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Regina returned to the station and opened the cell door and let her sister out.
"And they really agreed to let me go? Just like that?" Zelena asked suspiciously.
"Yes, it did not take much effort to convince Emma. She knew herself that imprisoning you in this cell would not be a long time solution and we need your help to find mother, so, as I said, it was quite simple." Regina explained as the two of the left the building and walked to the cemetery. It actually was quite a distance but Zelena had expressed her desire to take a nice long walk after spending her time in the tiny prison cell.
Their plan now was to find a spell that would make it possible for them to track Cora down by her magic, meaning they could literally sense magic being used and then the spell would guide them to the person having used magic.
Quickly they entered the crypt and descended the stairs. They walked over to her mother's possessions that were still lying untouched in a special room that Regina had dedicated to her mother after she had died. As Regina quickly grabbed the various books on magic lying around Zelena looked at her mother's possession in awe. She had never met her mother in person and only heard what others said about her and now seeing her things it was like she was finally getting to know her mother in some way. She carefully ran her hand over the silken dress hanging on a hanger admiring the delicate embroidery on the upper half of the dress. Her mother must be an elegant and regal woman. What she saw here was quite the contrast to what everybody was saying about her. Could someone with such a taste in clothes and belongings be bad?
'Yes, they can' she quickly reminded herself. There were enough examples to refute this idea. Quickly, she started concentrating on the task at hand. Find their mother.
Regina who understood that Zelena needed a moment to herself had already begun to go through the books searching for the right spell. She was sure she had once seen it before but couldn't remember where. It actually took the two of them more than one and a half hours to go through the books and finally, in the last book, to find the spell.
"Great! Now we cast this spell, find mother and then end this madness." Regina said and stood up.
"Wait! What do you mean with "end the madness"? Do you want to kill her?" Zelena asked clearly opposed to this idea.
"We, I don't know. I think we will have to improvise. We don't know what's going to expect us once we find-"
"I did not ask if it is necessary to kill her, I asked if you want to kill our mother." Zelena interrupted her sister. Regina was at loss of words. How was she supposed to answer this question? Regina took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. To be honest she had not thought about what she wanted to do when they finally stood in front of their mother face to face.
"I don't know." Regina mumbled. She turned around and faced the wall. For a short moment Zelena thought her sister had started to cry but when Regina turned around once more her cheeks did not show any signs of shed tears. Zelena stood up and took a tentative step towards her sister.
"You don't want to kill her, Regina. Deep down in your heart you love Cora although she has ruined your life and hurt you more often than you can count. But you will always love her." Zelena whispered and pulled her sister into a hug.
"Yes" Regina whispered. "But to do nothing would be selfish. I mean, it's not just about us! Cora endangers the whole town, she already killed one man who says that she will change?" Regina answered and drew away from the hug.
"Maybe she will change for us?" Zelena cried out with her eyes full of hope. With a sigh Regina remembered the time when she had hoped for the same. When she was a little child this hope had kept her going but she was disappointed. The same happened in Storybrook when Cora had found a way to this realm claiming to be sorry and to be willing to change for her daughter. Her hope that her mother's intentions were honest had been so strong that she had not questioned her mother's plans. But in the end it turned out that she had only used Regina. Again.
"Zelena, I understand that you want this so badly but you should not get your hopes too high. I don't want you to be disappointed." Regina said and saw sadness flickering across Zelena's face.
"So…back to the question. What are we going to do with Cora?"
"We only kill her if it is absolutely necessary. We try to arrest her and somehow restrain her power, okay?" Regina suggested. Zelena nodded relieved. "So now we should finally cast the spell or it will be dark outside."
Zelena grabbed the book and read the spell. Surprisingly, it was quite easy and it did not need any further preparation. It seemed as if the luck was on their side. She read the spell a couple of times so that she knew every syllable by heart. Then she took a deep breath and spoke the spell emphasizing every word. For a moment nothing happened then a strange feeling settled in her pit of the stomach. Zelena closed her eyes. There seemed to be various sources of magic in this town. Of course there was Regina, Rumple and herself. She could also feel the light magic of Emma Swan and even this strange Tinkerbell Regina had once mentioned somewhere across town. But there was one other source. It was nowhere in the town but somewhere in the forest around town. In her mind images of an abandoned hut in the woods popped up.
"I know where she is" Zelena gasped and pulled Regina out of the room. Regina wanted to get her car to drive to the hut but the red-haired woman could convince her that magic would be more efficient and quicker. So only a couple of moments later they stood outside a shabby wooden hut watching their mother through one of the broken windows. It was time to finally confront Cora.
A./N. I think there will be about three to four more chapters to this story. If there is anything you would like me to include in this story, please feel free to contact me.