He did as he was told. He went straight away to his tower and summoned images of Snow and eventually David in his mirror. She told David right away, of course, just as he'd planned for, David's reaction was skeptical, but he didn't worry about that. He was focused on working his magic. He added ingredients carefully, following the instructions of the voice in his head of the former Dark One who had known it so well to begin with. He added the hairs and then pushed magic into the brew; strong, intense, unyielding magic. It had to be so. This spell had to be strong enough to show Regina there were no other options but that Curse. It had to be strong enough to protect Snow from arrows, daggers, ropes, poison, fires, bare hands, anything Regina might use to murder the poor girl. He couldn't risk it faltering and allowing her to actually kill Snow White.

In the wee hours of the morning, his potion was done. He separated it then. He put a single drop of the deep scarlet potion in one vial and added a mouthful of water to dilute it. That would protect Snow through her little "test." The rest of the mixture he added to another vial, highly concentrated, it would work here or any world with magic for years to come…thus why living in a world without magic would block it and, of course, by the time magic returned to that land...it would have worn off. But that little fact was for Regina to learn on her own, a piece of the puzzle he had to be sure she'd put together.

He handed both vials to the Queen that morning as David glared at him over her shoulder. "One for your test," he explained handing her the pink-tinged clear one, "and one for when it fails," he stated, handing her the scarlet one.

"If it fails."

He laughed and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Whatever."

"What happened to figuring things out on our own?" David asked.

"Don't be silly," he laughed away. "I'm happy to help! And with this potion, what more could you need me for? Enjoy the rest of your life, resting assured Regina shall never harm you again."

And then he disappeared, went back to his tower, and summoned an image of Regina in the mirror. The reflective surface wasn't in her cell, probably for safety reasons, but he still had a good sight of the tower and the room that she was sitting in. From the way she sat slumped by a table, her head occasionally nodding down to her chest, he imagined that she hadn't slept that night. He couldn't blame her. The night before an execution, he doubted anyone slept well. She found small idle tasks to keep her busy, and he rubbed his face in boredom, thinking of Bae and Belle, trying to keep himself interested as he wondered how long it would take the King and Queen to make their appearance. He was waiting, waiting for-

"Your Highness."

He glanced into his mirror and saw Snow White round the stairs and approach the cell. Regina sat at a little table, playing with a candle. She wasn't unaware of Snow's presence, but she wasn't exactly acknowledging her either.

"Leave us, please."

"But I have direct orders from the Prince-"

"And now, you have direct orders from me!" she stated, raising her voice at him in a commanding tone that gave him no choice but to back down and leave her alone. But she wasn't alone; they weren't alone. David hadn't been keen on the plan Snow presented him. He was lurking somewhere, just out of sight where Regina couldn't see. It was a true test because she didn't know what awaited her. Snow looked at the sleeve of her arm, and he saw a beautiful dagger slipped not so discreetly into her sleeve. It was useful for nothing. In an emergency, she wouldn't be able to pull it easily free and use it. But the Queen would.

"First, you stop my execution, and then, you defy your Prince to see me. Should I be worried there's trouble in paradise?" Regina questioned.

"I'm not here to talk about my fiancé."

"Then why are you here?" she asked, finally setting her candle aside and looking at her through the bars.

Snow White gazed back in silence, watching her with curiosity and pity before opening her mouth. "I know you weren't always like this, Regina. The woman who saved my life all those years ago…had good in her."

"That woman lost much," she stated with a roll of her eyes, "and now she's gone."

"Maybe. But as hard as you've tried to bury her, I think she's still inside you."

Regina smiled at the notion that even he found to be childish. "No, she's not."

But Snow smiled back with confidence. "All you need…" he watched as she walked over to the door of the cell and took a pair of keys that the guard at the base of the tower had given to her. Regina's smile vanished as she heard the noises of the lock clicking free. The door squealed as Snow opened it for her. "…is someone to help you let her out."

"What are you doing?" she growled with fearful distrust.

"I'm letting the woman who saved my life go. This is a chance to start fresh, Regina. To leave the evil behind in this cell."

Regina stared in shock as she rose to her feet and walked to the door, her smile growing with every step as though she could taste that there was trickery in the air.

"Just like that?" she questioned.

He let out a small snort of amusement as Snow answered, "just like that."

"She's not the one that makes deals, dearie. I am," he commented to himself as Regina floated out of her cell, walked a short distance, and then, seeing that they were truly alone…struck.

The girl had been grinning like a fool. It was a grin that a parent might have had as they watched their child take their first steps into the world, it suggested hope and new beginnings, a fresh start for a new life, but the second Regina looked over at her and saw it, she put her hand around the Snow's neck and slammed her against the wall.

"You make change sound so easy," she hissed as Snow choked. Oh, the protection spell she had given her assured that she wouldn't die, not from strangulation, but there was never any promise that her body wouldn't feel the effects. After years of honing her skill and learning to protect herself when her life was on the line, she reacted as any person would. She reached for the knife she'd hidden away in her sleeve, but Regina was quick to stop her from using it and take it from her.

"Did you really think this would protect you?" Regina taunted with a smile as Snow's struggle lessened. Ah, yes. Now that the surprise and the shock were over, she'd be remembering how safe she was. Too bad Regina didn't realize it as she eyed the dagger in her hand like it was a delectable sweet. "Since I can't use magic, I can think of no better way than to kill you with the blade you had meant for me. Goodbye, Snow White."

"No…" Snow warned, but Regina had already taken the blade stabbed her in the belly, making Snow let out a shriek. She'd heal. Her body would knit together quickly with that potion, too quickly for any damage to be done. In fact, it probably already was, but the pain she still would have felt. He absent-mindedly rubbed his leg, the one he constantly used magic for so that he'd never have to feel that pain. Wasn't magic wonderful.

"Yes…" Regina hissed as she watched Snow's face with determination. He'd been watching that woman pull hearts from chests ever since he'd first taught her. He knew what she was looking for now; it was death. She was waiting for the light in Snow's eyes to go out. What a shock for her to discover it didn't.

"No," Snow finally breathed, taking control of the pain and shaking her head. Regina removed the dagger from her step-daughter's side and stared down at it, mystified. It was clean.

"That's impossible!" she balked, dropping the knife to the ground and backing away from the woman.

"No, that's magic." There were footsteps on the stairs, and David, as well as several guards, entered the chamber.

"And this time, it wasn't thanks to fairies." He held up the blindfold that he'd taken the hairs from and showed it to her. "Rumpelstiltskin. He took one of your hairs from this and used it to fashion a protection spell," he explained.

"No…"

"Now there's nothing you can do in this land to hurt Snow or me. You're powerless against us."

That wasn't entirely true. That protection spell would only protect Snow White, not him. Unless, of course, they shared it, but he couldn't see her Charming make that sacrifice. But he supposed that David hadn't been there for the conversation that he'd had with Snow, so it was easy to see how he could mistake things. Or, of course, he knew it wouldn't, and he was bluffing. If it was a bluff, it was convincing. He'd said it easily enough to be believed.

Regina, on the other hand, was not taking the news easily. The poor girl hadn't looked so bad since Danial's resurrection had failed. "You tricked me," she cried.

"It wasn't a trick. It was a test–one that I had truly hoped you'd pass," Snow corrected.

"We wanted to give you a chance to change, Regina," David finished.

"Regina, you are banished," Snow pronounced officially and awkwardly in front of the guards. "Banished to live alone with your misery."

"As long as you're alive in this world, you can't hurt us," David repeated, again, a fact that wasn't strictly true, but he wouldn't tell.

Snow left David's side and strode over to her step-mother. She looked into her eyes, and Regina looked back, two women, not even a decade apart in age, two Queens by two very different circumstances, eye to eye, equals…it was chilling.

"You saved my life once," Snow stated, "and now I've saved yours. So we're even. And if you ever try to hurt anyone in my kingdom again, I will kill you." She turned her back then, and David gave the guards a signal to escort her down the stairs with them.

"Outside, your father is waiting to take you back to your castle. Keep it. Keep all you possess. But these Kingdoms are now one and under our rule. And if we ever see you again, we can't guarantee your fate will be the same as it is on this day. Go."

He watched as two guards roughly dragged the woman to the stairs and then down them, before practically shoving her in the carriage at the bottom. That had been foolish. The Queen was protected from Regina, but they weren't. Her magic wouldn't be gone long, and he did not doubt that Regina was going to push the Queen's threat of murder. He wouldn't want to give her easy targets.

I actually got lucky on this one. There really was a mirror outside of the jail cell that I could let Rumple use, which was good because I felt that having him endure this scene without sound would be sort of anti-climactic. Of course, that being said, like the rest of this section, there is nothing here that you don't know. This one, thank goodness, I felt translated fairly well, at least.

Thank you, Jennifer Baratta, Grace5231973, and Alarda, for your reviews on the last chapter. Up next, we're diving into the first half of a different storyline. This is again one of those storylines that you might read and think it doesn't make sense where I've put it or how I've had to split it up, but I promise, after watching the entire series, this is really the only place it could be. Actually, for such a small, unimportant part of the show, the timeline for it had major implications, so the amount of time I spent on figuring out where these two halves needed to meet was ridiculous. Peace and Happy Reading!