Just a short one today! Thanks to those who've got in touch. I realise I don't have many readers for this one but even if there was only one of you I'd be seeing it through to the end :)

Thanks again to Laura for reading through!


The sounds, smells and lights swamped their body, clasping them tight to a roaring wind that seemed to simultaneously propel and suppress them. Before they could process the dramatic changes of the atmosphere they both came flying out onto the dirt of a forest path, much like their own but with different styles of trees and a different feel to the soil.

Emma blew the dirt off her face and groaned with the pain of the landing. "Why is it never pillows we land on? Or at least a haystack!"

"Take it from someone who used to be with a stable boy." Regina spat out some hair from her mouth. "Haystacks are not as soft as you may think." she finished, dusting herself off, as Emma winced at the image.

"Oh don't give me that look. Imagine what I had to accept about your parents when I first heard of your existence."

"Can we change the subject before I want to dive into another portal? That'd be great." Emma complained hopping up onto her feet and not keen on any of the thoughts this trip had so far conjured. The distraction was partially welcome however as the realisation was flooding back that they had no idea what to do next. They immediately felt the call of the mirror and Regina took it out, passing it to Emma.

"Well at least we know this worked." She smiled as her parents appeared on it.

"You made it! Oh thank goodness." Mary Margaret cooed, after what had clearly been a torturous few minutes.

"We did Mom. Now we know this works, we are going to get on with the plan." She watched as Regina was sealing the way behind them. "Regina has just put a protection spell on where the portal was so that nothing can get back through."

"Except you?" Mary Margaret clarified as Emma looked to Regina's raised eyebrow. "We get the magic back we can set up a bus route." She smiled as her parents nodded. "And if not, we'll find a way."

She looked over as Regina tapped the back of her wrist. "OK, love you guys but we gotta go." They said their goodbyes and tucked the mirror away safely.

"OK then, Emma. What was this plan you keep talking about." Regina prompted, trying to get her bearings but finding none. Emma looked back at her nervously.

"Well...use the dreamcatcher to find the portal and any further information the others could work on, then we come over and see what we find." As she said it out loud she felt her own faith in the plan echoing the increasingly despondent look growing on Regina's face. She remembered it making more sense in Storybrooke before they had stumbled further into a distinct lack of information.

"Your plan was to come over here and think of a plan?" Regina paraphrased, annoyance creeping into her voice.

"What?" Emma replied defensively. "That was your plan too!"

"And you made fun of it! It was a rough outline when I thought they would find some more information and until you said you had a new one..."

"I was...well..." Emma stuttered. "I was high on the magic kick and trying to convince my mom not to worry. You're the one who nearly killed us trying to persuade me to." Her voice began to whimper a little, part accusatory but partly apologetically knowing she may have got a little ahead of herself.

"So your plan literally extended to the dreamcatcher. Beyond that it was all just talk so your mommy would let you go out and play?" Regina clarified folding her arms as Emma shrugged in submission.

Regina shook her head, beginning to regret being as haphazard as they had.

"Look, I've been in this situation before - like when I got trapped in the past." Emma tried to reassure her.

"And ended up simultaneously destroying my relationship and resurrecting the witch who tried to suck the life force out of your baby brother to change history?" Regina squinted, as Emma retreated her hands into the back pockets of her jeans.

"And...we both managed to save the world a couple times since so questionable as our methods can sometimes be, we always figure it out. This will be no different. You're the smartest person I know and I knew you would get us through it." She smiled hopefully as Regina saw through hew compliments, no matter how true they were.

"Less trying to butter me up and more looking for clues. You're a professional tracker, let's test your skills in a new world." She suggested, letting Emma off the hook with a gentle squint. "But be careful, there could be traps all around. We don't even know what land we're in."

The sheriff quickly got to work, happy to move on from the subject. "Do you not have a clue where we are? You tortured most realms didn't you? There must be some signs you can recognise."

"I ruled a lot of realms but there are many more than that. I'm not Google maps." She corrected the jab in Emma's wording. "And this is definitely not one of mine. I never left any looking this dire." She noted, absorbing in the lifeless nature around them in the forest. The world almost had a grey tint to it.

"Perhaps we need to find someone who does know something..." Emma commented before sizing up their surroundings and deciding that their need for guidance was greater than the likelihood of danger. She began to whistle, listening hard for movement or responses.

"What are you doing?" Regina grabbed her arm, harshly tugging her back and ripping her fingers from her mouth. "You have no idea what enemies may be waiting to ambush us!"

"If the bad guys are waiting to ambush us we're already as good as captured, or they'll at least already know we're here. In fact, even getting captured may be a good thing. We'll at least know who we're facing."

"Your plan has now moved on from thinking of a plan to getting captured? Maybe Mary Margaret was right, I should have left you at home." She chastised, but before Emma could respond, they were interrupted by a sudden whisk of dust and a loud snap, sending Emma flying backwards as Regina fired a warning fire shot towards the cloud. As the dust settled, a large cat appeared before them. It was sporting a waistcoat, monocle and hat with a pocket watch chain hanging from it. The fact it was fully clothed was the least of their worries when they spotted that it was being supported by a pair of bat-like wings. The two of them gawped as the creature giggled and cawed, breaking out into a rhyme.

"You whistled, I came, I know why you're here! But with the knowledge you have you'll never get near." He sang out with a crisp, taunting, tone before disappearing again with a pop as the two swung to try and stop him with various blasts.

"Not riddles. Oh how I hate mangy riddlers!" Regina cursed, slapping her arms down in frustration. "This is why I never used to visit my mother in that Wonderhell!" After another angry grunt she massaged a fireball into her hand, poised to assess their surroundings for anything more.

"What are you planning on doing with that?" Emma glared as Regina put it out with a huff. "He's the best lead we've got so far."

"He's a flying cat with an eye problem! Some kind of Wonderland and Oz lovechild gone wrong. Clearly this land is taunting us." Regina lamented as Emma pulled herself off the ground again and dusted her pants. "It could just be automatic, like a gatekeeper. Did you say it's like Wonderland?" She tried to divert back to useful information as Regina shook her head, scouting their surroundings for signs of where their visitor had disappeared but only seeing some remnants of a gold powder.

"It's not Wonderland. I'd be able to tell. That kind of ridiculousness is straight out of there though. Maybe a copy cat?

"Was that pun intended?" Emma giggled as Regina squinted, unamused.

"If it was Wonderland would something like that have been sent to greet us or kill us?" Emma asked, accepting quickly enough that Regina hadn't appreciated the joke. Regina thought over the question, examining the particles of glittery dust it had left behind. Before she had a chance to process, the wind returned and this time she was the one blown down. The animal sprang onto Emma's back as she spun it off with a smack and it landed plumply on the ground. Regina threw a force at it, but a glimmer on the ground catching her eye, Emma diverted the blast away and the cat began its rhyming again.

"I am not foe, I'm merely a guide, but you'll need to find more 'fore I lead you inside!" He whistled before popping away again and left with a trail of golden dust.

"Why didn't you let me trap it?" Regina snarled as she pulled herself off the floor, dusting her pants once again."

"Because he left us a path..." Emma pointed, noting there was more pattern to the dust than simply residue. "You may be the pro when it comes to lands, but I know a trail when I see one." She immediately set about following it as Regina scurried behind. "Emma, he could be leading us right into a trap." Regina protested as Emma strode into a circle of scattered stones that the dust seemed to weave its way through.

The trees were becoming more sparse but several of the rocks were appearing. The powdery trail spiralled through a clearing which Emma was hastily heading towards.

"Can we not just pause for a moment and think about what we know." Regina suggested, almost unable to keep up with Emma's striding pace.

"Regina you brought me here because you trust my judgement." Emma fired back without breaking focus as she approached the open space, alongside a towering tree. "If we need to figure out a plan we need information, and unless you have any better ideas you're just going to have to use your faith in me to lead us to - aah!" Emma was violently cut off as the ground below her suddenly raised, scattering both the gold dust and the dirt around them into a cloud with the saviour thrown up into the air. She was quickly supported by a cage that had sprung from below to meet a roof that had swung round from the monstrous bough above it. Regina flapped the dust from around her face, coughing, before looking up at her confused partner.

"Nobody move!" A voice growled as the scattered rocks spun out in a circle around them, materialising as trolls and brandishing spears. "No magic except ours can escape or penetrate the cage so if you want your friend back you'll not try any funny business." Their leader barked as Regina locked eyes with a dumbstruck Emma dangling above her. Each troll had a selection of blue and clear crystals strung around their neck that danced as they spoke.

"Where was it you were leading us?" She asked politely with a forced smile as Emma sighed and collapsed hopelessly against the bars.

"Who are you and why are you on our patch?" The head troll soldier commanded as Regina rolled her eyes.

"They're here to steal the cup!" One yelled as another rolled over to inspect Regina.

She didn't have patience for magical creatures at the best of times, let alone when they were threatening to indefinitely imprison her friend and firing wild accusations.

"We're no threat to you troll, and we're not here to steal anything. Unless you're the thieves that stole our magic. That we will be stealing back and you're going to be gargoyles very soon." Regina mustering an authority in her voice and flexing her hands.

The head troll immediately grabbed one of his crystals and his necklace glowed, the shine combining with a cloud that emerged to form stream of light wrapped around Regina's hands. It materialised as a pair of handcuffs.

"We'll see how bold you are now, witch!" He barked as Regina tugged, Emma seeing the fury in her eyes and desperate to change the course of the interrogation.

"You know even if you are the thieves we're not necessarily a threat either. We just want to know what happened." Emma tried to calm things down.

If you just let me down we can talk about this. Help each other." She suggested calmly as the trolls looked amongst themselves for assessment of the proposal.

"You can keep my partner in handcuffs if you want, until we've proven you can trust us." She added, seeing them whispering with eyes locked on Regina. "But if you let me down it will be easier to talk from the ground." Ignoring whatever opinions Regina might have on this plan, Emma focussed her efforts on progression one step at a time. Handcuffs were easier than a magical cage and at least they would be together.

"Very well." The troll squinted before gripping a rock on his necklace again and the same whirl of glowing smoke glittered around Emma's cage, dropping itself down and trapping both of them within its walls. Emma looked around at the new predicament. At least she wasn't dangling in the air. She looked to Regina whose face showed she wasn't sharing the optimism.

That's all for now - thanks for reading! Reviews always welcome :)


Next Chapter Preview:

"I heard of that trip." The friend of Kristoff replied. "They were helped by someone they called the saviour after being nearly killed by an ancient queen."

"Yes! That's me!" she beamed. "I'm that saviour. And this is Regina, see. They know us."

"Regina from Misthaven?" One of the other soldiers yelled, thinking it over before his eyes bulged and spear flew up. "But she is the evil queen!"

"The evil queen! The evil queen!" The trolls began to babble, copying the stance of the first.