Regina followed him back out to his car. If she cared about where he was taking her, she didn't ask; frankly, he suspected she didn't ask because deep down, she really didn't care. He drove her through Storybrooke, up into the woods, and into a small parking lot where people could leave their cars before choosing a trail to hike. It was only then that she finally broke her silence and looked around, completely baffled.

"Here? Really?"

"No…" he corrected, pointing up the trail path that would take them up the small hill to overlook downtown Storybrooke. "Up there."

"We're in the middle of nowhere!" she argued, screaming after him as she slammed her car door.

"Not exactly." He locked the car and began the walk up the trail as she followed.

"It's the middle of the woods! There's nothing out here except…"

And then he smiled and looked back at her as the realization dawned.

"Except…"

He left it at that. And so, it seemed, did Regina, who immediately appeared at his side a few moments later. She had figured it out. She might not have understood his theory or agreed with it, but he knew that she had figured out where he was taking her. He knew she'd figured it out because otherwise, she'd still be whining about it.

And so up the mountain, they hiked, her in her heels and he with his cane as if they were out for a leisurely stroll and not here to commit a murder that was long overdue to protect those they loved.

"So…the town wishing well…this old myth?" Regina finally drawled as the well came into view ahead of them.

"Not such an old myth, not in a place like this," he corrected. "Everything in this world has meaning and symbolism, something that it carries over from our world. This is the well that brought magic back to us, brought it from our world into Storybrooke. It stands to reason that if it worked once, it'll work again."

Regina huffed as they neared it, looking more and more nervous with every step. "You're certain the portal's going to open up all the way out here?"

"There," he reiterated, pointing at the well and veering off toward it. Not just anywhere, but right in that spot. Together with Regina, they climbed up its stone base. "This is where things once lost are returned to us. This is where Cora's going to come through."

He peered into its depths, expecting it to look like black oblivion as it had the last time, but instead, he spotted water at the bottom, bubbling and gurgling away, churning like it was in a simmering pot, waiting to erupt into a boil. But it wasn't how the water was acting that confirmed his suspicions. It was what he felt coming from the depths that was far more concerning.

Magic. Strong Magic. Neither Light nor Dark Magic. It felt just like all portals did. It was all the confirmation he needed. But Regina…

"Unless it's Mary Margaret and Emma," she muttered quietly beside him.

It took all his power not to laugh at such a thought. Magic like that?

"I highly doubt it," he responded before swallowing and assessing things. It was a portal, but it wasn't yet. It wasn't the right time. It wasn't a portal until the water began to swirl, which could be any moment now. They had to be prepared.

"When the time comes, I'll ask you to open a channel, release some of your magic to aid my own so that-"

Something stopped him suddenly, mid-sentence, something that he didn't particularly like. Someone was at his shop. Many people, actually. However, the signatures of the magic they carried were familiar enough that he knew "people" was a stretch. But he knew them. He knew one of them well, in fact. He'd felt it in the library a dozen times in the last week: Ruby.

"What?" Regina questioned at his sudden quiet.

"Ruby and the dwarves are in the shop," he muttered.

Regina stared at him for a moment, her eyes gaping in something like shock and surprise before she shook her head and smiled knowingly. "Protection spell…" she muttered to herself. "Is there anything you haven't put magic on?"

That was privileged information…but no.

"Wouldn't you like to know," he growled.

Suddenly Regina slowed, her brow furrowed before her eyes went wide again in shock. "The dwarves…you don't think they know…"

He shrugged. He had protection spells on his buildings, but that didn't mean he knew their intentions, not unless the Seer saw it fit to give him a vision. He understood her suspicions, though. It was true. The dwarves might very well be there because they'd discovered what they'd done. But even if they had, it wasn't a concern of theirs.

"Doesn't matter if they have put it together. They're too late to stop us."

Nearly the moment he'd said the words, the waters below began to swirl and to shift. It was as if a drain had been opened up at the bottom; only he knew it wasn't an eddy in this world; it was a tether to another world.

"It's time," he muttered.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Regina questioned.

Nothing.

He felt her open to him as they took careful steps away from the well; he felt her magic begin to roll off of her for his own use. Yes, the fairy dust and his own would have been enough, but as he pulled his wand from his jacket and tried to summon up a good intention, he knew that it was only as easy as it was because her magic didn't identify as wholly Dark. If he'd had time, he might have taught her to use the Fairy Wand. Bleeding heart like hers? She'd probably be good at it.

He leached the magic rolling off Regina in waves for himself and held the wand up to the sky. Like before, down in the mines, it turned pink, and he turned his gaze skyward, willing a protection spell, willing air to move and create friction, willing power to circulate. A storm was summoned. But not an ordinary one by any stretch of the imagination. This was green and sudden and violent. And with the right direction…

Thunder rumbled as he tossed his power into the electrified clouds to grab hold of that power and force it down, down into the well. A loud roar cracked as it settled into the magic it felt there.

At the same time, in the distance, he felt the werewolf leave his shop without the dwarves. He stared ahead of him into the electrified well. He didn't know if she'd put it together or not, didn't know exactly what David had told her when he'd settled his affairs, didn't know what she would tell Belle when all this was over. But he knew one thing.

"Doesn't matter who comes through now," he muttered aloud, more for his own comfort than for Regina's. "No one can survive this."

This is made up of about 3 different little, very short, scenes that I had to stitch together somehow. I hope that it came out alright!

Thank you, Spunkymouse and Grace5231973, for your reviews of the last chapter. I'm happy to hear that you are okay with these short little chapters, though I'm really excited to say that soon enough we'll finally get the story to pick up a bit more. Well, that, and Belle comes back into the picture, that always seems to help. On to the next, Peace and Happy Reading!