Regina Mills doesn't run, doesn't get scared and surely doesn't panic. Well, today she was running in the labyrinth that is the LAPD, with her heart satur of fear and her hands trembling in panic.

She needed to speak with Emma, explain that she must take care of Henry, her little prince, she must keep him safe while his other mom goes on a suicidal mission, at best. Her eyes were blurring with tears at the only thought of leaving Henry, and being very honest with herself, leaving Emma, moron, Swan too. She was going to specify that, "Henry can't be alone, you can't come, you will not be useful to us Miss Swan!"

As usual Emma Swan was in her "habitat", leaning on a desk, a glossy donut in a hand and files in the other. The blonde curls served like a beacon in a dark sea, as the horrid red jacket. She reached her with heavy breath and tried to recompose herself before speaking, the other woman's green eyes were already bright and big with worry. The donut was put on the desk, forgotten, as the files, a hand taking her upper arm in a firm but delicate hold.

"Regina what the hell is going on? Are you okay? Is it Henry? Is there fire? Somebody got shoot? Evil witches from Oz? Regina answer me don't stand there just gaping at me!" Regina almost laughed, finding her adorable while she rumbles, but she recomposes and finally find her voice:" Calm down Mss Swan, I need to talk to you in private" – she casts a look to the full of people room – "and it is quite urgent."

Her blond eyebrows reached her hairline, but she nods and with a strong hand on Regina's back guides them to the interrogations room. Her touch succeeded in tranquilizing the witch, she doesn't detach, but lean into it, appreciating the warm and comfort, for as long as she could.

They sit, Emma was staring at her, tender and apprehensive. The voice dies in her throat for few moments, then it comes to her, she tells everything, the extramundane interact, the danger, the apparent solution, she answer all the question, stops the inappropriate and idiotic ones with her practiced glare. Then she blocks the other woman, the other mother of her child, their child, from uttering a word. "You must stay with Henry, I won't have you join us Emma!"

The knuckles were white, the stare determinate when she answer:" You are not going without me, I promised our son to protect you, and that's exactly what I am going to do! And it did told you that you'll need to stop the beast-child right? I am bringing my sword and I am going to inform the Chief!"

"I said no Emma! This is not a open discussion, do you hear me? And don't! Sharon will tell Brenda!" The smirk that dares to put on her lips doesn't lead to anything good. Oh, how stubborn she is! But Regina Mills doesn't lose an argument, not when the other mother of her child risks her life, on a probable trap, with her stupidity.

"I am sorry Regina, but you don't get to decide, we are a team right? Now believe me, the Captain won't talk to the Chief, so I am going now! Henry will stay with Provenza and Rusty, they'll have fun eh!" The sarcastic answer that was coming on her tongue dies immediately as a warm hand comes to lightly caress her cheek, the she smiles. That awful bright smile that makes you forget how much you despise her. She is stacked, stoned on the chair, while the lieutenant goes to see Miss Atlanta.

Damn it.

"Can y'all believe it? She wasn't going to say anything! Oh that woman, horrible woman. She was going to die on a strange world that I don't even comprehend. Not on my fucking watch! Mills you too, really? I am the Chief of the best team of detectives in all LA for heaven's sake, I would've find ya in a blink of my fake eyelashes!" Chief Johnson was clearly very irritated, the sleeves of her pink blouse were rolled by her elbows, her gait was rambling, forehead furrowed and her brown eyes were almost a tone of red. They both walked past the door with identical looks and Regina rolled her eyes to the roof before following them. "I didn't consent Miss Swan!"

At her growling words Brenda snorted loudly, convulsing pressing on the elevator button till its near break. " As like we need your permission Mills, honestly!" The former Evil Queen reached the most treating tone before spitting in her face:" I could burn you into that spot Chief, I hope you are aware of that!"

In a blink of an eye, a beat of a heart, she finds her hands behind her in a strong hold. Brenda was keeping them still with a firm hand and staring in dark eyes, a bored and irritated expression on her face:" Ya'll need to use your hands for that first, right? And for Christ's sake Emma leave me, I wasn't going to hurt her!" The southern accent was making a strong appearance, stress induced probably.

Only then she noticed Swan hand, tight on the Chief right arm, a perplexed glance that moves between Brenda and her.

Her wrist were set free and she swallowed her pride, mirroring herself in the intense chocolate eyes with her teeth bare on a silent growl. The petite blonde just snorts and twirls into the elevator.

"How is she this fast? With such security in the movement?" With fissured eyelids she wonders. Emma saw her first, tried to stop her, but didn't succeeded. Her heart was beating faster thinking at the consequences, "of what is she really capable of doing with the weird spear?"

" I know Chief, it was a reflex." The lolling face of Emma Swan had assumed a pink tint, her superior dismissed the implicit apology with a comprehensive nod of her head. The elevator stops at the FID floor. Brenda fly fast outside the metallic cage ad to get at Sharon's office. No one stops them, or better no one would have dared to, looking at the war gait of Deputy Chief Johnson.

The door of the office opens with a loud bang and the Captain jumps out of her chair, wide open eyes. "Brenda Leigh?" she almost squeals.

You could see Brenda's jaw tighten, her chest puffing up, Emma is at her side, tonic arms united at her chest, legs spread. Regina decides to sit, exasperated.

"You were letting me stay in the dark, weren't you Captain? You would've preferred leaving me here, worried to death! And you call me imprudent and irrational?" Her chocolate eyes were in flames, her glare intimidator, not for Sharon, of course, who barely raised an irritate eyebrow. "And that's precisely why I didn't want to inform you, look at you, you are making a scene!" Brenda rolled her eyes until they were out of the orbits.

Covering her face with an hand Regina was praying to be elsewhere, even in Hell."No, nobody listen to me when I give an advice." She thinks while throwing Sharon a flaming glance, whom ignores her.

"You are not my boss, when will you learn this simple but effective rule?" Her and her damned rules. "Fine think what ya want Sharon, but I will come with you, me and Swan will!" "You are not! Someone must stay with the boys in case anything happens." Brenda takes a deep breath going around the desk, Sharon follows her with a unsure stare.

That maddening woman had her eyes glued on her, doesn't give up a single step, and no sire, Brenda was not stopped to the sight of nude, long legs. Her hands were shaking from the need to hold her and jolt her. What was distracting her was the hairstyle chosen for today, few of her auburn locks enclosed on her head by an argent hair pin, making that delicate face pop up and her gentle beautiful green eyes even more hypnotic. But she blocked herself, concentrating on the emergency situation. "Sharon, listen to me, if you shouldn't succeed to stop that… well that thing, whatever it is, there will be no one to protect anymore!"

Now the older woman was staring at her, she tried to not get lost in the forest enclosed in those shiny irises, for her fortune her eyelids started to blink until she closed them totally. It was clear, the pain visible in the tired lines of her face, she ached to soothe, to comfort, but she couldn't, not now when she was trying to prove a point.

Regina and Swan were gone from her mind, she sees just Sharon, with her eyes close, eyelids tight, and then when she reopens them a wave of pure fear escapes and fills the room. It lasts little time, replaced by resignation and she nods. Brenda's lips curve in a small smirk of victory, but it hurts, she didn't want to cause such pain and fear, it was inevitable thought.

"When are we leaving?" Her tone teasing a bit. Regina pinched the bridge of her nose proclaiming with a frustrate voice:"I hate you, all of you!" Brenda just smiles looking at her lieutenant Swan.

They have very long three days ahead of them.

Regina had just finished enlightening the facts, dark eyebrows reaching the hairline of identical dark hair enclosed in a traditional and ordinate chignon, Hecate kept doing little nods, very rigid moves of her neck.

A strange, strange story, almost impossible. But if it is Regina Mills, daughter of Cora Mills, to tell you it with a worried stare in her usually composed face, well, you tend to believe it.

She sips at her tea, that was served during the story. The delicate hand of Pippa was on her shoulder, intended to comfort, but it was almost a distraction, she could feel magic thickening around them, nearly tangible. Not that it bothers her, there were obviusly powerful forces in the little study, herself, Pippa, Regina and a very new one, archaic, coming from Sharon Raydor. Hecate stared at the witch trying to understand the origin of such odd power swirling into her and now, the air. But she found an enchanted labyrinth, a complicated one that you could easily get lost into. The high but warm voice of the pink witch startled her, "if you decide to go Hecate, then I shall come too." She twirls in the chair ready to protest but immediately noticed her amber eyes bright in determination illuminating all the place. She could only weakly say:"It's dangerous Pippa, and you have your own pupils to attend to, it is your duty as Headmistress of Pentangles."Her beautiful face met Hecate's, irony in the lines of her mouth, so little space separating them. "Are you saying I am not powerful enough, Hecate Hardbroom?"

She gapes, her mind blank, just useless gurgles filling her throat and a blast of embarrassment invest her like a hot breeze, her neck almost burns when she tries to speak. Somebody covers a laugh, very badly, with a cough and flames reach her cheeks but sweet, comprehensive Pippa smiles warmly and brushes her chin with two tiny fingers:"I know you are not, just teasing"- she winks and her heart trips in the rib cage-"but I won't accept a no".

She is lost in the white teeth, pink plump lips until her touch leaves, as does her glance. Immediately cold and insecurity replace them. Her usually pale cheeks were still a tone of rose, she order to them to turn back to normal, drinking the left tea and posing the empty cup on her lap, ignoring her hand trembling.

She hears Regina grumbling with a soft voice:" Blondes, the truly problem of the Universe". Followed by some intense stares and a laughing Miss Raydor who nods. Miss Mills rejects her probable question with a tired gesture of her wrist before asking, now with a serious tone:" What then? I know I am asking a lot, but I really don't know someone better than you to turn to."

In all the time they knew each other she had never seen such vulnerability in those big dark brown eyes, she is nearly praying, if Regina Mills would do something so plebeian as praying, of course. The decision is easy, she doesn't have the luxury of declining, she has to protect, to defend. Sure, dragging Pippa in a unstable situation and a hypothetically death promising mission wasn't ideal, but convincing her otherwise would've been impossible.

Stubborn Pipsqueak she is.

"I shall come with you, I would like to worn Miss Cackle first, my Headmistress, and prepare my belongings, I suppose it is a urgent quest to attend to." Regina sighed in relief and smiles with Morgana asleep on her lap, her fur ruffled from the petting, at least somebody is happy. "We'll take the first plain tomorrow morning, you have all the time you need, Hecate, thank you."

Pippa noticed her abruptly stiffening through the hand still on her shoulder before she spoke, her tone hard and quivering. "We shall fly on brooms, of course, I have no intention on flying in a metallic cage!" At this point Miss Swan bursts into a proper fit of laugh on the sofa.

Outrageous, Hecate can feel her magic flowing till to her fingertips, ready to strike, to turn her into a bloody pumpkin. Regina glares at her with such fire to incinerate a dragon and she calms down a little. Even so the outrage will not be forgotten, it is marked with fire in her heart.

"Hecate that will take days and you have to cross all the ocean! We must reach the portal as soon as possible, tomorrow!" Mills voice screamed the urgency but every cell, every pore of her skin screamed no, to respect tradition, witches don't use airplanes, that frivolous things. She was trembling on the chair, the voice of her father, the low tones of Miss Broomhead attacking her mind with disappointment. Dishonor, disgrace, her nails were creating angry red stains on her hands, she didn't notice. The world was spinning fast while she tried to restrain he emotions, the nightmares, scars burning on the wrists, temples pulsing, she sees blurred worried eyes staring at her. She struggles to breath, it burns in her windpipe that seems closed, the need to disappear, to escape pierces her and she must go, must get away.

A hot touch brushes her hand, another one touches her cheek, little by little she recognizes the calm tune of Pippa, even if she can't understand a word. After what felt like an eternity she succed to focus on her face, she was on her knees, a hand on hers and another holding her burning face. She smiles slowly and when finally her wet eyes found the courage to met brown ones, Hecate recognize pure panic, well covered.

"What have I done?"

She looks around, trying to breath normally, searching for any damage her magic could have inflicted but everything was at the right place, and no one was hurt. She didn't lose control of her magic, that still tingles inside her wanting out. Her mouth was arid like Sahara and her head pulsed frantically, suddenly the tiredness invest her like a blanket, but she reject it, focusing every fiber of herself to sense Pippa's skin on hers, following the lines on her face, a path to safety and finally she understands the words:" Ehi, here you are, made a good trip on that marvelous brain of yours? All alright Hecate?" Her thumb was drawing little circles on the back of her hand and the continuity of gesture was leading her to stability, faster than usual.

In solitude this attacks lasted hours and left her in shock for days, now with her presence, the tenderness with she practically pulled her out of the clutches of her own mind, it lasted only few minutes.

"Now look at me, I know very well how you feel about traditions and all of that, but we are trying to save the world here, don't you think? I think we can make an… an exception, and I would like you to know that times are changed! I took the plain several times, like many other witches. There's nothing wrong in that, doesn't matter what those evil voices were whispering to you in your beautiful complicated head." Her voice was nothing but a whisper.

Her breath stopped in the throat, she understood what exactly the shadows of her past had orchestrated, her heart warmed and broken, Pippa knows her so fiercely, so fully even after all this years apart. Thirty years, from that awful day of the broomstick water sky demonstration, the day that Hecate decided to let her best friend finally shine without her tapping her shiny wings. She was still sure it was the best decision, was she? Yes she most certain was, Pippa succeeded in realizing all her dreams, being a headmistress of her own magical school, Pentangles, just as she had hoped.

Her eyes were filling with unshed tears, she closes her eyelids to eliminate them, feeling ridiculous enough without crying, tears manifesting her weakness. Taking the few emotional forces that had left she nods firmly, relaxing her fingers and desisting to show pain of the fresh moon marks on her palms, accustomed to ache, it was an old friend afterall.

Pippa was still observing her, so beautiful and sweet to nearly hurt, Hecate resist at the urge to hold her tight, to kiss her soft hand still on her cheeks, but she does offer the other witch her hand, helping her to stand up. She struggle to make a tiny smile, to make her understand how much grateful she is to have her light back in her life, she already knows it appears broken, she hopes it's enough anyway.

Her teeth remain visible just to Hecate for longs heartbeat before she turns, her arms stretched lightly while the taller witch tries to recompose. She feels exhausted, craves tranquility, to close her eyes and bury herself under many soft thick blankets, disappear from the world.

Morgana jumps on her lap and she sigh in the comfort and the familiarity it allows her. The cat starts purring and she bends her head to lose herself in her soft fur. When she raise it again she finds just the magenta witch watching her, all the others are gone. Unexpectedly she finds her voice:"Pip… ehm Pippa? Where are… everyone else?" The witch was comfortably lining on the couch, her nude legs on the backrest of the sofa, the contrast between creamy pink and the black of the velvet toke your breath away.

The blond witch answers her biting on a glossy pink donut:"Oh don't worry about it, I transferred them, telling them to enjoy the evening, you know... the ball. While we'll inform Miss Cackle that we are going to London tomorrow morning, and then leave to Los Angeles. Can you image Hiccup? Ever been to Los Angeles?"

Pippa Pentangle could fill a house with her only presence, she warmed it, her shades adapting to every ambient and any place mould around her, you couldn't forbear to stare at her.

Regardless of her emotional state her heart was beating like a bull one, trying to overcome sleep. If she had the courage to dream big she would've already pictured this similar scenario, Pippa on her couch eating candies as she drinking greedily in the celestial vision after a stressful day. But she always drowned in her cowardice.

Her best friend was still enthusiastic talking about Los Angeles with a tone that heat you up better that a fire in the middle of the winter. The world is at a step from the chasm and she adorably thinks at which pair of sunglasses she should bring:"because at LA there's always the Sun Hiccup, maybe you could take a little color, too, but we'll need something to protect your pale skin, or you'll burn!" Her pragmatism was about to make her stop the river of words but she preferred to let her voice caress the air, her dreamy smile illuminate her universe.

Anyhow she finish her discourse, seating up on the sofa, but Hecate doesn't have the guts to look her in the eyes and instead stares at the grey wall behind her.

"Better Hecate? Maybe I should let you rest, look at me foolish rambling of frivolous things. I should go." She stands and does few steps toward the door, the taller witch stops her escaping from her trance:"No Pippa, I shall follow you, I must communicate with Ada and I have few young monsters to control".

Miss Pentangle stares at her as she was about to stop her, you could read on her tense lips the precise words that are trying to escape :"No Hiccup, you need to rest and surely you are not the only one who can check the students!" But just a deep exhale is left in the air and then she links their arms. The warmth that radiates from her naked skin it is all Hecate needs to face the rest of the evening.