Emma's axe was keeping its place in the air before her. She grabbed it as if knowing that it waited for her. She inhaled deeply as if summoning energy from the axe itself, yet calming herself from the anger and lust of revenge she knew she was going to feel, calming herself for the fight that was sure to come. When she opened her eyes, they were swirling with white and blue.

"Emma, dear?"

"Yes, Grandmother?"

"What exactly are you doing?" She asked as she watched her granddaughter's actions.

"I…" She looked down, blue and white still in her eyes, her grip tightening on her axe. "I'm not sure. This has never happened to me before."

"Is the axe doing something to you?"

Emma smiled, "It's healing me. From the inside out. I don't feel pain anymore, do I look better?" When her grandmother shook her head telling her she did not look any better, she shrugged, "I don't care. I'm feeling tingly and new." She looked back to her grandmother as her smile turned to a smirk.

"Is this going to take a while because that weapon of yours caused a pretty big commotion, and I wouldn't be surprised if—"

"Of course she's still in there, why wouldn't she be in there?! She can't just be gone!" Dr. Frankenstein's voice was booming down the hallway.

"But Dr. Frankenstein! I followed the axe! I watched her grab it and then they were both gone!" Frankenstein's Igor spoke out of breath as he ran after his master.

Frankenstein and the Igor both ran into the dungeon cell over the wood chunks that had been a door ten minutes prior.

Emma and Eva stared at both of them as they looked around.

"She's gone." He placed his hand over his mouth as he slowly backed out of the room and took off running, his Igor not far behind.

"I'm invisible." Emma smiled, looking back to her grandmother. "This is going to be a lot easier than I thought." Then, whilst gripping her axe with more vigor, more confidence, she stalked up to the doorway of the dungeon.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma found herself wandering the halls.

"Where are we going?"

"I want to find them. I want to know why they stopped doing anything. What they were preparing for."

"I think that you know that they were planning a slow, painful death for you so they could have your magic."

Emma stared at her mother's mother, "Yes, thank you Grandmother, Eva." She turned and began walking again. "I want to know specifics. I need answers."

"You've been saying that a lot these last few weeks."

"I've never needed them before now. Before these two…" Emma shook her head, not able to finish the thought.

The sound of metal footfalls slowly made their way around the corridor they were walking in.

"There's nothing down here." The brute of a guard said.

"You sure? I thought I heard something."

The guard shook his head and walked back to his post.

Emma bit her lip before walking slowly, stealthily. Eva followed, though she didn't have to seeing as she could be seen and heard by whomever she pleased. They came to a stop in front of the door that, Emma was sure, led to their bedroom. She tried to poof, but she came right back to the spot she had started. She tried once more.

Then, on a whim, she tried to go to Regina's bedroom—somewhere outside the castle walls. No dice. Again, she materialized right where she tried to leave. They really had to make things difficult, magicking the castle to not allow her to flash places.

Finally, she gave up, shrugged and simply opened the door as quietly as possible. She crept into the quarters and looked around at the many things on the walls and surfaces, each little trinket she would bet her grandmother's ring on was something from the people they had manipulated or overpowered.

Eva slapped her upper arm as she heard the thoughts coming from her grandchild.

Emma grabbed her arm and rubbed, giving the woman a glare.

Eva simply crossed her arms, I can hear your thoughts, remember? Don't bet my ring! The one you proposed with!

Emma's eyes widened with shock as she heard her grandmother's voice, but watched her lips stayed shut, firm and angry. She smiled at the knowledge that she could communicate without saying anything and nodded, turning from her sheepishly, I'm sorry, Grandmother. I'm just saying… They've become a couple of disgusting packrats. Too much stuff to ever use, none of it worth keeping hidden.

Eva listened as she walked along a chest of drawers and looked over the many things covering the top, You're not wrong. She grimaced as she saw a photograph of herself and Snow the day of Snow's first birthday. It was a private photo; her favorite. She'd only ever mentioned that fact once to the woman, before she knew her to be evil, before she killed her. She had always wondered what happened to it. Now she knew.

Emma walked over and saw it, I'll be sure to give it to Mom. She promised with a sad smile before moving into the room more.

"Dearie, I think she was lying." Rumple said as he spun straw to gold, keeping himself calm.

"Do you know it for certain?" Cora turned from her primping to stare at her lover, "Because ever since she's said those things your visions have been awfully fuzzy. So until they're cleared up, I don't think it wise to go in there and try to take her power when she could very well be at full strength and kill us where we stand!" Her voice had started soft, but by the end of her rant, she was standing with her hands on the hips of her silky robe, her voice raised more than a few decibels.

Rumple had stopping spinning and stared at the woman before him. When had she gotten so… careful? When had they gotten so old to start worrying about a little death? He turned to his spindle once more, "She was lying."

"How do you know?" Cora asked as she laid out on the bed.

He stopped spinning once more, stared at her and gave her a dirty smile as he stood from the spindle, "Because, my dear, I just know. I wish you would let me get on with it…"

Cora gave the man a dirty smile of her own as she got to her knees and walked to the edge of the bed, "Ah, but darling," she started as she loosened the belt of her robe and let the sleeves fall down her shoulders just enough to reveal a silver chained necklace with a pendant of a swan, "I hold all the cards, don't I?"

Rumple took two strides before he got to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He stared at the pendant and leaned down kissing her skin around it before nipping his way up her neck, "That you do."

Oh. My. Gods. Baelfire said he changed his dagger to that of a pendant of a swan… He lets her control him… Emma shook her head, He is so whipped and totally likes to be controlled… Ew. She put her free hand in her pocket and leaned against the walkway she was at as she waited for anything else private that they might say help her in the long run. Though if Cora's anything like her goddess of a daughter, I would do the same if I were him. She realized that Eva could still hear her and she was quick to feel the stare of her unimpressed grandmother bore into her, Sorry, Grandmother. I can't control all my thoughts.

Mhmm. Eva turned away from the sight before them, Might we leave now? It's hardly an appropriate time to take their lives, don't you think?

Emma glanced back to the bed and really wished to every god and goddess, and her grandmother that she could unsee what her eyes fell upon. WHY?! Why did you let me see that? She looked to her grandmother.

Maybe now you will control your thoughts just a little bit more while we're not talking. Eva gave her a playful smile before walking into another room. Emma? Come in here.

Emma, who had decided to give her grandmother a little space as Regina kept filling her mind despite knowing that the woman's mother and lover were doing it in the room next to them, or possibly because of that she would regretfully admit, heard the woman and tried to control her thoughts as she walked into a study. What is it? She looked at the concern of her grandmother's face.

I think this might be what they were planning for you…

~0~0~0~0~0~

The sun was setting and Regina refused to stop going. Three days had already passed and their fourth was ending. That day they'd taken two breaks for meals and she couldn't lose any more time. They'd been walking alongside their steeds since dinner, and everyone besides Chip and Red (if she weren't sticking next to her wife) was lagging behind.

"Regina?" Snow called from the middle of the expanding pack, "I think we need to stop for the time being. Jefferson is barely standing."

Regina turned around to see her advisor hunched over, hands on his knees, panting, "Yes, well, that is why I told him to stay at the castle with his daughter."

"Regina, we need to be rested if we're going to face the dark one and Cora." Charming stared at her.

Regina looked down a moment, really considering stopping. "No." she said, "I'm going forth. You do as you want." She started walking again.

"Your Majesty…" Graham ran up to her, "Think about what you're doing."

"You've said this the last three nights as well." She stepped into his space, her eyes narrowed, "I am not stopping." Her tone was low and threatening. She turned away, taking a couple steps more, "We are close!" Sudden tears in her eyes, "I can feel her! I'm not stopping!" She said again.

Graham bit his lip and looked down. He said nothing more and walked back to his place in the pack.

Regina swallowed her cry, nodded and turned to walk alone. She held tighter to Ice's reigns as she did this, which only prompted the horse to nudge her cheek before giving it a lick, telling her he was happily following her to find his human.

A dark horse caught her eye in her periphery and then a lighter one, then another. She looked to the other side to see four more horses' noses. Chip, Artie, Arely, Alexander, Patrick, Dunstan and Gustave were all walking with her.

Too overwhelmed to do anything, she looked down at her ring again. It began glowing brighter. Her eyes widened when she noticed this and in a moment of excitement, she hopped on Ice's back. Her contenders followed suit and they rode for another mile or so before they came to a lake. There was a long dock, but no boat whatsoever.

On the other side of the lake were tall hills that they would have to climb themselves. They were going to need light if they were going to climb. She was sure she could magic some sort of floating fireball, but hers just weren't as bright as Emma's. Of course, she could just set one of the hills on fire until they found access to the other side or the hidden castle of Rumplestilskin and her mother.

"What now?" Arely broke the silence.

"We need to go around the lake." Chip said softly.

"Can't you transport us like Emma did?" Artie asked.

Regina nodded, "I can, but, if for some reason their castle is hidden inside one of the hills and I just transport us to that small clearing on the other side…" She trailed off.

"You think their castle is inside one of the hills?" Alexander asked.

"No." Regina shook her head.

"But she's not taking any chances." Patrick finished.

"And she shouldn't." Gustave added. He looked at the ever darkening sky, "Well, Your Majesty? How do you propose we go forth with no light?"

She was so close to her, and the night and some steep ledges might keep her from finding Emma. The emotions were overwhelming.

"NO!" She screamed and fell to her knees startling everyone. "Is this punishment?!" She screamed to the high heavens. "Are you all punishing me? For what? I've done nothing that deserves punishment!"

"Is she yelling at the gods?" Arely whispered as the seven of them gathered in a short line.

"Aye." Chip's eyes were wide.

"She's completely lost it." Artie breathed out as they watched her rant continue.

"I've turned my kingdom around from my mother's reign! Even when I wanted nothing to do with running a kingdom! I've kept my heart in my chest! I've done everything that is expected of me! The only thing!" She was standing once more, pacing, hands on her hips, still looking at the stars in the sky, "The only thing that I have done for myself is love."

She stopped her pacing and gave the sky a frank stare, "And you let my mother rip his heart out and you made me watch. And when I finally let the walls come down, when I finally said yes to her many, many proposals, and agreed to let her compete for my hand, you let them take her from me, you let them torture her no doubt! So, I find a way to find her before they drain her, before they murder her, and when I'm finally getting close you do this?!" She stamped her foot and gestured to the hills across the lake.

"Should we stop her before she angers them?" Dunstan asked.

"Nay." Gustave shook his head. "It's nothing they haven't heard before, I'm sure. She needs to get this off her chest."

Alexander and Patrick simply nodded along.

With another angry stamp of her foot, Regina's attention was directed back to the skies, "I don't accept it!" She cried, glaring up at the stars, "You all better give me a sign as to where exactly she is and you better let us live our life in peace when I get her home, or so help me when I come up there I will destroy every last one of you if it is the last thing I do." She was breathing heavily, angrily, hands placed on her hips once more as she waited, giving the gods time to give her a sign.

All of the men looked to Gustave, "Okay, maybe they've never heard that before, but maybe they will give her a sign in exchange for their eternal lives. After all, one thing you should never do dead or alive…"

"Cross a love lost woman?" Artie looked to him.

"Exactly." The knight nodded.

A light grey cloud began swirling over the lake, lightening lighting the cloud every which way, thunder crackling. Everyone watched on in awe as the oddly light colored storm cloud hovered over the middle, never moving from the spot only spinning in a slow circle.

As thunder sounded, everyone jumped a bit, and when Regina moved her left hand to cover herself, thinking she might have possibly upset the gods, she felt Emma's ring leave her finger. Its shine quickly caught her attention and she was quick to follow it onto the dock. As it got to the end of it, it dropped to the very last board, and then the storm cloud dissipated as if it were never there.

"Is it invisible on the lake?" Artie called from his spot at the end of the dock with everyone else.

Regina first knelt down to retrieve her ring and raised a hand and pushed forward, "There's nothing here." And as she thought better of it, she realized, "With all the wind we would have seen waves lapping against it." She turned to them.

"Does that mean it's under the water?" Arely was the first to spitball.

Regina looked back in the water. She thought about it a moment and looked at the ring, it was the brightest it had ever been. She nodded, still looking in the water, "It does. Probably under the lake bottom." She scratched her forehead and walked back up the dock. "Gentlemen, I don't know how to thank you." She smiled sadly, "I also don't know what's going to happen underwater. For all we know they could have dropped mermaids in there. The evil kind, Arely" She gave the man a look before he started, "Not the lovely kind your father is, but the kind that make you stare into their eyes while they sing and pull you under until you drown then feast on your body."

"My father is not your average merman." Arely said truthfully, "His clan is the only clan left of the 'lovely' kind of mermaid you refer. They call themselves 'vegetarian'." He looked to the Shadow Queen, "When I hear the word 'mermaid' I think of the kind that make you stare into their eyes as they sing and pull you under until you drown then feast on your body." He nodded, proud that he has said the exact words she had to describe the two kinds of mermaids.

Regina shook her head at Arely's antics and looked to them all seriously, "I can't ask you to come with me."

"And we can't let you go alone." Chip insisted.

"Yeah. You're stuck with us… All of us." Charming's voice rang out as he, Snow, the advisors, Red and Belle all galloped to where the rest of the horses seemed to be resting. They dismounted and walked as a group over to them. "We've all lived." He started, "You all, you're just starting out. We've loved and lost and gone to battle and seen things one can't begin to surmise. We're not naïve anymore."

He took a breath, "And that, it occurred to me as we set up camp, is not good. We've lost faith. Most of us know that if a person doesn't return home after two weeks it's because they don't want to or they can't…" He looked down, "But as you left, you said you felt her." He walked over to the Shadow Queen and took her face like he would his daughter's, "As long as you can feel her, I am at your side. As long as you can feel her, she's alive." He smiled and looked over to his wife, "I know what it's like to have that connection. And if you're telling me that my little princess is alive, then I am ready to battle to the death with the people that took her."

"As am I." Snow walked over to her husband and Regina, linking her hand through his arm and grasping her shoulder in encouragement.

Hook stepped forward, "Regina, we've said it before, we'll say it again… You gave us our lives back. We're not going to not follow you into a battle that will give you yours. We weren't trying to stop you from finding her. We were trying to make you rest."

Regina nodded, "I am aware. But I can't rest."

"We've come to realize." Hook nodded.

Jefferson stepped to the water's edge, "So, the castle is in the water?"

"The castle is probably under the entire lake." Regina looked to her advisor.

"There are mermaids in the water." Hook looked hesitantly passed Regina to the waters. His statement making Jefferson jump a few feet back.

"How can you be sure?" Graham asked.

Hook simply pointed to the edge of the dock, the outline of a girl holding herself on the dock's edge clear in the moonlight.

Arely stepped onto the dock and began whistling as he slowly, took each step in stride, locking eyes with the mermaid holding herself up at the edge of the dock.

"What the hell is he doing?!" Hook's voice was nearing a shouting level as he tried to walk after the boy.

"Hook." Regina stopped him from going further as she watched the Caspian Prince, understanding that he was trying to help. "If he gets into trouble, we will kill her and rescue him."

"He's whistling 'My Jolly Sailor Bold'!" He huffed, "Everyone knows mermaids like singing, and everyone that knows that song knows never to sing it with mermaids present. That boy's a death wish."

"It's cute that you all of the sudden care about the young prince of a pirate." Regina looked to him, "But give him a chance before underestimating a future sailing partner."

Hook gave his queen a glare.

"My heart is pierced by Cupid; I disdain all glittering gold; There is nothing can console me; But my jolly sailor bold." Arely laid down on the dock, his fingers lacing and his chin making to rest on his hands. His face was inches from the mermaid and he felt oddly calm.

"You have a lovely singing voice." The mermaid said with a smile on her face.

"Aye. I know." He smiled back at her, "Might I ask you a question?"

The mermaid pushed from the dock and swam back in thought, "I suppose that would be all right."

"How did you get here?"

"How did I get here?"

Arely nodded, "Yes, how were you put in this lake? It's practically in the very center of all the lands. A mermaid should have the right to live in the oceans and seas. Not a single lake. I'd no idea it was even possible. So… How did you get here?"

The mermaid looked around as she heard her sisters trying to stop her, but something in the nice singing man's voice made her trust him, "It was the bad magical man that lives below." She whispered. "He captured us and dumped us here."

Arely gave a small nod, "Are there any other creatures in there besides you and your sisters that could hurt my family back there and myself?"

"I wouldn't hurt you." She smiled, pushing up a bit further.

Arely gave the mermaid a flirtatious smile in return, "I doubt that."

This made the mermaid's smile brighten, "Do you enjoy danger?"

"Aye. When I know I won't die, I enjoy it a lot more…"

She bit her lip in thought before, "No."

"No?"

"There aren't any other creatures that can hurt you."

Arely nodded, "Do you make deals?"

"The bad man made us a deal and this is where we ended up." She pushed from the dock, crossing her arms and kicking her tail, treading above water to see her stern features.

Her sisters now joined her above water; there were at least as many mermaids as there were people up shore.

"My apologies. How about a pact?"

"A pact?"

"Yes, it's like a deal, but with good guys."

"And how do we know that you be a good guy, pirate?" One of her sisters asked.

"I am Arely. Ariel's son. King Triton is my grandfather."

"King Triton? The King of the Caspian Sea?" another sister asked.

"Aye, the one and the same."

"Oh, I love the Caspian Sea." Another sister spoke.

And then another, "The Caspian Sea is lovely this time of year!"

Arely smirked, "The Caspian Sea is lovely all year round, love." He gave her a smile.

She blushed and sank into the water so only her eyes showed.

The first mermaid, the mermaid still at the dock looked at him, "Just what is your pact?"

"You all guarantee us safe passage, or even help us get to the entrance of the bad man's castle, and when we're done with him, we'll bring you to the Caspian Sea and I will talk to my grandfather about adopting you."

The mermaid looked to her sisters in question.

"You know you'll not be allowed to eat humans…" he forewarned.

"We're used to it, now." One of the sisters said.

The first mermaid, the leader, made her decision, "Okay, Caspian Prince." She looked at him and pushed up to her stomach, locking her arms on the edge of the deck, "We'll take you there, and if you get out—"

"When we get out."

"You'll take us to the sea."

"Aye."

"We shall seal this pact with a kiss."

"Well, in that case, mermaid, you should call me Arely."

"And I am Cordelia."

"Jewel of the sea. My, that's an appropriate name for a mermaid if I've ever heard one." He smiled and leaned in.

She took his face in both her hands and pressed her lips against his. "The pact is made, Arely."

"It is, indeed, Cordelia." He stood, "I am going to gather them and we will be diving in shortly."

She nodded as she swam backwards on her back with a smile on her face, "We'll be waiting."

AN: Like them mermaids? I sure did. Read and Review, please! Thoughts and Feels?