When she embraces
Your heart turns to stone
She comes at night when you are all alone
And when she whispers
Your blood shall run cold
You better hide before she finds you
Within Temptation - Ice Queen
Author's Notes: Many of the locations in this chapter refer to the version of Wonderland from the Syfy miniseries Alice, released in 2009. Like the Enchanted Forest, there are also multiple versions of Wonderland. And in the Wonderland scenes there is an Easter egg for the 1985 movie Clue. Look closely and you'll find it
Storybrooke, Maine
Nine days prior to the Final Eclipse
Emma would have thought the cloak and dagger tactics Archie was suggesting they undertake were a little extreme were they not about to storm the lair of the Evil Queen. While they concealed themselves behind a bush Cora stepped out of the house dressed in a pantsuit they'd often seen Regina wear and walk down the path leading to the Mills family vault and repository for all the items Regina transported to this land with the curse.
"Still hard for me to imagine you commanding an army," Emma whispered to him while they waited.
"There's a lot no one knows about me. All right. Let's go."
He waved his hand and cast a cloaking spell as the two crept toward the front door of the house, feeling traces of a protection spell cast on it. He disabled it easily and the pair ran into the house and up the stairs to Regina's bedroom. The former queen lay on her bed still asleep from the toxic concoction of Wonderland tea and Ozian poppies. Emma reached for her and tried to shake her awake but to no avail.
"Oh, crap Archie, she's really out of it!" she moaned.
"That's why I need to get her to Wonderland right away."
"You're kidding right?"
He scowled at her. "Do I look like I am?" He waved his hand over the sleeping mayor and she began to shrink. Emma watched with awe when she flew into Archie's hand and vanished.
"What did you do with her?"
"Sent her to Dellia for safekeeping," he informed her. "We don't have much time. I need you to picture Regina in your mind. How she looks, how she speaks, how she acts and make it real."
"Okay…" Emma murmured.
"Now remember the way you just found her. Keep that image in your mind and concentrate."
"Okay…"
Moments later a construct of Regina appeared on the bed.
"Did…did I just do that?"
"Yes, you did. Now let's get out of here before Cora comes back."
"I hope she doesn't see through that construct," Emma muttered as they vanished. They reappeared at Archie's house where a worried Henry and Az waited for them. Henry sat on the sofa with his sleeping mother, holding her hand.
"I knew she was innocent," Henry said to Emma. "But I couldn't tell you 'cause I knew you wouldn't believe me. She's trying so hard to be good but Cora's gonna try and ruin it. Look what she did! She drugged Mom to try to get her to love her."
"I'm sorry I doubted her Henry…but her mother left too much evidence to fool everyone. All we can do now is try to make up for it."
"You and Regina need to work together now for your son's sake but we have to get these teas out of her system first and the only place we can take her is Wonderland."
"Are you crazy? That's Cora's domain!"
"Not Cora's Wonderland," Az clarified. "There are others and the one these teas originate from Archie and I know well. Too well."
"Because Bastinda was trading with them," Archie explained. "Their queen got the idea for her 'teas' from the vapor potion Bastinda was using to keep the Ozians under control. But I have a contact or two in their Resistance army that might know how to cure Regina."
"We don't have any more travel storm tokens," Az pointed out.
"You don't need them," Henry said with a smile and removed his staff from his backpack. "I can get you there."
"What is that?" Emma demanded. "Where did you get it?"
"Henry is the East Guardian and the Keeper of the Staff of Air," Az replied. "But you shouldn't be using it without the proper training, honey."
"It speaks to me. It tells me what I need to do," Henry murmured. He held the staff up and its eyes began to glow. "Speak the name of your destination and you will fly on the dragon's breath."
Az waved her hands over Regina and the former queen shrunk again and was teleported into a small globe. She placed the globe into a cloth bag and stood up, taking Archie's hand.
"Take us to Wonderland Three," she commanded. A white mist emitted from the staff and surrounded them. Seconds later they vanished. Emma stared at her son, her eyes wide.
"Now I want to meet my father," the boy declared. "I know he's here. I can feel it."
Emma panicked. How much did he know and how did he know it?
"How did you find out? Gold?"
"I'll tell you along the way," he said and reached for her hand.
Mills Mansion
Cora was pleased when her daughter awoke having completely forgotten about taking her to the police station and as docile as she needed her to be to carry out her plans. Regina was not aware of it, but those plans did not involve the boy she refused to call her grandson because she knew who and what he was, the Ozian Guardian that would ascend to Lurline's throne on his one hundredth natal year. She was determined to make certain he didn't survive to see his twelfth. There were many throughout the realms seeking the heart of Lurline's successor and few of them powerful enough to extract those powers while the boy was still a child and untrained.
"That boy is mine!" a voice hissed through the mirror in the guest bedroom.
"Not if I get to him first," Cora sneered and laughed. "The sands in the hourglass are dwindling away quickly, Peter and you'll be returned to your old miserable self. Not even the magic from the Scots-Irish warlocks you boast you descend from can stop that."
"We'll see," Pan retorted and vanished.
"Mother? Who were you talking to?"
"Oh….myself honey," Cora lied smoothly.
"Come downstairs. I have breakfast ready."
"You…you…you don't have servants?"
"I don't need them," the construct said and went downstairs to the dining room to wait for Cora to join her. Cora came downstairs a short time later, already planning to make some drastic changes in her daughter's living conditions. A queen having to cook her own meals and clean her own house simply wasn't done. Her daughter would have servants in her new castle and she had the perfect ones in mind…the daughter of her hated rival Eva and that shepherd she married. She would work both into an early grave, a fitting punishment for their robbing her daughter of the crown she'd fought so hard to secure for her.
Storybrooke General
Rumple and Bae reappeared outside Zelena and Angelo's room, an exhausted Dr. Whale waiting for them.
"I was told you are listed as their next of kin on their admission papers," Whale said to Bae.
"I am. How are they Doctor?"
"As well as can be expected after a wreck like that," he said and went on to tell him what had been done for the couple. "You'll be able to see them but only for a short period of time."
Bae nodded, and the pair walked into the room. Bae gasped seeing Zelena's head bandaged and her arm and legs in casts. Angelo's head was also bandaged, and his arm and legs were also broken.
"Zee…" he whispered.
"Oh, don't cry caro," she whispered and held out her arms. He went into them willingly, hugging her as gently as he could. She kissed his forehead.
"I hear a cane….is your father with you Neal?" Angelo asked.
"Yes."
Rumple approached the bed cautiously and when he was close enough Zelena reached out with her good arm and slapped him across the face.
"What was that for, dearie?" he cried.
"Idiota, hai abbandonato tuo figlio!" she snapped.
"Te lo meriti! Sii fortunato, non ti maledico!"
Rumple rubbed his cheek where he could still see her handprint. "Oh, I have no doubt you could curse me. Your aura is one of the strongest I've sensed from someone outside our borders, cousin. And you are correct. I do deserve it for leaving my son in this realm alone. But I am grateful he found someone like you to look after him."
"He is the child I've never had," Zelena murmured.
"The child we've never had," Angelo added.
"You have me curious, dearie. How do you know about us? I assumed no one on this side knew what happened to Aramon once he crossed realms."
"His sister knew. I am descended from her."
"Aye, you do bear a close resemblance to the portrait of her that hangs in the gallery at the Emerald Palace." He reached out and took her hand in his. "I would like to make his dream of uniting this family come true." His hands glowed as he called on his healing magic, repairing the broken bones and easing the pain she felt from the surgery she'd been given to repair the lacerations she'd suffered when the windshield of the Fiat shattered upon the impact with Mendell's car and the broken bones in her arm and legs fusing back together.
"Grazie," she whispered.
"And now, dearie, let's see what we can do for you," he murmured when he approached Angelo's bed. His eyes widened with shock when he stared into the younger man's eyes. "He's been blinded by dark magic! Whose?"
"Baba Yaga," Angelo replied. "Irina Fedorovna. She abducted me when Zelena and I were on our honeymoon in Russia."
"It was my fault," Zelena sobbed. "My parents warned me not to go to Russia because Irina had been waiting for one of Ivan's descendants to return. She kept herself alive all those years feeding on the life force of innocents until I killed her. But…but…but my magic wasn't strong enough to return Angelo's eyesight."
"But yours is, isn't it, Papa?" Bae asked hopefully.
Rumple began repairing the damage to his arms and legs and the cuts on the man's head and chest before he placed his hands on Angelo's head and began to chant in Ozian, a white mist emitting from his mouth and into Angelo's open one.
"Zelena…..Zelena…cara mia…I…I can see!" Angelo exclaimed and blinked his eyes several times to make certain they weren't playing tricks on him.
"Angelo! Angelo, caro mio è vero?"
"Si cara mia, è vero!" he sobbed. "Grazie, grazie!" He shook Rumple's hand gratefully.
Bae held back his own tears. This was what he'd always wanted to see, his father using his powers for good, something that didn't happen often in those early days of the curse. Zelena reached out and took his hand in hers.
"You have forgiven your papa, caro?" she asked him. He nodded.
"Thank you, Papa," he murmured.
"La famiglia è per sempre," Rumple said softly. Zelena nodded in agreement.
"Sem'ya navsegda," she whispered. Rumple returned to her bedside and took her hand in his, their hands glowing the moment they came in contact.
"Zelena, why are your hands glowing like that?" Angelo asked his wife.
"Nothing can hurt us if we're together," Rumple said and held his other hand out to Bae. The moment Bae's hand went into his theirs began to glow as well, bringing tears to the sorcerer's cheeks.
"You mean it's some sort of protection spell?" Bae asked him.
"Yes," Rumple murmured, releasing their hands and hugging each of them. The last portion of his heart had been restored.
They stayed with Zelena and Angelo until the couple went to sleep. As they were walking toward the lobby they spotted Emma walking in with Henry by her side. Bae took a deep breath.
"Go to him son," Rumple encouraged. "He's been waiting for you."
Bae's knees were knocking when he approached the boy, seeing so much of himself in his young face. "H…Henry?"
"Hello Baelfire," Henry greeted warmly.
"Why don't we go somewhere private and talk?" Bae suggested.
Rumple nodded and teleported them back to the Victorian's back patio. Bae and Henry were standing in the yard while a nervous Emma sat at the table with Rumple.
"Ummm…I don't…I don't know much your mom's told you…."
"You didn't know about me." Henry said.
"If I had, I never would've let your mom go to prison. I woulda found a way to support the three of us without having to steal anymore."
"Our story had to play out this way, so Mom could become the Savior."
Bae stared at him. "You sound like my father; do you know that?"
"He's right, Dad. Every happened the way it did for a reason. I don't hate you. I just…I just really want us all to be a family when all this is over."
"I want that too but your mom…."
"Is still mad. Yeah, I know but…you're…you're her true love. You gotta fight for her. Show her you're gonna be the guy she needs. She's strong on her own but her heart has a hole in it and it's been there since you left. You gotta make it whole again. And you gotta stay for me."
"I've heard Archie's been sort of a father figure to you all these years. I don't wanna step on his toes."
"He's always gonna be a second father to me but you're my dad. I want you in my life too. And I really want you and Grandpa to make your peace with each other. He really didn't want to leave you here alone. SHE made him let you go because you were a threat to her control. He can't break his curse without you, Dad. You are the strongest anchor to his humanity…you and Belle. And you're an anchor to mine." Henry reached out and took his father's hands in his. They started glowing and a shield formed over them.
"What the hell is that!" Emma exclaimed.
"That Miss Swan, is the power of love you're witnessing and there is no stronger love than that of a parent to a child. Love is the strongest magic in all the realms and you know firsthand what it creates. It created you and it created my grandson. Come. You still need your magic lessons dearie." He gestured, and they vanished in a puff of smoke leaving father and son alone to talk.
Bae was delighted to discover that he and his young son had many things in common. They both enjoyed reading sci-fi and fantasy novels and comics and enjoyed watching some of the same movies and television shows. The boy had a wisdom far beyond his years as he did when he was forced to survive in a strange land alone. Bae found himself talking about those long, painful years but he wouldn't talk about his life in Florida for it was far from the Tallahassee he and Emma dreamed of.
"So, you went to Neverland to save the Darlings from being taken?"
"I didn't want their family to be torn apart like mine was. Now Pan's trying again, and he has to be stopped. I'm not gonna let him take you Henry." Bae hugged his son tightly. "I don't have magic, but I don't need it to try to protect you."
Henry prayed with all his heart once all the chaos was over he wouldn't need protecting any longer. He hugged his father back, not wanting to let go.
"You wanna go get something to eat. I'm starving."
Henry smiled. "Sure. Granny's has great food."
"Remind me we need to take a road trip to New York sometime. I'll take you to the best pizza parlors in the city and the lady I came here with makes the best Italian pizza."
Out at MacDonald's farm Emma crashed into a pile of hay when she failed to defend herself against one of Rumple's energy blasts for the third time.
"Focus, dearie!" Rumple snapped as she got to her feet and brushed the hay from her jeans. "There's a war coming, and you are going to be prepared to fight it if it kills me." He blasted her again. "Now try to absorb the energy and throw it back at me!"
"I'm trying!" she cried, her hands trembling.
"Try harder dammit!"
"Were you this hard on Regina?"
"Yes! Now again. Focus!" he ordered and threw another energy bolt at her. She stretched out her hands and concentrated, catching it in them and holding it for several seconds before she threw it at him. It slammed into his chest and sent him tumbling backwards.
"I did it!" she exclaimed.
"Finally," he muttered as he got to his feet. "There may be hope for you yet."
He continued practicing with her for the rest of the afternoon. It would take time for her to master defensive magic, but she'd managed to survive through the basics. She was so exhausted by the time she returned to the loft that she passed out on the sofa before Bae returned with Henry and missed seeing her father conduct his own version of the Inquisition with him.
"I know Em and I…well…are complicated right now but I want to try again with her….if she'll have me."
"True love is worth fighting for," Snow murmured. "She still loves you. I know she does, she just needs time. I'll do what I can to help you, the rest has to come from you."
"And you hurt her again I will find you no matter where you try to hide," Charming warned. "Same goes for my grandson. You do right by them or you deal with me."
"I have a feeling I'd be dealing with Papa too."
"I'm not surprised," Charming admitted. "But you and your father have your problems too, don't you?"
"Yeah and we gotta work on them. I'd better get going. He's probably waiting for me."
Bae's mind was racing during the short walk back to the pawnshop, still worried that his father would go back on his word and revert to his dark ways and his own mistakes ruined any chances he had of a future with Emma. Before he had a chance to open the shop door, a young brunette opened the door for him and handed him a cup of tea.
"You must be Belle," he said and took a sip.
"And I am so happy to finally meet you. Your father talked about you so much. He missed you." She led him to the backroom and sat at the worktable, a full course meal sitting out in front of her. Bae was stunned that his father's new girlfriend was so young, but he couldn't deny he found her charming.
"Where is Papa?"
"He'll be here soon. He just had to check on something at the hospital, but he asked that we not wait for him to eat."
The delay in his trip back to the shop had been intentional, Rumple wanting to give Belle and Bae the opportunity to speak in private, to bond as he wished they would. He sat in the waiting room at the hospital observing Bae and Belle through his seeing globe.
Belle handed him a plate of fried chicken and potatoes.
"So, how did you meet my father?" he asked her.
She told him of her desire to summon the Dark One when the Ogres began attacking her father's lands and the deal to become his castle's caretaker in exchange for Rumple's help with the war.
"Your father showed me a side of himself that he was afraid to show others and that's what made me love him. I didn't know he was cursed until Regina told me, but I was certain true love's kiss could break it." She sighed. "I was a little naïve back then."
"So, you kissed him, and it didn't work?"
"Because he thought I was working for Regina. It's what she wanted him to think. We argued, and he released me. I went back to my father, but he sent in the clerics."
Bae's eyes narrowed to slits. "Oh, I've heard of them and what they did to people they deemed under a demon's thrall."
"Papa and Regina concocted a story that I took my own life under their torture and your father believed it. He was devastated because he'd already planned to find me and bring me back to him, but I was already a prisoner in Regina's tower and I was her prisoner the whole time we were cursed. Bae, I know all about your father's curse. I know all about you. Rumple has been completely honest with me about your lives. He's made his mistakes as I'm sure you've made yours, but I don't want to see you remain estranged as my father and I are."
She went on to tell him of their lives after the curse, Bae realizing that his father had indeed changed and the woman sitting across from him had been partially responsible for it.
"Your father won't accept Papa as being part of your life?"
"No. Nor can he do anything to prevent it. I was chosen to be your papa's guardian before I was born but no one decides my fate but me. I decided my future was with him and once we break this curse we're going to live our lives the way we want to…and we want you to be a part of that. You, Emma and Henry."
He sighed. "I don't know if I have a chance with Emma but I wanna try."
"That's all you can do, try. True love isn't easy but it's worth fighting for even if you have to go to the mattresses to do it."
Bae smiled at the Godfather reference. "Now I can see why he likes you. You're nothing like my mother. She was always putting him down even when he was working himself to the bone to support us. She did nothing but hop from one tavern to another until she got mixed up with Hook. I've heard he got executed in Oz."
"He did." She refilled his glass of wine and held out her own. "To a fresh start for all of us."
"To a fresh start." Their glasses clinked.
"Well I see you two are getting along fine," Rumple said when he walked into the backroom and sat beside Belle.
"Did you wear Emma out?" Belle teased him.
"A bit," he admitted. "Did you have a good time with Henry, Bae?"
"Yeah. He acts like you so much it's almost scary…in a good way." He added.
"He is also in great danger Bae," Rumple reminded him. "And not just from your…grandfather," he said through gritted teeth. "Cora will attempt to use Regina to lure him in, but I have quite the surprise waiting for her that I need your help with Bae. Belle, you know what to do…set the wards."
She blew him a kiss and vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Me? Why me?" Bae asked once she was gone.
"I would ask Archie, but I need him to keep an eye on things in the OZ for now."
"What do you need me to do?"
A hook appeared on the table.
"You have to stab me."
"I have to…WHAT?!"
"Allow me to explain."
Bae had a feeling he wasn't going to like this one bit.
"W…W…Wait!" Rumple cried when Bae held up the hook an hour later.
Bae groaned. "Will you quit fiddling around! This was your idea and I really wish you'd gotten someone else to do the dirty work!"
"Yeah, yeah…okay but I feel safer with you doing it."
Bae raised the hook again.
"No, no, no wait….a little more to the left."
"How is a few more inches gonna make a difference?"
Rumple shifted sideways.
"No, no, wait….not there."
"Papa, time's running out!"
"Okay, go ahead. No, no wait…owww! Dammit Bae!" Rumple groaned and yanked the hook out of his shoulder. "Did ye hae to do it so hard!"
"Tis just a scratch." Bae quoted.
"No, it isn't. My arm's off." Rumple conjured a bandage and pressed it against his bleeding shoulder. Bae smiled widely, pleased that his father had gotten the reference to one of his favorite movies.
"No, it isn't."
"Well, what's that then?"
"Come on you pansy!" Bae challenged, grinning.
"What?"
"Oh, had enough, eh?"
"Look, you stupid bastard I've got no arms left!"
"Now what're you gonna do, bleed on me?"
They looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"Did we just do our own version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail?" Rumple giggled. "You, silly sod! You got us all worked up!"
"Well, that's no ordinary rabbit! That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on! Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer! He's got huge, sharp…eh…he can leap about…look at the bones!"
"Jesus Christ!"
"I warned you, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, you knew it all, didn't you? Oh, it's just a harmless little bunny, isn't it? Well, it's always the same. I always tell them…"
"Oh, shut up!"
"Run away! Run away!"
They laughed again.
"What the heck's going on in here?" Emma asked when she walked into the room to begin her daily lesson.
"Umm, we were just ahhh….getting Papa ready for a trap he's setting for Cora."
"Holy hell Neal! How hard did you whack him?"
"I didn't like it, okay! Really wish he would've gotten someone else to do it."
"Well I didn't." Rumple unbuttoned his shirt to show them the black lines the potion made on his chest. "And now that Cora believes I'm dying my name will start to fade from the decoy dagger and she'll come." He staggered over to the cot and lay down.
"What do you need me to do?" Emma asked him.
He summoned a piece of chalk and handed it to her. "I want you to cast the ward spell I showed you yesterday."
"You don't look comfortable," Emma observed.
"I'm not enjoying what we're about to do dearie. But it must done; and you must all play your parts to perfection."
"If Cora got hold of the real dagger she could use it to kill you and all of us."
"Were Bae, Henry and Belle not in my life, yes. They are my anchors to my humanity and weaken the dagger's control. Remember Emma, I am dying. You cannot for one moment let her believe otherwise."
"I won't."
"Papa, what was in that hook?"
"Dreamshade."
"Are you crazy! You just poisoned yourself with the deadliest toxin in all the realms and Neverland is the only place we can find the cure!" Bae cried.
"No, it isn't," Rumple murmured. "The cure is ambrosia and it just so happens I have some hidden away. And Cora is going to bring it to me."
"How?"
"By trying to kill me. Now go talk to Emma and let me rest."
"You better be right about this Papa because you are NOT dying today!" Bae grabbed his father's hand and held it tightly. "You're not leaving me now when I just found you!"
"I won't Bae. I won't," Rumple whispered. "Now go….go with Emma."
"You be careful Papa."
"Oh, I'll be alright. Go."
He found Emma sitting on the floor in front of the door drawing on it with invisible chalk she found in the cupboard with many other magical items.
"How is drawing on the floor gonna protect us?"
"Watch," Emma murmured and waved her hands over the line. Seconds later a glowing shield surrounded the shop.
"Not bad for a few lessons."
"Shut up. I'm concentrating." She stood up and brushed off her pants.
"No, you're not. You're avoiding me."
"Seriously? Your father's in the other room dying from a deadly poison and you're worried about me avoiding you? You really gotta work on your priorities Neal..Bae…or whatever the hell you wanna call yourself because you suck at it!"
"Papa is not gonna die."
She ignored him and knelt at the curtain separating the shop floor from the backroom and started drawing a second line. "Get in there with your father. Go!"
He threw up his hands in defeat and retreated to the backroom. Moments Emma joined them, a second shield covering the entrance.
"Now…we wait," Rumple whispered.
The Tea Shop
Wonderland Three
Archie and Az's travel storm landed a few yards away from the Tea Shop, Wonderland Three's version of the New York Stock Exchange. The trading day was in full swing the moment they walked through the doors, men and woman frantically buying and selling bottles of old and new teas coming out of the Hearts Casino. No one on the tea shop's trading floor cared that people, referred to as oysters, were being taken from the other side of the looking glass, drugged and connected to machines that harvested only their positive emotions, they only wanted the high drinking those emotions in liquid form would produce. Those that did care and wanted to return Wonderland back to a place of logic, reason and rule of law had been forced underground.
Az waved her hand and all activity on the trading room floor stopped, the occupants frozen as she and Archie walked down the hall to the manager's office. The desk chair's back was to them.
"Would you like a cup of tea?"
"Not if you've dosed it with the Hearts Casino's latest flavor," Archie said coldly. The chair spun around, the occupant blinking several times.
"Commander Ozopov, Princess Azkadellia!" he gasped. "Bloody hell, I thought you were dead."
"So did a lot of people."
"Why's the floor so quiet all of a sudden?"
"They're having a moment of silence," Az quipped.
"Hatter, we need to see Wadsworth. Now," Archie said firmly.
The man addressed as Hatter scowled. "He calls himself Dodo now. We've all taken names from those books on the other side and ahhh….we're not the closest of friends."
"You never were but we still need to see him."
"Ah all right, come with me but keep your eyes open. The scarab ships that bring in the oysters are watching us."
"We'll deal with them," Az murmured.
Hatter led them down the street to an abandoned building. A couple stood in front of an old school bus holding shotguns. He reached into his pockets and brought out two blocks of cheese his contact in the Hearts Casino managed to smuggle out of the kitchens.
"Get in," the man said, pointing to the open doors. The trio climbed into the bus. Once the doors were closed the man pulled a lever and the bus began to descend underground. Two more men searched them upon their arrival and took them down a long corridor to an office where a man sat behind a darkened desk.
"Now what have you brought me, Hatter?" he demanded impatiently.
"Put some light on the subject, Wadsworth!" Archie commanded sharply. The man gasped and switched on the lamp.
"Commander!" he whispered. "So it's true….you survived!"
"It's been a long time Wadsworth, but I see nothing's changed around here."
"You know as well as I do how difficult leading a Resistance can be. What brings you here? Rumor has it the Sorceress has been defeated and the Ozopov are back in power."
"Barely back in power," Az said. "We need your help Wadsworth. Someone smuggled the Hearts' tea to the other side and used it on one of the Guardians." Regina appeared on the sofa in the corner of the room.
"Are you out of your bloody mind! The Evil Queen!?"
"She's the Heart of the East, Wadsworth but her mother is trying to turn her back into the Evil Queen with Elizabeth Heart's teas. You know what's coming in our world and Regina is one of the eight people that can stop it," Archie reminded him.
Wadsworth scoffed. "Everyone knows Aramon's Prophecy is just superstition."
"It won't be when the damned crimson moon appears, and it will….in ALL the realms. If the balance is not restored, we'll all be having the worst nightmares of our lives that night as our world dies! We need to get her to the Hospital of Dreams and you're our only way in."
He groaned. "Come along then but you'd better not get me exiled for bringing HER."
"She's been given Ozian poppies. They'll keep her asleep long enough for them to treat her."
Wadsworth grimaced. Caterpillar was not going to like this one bit but as former Ozian himself, he knew they had no choice if this woman was indeed one of the Guardians of the Balance. It was a day's ride to the Hospital of Dreams but thankfully he'd smuggled a few travel storm tokens, omitting the need for horses.
The Hospital of Dreams had many patients, but no one had been expecting to admit the former Evil Queen of Nonestica. They confined the former Queen to a specialized cell created by Archie and Az to block her magic as she went through the long and painful detox process.
"It's good that you've given her the poppies Commander," Caterpillar said. "It will make it easier for us to draw the toxins out of her system."
"How much time are we talking about?" Az asked him.
"A few days at least…and I am sorry, but it is the best we can."
"Do what you have to do Adam and inform us immediately when we can come for her."
He reached out and took her hands in his. "Nothing pleases me more than to see you free and reunited with your love," he said softly. Adam Pillar had been the palace historian before the upheaval and was sent away from the OZ for his own protection after the fall of Central City.
"There's still more work to do in the OZ Adam but its my sister who will have to do it now."
"In my eyes you will always be the true Queen of the OZ," he murmured.
"I thank you for that, but I have to make my own way now." She embraced him.
"Will you stay a few days?"
"I'd love to."
"Your husband won't mind?"
"Why would I mind? I miss arguing with you," Archie joked.
"Arguments I always won," Caterpillar reminded him with a chuckle. "Come. I'll have a room prepared for you."
Mills Mansion
Cora was not one to take chances. The teas had subdued her daughter for the time being, but Regina was a strong-willed woman much like herself and it was possible that she could overcome the influence of the teas but there was one form of magical influence she would not be able to resist. Cora descended the staircase to the lower level of the vault where her trunks were stored. She opened the first one and inside were two boxes. She opened the first one and took out the heart inside, her daughter's heart. With it in her possession, she would ensure that the powers of the Heart of the truest Believer would be hers and so would the powers of the Dark One.
The powers of a goddess, she thought.
Back in Wonderland she'd heard rumors of a powerful sorcerer from Agrabah that had located a spell to change the laws of magic. The whole thing was silly. You could change the past, raise the dead and make someone love you with the right spells but those laws had been put in place because doing so often came with dangerous consequences. Cora had no intentions of changing the past. Her past was what made her the powerful sorceress she had become. She'd mastered raising the dead decades earlier as she'd mastered using hearts to control her victims but the only one whose love she truly needed was her daughter's. She waved her hand over the heart and changed it into a heart shaped pendant that she attached to the chain around her neck.
Regina's construct had just finished cleaning up the kitchen when Cora returned to the house.
"I need to meet my grandson," she informed her.
"That won't be easy, Mother. Emma still has him convinced I killed the cricket."
"Oh, I think they'll change their minds once they search the ship I traveled on. You just have to convince them to do so. Hook is the one who killed the cricket and he is here to kill the Dark One," Cora instructed. "But no one is to know I'm here except Henry. Understand?"
"I understand Mother."
"Now go to the police station."
Cora watched her daughter walk out to her Mercedes, grinning. While Regina was the police station she would be on her way to the clock tower where Regina's heart memories revealed the location of the Dark One dagger.
"Oh Rumple you're slipping," she chuckled and vanished in a puff of smoke and reappeared at the clock tower, casting a protection spell. It led her up the stairs to the clock face. She could see the dagger attached to the minute hand and summoned it to her, stunned that there were no wards protecting it as she would've done. "You've forgotten your lessons darling. Love is weakness."
She held up the blade, stunned to see that his name was beginning to fade.
"Well Hook, it appears you succeeded after all." she murmured. The dose of dreamshade the pirate carried with him from Neverland was potent enough to kill anyone within hours, but she would deliver the death blow and the powers of the Dark One would be hers. She walked down the street to the shop under a cloaking spell, anticipating the moment when all her enemies would kneel before her.
The Hospital of Dreams
Wonderland Three
Though she'd only been at the hospital a few hours in her time, three days had passed in Wonderland Three and the aggressive treatments Regina had been given produced better results on her than other tea addicts that had been in rehab for years. She was awakened on the third day and taken to the dining hall where Archie and Az awaited her.
"What happened to me? Where am I?" she asked.
"The Hospital of Dreams," Az replied. "Your mother gave you a powerful dose of Wonderland Three's teas to attempt to control you. But if you don't believe us, look there." Az pointed to the older woman's chest.
Regina closed her eyes, seeing her mother pouring contents from three bottles into the cup of apple cider she'd been drinking before she'd gone to sleep that night.
"She's never going to change Regina. She just wanted you under her control, so she could use you to help her get what she's really after, the powers of the Dark One."
Her eyes filled with tears. "All I ever wanted was for her to love me and to have my son back. She's so heartless…." She paused.
"Regina, what is it?"
"Her heart….it's part of the reason why she is like this. If I put it back…"
"Regina, it's too dangerous!" Archie warned.
"But I have to try! She's still my mother even after all she's done. Take me back to Storybrooke. Take me back right now!"
"You still need to."
"NOW!" Regina snarled.
Archie sighed and teleported them outside. Az took a travel storm token out of her satchel and tossed it. They all held hands and stepped into the funnel cloud that would take them back to Storybrooke.
Storybrooke Police Station
"…You really expect me to swallow this bullshit, lady?" David demanded angrily, glaring at the Regina construct from across the interview room table. "I SAW you strangle my brother to death and leave him on his office floor like he was trash. "You're getting locked up in a warded cell and you are NEVER gonna see your son again because it's what you deserve for killing my brother and making sure he never sees his child being born."
"Search Hook's ship. He was glamored to look like me to fool everyone. I was at my house all night that night. I wouldn't kill Archie. He was like a father to Henry. Please, I need to see him. I need to see my son Deputy Molk."
"Not a chance!"
"Search the ship!"
"All right, we'll search it, but you are staying here."
"The hell I am!" She gestured and tried to teleport out. "What!"
She tried again.
David and Edgar laughed.
"Well well well, looks like the Queen's outta magic." David pulled his handcuffs out of his pocket. "Regina Mills, you're under arrest for the murder of Archie Hopper…" He continued to advise her of her rights as he cuffed her, and they took her down the hall to a holding cell and locked her in.
"Mother! Mother, what did you do to me? Mother!" the construct screamed, pounding on the bars of the cell with her fists.
"Mommy can't help you now, Your Highness," David sneered and walked away.
"I'm innocent!" she yelled after them.
"Ya know man she acts so much like her it's almost like she thinks she's real," Edgar was saying to him when they got in their squad car.
"She does think she's real," David said as he fastened his seatbelt. "And that gives us the advantage."
"So are we gonna search the Jolly Roger."
"No, we're gonna look for Tamara. Mendell's here so she has to be somewhere close." He started the engine and pulled out of the lot. While they were at the stop light David's phone rang. "Hello? Son of a bitch! We're on our way!"
"What's up Molky?"
"Mendell's escaped from the hospital."
He floored the accelerator and sped off.
Cora conjured a fireball and threw it at the shield blocking the front door of the pawn shop, grinning when it dissolved.
"Some Savior. She needs a few more lessons," she murmured and went inside, feeling a tightness in her chest.
Regina. My heart. It's in your vault and someone else is there. Go! Go!
I can't! You bound my magic!
Cora teleported the construct into the vault and the moment Regina entered, the construct vanished, leaving only Regina with the box with her mother's heart in her hands.
"Where are you?" she murmured, waving her hand over the glowing organ. She closed her eyes and could see her mother enter the pawn shop with Rumple's dagger in her hand. "No! Mother, no!" she cried and teleported out.
"You two...out of the way!" Cora snapped and waved her hand when she broke through the shield to the backroom making Emma and Bae vanish in a cloud of magic.
"Now what do we do!" Bae grouched, kicking up a patch of dust when they appeared in the woods.
Emma sighed. "We wait."
"A vision told me about you. Told me this day would come. But it didn't tell me everything. It didn't tell me what I really wanted to know." Rumple said when Cora came into the backroom.
"And what's that?" she asked as she sat down beside him.
"Did you ever love me?" Rumple asked weakly.
"Why do you think I had to rip my own heart out?" Cora asked. "You were my weakness," she said as she caressed his face, her hand still feeling like ice on his skin. "You're the only man I ever truly loved." She then stood up with the dagger in her hand. "But love is weakness and power is strength." She raised it, ready to deliver the death blow until he caught her wrist in his hand and squeezed it tight. The dagger slipped out of her hand and fell onto his chest, the ambrosia seeping into the wound on his chest.
"Oh, but that's where you're wrong dearie!" he snarled and blasted her. She slammed against the bookcase and fell to the floor.
"But..you...you were...you were dying..."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, dearie. Your pirate friend's head is rotting on a pike in Central City courtesy of Commander Ozopov while I set up this little charade for your benefit. You remember him, don't you, dearie? You tried to kill him and place the blame on Regina to lure her back to you but all you did was take a construct made to look like him." Rumple laughed. "But he came back long enough to kick that pirate's ass and remind you it's not wise to piss him off, didn't he dearie?"
"I should've killed that damned cricket when I had the chance!" she hissed.
"Ah but you couldn't because he is after all, an Ozian Guardian. And so am I."
"No...you're lying..." she stammered.
His eyes now glowed fire red. "I am the West Guardian and the keeper of the blade of fire," he said as he advanced toward her. "But you knew that, didn't you? Don't bother trying to deny it. You didn't just want my power. You wanted my grandson's too."
"And I'll have it!" she cried.
"Over your dead body," he sneered.
She rose to her feet and stretched out her hand, throwing an energy bolt at him. He held out his own and absorbed it and threw it back at her. With her free hand she summoned the dagger to her.
"Rumplestiltskin, I command you to stop!" she cried.
He laughed and continued to advance. "The stronger my heart is, the weaker the power of my curse is, dearie. I have all three sources of my humanity back with me and that's nothing more than a trinket in your hand." He gestured and the decoy dagger reappeared in his hand. He sent it back to its box. "And you'll never find the other two because they've already been claimed."
"Rumple, what are you doing?" Regina cried when she ran into the backroom with the box containing her mother's heart in her hands.
"Stay out of this Regina!" he ordered.
"No!" She conjured a fireball and threw it at him. It bounced off the shield he'd thrown up. "We agreed! You'd trap her in Pandora's Box!"
"Regina, what have you done?" Cora cried in horror.
Now do you understand what must be done for your daughter, Cora? See now who she is and what she must become, she heard Rumple ask in her mind. It had been years since they'd communicated in that manner. Cora reached out with her mage's senses and saw the faint light surrounding her daughter, revealing the destiny that awaited her, greater than that of being a queen of any realm.
All magic has its price Cora...and this is yours. The Dark power can't be yours. You never would've been able to control it, it would've corrupted you far worse than it has me and now you must die so that your daughter can be free of the darkness you dragged her into all those years ago. She must become the Heart of the East.
Rumple summoned the box to him and opened it, taking out the heart.
"Rumple, please, don't..." Regina begged. "She can change...we all can."
"No. She can't. And this must be done," he said firmly and began to squeeze. Cora collapsed, and Regina took her into her arms, weeping.
"Mother? Mother!"
"This… should've been enough. You… You should've been enough," Cora said softly. "Had I chosen love...over power," she whispered and reached out to caress Regina's cheek. "From the east she will be the heart of the truest believer...I give her to you now, Rumple. The will of the OZ be done," she gasped and lay still in her daughter's arms.
"The will of the OZ be done," he murmured, letting the dust from her heart fall to the floor at his feet.
"Mother? What's going on? Mother? Don't leave me, please… What am I going to do?" Regina sobbed brokenly.
"Your mother did you no favors before, but she has this time. For once," he added.
"Shut up! You killed her!"
"I did what needed to be done," he said firmly. "For you."
"Liar," she seethed.
"Listen to me!" he growled, casting a freezing spell over her. "You're angry. I understand that. But you must understand your mother was going down a path you COULD NOT follow! She was holding you back. You told me you didn't want to become her, and you were. I had to stop it, I had to stop her the only way I knew how. She had to die so that you could live Regina. Don't you understand? You should've been MY child! Mine. But your mother tricked me and robbed me of that right. Now I reclaim it because I've always loved you like the daughter I never had."
"How can I, without her?"
"Because you have the one thing she didn't...a child that loves you," he reminded her. "She didn't just want my power, she wanted his too and would have killed us to get it. Was that what you wanted? To sacrifice your own son's life because that was what it would have come down to Regina! You couldn't make the choice, so I did. To save your son, MY grandson, your mother had to die. Were it my choice, Emma would be his guardian since you're determined not to prove yourself worthy of earning the right to be the Heart of the East Gate. Ozmalita chose an alternate before and perhaps she can again."
"I will have my..."
"Vengeance? Go on and try dearie. You've already tried to go up against an Ozopov and nearly had your life force ripped out of you." He flicked his wrist and raised her in the air. "But the Strogoff are the more powerful of our bloodline and I will make what Archie did to you look like child's play if you dinna get your head together and stop thinking of yourself and think of my grandson. There's an evil far worse than your mother coming for us and I need you to protect him from it!" He released his grip and dropped her. "Mourn your mother Regina but forget about vengeance. It'll get you nothing but another hole in your heart."
"I want be alone. Please."
"As you wish." He teleported her back to her vault with Cora's corpse in a coffin.
Regina conjured a rose and laid it across the casket.
"I'm so sorry Mother. But you left me, left him with no other choice," she said through her tears. "All I ever wanted was for you to love me as I was, not whom you wanted me to be. And I wanted to be someone other than the Evil Queen. I made myself what I am because I blamed Snow for Daniel's death when I should've blamed you. You took his life. You took our dreams and crushed them when you crushed his heart. I have to make this right. I have to atone for what I've done. I have to serve the will of the OZ no matter what the cost. I have to protect my son...with my last breath if I must."
"That's good because your last breath is coming sooner than you think!" she heard a voice hiss from behind her and turned around to see a couple standing in front of her.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"I've been waiting a long time for this reunion Regina. You haven't changed a bit since the day you took my father away from me," the man said angrily and grabbed her wrist, fastening a leather cuff around it. "And now I'm gonna take everything away from you, away from all you abominations. You don't belong in this world!"
"You're one of them….the Home Office…" she murmured.
"Oh, I'm more than that. I'm the little boy you tried to keep a prisoner here, but my father made sure I got away."
"Owen Flynn…."
"Greg Mendell now," he corrected.
"Get out of my town," Regina growled and flicked her wrist. Greg laughed.
"That cuff blocks your magic. And now you're gonna tell me where my father is before you die."
"Go to hell!"
"You first." He pulled a taser out of his pocket and pressed it against her stomach. She cried out in pain and sank to the floor. "Bag her."
"With pleasure," Tamara said with a smirk and pulled a body bag out of her backpack. They put Regina in the sack and zipped it up then carried her out of the vault and tossed her unconscious body into the back of a van.
"We did it! We finally got her!" Greg exclaimed and kissed Tamara as she started the engine.
"And now we're gonna blow this town off the map," she declared gleefully and sped off.