Regina stared at the ghostly figure of her mother, looking just like she remembered her to have looked when she was still a little girl. Cora slowly rose, or floated, up off the chair by the spinning wheel, rising into the air as she turned to face them head on.
"This... can't be", Regina protested. "The spell opened a limited portal for... talking!"
"It's me", Mary Margaret said behind her, her voice sounding weak. "I killed Cora... she sensed my presence and found a way to bleed into our world."
Cora suddenly soared forward, hand outstretched and face focused. Regina acted on instinct and stepped up to block the door. Her mother's spirit rose to stand in front of her, hovering so that she was at least a head higher than her daughter, doing everything to intimidate her. Regina felt intimidated, sure enough, but her will to protect the woman behind her and the unborn child in said woman's belly was stronger.
"Back down, mother", she ordered. "You will answer my questions. Now tell me; what did you do to Zelena?"
Cora's eyes narrowed slightly, before she raised her hand. It felt cold and hard when the slap it delivered came in touch with Regina's shoulder, sending her to the left with tremendous force. She landed hard on her back in the adjoining corridor and nearly blacked out, but forced herself to rise and walk back to the corner. Cora was already moving towards Mary Margaret, who was backing towards the stairs, her lower lip trembling in fear.
Acting on instinct Regina summoned her magic and surrounded both of them in purple smoke, transporting them back to the library downstairs. Their relief was, however, brief as Cora's spirit came soaring down through the floor, arms once again outstretched. The force she surrounded herself with knocked over a lamp, causing it to shatter as it landed on the floor. Mary Margaret raised her hands to shield herself while Regina did the opposite; she flung her hands out in front of her and created magical bonds to hold her mother's spirit in place. Cora was flung back towards the opposite wall.
"You're holding her off!" Mary Margaret said in surprise.
"But I can't hold her forever", Regina replied, not daring to look away from the spirit. If she did her focus might drop one small step down the ladder and that was all that would be needed for her mother to get the upper hand.
"The door's gone!" Arianne exclaimed.
"How can a door be gone?" Emma asked. "We walked out through it less than thirty minutes ago!"
David threw himself against the concrete wall that had appeared where the door to Regina's mansion should be.
"It has to be here", he growled. "It has to be!"
"It's shielded by magic", Catriona said.
"Which means there must be a spell to reverse it all", Rachel filled in and picked out her phone. "I'll call Toby; he's got the most knowledge of spells. There's got to be one that can make that door appear again."
Cora struggled against the bonds Regina had summoned and with every move her mother's spirit made Regina felt herself weaken. Beads of sweat had already started to trail down from her forehead.
"I don't know how much longer I can hold her off", she warned the other woman in the room. She bit down hard on her lip when Cora made another attempt to break free.
"Cora, I'm sorry", Mary Margaret suddenly begged. "Please, forgive me!"
The spirit made yet another attempt to break free and this time Regina felt that she had almost succeeded. Mary Margaret must have noticed it too, because she hid with a startled yelp behind her former nemesis.
"Save your breath", Regina ordered, her breathing getting heavier with each second, "your mother was nothing like my mother; she only understands power and weakness."
She gritted her teeth and put every ounce of strength into her spell.
"But if she wants to kill you", she called, making sure that Cora could hear every word she said, "she's going to have to go through me!"
In the corner of her eye she could see Mary Margaret turn towards her with a surprised expression. Well, Regina thought, maybe they were not enemies anymore. There was a time when she had cared for the woman next to her, however short those moments had been, and after what had happened in Neverland and right before they returned to the Enchanted Forest, surely Mary Margaret would understand that she did not intend to let anyone kill her, or her unborn child?
"This isn't about you", she said, struggling to keep the spell up. "This is about her... and me."
Cora then managed to break the spell, causing a minor explosion of magic in the room. Regina breathed hard and gritted her teeth, before moving so that she stood in front of Mary Margaret.
"It's time for answers, mother", she ordered, raising her voice. "What did you do to Zelena?"
The next moment Cora struck out towards her again, hitting her cheek and sending her towards a nearby desk. Regina saw stars and rolled down onto the floor, ears ringing. She blinked and tried to focus. Mary Margaret screamed, but it did not sound like they were even in the same room anymore. She shook her head and slowly managed to regain focus. Her eyes immediately shot in the direction of Mary Margaret, finding her in a cushioned chair on the other side of the room, head tilted back, eyes wide and body trembling.
"Mary Margaret!" Regina found herself screaming as she rose and rushed up to her. The pregnant woman seemed to be encased in the same ghostly blue glow that had surrounded Cora. Regina straightened up and summoned her magic again.
"Hold on", she begged, "I won't let you go."
Her hands started to glow as she flung them forward, fingers flexing as if she tried to grip onto something. She felt them close around something cold and hard and staggered back, seeing Cora's spirit float out of Mary Margaret as she pulled. Mary Margaret's body immediately slumped back and her eyes closed, but Regina did not have time to focus on that. They were in the library, she reflected, where the portal had previously opened. There should be a residue of it still present up by the ceiling. Gritting her teeth she pushed her mother's spirit upwards and saw, to her relief, the swirling vortex forming above her. Cora's hands tried to grip onto something, but Regina was adamant in her mission; she would not let her mother get control of the situation again.
Managing one final push upwards she saw how the vortex captured Cora and swallowed her before disappearing. Just then the door to the library burst open and the ones who had previously left the mansion stormed in.
"What the hell was that?" Emma asked. Breathing hard Regina managed to tear her gaze from the ceiling.
"Cora", she responded, before turning back towards Mary Margaret. David was already kneeling next to her.
"Is she okay?" she asked. Her voice sounded like it was close to breaking but for once she did not care.
"Mary Margaret", David begged, "can you hear me?"
"Cora", the pregnant woman mumbled. "Not what we thought... trying to communicate."
"She was?" Regina gasped.
"What'd she say?" Clarissa asked from behind her.
"Leopold", Mary Margaret mumbled, "my mother... my mother..."
David gently hushed her and touched her brow, trying to ensure her that whatever it was she had experienced it was alright, she was safe.
"She's not making any sense", Emma said. "We need to call a doctor."
"Already done", Rachel said, stepping in through the door. She was followed by Wolfgang, who in turn was holding up a very weak Catriona. Regina's eyes widened.
"What happened?"
"She shares some sort of connection with Mary Margaret", Arianne responded. "She collapsed while we were getting inside; guessing about the same time as Mary Margaret was affected by your mother."
"Doctor Whale is on his way", Rachel continued. "He'll be able to help them both."
"But... if she knows something that could help us..." Regina begun, looking back at Mary Margaret.
"It's going to have to wait", David ordered, his voice as sharp as his gaze.
"It can't wait!" Regina exclaimed. "If we want to stop Zelena we have to know what the hell she's doing and why!"
"I can help with half of that."
Regina turned around again. She had not noticed that Belle had been among those who had entered the room; the small brunette must have stayed in the background during the whole thing.
"What?" Regina said, straightening up.
"She's planning on going back", Belle responded, "back in time."
Cold dread filled Regina as she took in the words.
"Are you certain? No one's ever been able to cast a spell to go back in time."
"Well, clearly she thinks she can succeed", Wolfgang muttered as he rose from his position next to Catriona, who by now was resting in another chair.
"Brains, courage, a resilient heart", Belle continued, "those ingredients are in every time-travel spell I've found."
"Brains?" Regina said and looked around.
"Gold's", Arianne responded. "Indira overheard a discussion between Zelena and Gold where the Witch said she needed his brain. We thought she meant knowledge of magic, until it turned out she actually needed your physical heart for her spell. Maryse alerted Belle of it this afternoon while she was researching."
"Why go back in time?" David asked. "I mean, we have no idea what she's trying to accomplish."
"I do", Mary Margaret said and forced her head up. "She... she didn't..."
"Don't push yourself", David advised, but Mary Margaret just shook her head stubbornly. On the chair on the other side of the room Catriona grunted and slowly got back to her senses.
"She didn't want to give up Zelena", she said and opened her eyes. "She was forced to... by... by my mother, Princess Eva... she told a secret, just like I did."
"Wait", Emma said, frowning, "I thought our family were the good guys."
"Life is too messy for it to ever be that simple", Regina sighed.
"You're saying if it wasn't for your mother", Rachel said with a frown, "Regina's mother would have kept Zelena?"
"She would have been the one tutored by Rumplestiltskin", Belle agreed.
"All if it weren't for this... Princess Eva?" Wolfgang asked. Mary Margaret leaned her head back against the chair again.
"Zelena's going back to kill my mother."
A deafening silence settled over the room for a few seconds.
"You'll... you'll have never been born", Regina eventually managed to say.
"I'm guessing this is where your help ends", Emma ironically stated. If she was not in such an emotional turmoil Regina would have shot her a glare.
"No, think it through, Miss Swan; that means you'll have never been born, and neither will Henry."
"And on this different path, Regina", Arianne said, "you may not be, either."
"Well, then it's a good thing no one's ever succeeded with this... time-travel nonsense", Hook pointed out.
"The baby", David suddenly said and rose.
"What?" Clarissa asked, voicing everyone's surprise.
"That's what's missing", David responded, "that's why none have succeeded; somehow, some way, our baby's the key."
Mary Margaret's hands went up to touch her swollen belly as her husband spoke.
"Zelena went through a lot of effort to get close to our unborn child", he continued. "That's what she's after."
"What is she going to do with it?" Mary Margaret whispered. David shook his head and knelt next to her again, placing his hands on top of hers.
"It doesn't matter", he promised, "she's not going to get it. We're going to stop her. Since our baby's not born, she's stuck, and we have what we need; time."
Mary Margaret looked at him for a while before turning to look down at her belly.
"Just not very much of it", Catriona said, sitting up straighter and looking at them. Everyone looked at her for a moment before their attention focused once again on Mary Margaret's belly and the child that rested in there. They did not know how far she was in her pregnancy, but judging by the size of her everyone guessed the same thing; she could give birth any day now.
I think we're in trouble. Or they are. Damn.