Chapter Thirty-Nine—"Lessons Learned"
Rumplestiltskin had to give Charming some credit. After Titania dropped to the ground and the blonde fae frantically promised to answer any questions they had, the king immediately sent the terrified courtiers and ambassadors away, assuring everyone that everything would be all right. He was dignified and reassuring, somehow able to act like there weren't two dead fae lying on the floor of his throne room, one bleeding from a hole in the middle of her forehead and the other one decorated by a sprinkling of dust from her own heart. Fortunately, most of the people had been involved in the war somehow, so the sight of watching two magic users kill a pair of fae—and capture a third—didn't upset them overmuch, though Rumplestiltskin did notice more than a few wary glances thrown his way.
And he was about to make things worse, of course. But there was no other option.
He waved a hand as the stragglers trickled out, ignoring the telltale signs of a headache and casting a quick spell. The power flicked out of his fingers like invisible sparks, unnoticeable to everyone but him—and Emma, interestingly enough. The little Savior was a novice no more; despite the rocky beginning, she'd handled herself like at least a semi-seasoned sorceress, figuring out how to fight as she went and actually coming out of the battle pretty well. Despite his own customary cynicism, Rumplestiltskin was a little impressed. Even now, Emma met his eyes calmly, showing very few signs of the screaming headache he knew she was suffering from. Emma had indeed felt the spell, though she probably wasn't certain what it did until seven people bounced off an invisible barrier and were unable to leave the throne room.
One of them, unfortunately, was Rumplestiltskin's least favorite prince. Thomas spun around to look at Charming—he'd never speak to Rumplestiltskin unless he had to—his youthful face shocked and tight. "What was that?"
"I don't know," Charming turned to look at Rumplestiltskin, because this royal had no problems demanding answers of anyone, no matter how powerful they were. "Did you do something?"
"Of course I did." His second spell was already racing out, already wrapping around the seven he'd chosen; or rather, the seven Titania had chosen, the ones who each carried within them a sliver of a spell that Rumplestiltskin couldn't quite identify. Together, those seven formed the baseline for something dangerous, something that would allow the fae to spread the beginnings of…of what? He wasn't sure yet, and Rumplestiltskin couldn't tell if that was a sign of his own tiredness or of the clever magic that Titania had weaved. Still, his magic worked as designed, settling into the seven and isolating the spells Titania had put on them.
She'd been damn powerful, Titania had, and part of Rumplestiltskin was damn terrified of how easily he'd reached into her chest, forced his hand past her defenses, and just torn her heart out. As the Dark One, he would never have been able to do that; he would not have been powerful enough. Every time he thought that he'd accepted this new and startling power of his, something happened that made him remember, again, that all magic came at a price. And this is mine, Rumplestiltskin thought, sending the third spell out, the one that ripped into all seven people at the same time, making some gasp and others fall, tearing over them and removing the fae magic. Colors flashed in front of Rumplestiltskin's eyes as he did so, weariness pressing down on him, but he could still feel everything, could still see the complicated threads of magic that he was slowly pulling towards him. The trackers, traps, and tricks on those seven failed, and Rumplestiltskin snatched up the fae magic before it could infect anyone else.
"Then what did you do?" Charming pressed, returning Rumplestiltskin to reality.
The ache behind his shoulders, the pressure in his head, was just his entirely too human body's reaction, Rumplestiltskin knew. But he could fix that, with magic—and while once he would have counseled his students against doing such a thing, it was absurdly easy to do for himself. Original powers, he reminded himself, feeling strength race through his muscles at the mere thought of needing magical help. As the Dark One, Rumplestiltskin had been magic. With his curse broken, he had thought that he simply had magic like any other human sorcerer, but that wasn't the case. He really wished that he could dredge Merlin and up ask him a few questions, but that was regrettably impossible.
He was magic again. Did that mean he was immortal again? Merlin had lived for hundreds of years before the Black Fairy had forced the curse into him. Would that hold true for Rumplestiltskin as well, and if so, what did that mean for his relationships with his family? Being free of his curse should have made him mortal, should have returned him to who he was before…but it hadn't. Or at least he was beginning to think it hadn't.
"Rumplestiltskin?" it was Emma who asked the question, surprisingly, cocking her head at him. "What was that magic the fae put on them?"
Well. Wasn't she a smart girl, after all? She'd noticed the subtle spell, maybe after he started deconstructing it, but Emma had noticed it all the same, and now she chose to clue the other into what he was doing. Rumplestiltskin smiled slightly. "A trap of sorts. I've deconstructed it." He waved a hand at the seven spooked people. "You can all leave."
"What kind of trap?" Prince Thomas spoke up instead of departing with the other six.
"Well, I could have either let it mature and find out what it was, or I could stop it. You'll have to pardon me for choosing the later," Rumplestiltskin retorted, sneering.
"And how do we know you weren't at fault?" Thomas pressed.
"Hey," Baelfire interjected, stepping forward with Henry at his side, glaring at Thomas. "Lay off, all right?"
Thomas whirled on Rumplestiltskin's son. "You—"
"That's enough," David cut in forcefully. "We're all on the same side here." Rumplestiltskin didn't miss the significant look he threw Thomas' way. "Even you, Thomas."
Something was going on there. But was now the time to ask, or to be patient? Henry piped up before Rumplestiltskin could decide, asking:
"Why were they here?" the lad spoke up curiously. "They wanted me, didn't they? Or my heart. Again."
"I'm afraid they did, Henry," Rumplestiltskin replied, his eyes meeting Emma's. Understanding flashed between the two of them, something which had certainly never happened before. But they'd never fought together like this, either, and perhaps Rumplestiltskin had underestimated Emma's resolve. Oh, he'd always known that the Savior was a strong woman—she took after both her parents like that—but she was also willing to do what needed to be done. He had to give her points for that.
"But we're not going to let that happen," Emma picked up where he left off, her eyes hard and expression implacable. "No matter how many fae show up."
"I know," Henry replied, and the smile he gave the two of them was radiant enough almost to take Rumplestiltskin's breath away. "Thanks, Mom. And you, too, Grandpa."
"There was more to it than that, though," Bae spoke up after a moment, after all obviously forcing himself to stop glaring at Thomas. Rumplestiltskin had never noticed the animosity between his son and Cinderella's husband, but there was obviously something there. "It almost felt like they were trying to whisk Henry and me away."
"They were," Emma answered grimly, and then glanced his way. "Weren't they?"
"That is indeed the case." Rumplestiltskin quirked a smile before he could think the better of it, glancing at Charming almost more than his son. "Did you really think I'd need that long to deal with three fae? Or help?"
That made Charming grimace. "Did you have to kill them to stop that?"
"Have to? No," he replied with a shrug. "But you can't spare all your enemies. Sometimes a message needs to be—wait a minute," he cut himself off, wheeling to face his son. "You felt that magic?"
Now it was Bae's turn to shrug. "Yeah. Didn't everyone?"
"No, not at all," David answered, shooting Bae a look that was a lot less suspicious than Rumplestiltskin would have once expected it to be. But his son really had made himself a place with these people, hadn't he? Bae had been busy earning his spurs while Rumplestiltskin had still been a prisoner of the Black Fairy. But David was looking at Bae curiously, as was Henry…and even Emma.
"Oh. Um, I guess it's a by-product of being in Neverland so long?" Bae looked uncomfortable.
"No, that's not it," Rumplestiltskin spoke up, stepping towards his son—and so gratified to see that his boy, now a man, did not pull away from him. Instead, Bae looked to him the way he had so long ago, back when a poor spinner had had all the answers that Baelfire could ever need. Rumplestiltskin took a deep breath before continuing: "But magic does tend to work by association as much as it travels through bloodlines. You've been related to and exposed to enough magic that it seems to have finally found you."
"Huh. Who would have thought that?"
Emma broke the awkward silence by snickering naughtily. "Guess I'm not the only one then, huh?" Without warning, she stepped over to punch Bae playfully in the shoulder. "Looks like someone else is going to be getting lessons, too."
"What? I—uh—I don't know about that," Bae stuttered, his wide eyes going back and forth from his girlfriend to his father and back to Emma again.
"He's going to be worse than I am," Emma replied, surprising Rumplestiltskin by turning her grin on him. "And I can't wait to hear you complaining about him."
His own laugh—followed quickly by his son's—took Rumplestiltskin completely by surprise, particularly when David and Henry joined in. An odd warmth rose inside of him, a feeling of belonging like he wasn't used to feeling outside of being with Belle. But even though Bae's smile was very crooked, and slightly uncertain, his boy wasn't fighting against this new realization, wasn't pushing it away simply because it was magic. Once, Bae had told him that everything bad in his life had started with magic, but now things did seem to be slowly changing on that front. Now, Rumplestiltskin was able to reach out and put a hand on his son's shoulder, confident that Bae wasn't going to pull away from him, and knowing that they'd find a way to figure this out.
They always did, after all.
Two days after they'd rescued Grumpy—two days sooner than any of them wanted him to be up, particularly the healer who had fixed the dwarf—Snow found herself trekking through the woods. None of them had wanted to let Grumpy get out of bed, but he was Grumpy, and once he got an idea in his head, there was no stopping him. The best thing they could do was go along and try to help…and try to keep the pigheaded dwarf out of trouble.
Not that Snow was surprised. She'd known Grumpy for a long time now, and Snow knew that trying to talk him out of rescuing whatever other prisoners the fae had collected was next to impossible. So, she'd opted not to argue with him and had instead made sure that there were plenty of people around to keep an eye on Grumpy. Snow had even managed to convince Caer Dalben's best healer to come along with them for this trip back into the forest, much though the healer was uncomfortable with that notion. But a big enough bribe brought the healer along, particularly when Snow promised to have several of her soldiers protect her.
"Right here," Grumpy said for the third time. "I'm sure it's right here."
"Are you really sure?" Ruby asked for the second time, gesturing at the fae magic detector Tink had given them. "This little bugger is showing nothing at all."
The dwarf glared. "I know what I'm talking about, sister. Norco said that it was in the Grove of Six Trees, and Belle's book says that all six should be spaced the exact same distance from one another, with green and yellow leaves. Look up."
Snow and Ruby both did; Belle's head was still in a book. How did the bookworm always manage to find the right answer in a book? Snow was half convinced that Belle had some sort of special book and studying magic, because there was no way she'd ever be so lucky as to know where to find every answer otherwise. But sure enough, there were green and yellow leaves overhead, and Belle spoke up:
"There should be a magical doorway in the exact center. It opens when you stand on the stump right there"—she pointed at a tree stump in the middle of the grove, so old and withered that it was almost perfectly flush with the ground—"but the doorway can be held open if two people stand on it at once and one doesn't step through. So, someone just has to keep standing on it while everyone else goes in."
"How do you always find these things in books?" Ruby asked, echoing Snow's thoughts.
Belle shrugged. "I read a lot." The bookworm smiled, and as strange as it was, Snow knew that really was the answer. "So, who's going to stand on the button while we all go in?"
"I'll do it, Your Majesty," Colonel Grimsby spoke up from Snow's left, and she shot the old man a smile. He'd been with her from childhood, having retired shortly before Regina usurped the throne, but Grimsby had come back to her service after Snow and David had married. He was one of the best men she'd ever known, one of her father's most trusted officers, and Snow had always trusted him.
"Thank you, Colonel," she smiled at him, and was rewarded with a nod from the grizzled old man. Reaching up to pull an arrow out of her quiver and notch it on her bow, she looked at Belle, Ruby, and Grumpy. "You ready?"
"Bet your ass I am, sister," Grumpy grated out, his face tight. Snow couldn't tell if it was with pain or with anger, but the dwarf shoved past the other two women and stepped onto the stump. Grimsby stepped up with him, and suddenly the portal opened up, purple and green and sparkling with dark fairy dust.
The dwarf disappeared, dropping downwards with a surprised yelp. Snow was next, throwing Ruby a hard glance when her old friend tried to get there first. Ruby's scowl was something of a smile, and definitely said she understood. "After you," Ruby quipped, sweeping her a playful curtsy.
Stepping onto the stump was like stepping into a vacuum; the ground dropped out from under her and suddenly Snow found herself standing inside a dreamlike environment. It looked like she was still standing in the grove—the trees were the same, and she was even still standing on the stump until Snow stepped aside and made room for Ruby, then Belle, and then the dozen others who followed, all with weapons at the ready. The air was thick with magic, so sharp that she could taste the dark fairy dust in the air. It reminded her of trolls, Charming, and suddenly knowing everything was going to change. Yet she tore herself from the memories quickly, looking around curiously. Everything inside the grove was oddly colored, felt surreal in ways Snow had never encountered before, and she'd spent a life surrounded by magic, whether she wanted to or not. Slowly, however, what lay beyond the underground—if it was underground—grove slid into focus, and Snow noticed that the branches of the trees right outside the open area were woven together into…bars?
"There should be…oh, no," Belle looked up from her book abruptly, spotting the same thing that had made Snow's heart stop.
There were faces peering out at them from behind the intertwined trees, desperate, pale, and human faces that were full of fear.
The last place Regina had expected to visit in Wonderland was a swamp. Was there nothing redeeming about the entire useless world? Apparently there wasn't, because now Regina found herself trekking through the Gummer Slough with Robin Hood and the king of this stupid place—or was he only the king of part of it? Regina wasn't up on Wonderland-ian politics, and really didn't care to be. However things shook out, most people here seemed to think that they owed allegiance to the White King and Queen, which at least meant that their trip to the Gummer Slough was easier than their trip to the palace had been. Will Scarlet wasn't royal in the slightest, but the man did know how to get around Wonderland and half the realm seemed to owe him favors. Regina would give him that much.
He even managed to bully the Gryphon into helping them, which led the trio deeper into the swamp than Regina had even wanted to contemplate going. Supposedly there was a house buried out here, where an old man who was supposed to have a genie lived. Why someone who had three wishes at their disposal would bother to live in such a dump, Regina didn't know, but apparently the old fool did. Whoever he was.
"Y'know, I've been thinking," Will said as they tromped through the swamp. "If you're really lookin' for crazy magical types to help you against the Black Fairy, I can think of one that might fit the bill."
"Really?" Robin asked curiously, shooting a glance at Regina. Why did she have a bad feeling about this? "Who?"
"It's more of a what," the White King replied with a shrug. "Well, she is."
"She's what?" Regina finally snapped, fed up with whatever it was that was making Will squirm so much.
Her sharp tone made the young king jump. "The Jabberwocky."
"The what?" Robin wondered even as Regina snapped:
"No way. Absolutely not. I might be crazy enough to collect a genie for Rumplestiltskin, but there's no way in hell I'm going anywhere near the Jabberwocky."
"What exactly is this Jabberwocky?"
Regina turned to look at her lover as Will answered: "A terrible being that Jafar had control of. She...can read your fears right out of yer head, can see the worst things that you can imagine and use them against you. The Jabberwocky makes you live every terror that you've ever felt from inside yourself." Will shuddered.
"That sounds horrible, but fear can be overcome," Robin replied immediately, valiant soul that he was. He looked thoughtful. "A being that inspires fear can be defeated through courage, surely?"
"Not this one," Regina picked up the explanation grimly. "The Jabberwocky is more than just a creature. The Jabberwocky is magic, and capable of bringing even the bravest foes down. I've only ever heard of her, but believe me, if you've got the Jabberwocky trapped, that's where she needs to stay. And even Rumplestiltskin would agree with that."
Robin nodded, but Will piped up: "Wait a minute, Rumplestiltskin wants Jafar? You didn't mention that earlier."
"It wasn't relevant." She rolled her eyes, but of course Will Scarlet had grown up in the Enchanted Forest and had lived in Storybrooke for a time. He'd probably grown up on stories of her and Rumplestiltskin, few of which were good.
Will stopped cold and shot Regina a hard look. "Wait a minute. What would the Dark One want with a genie, particularly one as tricky and as dangerous as Jafar? And why are you working with Gold? I thought you two were enemies. Didn't he send some wraith to kill you? I assume you returned the favor when that didn't work."
Despite talk of the Jabberwocky—who Regina knew enough of to never want to meet—she fund a genuinely amused laugh bubbling up. "A lot has changed since you left Storybrooke."
And hadn't it just. Her mother had shown up, and then her mother had died. She had lost Henry—so many times—and then found him again. Her only friend (and enemy and former teacher) had turned out to be her son's grandfather, and then the two of them had joined with the Charmings, of all people, to rescue Henry from someone more evil than either of them had ever been. And all the ironies didn't even touch the fact that Rumplestiltskin had nearly killed himself to give Regina the chance to reverse the curse he'd once goaded her into casting.
I thought you two were enemies, Will had said, but it had never been that simple. Friends, competitors, enemies, partners…what were they? Now Regina was in Wonderland, ostensibly to get a favor out of Rumplestiltskin, but in truth she'd come because she'd faced the Black Fairy down and knew how dangerous the legendary fae was, knew that the Black Fairy would to do their world—and her son—if given the chance. It probably said something very sad about the world when the fate of the Enchanted Forest rested on the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin turning good again. Neither of them were heroes, but they were what they were.
"I'm thinking that's more than a lot," Will interrupted her musings dubiously.
"You have no idea," Regina replied drily, but Robin spoke up before Will could express more doubt.
"Look, Will, you know I wasn't picked up by the curse," the outlaw said. "So you can imagine my surprise when everyone came back to the Enchanted Forest because Queen Regina had reversed her curse and Rumplestiltskin had supposedly killed himself to give her the oppurtunity to do it. Then we had our hands full of a Wicked Witch and an Evil Fairy, and suddenly we were at war. I know it seems absolutely insane, but believe me if you can't believe Regina. The entire fate of the Enchanted Forest might very well depend upon the success of our mission here."
"Only you would be idealistic enough to work with the Evil Queen," Will retorted, and then turned to eye Regina again. "So, you're supposed to be a good guy, now, huh?"
That made her snort. "More like moderately reformed."
"I suppose that's more believable, anyway," the White King shrugged. "In that case…you do know that Jafar tried to change the laws of magic, don't you?"
"Yes," she replied darkly.
"He actually succeeded for a bit. But we stopped him."
Will seemed to be expecting Regina to express displeasure with the fact that he and whatever hero friends he had had taken Jafar down, but if that was the case, he'd be waiting a long time. Although in her youth Regina had hoped to use magic to bring back the dead, she'd learned her lesson. Magic always came at a price, and the cost of breaking the laws of magic would be high enough to scramble an entire world. That's what I've been feeling, she realized abruptly. The strangeness in the air wasn't just Wonderland being Wonderland. It was a useless and trippy place, a world populated by people who acted like a three year old on a sugar high, but that didn't explain the oddness in the very fabric of the world itself. Jafar's actions, however, did.
The scars from that little power trip would persist for decades, she realized. At least Regina had cast a curse, something that wouldn't harm the nature of magic or a magical realm. Despite all her rage and pain, she'd never been this reckless, and she suddenly understood why Rumplestiltskin wanted Jafar where he could keep an eye on him.
Hell, Regina was starting to feel the same way.
"Good," she replied, quirking a smile at Robin before turning back to Will. "And now we'll take him off your hands so he doesn't try that crap again."
Will shot her another doubtful look, but at least now he disagreed with what she was saying rather than Regina's motives. "Wouldn't being a genie stop him? I couldn't do much other than my master's wishes when I was stuck as one."
Regina snorted. "You weren't already a sorcerer. Jafar's magic isn't limited to what the lamp gives him. All it would take is someone dumb enough to let him wander around free between wishes."
"Ugh. I suppose we should have held onto 'im, then."
"You had no way to know and a world to save," Robin spoke up. "And besides, it hasn't happened yet. Likely, Jafar's biding his time."
"And lulling us into a false sense of security. Yeah, I get the picture."
Perhaps Will was smarter than Regina's first impression made him appear, because he strode forward with renewed purpose, leading the way along the muddy path through the Gummer Slough, not even complaining when swamp muck made its way into his shiny new boots like he had earlier. For her part, Regina wished she could simply clear the worst of the swamp away with a wave of one hand, but magic was a little odd in Wonderland. Sometimes it was weaker than she expected and sometimes stronger; teleporting didn't seem to work but fireballs and other complex spells leapt easily to hand. She supposed that spending enough time there would even things out, rather like it had in Storybrooke, but Regina had no intention of sticking around long enough to find out.
The rest of their trip to the rundown hut (clearly the old man hadn't used a wish on this) deep in the Gummer Slough passed in friendlier conversation. Robin and Will reminisced about old jobs gone wrong and then traded tales about what they'd been up to since parting ways. Robin told a few stories about the trouble he and Regina had gotten into during the early days of the war against the Witch, and even Regina laughed when he recounted the tale of Little John trying to shove the sorceress into a river.
"I can't picture the Evil Queen running with the Merry Men," Will admitted after that.
Regina smirked. "Sorceresses don't run, dear. We teleport."
"Same difference."
"Not particularly," she retorted lightly. "In fact—"
"There it is," Robin interjected, his bow suddenly up and ready. How did Robin move so fast? Even after all this time with him, Regina wasn't sure. "Between those two oak trees."
Had Robin not gestured with his bow, Regina might never have spotted the ramshackle house. It was buried so far in the trees and so overgrown that the moss-covered stones and rotting wood blended right in with the surroundings. However, Regina got the feeling that the camouflage came from neglect rather than any purpose; the mess seemed natural, not planned. And there wasn't so much as a touch of magic on the place, genie or otherwise, though she could feel the slight glimmer of genie magic buried inside. Sleeping.
"It's in there," she said, and the threesome strode up to the door together.
"How about I do the talking?" Will volunteered before Robin could knock. "I don't know the Old Man, but I do know Wonderland, an' you don't."
"Sure," Robin replied even as Regina shrugged:
"I'm here to deal with the genie, not smooze with the locals. Be my guest."
"Right-o, t hen. Let's do this." Will knocked.
And then knocked again when there was no answer.
And again.
Even a quick scan of the place revealed no movement inside, and they could hear nothing at all. Just in case someone had to be woken up, Will pounded enthusiastically on the door, but nothing and no one stirred.
Regina groaned. "There's no one here. I am not standing out here until the old guy gets home."
They'd spent too much time in Wonderland already. There was no way to know what was going on at home, if Henry was safe or if the Black Fairy had captured him while Regina was away. She was sick of this place, and worried for her son, and Regina had had damn well enough.
The door burst open before she could even shape her magic to her will, creaking on ancient hinges and looking ready to splinter. Robin and Will exchanged a glance, and then the White King grinned.
"Well, I suppose we're back to bein' thieves, then," Will said, his voice chipper and not at all disappointed. Regina got the feeling that he found ruling Wonderland extremely boring, and obviously left the messy business of being a monarch to his wife.
"Maybe not," she murmured, leading the way into the room. Magic swept before her as she did so, slipping into every nook and cranny in that small hut and searching out tricks, traps, and—Oh. Well, that explains why he didn't answer the door. Already knowing what she would find, Regina stepped behind the overturned table to look at the decomposing body of the old man they'd sought. Her spell insisted that he'd died of natural causes, probably old age, and he'd been dead for a while. Probably two weeks, maybe longer.
"Poor bastard," Will said softly.
"Living alone and dying alone," Robin agreed. "I can't imagine anything worse." His gaze met Regina's, and she could see his heart shining in his eyes. Once Regina had thought that this old man's fate would be hers; once, she'd thought she'd accepted that. But the old hole in her heart was closing and healing over, and she would never forget how lucky she was.
But they had a job to do, so Regina squared her shoulders and bent to pick up the lamp at the old man's side. It lay on the floor only inches away from the body. Had he hoped to save himself with a wish? If he had, the old man had moved too late. A quick scan told Regina that the genie was indeed still trapped inside his lamp, so the old man hadn't even managed to release him. In fact, he hadn't used any of his three wishes at all. But why keep a genie if you weren't going to make a wish? Even her idiot too-good husband had managed better than that. Regina's fingers touched the handle on the edge of the lamp.
"Mistress mine, my will is thine. Tell me your wishes three—"
"Save it for someone who cares," Regina cut him off, rolling her eyes. "I already know the rules, and I'm not interested in making any wishes."
Jafar turned to face her, a calculating look sweeping over his handsome features. Were good looks a requirement for becoming a genie? Sidney hadn't exactly been hard on the eyes, although Will wasn't Regina's type at all. Jafar, however, wore the expression of a man who knew he could manipulate people, particularly women, and he was gazing at Regina like she was a potential chess piece.
"Then whatever would you want a genie for, Mistress mine?" he asked in a voice more suited for the bedroom than a trashy old house.
Regina snorted at the fool. "I don't want a genie at all…Jafar."
"Then grant me my freedom and I will forever be in your debt."
"Fat chance," Will cut in, and the sorcerer-turned-genie wheeled to face him. "You get to stay in that lamp, y'bastard. Whether you like it or not."
Hatred flared in Jafar's eyes, and Regina felt his magic rising to attack the White King. But as a genie, Jafar was more handicapped than he'd been as a sorcerer, so while Regina could have stopped him with brute force, she chose a more efficient method.
"Attack anyone that I don't tell you to, and you'll be back in this lamp for the entire trip back to the Enchanted Forest," she snapped.
Curiosity seemed to stop him as much as the threat did. Slowly, the burst of power simmered down to a mere whisper, and Regina watched him curiously. Jafar was powerful indeed, and would be a useful ally—if they could trust him. Which they couldn't, of course. The genie was obviously already thinking about ways to get around the power holding the lamp gave her.
"I do hope you'll tell me what your wishes are, then, Lady…?"
"Queen," Robin cut in, a smirk playing across his face. But Jafar didn't give him a chance to continue, turning to Will with a malicious smile.
"Did you lose little Ana already, Knave?" the sorcerer mocked the younger man. "That was a quick mourning period, but I suppose needs must…"
Will went red. "You—"
"I'm no Queen of Wonderland," Regina cut in before Will could snarl anything more, meeting Jafar's nasty grin with her own. "I'm the Evil Queen. I'm sure you've heard of me. And you'll be coming with me if you like it or not."
A/N: Thank you yet again to all my wonderful readers! Questions for this chapter: 1) Do you think Regina will wind up using any wishes to keep Jafar in line (when he undoubtedly tries to get out of his situation) and 2) Now that Grumpy and co. have found the Grove of Six Trees, what will happen?
Stay tuned for Chapter 40: "The Puzzle Assembles", in which traps come in pairs, Norco returns, and Rumplestiltskin's bad feeling comes around to bite him.