic, that he doesn't have it all back up and in working order again, that he's "rebooting," as I called it several times in the writing process, helps with that. He's not using magic because it's not as readily available to him. But he is still relying on it as we would expect as there are times that he lets himself disappear and cast spells without a second thought, and then they deplete him all over again on accident. It was fun experimenting with this in these next few chapters and then building it up again in future episodes.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Spunkymouse, Grace5231973, and Alarda, for your reviews on the last chapter! I hope you'll like how I used the "magic is different" part of the story here. In a way, long term, it also helps me deal with why he doesn't heal his leg. Yes, I know. We've been told that he doesn't heal it because it's a reminder he keeps of Bae; he's punishing himself. But here's the thing with that, those kinds of thoughts are never really that definite. I don't see Rumple thinking, "Oh, my leg hurts; instead of fixing it, I'll use that pain to punish myself for abandoning my son." What I can see him doing is thinking about it and putting it off, and that punishment being far more subconscious than conscious. Here he just sort of says, "Oh, I have to heal my leg, but I don't want to waste magic, so it can wait." Later he'll have other moments of "oh, I'll do it later; Bae comes first." But, interestingly enough, there will be times of trial and difficulty where he will later channel magic into it to relieve the pain and help himself, but I made sure those moments were very specific. I hope you'll like what I've done with that little detail as we continue. Belle's back in the next chapter! Peace and Happy Reading!