A/N: Dear readers, I have been plagued by life. Seriously, it wasn't only the lack of time, but the complete lack of inspiration to finish this chapter.

New year's resolution, though, involves finishing this tale and Heart shaped anchor. And I am determined to do it!

Thank you for reading and I hope you are still interested. This is the beginning of the end of this story. Enjoy!

Chapter 10

They had done it. And it hadn't been hard at all. A dragon's scale, taken from the caves beneath the library and provided by a dead Maleficent. A drop of blood from a family member, which Henry had been quick to solve by pointing out that though already rotting under the earth, Cora was still fresh enough to offer them a drop of blood (Emma was not fond of remembering Gold's face as he conjured it straight out of the coffin where Cora lay. A wish heartfelt, collected in the form of a tear, Snow White was more than happy to offer. And a burst of true love magic, Emma had been convinced to produce, under Mr. Gold's careful guidance.

Some other herbs Henry knew not the name of and a looking glass. Mr. Gold said it couldn't be big, the looking glass, because otherwise, it would require more magic than they had to give. So he had chosen his mother's small hand mirror, with the elaborate markings around the frame.

They were all standing in the pawn shop, Henry holding the looking glass. They had all waited with bated breath for the surface to show them something… anything, really. At first, the glass didn't change at all. But then, a strange turvy wave travelled from center to the round corners, darkening the glass to black. They couldn't hear anything and could actually see very little.

"Did it work?", he asked, eyes not leaving the dark reflection, afraid he would miss the slightest change.

"Yes, it did… Look", Mr. Gold said, voice low.

And so, Henry looked, eyes going from corner to corner, trying to discern anything that wasn't darkness. His hope was dwindling, when he finally caught sight of something. It was hard to say exactly what it was, but a light shimmer of light, until he actually made out a pair of dark eyes.

"Mom?" He breathed in deeply, trying to make out more than the vague shape of eyes. "I need you…"

The eyes blinked and disappeared. Soon thereafter, the darkness gave way to the smooth reflection of the looking glass, looking normal and unchanged. Henry looked at Mr. Gold, eyes shimmering with tears. "You said it worked."

"It did, Henry. We connected to the other world. That was all we could do. Offer her a glimpse of you and hope that it could be enough", Gold told him, voice filled with compassion.

Henry didn't like it, though. This was not what he had had in mind, when he had decided to contact his mother. This couldn't be enough. Had she even heard him? Had it even been her at all?

xxxxxx

The light might have seemed to be just out of reach for the longest time, but Regina had persevered. One step in front of the other, she had covered that impossible distance to finally feel the warmth of the light engulfing her whole. It felt so good to be bathed in heat and light again, that her body seemed to be in sensory overload.

A dry sob turned laugh and sounding like a sigh escaped her dry parted lips.

After everything - from the old days as a new Queen to the pain filled times in Storybrooke at the hands of Jefferson -, she had thought herself too old and much too broken to continue. Regina had actually thought herself ready to embrace death. Now she knew that it had never been an option. She had finally something to live for and that was Henry. No hard relationship or tricky custody changed the fact that Henry was her son.

He might not want her always, but she would always be there for him. That was the kind of true, everlasting love she had desired to know all her life.

The bright light prevent her from actually seeing anything at first and she kept on dragging her feet in heavy steps. Soon, though, shapes began to take form and Regina was able to distinguish a placid lake, bright green grass, a tall tree with bare branches and a swing, dancing back and forth in time to a gentle breeze.

Everything was bright and filled with so much light where darkness once ruled. Where was she now?

Regina walked slowly to the body of still waters and all but collapsed by the grassy shore. There wasn't a single bone, muscle or piece of skin that didn't hurt fiercely. Ignoring her reflection, she dipped a hand in, feeling the relief the cool water brought. Carefully and without any sort of rush, she washed every inch of her body from the hurt, the fear, the sadness, the regret and the hopelessness of the past.

And while she did that, she sobbed openly, allowing another sort of cleansing to take place.

Xxxxxx

Mr. Gold was slowly polishing a silver jewelry box, when the chime above his door sounded. He had grown accustomed to this slow, unpreoccupied existence Storybrooke had brought him and was more likely to be found indulging in this world's profession, then going all around the Enchanted Forest plotting and scheming and somehow making his search for Bae possible.

Snow White approached him, eyes shifting and posture unsure, and the little Dark One that was always sitting on his shoulder perked up his ears and giggled in merriment. So, maybe he hadn't shed that life completely, he thought to himself, putting the polishing cloth away and giving the woman his whole attention.

"Yes, dearie?"

"I…", the former queen stuttered, not quite meeting his gaze.

Now, the former him would have taunted and sneered and made her feel even more inadequate and nervous than she already was. The new him, apparently, chose to remain in silence, neither helping nor standing in the way.

"I've… I've been having dreams. But they're not dreams…", she finally said, voice low, like a whisper, as if afraid anyone else might hear her. "I think they're memories… Regina's memories."

At that particular fleck of information, he perked up, not because of mischief - like the imp on his shoulder - but because of concern. Regina's memories contained a lot of things best left unknown to the rest of the world.

"Is it true… Did my father threaten to take her baby away?" Gold narrowed his eyes, cautious at being relieved that the only piece of information she desired was not at all worrisome to him. "Did she do something… or did he?"

"Dearie… perhaps that is a story best left to Regina-"

"If she comes back…", Snow interjected.

Gold nodded. "If she comes back." He shifted his weight and picked up the polishing cloth again. "I can, however, tell you that the baby she carried was tragically lost."

"Was it because of me?" Snow asked, tears in her voice and eyes. "Did I do something? And how come I… remember it all as if I was Regina herself?"

"If that is all, dearie, I'm very busy", Gold dismissed her.

"Please… Just tell me what you want. But please, tell me", was her answering plea.

"Perhaps Regina felt that the memories were too painful. Perhaps she willed them away. And perhaps you were at just the right place and the right time to capture those memories before they could simply fade away…" Gold didn't look her way, focusing on the jewelry box instead. "Perhaps, when the time comes for me to spend some time with my grandson, you'll be as obliging as I was. If I were to answer your question at all, of course."

He didn't really know why he shared that knowledge so freely, or maybe he knew too well. Either way, he refused to make eye contact, silently dismissing the former queen and choosing not to dwell on it too long.

For now.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Hours had passed and still the sun remained up high in the sky, never moving closer to the horizon. If the other land had been all darkness, this one was of constant light and warmth. After cleaning herself up, Regina had moved away from the body of water, even now refusing to face her own tattered reflection, and laid down on the soft, green grass.

Though she felt much better than she had previously, her limbs were still tired and sore. It felt good to rest in the sun like that, in a way she was sure she hadn't done since her adolescent years. Everything was so peaceful here, so endless - in a good way - that made her softly smile. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply and finally rested.

xxxxxxxxx

"I know that face, Snow… if you are not going to tell me what you did and what you discovered while doing it, I'll just worry more than I already worry now", David said, gentle hands on her arms. "Please."

"I…", she breathed in deeply and pulled away from her husband's embrace. Snow was hesitant to meet his gaze. "I went to see Rumpelstiltskin about those dreams I've been having."

"Snow…", he breathed out, almost frustrated. "What deal did he ask for?"

The woman finally looked up at her charming prince and offered a broken smile. "None… Though he may have made it clear that he wishes to spend some time with Henry in the future, as his grandfather."

"Huh." David honestly didn't know what to say to that.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Okay, so you have some of Regina's memories?"

Emma had her arms crossed and kept looking at her son's serious expression, not really sure she wanted him here to hear this. As if she could control him, though. The boy was way too sneaky to blame it solely on the genes he inherited from his birth parents.

"Yes. She lost the baby - I don't know how - and she was so sad and so broken that she willed the memories away. I think that may be something that helped Regina's descent into evil", Snow said, hands keeping busy with folding and refolding a napkin on the counter of her kitchen. "I remember when I-"

"When you drank the potion to forget David", Henry completed and when all eyes turned to him, the boy actually rolled his eyes. "No one read the book, right? Actually, I think only mom read it."

"Yes… when I drank that potion. I forgot that love and it made me dark and a little…"

"A little crazy." David had a fond smile on his lips as he remembered that time. It must have been much less scary than it had been back then.

"Yeah. But Regina didn't have anyone. She was alone and isolated. I can only imagine."

"That's hardly an excuse", Emma intervene and she was right. It wasn't an excuse for the things she had done couldn't be excused. "But I guess, that made her more vulnerable."

"Why now?" David asked, crossing his arms and looking at his wife. She smiled lightly at the sight, for Emma looked a lot like him in that moment. "Why did these memories resurface only now? You've supposedly had them since you were a child."

"I don't know", was Snow's answer.

Xxxxxxxxxx

It might have been days. It might have been years. It might have been no time at all. This land, like the last, seemed to be far removed from the passage and the effects of time. So, it was understandable that Regina was unable to measure the passage of the clock.

There was no hunger. The pain in her body faded. The bruises went from there to gone. The cuts had sealed shut. Though her black trousers were in pieces and her once white blouse no longer had buttons or sleeves, her body was clean and cool. Her hair was once more soft and maybe even longer than she remembered.

And her mind had the space to heal as well, to contemplate the past and the present and even the future. Regina couldn't say that she had found peace - she was probably too screwed up for that -, but a new sense of reality made itself known.

Out of the blue, without warning, a door appeared on the grass in the distance. It was light and carved with beautiful, intricate designs. There were no doorknobs and if you were too trapped by what you could call real, there would be nothing but more grass on the other side of it.

This land worked on thoughts and feelings, though. It had kept her trapped in the darkness because she had been filled with too much self pity and despair to accept anything else. When she had decided - and persevered in that line - another land had appeared. A land of peace, something she had needed to recompose herself. Could this new door mean she was ready?

Ready, perhaps, to return home. Ready, even, to face the others. Ready, though scared, to return to her lonely life of before.

Maybe, she thought, eyes glued to the door.

This was probably another turning point and something that was completely up to her. Wasn't that a scary thought, especially after all the bad decisions she had made in the past. Henry hadn't been a mistake, though, and that had been her decision, hadn't it? Best decision, in her opinion.

Slowly rising to her bare feet, she approached the door and willed herself to touch the wooden surface. The door slid open effortlessly and she could see, right away, that it wasn't just grass on the other side.

"Turning point, Regina." She breathed in deeply and cleared her throat to make her voice less hoarse. "Time to start making different choices."

Refusing to dip a toe in the water first, she dived in at once and crossed the threshold. She may not have been one hundred percent okay. But for the first time, in a long time, she felt she was on the right road to one day getting there.