Author's note: Hey, sorry for the long wait. Just started college and wow it keeps you really busy!

Chapter 13

Tamara can barely contain her glee as she walks rapidly away from the brunette. Everything is falling into place. Finally, all of her waiting and patience has paid off. Finally, she can stop pretending to be in love with Neal. Keeping up the ruse has been exhausting, to say the least. She's been trying to spend as much time without him as possible. But her "going for a run" excuse has been way overused. Tamara's slightly surprised that he hasn't suspected anything yet.

But then again, he's been a little preoccupied with finding his son, and more recently, his ex. It could not have come at a better time.

Now, finally, their plan can be put into action. And it will be better than they'd planned, thanks to that unexpected twist.


Weary. That's probably the only word that could possibly be used to describe Regina right now. Or maybe drained, worn out, and defeated. Regina thinks as she peruses her uncharacteristically disheveled appearance in the shards of what was once a large mirror. The usually impeccably groomed woman cannot remember the last time she had under eye circles this large. Even without magic in Storybrooke, she'd taken great care into maintaining her physical appearance, being sure to iron her clothes and apply perfect makeup.

But now, beauty is the last thing on her mind. Even though she could've fixed her appearance with a mere flick of her wrist, she could not care less about how she looks. Ever since they'd been magically transported back to the Enchanted Forest several weeks (actually, she isn't sure, for she's lost track of time) ago, the only thing on her mind, her top priority, is getting back to her son.

There is nothing that scares Regina more than not knowing. Not knowing why this happened, not knowing how this happened, and not knowing how to get back. Not knowing why out of anyone, her son had to be the one who was separated from everyone else. Alone. Well, not exactly alone. As far as they knows, Henry is with Gold. Which was hardly a step up from being alone. It would probably be safer for Henry if he was by himself, actually.

Above all, not knowing how to get back to Henry. How to help him. Regina can only imagine how scared he is right now. How angry he is that everyone abandoned him. Regina wishes that she could communicate with him in some way, to let him know that she is doing everything she can to fight her way back to him.

But without Gold's help, there is no way. The Blue Fairy, well, she's practically useless. As one of the only magic holding people, she was automatically thrust into the spot of leader, along with David. The idea of working with one of her former sworn enemies is pretty laughable, though the last thing Regina feels like doing right now is laughing. With the stress of trying to find a way to Henry, dealing with the pissed off and scared residents of Storybrooke, and trying to hold it all in- Regina is stretched way too thin.

She presses her palms against her eyes as she fights to blink back the tears that are perpetually threatening to flow. Why did this have to happen? Out of everything that has recently transpired, doesn't she deserve some sort of break? Doesn't everything she's been through cut her some slack?

Suddenly, she hears a loud growl ripple through the castle, causing the walls to seemingly shake. The sorry excuse for a mirror shudders on the wall and falls to her feet, shattering in a thousand pieces. Regina looks up in alarm. She can hear the beginnings of a scared crowd, their voices rising, intermingling with screams until she can no longer hear herself think.

What is going on? Her first thought is earthquake, but that wouldn't explain the growl she'd heard. The castle vibrates again, causing Regina to almost lose her footing. She steps out of the room she's claimed as her own and starts down the marble hallway, groaning. Some sort of beast, perhaps? Whatever it is, it proves that these people are way too pathetic to deal with it.

And then she stops short as she takes in the threat.

Because standing not far from her is an ogre. One of the scariest, hair raising creatures in the Enchanted Forest. One that even she cowers in fear of.

Ignoring her pounding heart, Regina raises her hands in preparation to throw a fireball at the ogre. But the fire does not come. She tries again, but her hands come up empty.

"Dammit." She curses. Damn the unreliable magic.

All the hair on the back of her neck raises as the ogre comes charging straight at her, with a roar that blows everyone's hair back. Regina stares at its terrifying face, frozen. It seems to be targeting her and only her. As if everyone else does not exist. But that's ridiculous, for ogres cannot see. Her feet are seemingly rooted to the ground, paralyzed with fear.

Regina is jolted out of her thoughts as a huge group of people rush swiftly by her, away from the oncoming ogre. "RUN!" One of them shouts, and somehow, her feet begin to move, to propel her away from the ogre. She curses her own inability to do magic as she runs along with everyone else. She hasn't been so, so…common ever since she'd learned magic. Several people try in vain to attack the ogre, to stop it, but they fail, for the ogre merely swats them away like flies.

She longs to shout at everybody, to tell them to shut up, since the ogre is only following the sounds of their extremely loud voices. But that would be counterproductive, and it's not like they could hear her anyway.

Everything is a blur as she runs. People rush past her; the crowd is one fluid moving object. Regina curses at the fact that for the first time ever, her royal upbringing has left her at a disadvantage; she is not as physically fit as many people. Without magic, she is defenseless. Can't even run very fast.

Suddenly, without warning, something (or maybe someone) jams into her from behind, sending her sprawling to the ground. People are running so fast around her that they don't even notice, don't stop to help. Regina attempts to stand, but is instantly pushed back down by the tide of people running by.

She can tell by the loud thumps that the ogre is approaching with every passing second. And then its right in front of her. Stretching its ugly face towards hers. A loud roar escapes its large hole of a mouth.

Can't move. Can't breathe. Can't do anything but stare. Regina is transported back to when she was a little girl. When she encountered her first ogre. She'd been paralyzed with fear, much like now. A fear that she has never been able to forget.

"HEY!" Calls a loud voice to her right. Startled, Regina looks over to see a tall, dark haired woman aiming an arrow straight at the creature's head. For a second it looks like Mary Margaret, but on second glance the woman has long hair, not short and closely cropped.

Distracted, the ogre looks over at the woman. Neal's fiancée. Tamara? Something like that. The ogre starts towards her, letting loose another bone chilling growl.

"Come on." Someone lifts her up from behind. Regina whips around. It's that stranger. Greg Mendel. Dazed, she allows herself to be helped up as she stares at Tamara in part awe and jealousy. Tamara deftly lets the arrow fly, hitting the ogre straight in the center of its eye. The ogre teeters for a second, takes a step forward, and gradually collapses to the floor, creating thousands of cracks in the already damaged marble ground.

A strong contrast from earlier, the castle is as silent as a tomb as people slowly emerge from their hiding places. Murmurs fill the air as they approach the dead body and inspect it, tiptoeing around it. David brings out the order to remove the body, and several dozen people come rushing forward to help.

Regina just stares at the dead ogre, her arms wrapped around herself. She'd been that close to the edge. To a painful and humiliating death. If it hadn't been for Tamara and Greg…

"Are you ok?" Greg asks in concern. Speak of the devil.

"Yeah." Regina nods curtly. "Thanks." She says as she dusts off her clothes, trying to keep her bitterness hidden. As a (former) queen, she should've been the one to save everybody. Instead, she'd been paralyzed with fear like some pathetic waif while some random mortal defeated the ogre.

"No problem." Tamara comes over, the bow dangling loosely from her side. In one hand is the slime covered arrow that she's yanked out from the ogre's eye.

"You sure you're not from the Enchanted Forest?" Regina smirks slightly.

"No." Tamara smiles. "Just had a lot of practice at summer camp."

"Well, thanks again." Regina turns to go. This has been humiliating enough.

"Wait." Greg stops her. "We were just coming to talk to you before that thing appeared. We want to help you find Henry."

"What?" Regina flinches at the sound of her son's name and turns around. Surely she's heard wrong. "You want to what?"

"Help you find Henry." Tamara repeats.

"Why would you want to do that?" Regina's voice is laced with suspicion as she peruses the pair.

"Because this is killing Neal and I hate to see him so upset." Tamara says simply. "I want to do everything I can to help."

Regina hated to admit it, but the brunette's words kind of made sense. She turns to Greg. "And what about you?" She looks him up and down, disgust written all over her face.

"Oh, well let's just say I've always had a soft spot for lost little boys." Greg answers almost immediately.

Strange combination of words. Regina's eyes pierce theirs as she attempts to get to the bottom of why they are randomly offering their help. They are nobodies. Just strangers passing by. So why would they be almost seemingly insisting to help?

"And why would you think you can help me?" Regina says finally. "You know nothing about magic. You're mortals." She chides.

"That may be true, but I happen to have a college degree in mythology. There might be something I know that can help." Tamara replies. "And if not, at the very least we can help you with everything around here. I imagine it just be exhausting, being you."

"Let us help." Greg urges. "It's not like we have anything better to do."

"You can trust us." It's almost as if Tamara can read her mind. "Really."

Regina narrows her eyes at them. But she detects nothing but pure friendliness. A pure desire to help her find her son.

Maybe they have a point. A little voice says in the back of Regina's mind. Maybe they really can help. Her eyes flick over to the overeager pair again. They seemed to be laying it on a little thick, but maybe they just really wanted to do what they could. And what harm could it be, letting two random mortals help her?

And if their help really did pay off, allowing Regina to find her way back to Henry, she'd be the only mother in Henry's life. Now that Emma was off at God knows where, Regina was really the only one suited to be Henry's mother. The only one in the position to get back to her son.

When Regina got Henry back (and she would, if it was the last thing she ever did), she could tell her son that Ms. Swan had died. And it might not even be a lie, for Regina knows how inexperienced the blonde was with the Enchanted Forest.

"Alright." Regina finds herself nodding. "Meet me here tomorrow. We'll see how much you know."

"Great!" Tamara practically beams.

It's only until they've left that Regina wonders where Tamara had obtained a bow and arrow. And how she'd known to use it.

Author's note: Ooohh what do you think that means? Review!

So, the next update prolly won't come for several wks but I'll try to update as soon as I can.