Thanks for your reviews. Here's another chapter. Made it a little bit sooner than expected. Enjoy!

Chapter 9

They hurried on their way even though they had no idea where they were going. It was a sunny winter day, their breath freezing mid air as well as their bodies, even though they were covered with thick cloaks. Dry golden blades of grass were peeking from underneath a thin layer of fresh snow. They thought it was best to ride close to each other so the warmth from the animals could keep them from the worst frost. They didn't stop for eating, just drank some water and continued. In the evening they finally reined the horses in and made a camp. They had two tents, one for Zain, the other for the Queen and her 'maid of honor'. Zain almost laughed at the title.

All three of them were sitting around the small fire, which was crackling because of the soaked wood. They put some water to boil to make a strong tea from herbs they had packed. Regina tried to dry her boots, with magic. It worked but just for a few minutes. Then it was as wet as before. She tried again. This time it worked and lasted. But she didn't stop looking at it. Emma was wrapped in her cloak, trembling and nervously looking at the water. Zain took metal mugs and put a few dried leaves in each. He then poured steaming water in each and handed it to the women.

"Tha-nks." Emma grabbed it with a hand covered with the cloth of the cloak and sipped hungrily, imagining hot cocoa with cinnamon. "Ouch!" She burned her tongue and spitted the tea on the stones of fire.

Zain smiled. "So, do we know where we're going?" He looked seriously at Regina.

She took a deep breath, raising her head at the moment and breathing out the gravity of coldness and powerlessness. She looked at stars, like the nights before they got to king's residence.

"Yes," she answered eventually but nothing more came.

"Yes?" Emma's eyes widened. Regina and Zain glared at her. "Well, yes, if you say so." She grimaced and shrugged. Her hand gestured to Regina pointlessly, then touched the mug again.

"Yes, Miss Swan. I might spend a lot of my stamina on my healing but I can do some small things." Her dark eyes glittered in the light of the fire.

"Ah! So you can dry your boots! Great that can help us." Emma smiled sarcastically.

"Miss Swan, you never stopped being that sarcastic thirteen years old brat?"

Emma smiled even wider. "Erm, no." she agreed. She found it funny again, making Regina angry. But this time, it was just teasing, not going into serious stuff.

"The king said," Regina started, looking at Zain again. "We have to go after leaves of fall. I can see which direction holds that season of the year."

"But it's winter everywhere in this land," he protested.

"And you have been to all of its parts? Because those creatures live in this world with you. We wouldn't be able to find them then, without their map, and that's the point of our journey, isn't it?" Regina winked at him.

"But where can we search for fall here?" He looked confused.

"Well, I can sense it, if I gather enough energy." She stared back to flames.

"Can't we just go where it's warmer and we find it?" Emma spoke.

"We would lose time, maybe end up riding in a circle." Zain reminded her.

The blonde nodded and sipped more of her tea.

The night was extremely cold because of the wind and fresh dose of snow that had started to fall. In a tent, thickly clothed, covered with a blanket, Regina was awake, listening to the muffled voices of Emma and Zain coming from outside. She had excused herself, saying she needed to get some sleep to regain her strength. They were laughing quietly so as not to wake her, but she couldn't sleep. She was thinking about Daniel. About those evenings in the stables, kissing and talking. And their last night together, when he gave her a ring. Regina blinked away her tears.

The laughter from outside died down. Zain's tone sounded very serious but Regina couldn't recognize words. She sat down and leaned towards the linen door of the tent.

"…she ripped his heart out and crushed it in her hand…"

Regina shifted back in shock. She knew Zain saw her killing the soldier but suddenly she felt dirty. The tension in her head intensified. Her heart was banging on her thoracic wall. Sweat found its way unto her skin and trailed down her back; she threw off the blanket and laid back down, eyes wide open. A shadow appeared in front of her and she held her breath.

"Regina?" It was Emma. Regina didn't want to talk to her.

Now she probably thinks I'm a dirty, evil cruel fucking killer.

"Are you asleep?"

She's acting as if she hasn't heard what Zain just told her a few seconds ago!

She shut her eyes tightly and felt and heard as Emma lied down beside her, covering them both with a blanket.

"Good night, Regina," Emma said, cuddling to her and kissing her neck.

Is she on drugs?! What was in that tea for gods' sake?! I'll ask Zain first thing in the morning.

But in the morning they didn't have time for anything like discussion about herbs. Regina tried to sense the direction of fall and she found it almost immediately, as if it was inviting her. They rode the whole day, and in the evening they drank tea, with Emma cuddling Regina and kissing her before drifting off.

Every day and night after, was the same.

A week passed and another was in half when the weather became warmer. Old, dried grass was glistening with morning dew, spider webs looking like bracelets full of diamonds. The wind was blowing lightly, but usually with rain. Leaves were playing with different colors as if some crazy impressionist squirted them with his paintbrushes. The sun was showing them it's beautiful but still cold rays, touching the trees and bushes of wild blackberries splashed around in them.

The riders took off their cloaks, since they were melting from the warmth. But they had to take off a little bit more when fall started to turn to summer. As if they were going upstream in time. The strangest thing was the time of day and night. Both were shorter.

Who are these creatures? Regina mused after another short day, expecting a short night after and an even shorter day ahead. Lots of those days passed while they continued riding both day and night, because days lasted only a couple of hours as well as the nights. Are we going to the beginning of time?

Finally, they spotted a castle. But it was more of an ancient fortress than a real dwelling. "Wait here, I'm going ahead to explore the terrain," Zain ordered.

So Emma and Regina stayed with the horses, sitting on the fresh green grass under the tree's shadow.

"Do you think Henry's safe?"

Regina opened her eyes and looked at Emma who stared at her sadly. "Indeed," she tried to reassure her but averted her eyes. At least she didn't ask about her parents.

"How do you know that?"

"Because your parents will always find each other as they like to say, and not just each other but their family as well. So they probably have Henry with them already, I suppose he landed in the Enchanted Forest with everyone else from Storybrooke." Regina looked back at Emma, but saw the hurt in her eyes.

"But they can't find me."

Regina laughed shortly and leaned her head against the tree trunk. Emma glared at her. "Oh, I'm sure they're looking for you. And you're on an adventure with their nemesis. What an irony! But don't worry, once we're home, they will find you in a second."

Zain came back in less than an hour. Or they thought it was an hour. It could be afternoon already.

Well, they were wrong; the sun was dipping under the hill already. When they started for the castle it was dawn again and after few minutes, night. They expected the sun to rise every minute but it didn't. Night stayed in its place, not leaving the sky. They felt relief. It wasn't pleasurable for their eyes to be adapting to light and darkness every few minutes. Now even the horses were less nervous.

They got to the castle ready to knock on the gate. If there was any. But there wasn't. They rounded the colossal castle two times. There was no entrance visible, even with help of the Moon shining. Regina tried a revealing spell but with no success... Her magic wasn't enough or there really was no way inside.

"I got it!" Zain exclaimed happily pointing somewhere upwards. The women looked that way and saw a big window.

"So, what length of rope do we need?" Emma asked frowning at the hole in the wall high above them. Right after that she felt a burst of emotions in her chest the vision of the wall was lost.

Suddenly she was looking at the scenery of the country sleeping in night, standing at the edge of the window. Regina let her hands fall from Zain and Emma. Zain was still a little bit dazed.

"Whoa! That was strange. But good work." He looked at Regina. She just smiled and turned to look to the darkness of castle.

She felt fear. She felt it before but this was almost panicking, with no idea who these creatures were and what they could do they could obviously control the worlds and time…

Who are we to disturb them much more to ask them for something? But I can't keep Emma in this world and worse let the two idiots have Henry. So she touched the two again and they landed on stone floor. They found some torches on the wall and lighted two, taking it with them. The hallways were empty as well as the few chambers they dared to open.

"Shh! You hear that?" Emma stopped them. They listened. Music!

Very carefully they drew swords out and continued in the direction of the sound. They spotted light and approached the hallway it was coming from. Zain peeked in and motioned for the women to follow him. They weren't in a hallway but a sort of gallery with a good view of the room below them. They hid behind the small parapet and watched what was happening below. There were only four people there. Or were they people? Then it came to Regina. She mentally slapped her forehead.

Sure. The four Seasons! Time is running faster here than in the world below and they're as old as time itself. Each of them dancing for a while; making weather change. Only Winter is always standing in her heavy thick white cloak, accompanied with the soft music of glockenspiel.

The music suddenly stopped and they heard one of the creatures calling them. "Come down here and present your demand!"

Zain wanted to stay but Regina stood up. The Seasons brought them down to the chamber but made their weapons disappear.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

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