Regina, Queen of the Enchanted Forest, stands perfectly still, head held high while Jax, the elf, places the slim-fitting redaction cuff around her right ankle. While no trace of her private thoughts is visible on her face, she silently battles her own psyche. Her rational half, the half that knows she must do what needs to be done in order to get home as quickly as possible does battle with her darker half; the half that wants to kick the annoying little elfin creature across the room and grab him by his ridiculously large ears and repeatedly slam his head into a wall. Instead, she stares at a fixed point on the wall opposite her cell and distracts herself with thoughts of home and what awaits her there.

Because he knows the nature of the unspoken thoughts in her mind, Robin gently squeezes his wife's shoulder and repeats his earlier objection. "Once more, for the record, I don't like this."

She breathes deeply before speaking; her tone cool and detached. "It won't be for long, and you don't have to like it."

Robin paces in agitation within the limited confines of their cell. "Still, just once, Regina, I'd like to be able to veto something as important as this and have you take me seriously."

"Robin," She continues as if they are alone and not in the company of strangers. "I understand. You're frustrated. Believe me, I can sympathize, but right now I'm not the only one vetoing you. We aren't in charge here. We don't have a choice. We have to get home before that thing makes another attempt at snatching Zelena… Or anyone else. Once this situation is dealt with, you get to make the next major decision that affects our lives, I promise. But for now…"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Let's just get this over with."

When the cuff is properly secured the elf rises from his bony knees and Regina quickly slides her stocking foot back into the high-heeled boot she had to remove for him.

As she zips up, Robin asks her, "You still think that thing is after Zelena?"

"It makes the most sense. If it were just looking for someone at random, why come to Storybrooke in the first place? Why leave its own realm to come to a magically sequestered. unfamiliar place? Once there, why target a tavern that hadn't opened for business yet? I understand not picking a heavily populated area, but why not snatch a lone hiker in the woods, or someone otherwise isolated. Why take on a woodsman, two children, and two of the town's most powerful mages?"

"Maybe it didn't know who it was taking on."

"Possible, but once that baby decided to defend itself, the thing should've taken a hint. You were simply in its way at the door. That's why it hit you first. It only came after me…"

Robin nods. "When you started protecting Zelena."

Regina nods in turn. "The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. She is pregnant with the child of a god, Robin. The number of people who would love to get their hands on an unborn demigod…" Regina inhales deeply through clenched teeth; making a wet hissing sound. "We have to figure out who that thing is working for, because my guess is, whoever is behind this when they hear of what we did yesterday, they will send reinforcements and chasing off just one was hard enough. I want to get ahead of this thing before we're dealing with a whole squadron of them."

"You really think it's some sort of contract job?"

Regina turns her attention to Potter and Weasley. "What use would a dementor have for an unborn child? Demigod or not? They feed off people's pain; off their worst experiences. An unborn child has no experience – or at the very least a severely limited amount of it."

Harry speaks up as Ron shrugs. "Maybe it's not about the child. Although I admit, having heard your reasoning, that seems unlikely. Who is this Zelena?"

Regina waits for the containment charm on the cell to be disabled and then steps through as she tells them, "She's the Wicked Witch of the West."

Ron's eyes go wide in his mouth falls open. "The Wicked Witch of the West? Like, as in The Wizard of Oz, the children's bedtime story with the talking scarecrow and the cowardly lion and whatnot."

Regina offers him a deadpan look. "I'm afraid The Wizard of Oz is no more. His name was Walsh. She turned him into one of her flying monkeys. She is now the self-appointed Empress of Oz."

Ron gulps; his Adam's apple bobbing nervously. "And she's pregnant with the child of a god?"

"Not just any god, but Hades. The god of the underworld. Lord Death, himself."

"Bloody hell!" Ron slumps against the corner of the guard's desk momentarily and turns to his friend. "Harry…"

"I know, Ron. I know."

Curious, Regina queries, "What do you know?"

Harry takes a deep breath and speaks slowly; measuring out his words. "I know that, if you're telling me the truth, we've got a potentially nasty situation on our hands."

"Well, then you better gear up, Mr. Potter, because I don't lie."

Robin smirks as he shoulders his bow and quiver. "It's true. She doesn't. Not even when people wish she would." He arches a mildly curious eyebrow when Regina chooses to pick up his knapsack and sling it over one of her own shoulders.

"What?" She queries in response to his curious look. "I can carry it. I've got nothing else to do. It's not like I need my hands free in case I suddenly need to use magic. This way, you'll need a second or two less prep time if you need to fire for any reason. Although, if we come up against any dementors, I don't think that bow and quiver are going to be of much use to us."

Robin shrugs and offers his smile. "I know that. I was just remembering the tantrum your mother threw the last time she saw you carrying my satchel - something about how she raised a queen: how dare I treat you like a pack mule."

Regina shrugs. "First, don't let Cora have free rent inside your head. Trust me, she makes a lousy tenant. Second, you aren't treating me any such way, Robin. I wouldn't let you, and you know it. I volunteered to pick it up which is something Mother isn't even capable of understanding. She's never cared enough about anyone to want to lighten their load – well, except for herself." Pulling herself mentally back around to the task at hand, Regina turns her attention to Harry and Ron. "Where to first?"

Harry uncrosses his ankles and pushes away from the wall he is leaning against, rising to his full height. "Well, before I head off into what, for me, is uncharted territory, I'd like to know exactly how many dementors I should expect to bring back with me."

"The prison, then?" Regina intuits.

Harry nods and reaches out to take her hand. "Next stop, Azkaban."

With no more warning than that, he disapparates and when they touchdown again on a small dreary, fog-laden, island with grey soil and an ancient old gray battlement fortress surrounded by turbulent icy gray water, both Regina and Robin stagger slightly, bent at the waist, taken aback by the speed at which they have just traveled.

"Okay." Regina pants hoarsely as she swallows against a tide of rising bile and places two of the fingers of her right hand against her ringing ear. "That's a tad different here. We don't move quite that fast." She places a concerned hand on Robin's upper back, knowing that even her slower method of magical transport isn't his favorite way to travel. "You alright?"

Robin grits his teeth and swallows hard to keep from vomiting and shakes his head as if he's just been gut-punched unexpectedly. "My stomach just fell through the cellar floor, only to be immediately sling-shot back to its former place."

"I know. Mine doesn't feel too good either. Can you travel?"

"As long as I get to do it on foot." He rises to his full height and takes in the desolation that surrounds them. "Place could use a splash of color. Sparse as it is, even the grass is nearly monochrome."

Regina looks around, turning in a slow circle; a full 360°. "It's an island prison. I don't think the inmates are supposed to look out the windows and see anything that might, even remotely, give them hope."

She and Robin walk hand in hand toward the foreboding triangular detention building with Harry leading the way and Ron three steps behind them. When they are near enough to hear the faintest dull echoes of tortured screams, Regina hesitates for a mere flicker in time before forcing herself onward. She says not a word as Harry taps the towering colossal door four times in rapid succession. When a strange unfamiliar mechanical whirring sound is emitted from the base of the building, she steps back tentatively looking for the source of the sound.

Harry enlightens her. "In bad weather, the island is completely submerged. The waves hammer at the watertight walls, but we have to have a way to grant entry even in bad weather. There are intake valves and pumps built into the foundation to momentarily lower the water level before the doors open to prevent flooding." He steps in, holding the door open until Ron has passed through.

Inside the unfathomably tall structure, they find themselves in a kind of hollowed out shell of an atrium; the rising walls home to multiple stories of three one-man cells with dirty straw-covered floors. The place stinks of desperation, unwashed souls, and human waste. Each floor is gartered by gray austere railing that is no doubt meant to be high enough to keep lost souls from deliberately plummeting to their deaths. From the ground level entry, the top floor is unseen; shrouded in heavy gray mist that chills a body all the way to the bone, and dementors dart like evil things on dark gossamer wings in and out of the vast, seemingly endless, space above like hideous skeletonized birds of prey.

Unconsciously, Regina wraps her arms around herself trying to forcibly stop herself from shivering. When she feels the weight of Robin's jacket suddenly resting on her shoulders she's torn between the desire to huddle into it and the equally strong longing to tell him to put it back on himself, at least until she feels him wrap his arms around her, keeping her close as much for his own warmth as for hers.

She follows their guide being careful to remain close to the innermost wall, out of reach of the cell bars, until Harry attempts to escort her onto what she assumes is a lift. As the lift gates rise to grant them entry, a few of the unholy prison guards zero in on the arrival of fresh darkness and dive, swarming in Regina's direction. For one agonizing moment, she's truly terrified until a burst of brilliant white light erupts from the end Harry's wand. He shouts the unfamiliar incantation, "Expecto Patronum!" and suddenly the white light flows into the shape of a gloriously large stag before forming a protective magical shield around the four of them. It drives the ghastly predators up and away; screeching hideously with a mix of disappointment and rage.

Once they are all on what she thought was a lift platform and the gate is down, Harry turns to face the corner; the apex of two walls colliding and a new gateway materializes, suddenly detectable where it was not before, and they are admitted into what amounts to the office space for prison employees. Once they all cross the threshold, the door they entered disappears from view. Although she is familiar with undetectable extensions, and the charms that make them possible, Regina doesn't know whether to find the vanishing exit to be comforting, or entirely nerve-wracking. She doesn't notice until Harry lowers his wand that, at least, there are no dementors here.

At the front desk, he asks to speak with Warden Candlewalt.

Several minutes later, when the door opens to an inner office, Robin and Regina are surprised when a woman who is nearly 6-foot-tall steps out into the reception area with a wide thin-lipped smile and touches the platinum blonde knot of hair resting against the nape of her neck self-consciously as she greets their escorts. "Harry, Ron. Wonderful to see you both again. Who have you brought me today." She queries cheerfully with a heavy Hungarian accent, knowing very well that prisoners show up in full restraint, and not walking around freely. She knows, from years of experience that the aurors are simply giving at least one of their two companions an unofficial glimpse at life in Azkaban.

Regina instantly detests her. Something is very wrong with the woman before her. She's much too cheerful for someone who works in this cold, soul-rotting, hellhole.

Ron's smile is almost apologetic. "No one today, Mavis. We just need to know if you're missing any guards."

Mavis stomps her booted foot in frustration. "It's the most peculiar thing, Ronnie. One of them went missing the day before yesterday. Four more this morning. Wherever they are, they're completely off the grid. No one seems to know anything about it. But you boys know as well as I do, that the only way a dementor can travel beyond radar is to leave this realm, and the only way they can do that is via the underworld. The current regime swore not to allow them passage to any other realm, so either somebody new is in charge down there, or something very hinky is going on."

Regina smothers a wry chuckle when Ron makes a sour face over being called Ronnie even as the warden's words fall into place. The only available avenue for travel between realms open to a dementor is the underworld. That can't be true. It can't be possible. Hades wouldn't... But the Black Fairy would. Regina's thought process momentarily dead-ends and she almost does laugh out loud, catching herself just in the nick of time. Reaching out, touching Harry on the arm to get his attention, she says a polite but somewhat chilly "Pardon me one moment, warden." and whispers in Harry's ear; relaying what she knows."

"Hades wants the privilege of living, at least part-time, in Storybrooke. His brother, Zeus, agreed to a trial run provided he could find someone suitable to oversee the underworld in his absence. He chose the Black Fairy."

Harry squints and searches her face, trying to gauge the validity of her words. When nothing she's said strikes him as phony, or in any way, self-serving, he smiles and says, "Excuse us, Mavis. I'm afraid we have somewhere we need to be - immediately. Put the rest of them on lockdown. They do not leave the grounds. Is that clear?"

"Clear as crystal, Harry, darling."

Harry reverses direction quickly, leaving the same way he arrived. Once outside the office, both he and Ron shout the Patronus incantation and they are all once again shielded until they are outside the prison walls; the unrelenting cries of prisoners driven mad by their merciless keepers finally muffled once again by the sound of crashing waves.

Moving at a pace difficult to keep up with, Harry surprises them all when he rounds on his heel and glowers at Regina. "Why didn't you tell me Hades was in the market for a new home, and looking for a second in command?"

Not caring for his accusatory tone, Regina glares back "I just did. It wasn't a secret. I didn't mention it sooner because I didn't know I needed to. I didn't know it was relevant. I didn't know until yesterday that dementors even existed, much less that their only way out of this realm, and into another, is via the underworld. I'm learning as I go here."

Harry inhales deeply and runs his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Thank you for telling me. I apologize."

"I don't need you to apologize, Mr. Potter. I can deal with your anger and your suspicion. I'm quite used to encountering both. What I do need is for you to teach me that incantation that causes those vile things to retreat. What I need is for you to tell me how we're going to get five of them out of Storybrooke and back here where they belong without major loss of life."

Harry stares at her incredulously. "We? What? Are you saying you intend to help us capture them?"

Regina nods aggressively. "Two against five – those aren't good odds, Mr. Potter; not against those things. Storybrooke is my town. It's my job to protect it, and all its residents. If you'll teach me, I'll help."

He stares at her for another long moment, measuring the truth in her words. Making up his mind, he declares quietly, "Well. If we're going to stand shoulder to shoulder against darkness, Your Majesty, I think you'd better call me Harry."

"Regina." She offers simply. "In place of Your Majesty."

No sooner than he nods in agreement, she takes the lead. "Now can we please get the hell away from this place?"

Harry disapparates again, taking them along with him and, this time, Regina and Robin find themselves in the confines of Harry's small, but carefully furnished office. Inspired by Dumbledore's office from his years at Hogwarts, Harry's cluttered workspace is outfitted with a carved wooden desk, a pensive, and a bookshelf. In a glass display case are the many horcruxes that had to be destroyed in order to defeat Voldemort, as well as his collection of Gryffindor Quidditch trophies. Finally, next to one of the two windows, is a large perch with a moderately sized stone basin beneath it. Regina quickly takes all this in as Harry eyes her speculatively; something clearly on his mind.

"What?" She inquires with mild impatience. "Don't waste time, just ask."

Harry nods. "Back to our earlier conversation - Any chance that Zelena's child was conceived due to a momentary lapse in discretion; an empty meaningless one-night stand."

"Sorry, I'm afraid not. They are married. Why should that matter, though?"

"Tell me it's a marriage of convenience."

Regina shakes her head and shrugs. "Sorry, no dice."

"You're saying - what was it you called him, Lord Death? He loves her?"

"He's besotted. Gets drunk simply looking at her."

Ron cringes and Harry huffs in dismay.

"If she's in imminent danger will he attempt to sacrifice himself on her behalf?"

Robin nods. "I'd say that's likely."

Picking up the pace, Harry beckons to them. "No time to stand around talking. We better get moving. What do you need to get home, Regina?"

"A mirror large enough to step through."

"I think there's one here you'll find suitable."

"Why did you ask about the relationship between Zelena and Hades?"

Harry asks a question of his own. "The god of the underworld is a dark god, is he not?"

"The darkest of them all," Regina affirms.

"Gods are not typically known for self-recrimination. Generally speaking, they are an overconfident lot. If he's truly dark, he's not going to view any of his past acts as events that should cause him pain or grief. However, if he truly loves his wife, if he has let love in to light the recesses of his darkened soul…"

"That changes a person," Regina concludes for him. "Often in more profound ways than they, themselves, are aware of."

"Precisely. If he's a god, he's immortal, any idea how old he is?"

Regina laughs wryly and shrugs. "At least a few centuries, why?"

"Because that means he's had a lot of time to do a lot of very bad things and if he's starting to change; if there's even an inkling of doubt, a smidgen of guilt about any of the things he's done…If he tries to protect his wife…"

"Oh god!" Regina catches on and instantly quickens her pace. "He took his wife to Olympus last night for a little rest and relaxation after the dementor attacked. They were supposed to come back this morning. Robin and I, we arrived here late last night, deliberately. I wanted to come without him. He's got a temper, and he's not happy at the moment. I was afraid that wouldn't exactly work in our favor. I was afraid he would alienate everyone in his path. I knew, if we left without him, he wouldn't leave Zelena. Now, I wish we'd brought him."

"Why?" Robin questions, still only partially cognizant of the danger at hand."

"He's a centuries-old dark god who loves, Robin. Once you let that kind of light in - he may be beginning to form regrets about the life he's led. If one of those things tries to kiss him, because he's protecting Zelena, the power overload will either blow the dementor out of existence, taking god knows who with it, or Hades will be the best feast any dementor has ever tasted. If overload doesn't occur, the thing will become unstoppable. It nearly bested me yesterday. If it feeds on a god - if it takes in that kind of strength - it'll wipe Storybrooke, and everyone who lives there, out of existence."

Harry rummages through a cluttered desk drawer in search of a couple spare bits of parchment. He tosses one to Ron along with a quill that looks worn-down; nearly to the nub. Robin and Regina watch curiously as the two of them furiously scribble quick messages and then Harry rolls them both into a small tight spiral and crosses his cramped office to deliver the missives into the beak of an abnormally large gray owl with a lazy wandering left eye who sits at the ready in an enormous gilded cage. Harry carries the owl to the open window.

"Tell the girls we won't be home for dinner. There's one for Ginny and one for Hermione. Go. Fly, Alistair." Harry lifts his arm and sends the owl soaring. Closing and locking the window, he says over his shoulder, "Ron, run down the hall, grab your go-bag, fast as you can." Before he's through speaking the redheaded man is already gone.

With a few seconds to spare, and he gives his wand a wave and magically tidies up some of the disarray in his office.

Robin watches displaced items levitate and fly about, putting themselves away with a mix of mild confusion and humor while Regina is noticeably less impressed with all of it except for the small mound of ash shifting and forming its shape in the stone basin beneath the perch. As she watches, with purely awestruck light shining in her eyes that sweetly reminds Robin of their daughter, a tiny newborn winged creature emerges, shakes ashes from black feathers that are slowly going red and hops up onto the empty perch waiting there for it.

Regina lets Robin know, "It's a phoenix. They are reborn from their own ashes. I've read about them. I've never had the pleasure of seeing one. They are excruciatingly rare."

"Her name is Tonks." Harry gently caresses the small bird's head with his index finger just as Ron re-enters the room.

per Harry's direction, Ron closes and locks the office door behind himself, as his fellow auror opens the door to a large armoire that is badly in need of a good dusting. Mounted to the inside of one of the doors, is a narrow full-length mirror. He reaches in momentarily and pulls out a hefty knapsack, tossing both straps over one shoulder, he gestures to the mirror. "You may have to step through sideways, but will this do?"

Regina touches the mirror and frowns when there's no response other than the corresponding movements of her reflection. It'll do, Harry, but if you want to get through, you're going to have to take this cuff off my ankle." She silently thinks about the spare bit of magic she imbued Robin's ring with and decides to keep that to herself. Her eyes seek and find her husband's in the mirror and she instantly knows that his thoughts are running along the same track as her own. She doesn't shake her head, but he understands her silent communication just the same. She turns, raising an eyebrow. "Unless you're familiar with the principles of traveling by mirror."

"I can't say that I am." Harry hesitates briefly before giving his wand a gentle flick.

Inside her boot, Regina instantly feels the light pressure of the cuff vanish and before she can blink, the device is in Harry's hand.

"Everybody hold the hand of the person who goes through before you. Do not let go until you are completely through." Regina touches the mirror and her reflection undulations like ripples in a pond. It takes several seconds for her reflection to go completely dark and then be replaced by a new image that neither Harry or Ron is familiar with. However, after only a single beat, both men instinctively know that something is wrong when both the queen and her altruistic thief frown at the sight of two worried boys and an obviously frightened small girl plainly visible on the other side of the looking glass.

"They're in the vault?" Robin questions, even though he can see them clearly.

"Why are they in there?" Regina looks to him. "Henry knows they aren't allowed in there unsupervised – Robin, they all know that, even Norah! Henry wouldn't be in there without a reason."

Robin nods. "But how did they get in there, to begin with? You're still sealing it with blood magic, right? Neither Henry or Roland should be able to open the door."

Regina closes her eyes as panic seeps in through every pore in her flesh. "No, neither of them can, but Norah can. She's so young, she wouldn't understand how to do it yet. Henry would have to take her to the door and tell her to touch it while making sure to keep himself and Roland away from it. Obviously, that's what he's done, the question is why? He knows he's not allowed in there." She repeats. "He certainly knows that Roland and Norah don't need to be in there. He has to be protecting them, Robin. The only way he would take his brother and sister in there without my approval is if inside the vault is safer than whatever's outside the vault."