Henry answered the phone at the first ringing. "Mom?" he asked, panic in his voice.

"We're okay, Henry" Regina answered. "Emma saved me."

She threw a smile at her that made Emma's heart skip a beat.

"Thanks god" he breathed out. "Where are you?"

"At Gold's shop" Emma answered.

"We'll be there in a second" Ruby's voice sounded through the speaker and they hung up.

Regina and Emma sat there shoulder to shoulder when Henry and Ruby stormed in.

"Are you two okay? I smelled a lot of blood" the brunette asked and only then noticed the dried blood all over them. Her gaze slipped to Regina. She took in all the details and handed her a bottle of water. Regina thankfully took it and gulped down half of it before she remembered her manners. Henry kneeled before her, put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, "I'm glad you're alright, mom. You're not The Evil Queen anymore and you don't deserve this. We're gonna break this curse."

Regina smiled at him so open and full of love that Emma forgot how to breath for a second.

"Thank you, Henry."

That's when Ruby's phone started to ring. "Yeah?" she answered.

"Hi, it's me, Belle. I've found something."

Ruby put the phone on speaker, "Spill it."

"Are you familiar with the Greek mythology?"

"Not really" Emma confessed and Regina and Henry both shot her a look of disbelief. Emma shrugged her shoulders, "Never needed that."

"Well, there are five rivers in the underworld, the place where peoples souls travel when they die. You might have heard of Styx, the most famous one, as an oath on the river Styx has to be kept if you don't want terrible things to happen to you, or the invulnerability it provided the famous Achilles who fought in the Trojan War and was bathed in this river as a child. However there are also the rivers Lethe and Acheron. Legend says -"

"Enough of that mythology lesson, Percy Jackson. Just tell us what we're dealing with" Regina interrupted her.

"Well" Belle began. "I think that's exactly what we're dealing with. I read about a former Dark One, actually the first Dark One of all time, called Nimue, who used water from these rivers to create a potion that caused chaos and sorrow" Belle explained. "It made people forget theirselves. They only remembered every event with the person that made them feel the most pain. Therefore she used water from the river of woe- Acheron- and the river of forgetfulness – Lethe. People went mad. Some ended their lives because of the constant pain they were in, other's believed their woe could end if they would end the person's life that caused it. Nimue herself bathed in the river Styx so that no one could hurt her."

"So you're saying someone put that potion in the ground water system?" Emma asked not even questioning that the underworld existed. Ogres, fairies, Dark Ones did. Why not magic river's and an afterlife?

"Not quite. I don't think one potion can poison a whole town. I guess..."

"Someone found a way to make these rivers enter Storybook's ground water" Regina finished her sentence. "So everything I've done is unforgiven. I made them suffer and now they want me to pay for it. With my life."

Emma squeezed Regina's hand and asked, "How are we gonna stop this?"

They heard Belle sigh through the speaker, "That's what I'm still trying to find out. I could need some help searching for the answers."

"I'm coming over" Henry promised and turned to his mother's and Ruby. "Belle and I will find the answer. In the mean time you three have to look for the place where these rivers enter Storybrooke."

"Henry, I don't think-" Ruby started after she looked at the dark circles under their eyes and the way the two leaned on one another.

"It's fine. We're gonna find it" Regina smiled, getting on her feet. Emma saw exactly how much strength that cost her and how she had to lean on the wall for support, now selling it as a cool pose.

"Totally" Emma agreed. "Ruby will escort you to the library and come back with some food and coffee. Then we will be ready to start our quest."

Henry nodded, "I rethought the name of the mission and I think we should change it to Operation Neptune."

"Whatever" Emma agreed.

"Good luck" Henry wished them and he and Ruby walked out. As soon as they were out of sight Regina sat down again, her legs shaking. She groaned, "I never felt so weak. I need my magic."

"How did Gold block it?" Emma wanted to know. The other woman pulled her shirt down her shoulder and showed of a wound the magic wand hadn't healed. A small dark something was in there.

"What's that?" the blonde asked.

"A blocker. You remember those armbands of Pan? Gold somehow made bullets of the same kind. Whenever I try to get it out, it only bores it's way deeper into my flesh."

"Son of a bitch" Emma cursed.

Regina laughed a little and Emma felt herself smile too.

"I haven't had the chance to say thank you before" Regina said, her voice quiet, her eyes on the blonde, "but Emma, you saved my life. You even risked your own. For me"

"No big deal" the other woman put her off.

"Well, for me it was. So, thank you" Regina admitted and smiled at her and Emma couldn't look away anymore and grinned back, "Always."

Autor's note:

DM me for any questions or spelling/grammar mistakes you find. Next chapter will be up soon.