Henry stood sadly at the very end of the dock, watching the very last spec of the boat disappear into the orange sunset. Behind him, Snow was panicking.

"He WHAT?!" she seethed, trepidation gripping her. She and Red had come to forest's edge in time to see Neal and Henry forced at sword point onto the dock while on the other side of the ship she saw her husband tumble into the water as the boat pulled away, sails rising quickly and the brisk breeze tugging it along at a fast pace. She had reached the dock at a dead sprint as Neal hoisted drench and furious Charming from the water.

"We were ambushed as soon as we got on board," Neal explained as Charming brushed past his wife, unable to look and see is own panic reflected in her eyes, too angry and scared and helpless to say anything. "It was King George, he wanted Emma for her magic to help him build his kingdom again."

"Emma doesn't even know how to use her magic," Red said.

"He said he'd find a way of forcing it from her," Neal mumbled apologetically, hating that he had to be the messenger.

"Forcing it from her?" Snow whispered, pulling a hand to her mouth, her voice wracked with fear. Visions of her daughter in terrible pain, already injured, having her magic painfully drawn from her flooded her mind, and she struggled to remain standing as she wavered unsteadily.

"I don't understand," Red asked. "How did he even get back here?"

"He followed you guys through the hat after you left the dock," Neal explained. "He's been planning this ever since he saw Emma at her lessons with Gold back in Storybrooke."

"Regina helped him," Charming added, still too heated to stand still as he paced back and forth. "He said he made a deal with her, that's she'd deliver Emma to him if he promised to keep her and Henry out of any of his plans for her."

"We have to get her back," Snow said, tears brimming in her eyes as she tried to calm her breathing.

"But how?" Red asked. "We don't even know where he's taken her."

"I know who does," came Henry's voice, quiet and sad. The group paused their hectic conversation to all look over at him. He was still facing the direction the boat had disappeared at the end of the dock. He turned slowly to face them. "My mom. Regina. She helped him set this up. She knows."

"Oh, Henry," Snow cooed sympathetically, stepping towards him and wrapping her arms around him comfortingly.

"I hate to say it, but I don't think we can count on Regina to help us out with this," Charming said. "If she was part of planning it in the first place."

"She would if I asked her to," he said.

"Henry, you know we can't let you do that," Snow said.

"You said so yourself, we have to find her," Henry said, his voice grand and somber beyond its years. "We have to do whatever it takes. She would do whatever it takes to find me. She did do whatever it took. I should have had faith in her, I should have believed she would come for me, then none of this would have happened. Now, she needs to have faith in us, and we need to give her a reason to. We have to find her. We have to do whatever it takes."

Regina had only been given a half-second of relief when she saw her son's face, having been missing for the majority of the afternoon as evening waned, before her expression darkened by the company that followed him into the palace. His grandparents and their wolf pet, and his father. The only person missing was his mother.

"What's going on here?" Regain asked sharply. "What are all of you doing with my son?"

The pale brunette advanced upon her viciously, dealing her a loud smack across the face the echoed around the stone walls.

"Where's he taken her?" she asked violently as Regina held a hand up to her cheek.

"Snow," Charming soothed, stepping forward to hold her back.

"What are you talking about?" Regina asked.

"King George kidnapped my mom," Henry told her, confirming what she suspected when he walked in.

"You remember," she said bitterly.

"Took an ogre nearly pounding him to a pulp to ring the memories back into him," Charming recounted angrily, having difficulty not stepping forward and reacting as Snow had.

"What?" Regina asked, her voice raised in a panicked concern. "An ogre? Are you alright?" She reached out and pulled her son towards her, surveying him. "I told you not to go wondering about in the woods!"

"He wouldn't have run into any trouble at all if you hadn't made you deal with George and given up Emma's whereabouts," Neal said.

"What are you talking about?"

"He sent the ogre after them," Charming thundered, holding still tighter to his wife in his arms to stop himself from advancing on her himself with his rage. "Then, he ambushed our ship, nearly threw Henry into the sea."

Regina gaped at them for a moment.

"No," she said, disbelieving. "No, he said he'd keep him out of all this. He promised…"

"Well I guess when you put your trust in the promise of an evil man, you get what you pay for," Charming said.

"Where has he taken her?" Snow insisted, her voice rising. Those boys could make Regina regret what she did all they wanted, but it wouldn't help her get Emma back. She didn't give a damn about her remorse or redemption. She only gave a damn about one thing right now: finding her daughter.

"I have no idea," Regina said.

"You're going to help us find her."

"Why would I do that?"

"For him," Snow said simply, nodding towards Henry. He looked up at her with his big, sad, disappointed, heartbroken eyes. And she knew that of course she would help. Even before Snow continued her argument. "King George broke his promise once, and he'll do it again. Only if he finds a way to force magic from Emma, then he'll have magic on his side too. If he can control his magic, Henry will never be safe. None of us will be safe. We need to stop him."

Regina sighed at the logic, resigning herself to the role she must now play for the sake of her son.

"I'm not lying," Regina said. "I don't know where he's taken her."

"But you can find out, can't you," Snow said, narrowing her eyes. Regina held her glare for a moment.

"Henry, go to your room," she commanded, not breaking eye contact with her step-daughter.

"You've got some nerve ordering him around," Neal growled, but a meaningful glace from Regina prodded Snow to step in.

"No, she's right," Snow said. The room stared at her, perplexed. She turned to Henry and squatted down to look him in the eye, taking his hand in hers. "If we're going to find Emma, we need to discuss some things with Regina. Adult things," she emphasized. "And for that. You can't be here, alright?"

"But I want to help," Henry protested.

"I know you do," Snow sighed sympathetically, "but I need you to do this for me. Just for now. I need you to do it for Emma. You said so yourself, we have to do whatever it takes."

Henry nodded dejectedly. Red took his hand gently and led him from the room. The adults watched him go in silence before resume their conversation. Regina turned to Snow.

"Thank you," she said reluctantly.

"I didn't do it for you," she snarled defensively. "I did it because I don't want him to see what you're about to show us."

"Are you sure you want to see it?" Regina asked, uncharacteristically thoughtfully. "I don't know what George's plan is, so I don't know what to expect, but it's bound to be gruesome."

"Just get on with it," Snow ushered darkly. Regina frowned at the trio frowning back at her, then sighed and turned to her mirror.

"Show me Emma," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

I know this story has gotten a bit dark. It's just one thing after another after another. When I found out there was going to be such a long hiatus, I decided to make this story longer to wait out the time for my own amusement. I've kind of just been throwing things in as they come up to me, but now I've planned to the end this time, so this is the final obstacle. It's just a pretty big obstacle.

Next up: we find out exactly how King George intends to use Emma. Also some Captain Swan feels.