Back in the past...

After a few hours research, a couple of sleep and another preparing his look, Walsh heard the blast of his door being blown open. He straightened his collar and delicately tidied every crease of his garment as neatly as the days of his prime. He was full prepared to meet his guest.

"Guess who's back, my pretty." Zelena sang through from the other room, the shadow of her delicate frame meeting his feet. He turned with a smile.

"My queen!" He gasped with a veil of happiness. "You have returned!"

"Yes." She replied glibly, clearly unhappy to be admitting it. "Unfortunately I couldn't seem to stay away." She twitched her lip, absorbing the lacklustre surroundings of the land she loathed.

"But it is good to see you are still happy to see me." She flashed a look of madness in her eyes. "Regina may have her Brady Bunch but I don't see any of her lapdogs waiting obediently at her door."

"I assume if you are here then all didn't go to plan." The wizards deduced, pouring two glasses of whiskey and handing one to his former mistress.

"This is nice." She floated herself down onto a chair, crossing her legs and relaxing into the soft pillows behind. "You're my pet little Wizard of Oz. My loyal little, Wozzy."

Her eyes glinted as he bit back his bitterness and forced a smile.

"But I'm not sure why." She narrowed her eyes, her suspicion suddenly poking out. "Here I was thinking you'd be planning all sorts of ways to try to kill me." She eyed him nervously as Walsh rippled his fingers and took a seat across from her.

"You gave me magic, Zelena. I spent decades attempting to simulate that. When you recruited me I gained powers I couldn't have dreamed of. I saw lands I could never have witnessed. I even nearly married one of the most powerful creatures ever to grace this earth."

"Dodged a bullet with that one, Wozzy." She scoffed. "Unless you want a bunch of dark ones with identity issues flying around your nursery. Or even worse." Her face screwed up in disgust. "Whiney little flying Henries."

The wizard sniffed out a smile, engaging Zelena's gaze again.

"Either way, I am only interested in being on the winning side, witch, and knowing you I have a feeling the battle may have been lost but the war is still for the taking."

"I love a man with vision." She giggled. "I may even let you stay wingless this time." Her face then dropped to a dark look of fury.

"I have a baby, wizard, and I want her back."

Walsh assessed the predicament and gently began to nod.

"And the only person in between you and this baby is…?"

"Who else but the person who always takes everything from me."

Walsh nodded again as the glass exploded in her hand, cracking into a hundred pieces and dousing the chair she was sat on in strong smelling liquor.

"Well what if I told you I have found something that could help you take everything from her?"


The wind whistled around the two figures as they climbed and struggled through the howling elements.

"How much further, monkey?" Zelena shouted back. "What's the point of a minion if I can't even use you for fetching?"

"We're nearly at the mountain top." He yelled, ignoring her derogatory comments.

"Oh enough of this infernal wind!" She spat throwing her hands into the air. The amulet around her neck began to swirl and hiss as a burst of blue light danced with her green and scattered the storming blizzard around them.

"What's the point of torturing rock trolls for their power if we can't use it to control the ridiculous climate here."

In the new calmness around her she tickled the amulet around her neck. "I'm glad I made these little babies. They just get cleverer and cleverer each time I make them. I bet Regina's can't suck magic out of other lands using jewelry."

"We all know you're the superior sister, my queen." Walsh charmed her. "I think we have arrived." He looked down at the ground below them. "This is definitely the mountaintop."

"Then let's see this little thing in action." She held the stone of her amulet and closed her eyes, focussing on the ground below. There was a crack and she gave a little giggle as the bubble around them shot up to form a channel up through the clouds. Walsh ducked down, shielding himself from the energy around them.

Zelena gazed up in glee, her mouth open in a ecstasy at being able to exercise her power. She had visions of her sister handing over her child and forcing her to smile as she did it. The ground cracked below her, interrupting her daydream and she turned her attentions to the gaping hole opening in the ground below. She moved her hands to have both palms facing upwards and slowly began to lift. Cracking up through the black swirls of smoke and dust.

First to emerge were a set of decaying bones, centuries old but with a hand fused still to a dull silver cone.

"Hello Your Majesty!" She beamed, tossing the rest aside and grabbing the hand, fused together with rock that it had embedded itself in. The dome shimmered as she made contact.

"Hope you don't mind, just need to borrow this for a little while."

She dusted it off as Walsh's eyes glimmered with desire. It hummed and buzzed as it jerked, rattling against his bones.

"Ooh. Feisty little thing!" She quipped, pulling off a finger at a time. "So, what now Wozzy?" She addressed her companion as she reached the final bone, her eyes locked on the prize, as were his.

"Now -" he smiled seeing her make contact with the final bone. As she removed it, the metal began to shake and spit. "Find a postcard to send me from the inside." He smiled as the cup dropped from her hand a fiery stream of light shot out.

"Wizard!" She spat with anger as her full form exploded with a flash of light into the contraption. It fell to the floor with a clink as the hole closed up below.

Walsh stood above his prize, even as the storm flared up again around him.

"Let's see how this works, shall we?" He smiled picking it up and holding it to the towns in the distance.


Both Emma and Regina were thrown backwards from the centre of the room as the dome and cup lined up together. A light tunnel began to swirl between the two parts, the smaller side of the dome pointing to the bottom of the cup and suddenly its full form was revealed.

The two parts fit together as a magnificent chalice.

There was another blast of light and the silhouette of Walsh's body was illuminated as he grabbed for the handles.

Regina tried to gather a fireball to throw but as it formed it was immediately extinguished as Walsh spoke.

"I wouldn't do that, Queen. In fact, don't do that now or at any other point." He smiled as Regina tried and failed again.

"What is this?" She yelled as Emma stormed at Walsh with the sword.

"Don't do that, Emma." He ordered as she immediately dropped back down

"What is happening to us?"

"Ah you see, I make the orders now, my dear. I couldn't have done it without you though. You always believed in me." He gave her a patronising glare as Regina extended her hand.

"Before you try to take it from me I should warn you, bad things happen to witches who try to steal this little dome here. I'd say to ask your sister but she's out of office at the moment having a little holiday inside it. Glinda too.

"Cut the crap Walsh, what did you do to us?" Emma blasted him as Regina froze not willing to call his bluff.

"I'll explain, but I want you to both to walk back to your cell first." He pointed towards the door as the two of them felt themselves powerless not to do his bidding.

"Don't worry. You can keep the amulets for now." He whispered to Regina as she continued to walk, catching up with Emma.

"Do you have any idea what is going on right now?" Emma whispered as she joined her. Regina gave her a side eye as they strutted along the hall way they had run down.

"It would appear my psycho sister is nothing compared to your psycho ex. Incidentally if we get out of this alive you're getting a saviour complex intervention." Regina shot back, her tone dancing between playfully furious and menacingly hushed.

"Like you're going to wait till then..." Emma mumbled bitterly, not sure what she was dreading more, whatever Walsh had planned of the fact she was about to be trapped in a jail cell with Regina after what just happened.

"I think you overestimate our ability to control any of our actions right now."

"That's it ladies, take a seat." Walsh beamed behind them, swirling the keys around his finger with the cup in the other.

"Now, I realise that Emma is probably not so well educated in magical history, but tell me Regina, did you ever learn about King Caradagh at queen school?"

She narrowed her eyes, looking him up and down.

"Was he by any chance a spineless mortal who turned his drinking problem into a magic toy?" She replied stubbornly as Walsh flicked at the bottom part of the cup. The light tube that joined the two sections showed the stream of water coming from the top section and as he spun it the water danced in crossing patterns, still not losing any of its depth in the chalice.

"I would stop you from being so insubordinate, witch, but it's almost more fun for me to see you try to maintain your authority when I could command you to conduct my every whim." Emma placed a hand on Regina's arm, feeling it flinch and knowing her temper was not the easiest to control even with such high stakes.

"King Caradagh was an ancient mortal king of Arandelle, but he grew tired of the constant power struggle the witches of his kingdom caused by their lack of obedience. He was able to find a wizard who shared his vision and he agreed to enchant one of his chalices to level the playing field."

The wizard flourished his hand, tossing the chalice to the other and turning his back to his prisoners.

"Who can guess where the cup is now?" He laughed. "Even a street rat like you could get that one, Emma." Emma swallowed gently, determined not to let him rile her.

"You're incredibly cocky for someone who needed at least 3 stronger women and a flying house pet to even begin to implement your plan." She challenged him as Walsh swung round.

"But I managed it, didn't I!" He hissed, clearly not as capable of hiding his irritation. "I was playing all three of you like a violin even without the chalice." As his flaming eyes locked with Emma's determined ones, he calmed down, taking a step back.

"You didn't always make it easy though." He tossed the chalice in the air to catch it again, gripping it around its main body and pointing it to Emma.

"Your little trick with the troll magic draining yours was not something I anticipated. If only Zelena had made more of these little amulets I could have got the riddler to swap them in but the glamour running out really wasn't part of the plan. Mind you, the recklessness of the fearless never disappoints." He smiled. "You still managed to stumble into my trap. The truth fix was a surprise too. All very clever. I knew I chose good cave-fodder to get the cup though. Zelena was right, you two are monstrously talented."

"I'm surprised she would be so complimentary." Regina mumbled, folding her arms, tired of his theatrics. "But yes. Some of us did pay attention at queen school, now are you going to get to the point? I'm starting to understand why you need a magic cup to get people to actually pay attention to you." She scoffed, pricking his ego once again.

"If you're so clever, witch, maybe you can explain how this works. I am sure you have figured it out but your partner still looks a little bemused." He nodded to Emma who had been sat silently, staring at the cup.

"Or maybe I'm just trying to figure out the bit you've missed that will be your downfall." Emma threatened him. "We've beaten Zelena twice, what makes you think we won't destroy you? What happened to that Caradagh guy? I'm guessing it didn't end so well if you've got his cup."

Walsh's mouth twitched as his tone dropped.

"He didn't have what I have." He squared up to her as she waited patiently for him to continue. "I've had years tricking people into giving me their magic. The cup is just a bonus."

"And yet you were desperate enough to go to all this trouble to get it." Regina mocked him, her tone quivering between annoyed at her hoodwinking but also fed up of the arrogance of the man. "You may like to pretend Emma is clueless but you sure as hell couldn't have done this without her power. Or mine."

"Which I'm guessing you can control because the water now trickles through and controls any of the witches whose power it contains." Emma picked up, proving he had been wrong about her understanding. "We needed the names because it was only half the power."

"Which should be nostalgic for you, Ms Swan. Last I heard you were the Dark One and being kept in line by a dagger." He chimed. "I see things have changed since then but obviously you did learn some more about the magical world. Clearly I underestimated your intellect. There is a little more about this you're missing, though. I look forward to showing that to you later."

Regina looked nervously at Emma. They were both trying to hide their fear from Walsh but they knew that this was a very dangerous situation.

"Fine, keep that from us for now but you didn't answer my earlier question." Emma commented, successfully sounding as calm as she could.

"What happened to Caradagh?"

Walsh scraped his teeth with his tongue.

"He got sloppy. They managed to break the chalice in two and it was kept in two different worlds. The dome with the wizard who created it back in Arendelle and the cup was kept in Oz. Once Caradagh was dead and the dome was buried the wizard travelled here and combined his magic with the witches of Oz to ensure the well was only accessible if good and bad were both on board."

"I'm guessing Zelena got the dome. Why not use her to get the cup too?" Regina asked trying to work out as much as she could.

"Because she would have been useless at getting it to the well, but I'd heard enough about you two to know who would be perfect for it. Luckily they only recruited the idiot trolls to protect that part and they weren't even smart enough to realise once they were here they wouldn't be able to cross back." He began to pace the room, running his fingers along the side of the cell. "Considering I also needed witches powerful enough to say the chant it really couldn't have worked out better. The riddler may have blown getting you to do it voluntarily but after decades as a magician you learn how to plant rigged props where the oblivious will stumble across them." He gave Emma another gloating smile.

"You're offering a lot of information to us." Regina observed, distracting him from giving his teasing glare. "That may not be very smart."

"But he's too cocky to be smart." Emma added as they continued to push his buttons.

He flew at Emma, squaring up to her again before biting his lip and calming himself into a smile, demonstrating that he was learning how to not rise to the bait. "You are bewitching." He sparkled. "I wasn't lying when I said I grew to like you." He pinched her chin as she let him taunt her.

"How did you break into my vault?" Regina attempted to distract his attention, unsure of where this current line of action would go. His eyes lingered on Emma for a moment but soon enough turned back, unable to avoid the chance to gloat

"It was hardly hard security. You may want to not just rely on magic to lock it next time." He turned his sights on the older witch. "I am curious as to why you believed your amulets would have survived the magic purge though. I guess I'm not the only one who's cocky." He smiled.

"Well at least mine wouldn't have run out so quickly."

"Don't worry. I haven't lost them. You'll get them back when it suits me." He levelled up with her eye line.

"So you're not just giving us your entire plan then, you're also giving us our magic." Emma snarked. "Maybe you and Caradagh have more in common than a cup and an inferiority complex."

"Well, there's one other thing he didn't do." The wizard stood proudly in front of them. "Regina if you would be so kind - could you zip this cup up into this little trinket for me." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his watch. "You see I don't have much power even with what Zelena gave me in this thing a long time ago, but it will act as a pretty neat little vault for my ultimate power, don't you think?"

Obediently, Regina focussed her magic onto the cup, as much as she tried to fight it. "That's it. Good girl." He taunted as eventually with a snap it shrunk into the jewel of his watch.

"I was worried for a moment that you may need Emma to help. You've certainly been relying on her more than I thought any self-respecting queen would so far." He jabbed, admiring the watch. "It was prettier as a cup but at least it will be less conspicuous this way."

"It's also easier to lose." Regina warned as Walsh laughed.

"It would be - but, as I explained before, the dome of this cup had a very special enchantment. As it was made for a mortal any witch who tries to steal it without my consent will be instantly zapped into it. Not just her magic, but her entire body, and considering I shall decree that any mortals in my realms must not attempt to remove it from my possession, I'm not too concerned."

"I bet Caradagh wasn't either." Emma chimed in, Walsh clearly still rattled by her persistent reference to his failure. Trying his hardest to keep check on his emotions he paused and forced a smile.

"There's clearly a part of you that's worried you're going to meet the same fate as the king, Walsh." She stated, ignoring the comment and returning to her line of questioning. "If you've got all you need out of us why not just kill us and remove the threat?"

The wizard swung the amulet chain around his finger, eventually wrapping it up into his grip and heading to the door.

"Why would I kill you when me doing it would be so anti-climactic?" He asked as he gripped its handle. "You said yourself, I am one for the dramatics."

He gave them both a big smile. "And what's the point of controlling a former dark one and a notorious evil queen if I don't get to play with their full range of skills? He added as the witches both felt a knot in their stomach. "Enjoy your night and try not to kill eachother." He stepped outside.

"Not yet anyway." He added, closing the door and leaving them in silence.