"She said what?"

I was putting on my jacket and exiting the house by the way of the second floor window before the person on the other side could confirm that there will be a witchfight tonight.

And when I thought that I spent the first week after Ella forced the phone on me by saying it's making that noise again, or some variation thereof… It took me surprisingly short amount of time to learn to appreciate the noisy thing. It was certainly faster than getting messages around using birds.

"I'm on my way," I said.

A bit of an understatement. I was at Granny's seconds after Regina left, looking depressed, and still disbelieving.

"And she had no idea they were sisters?" I asked Granny, just continuing our previous conversation, when I found her standing behind the counter and pouring herself a drink.

"She looked like she didn't. Doesn't change the most important thing…" she told me.

"What?"

"I was right," she said. Her wolfish grin looked anything but amused as she did.

I rolled my eyes.

"Did she said anything about why she took our memories?" I said, sitting down.

"No. She said what she wanted, though," she said. And then repeated witches threats. That sounded a bit too vague for my liking.

Almost made me wished for good old times when villains weren't trying to be all mysterious and… Oh, who was I kidding? One usually found out what they were really after all along, once they were ripping it out of one's chest.

"I hate villains," I sighed.

"Well, hopefully we will have one less to hate by sunset," said Granny, not sounding too optimistically about it.

"Doubt it. If she just wanted to kill her she would have done it. There would be no need to curse us all," said Blue, joining us.

I studied her closely, trying to figure out what seemed so strange about her. Besides the fact that I didn't have to explain to her how magic worked today. She looked…

"Sober," she told me, giving me a look. "Just came from a funeral."

"That was today…? Wait… who shows up and starts threatening people just after a funeral. That's just… Wicked," I had to admit.

"I'm starting to think she'll be a real problem," nodded Blue thoughtfully.

"You are?" I really couldn't do this without letting some sarcasm into my tone. Not that she noticed.

"Regina looked worried."

Now to that I really had nothing to say. Too busy trying to convince myself that it was just shock of finding out about a previously unknown relative. I really didn't like to think about Regina having doubts about her ability to use magic to cause mayhem. Because ig there was one thing that could make me worried, this would be it...

"So what did I miss…?"

We all turned to the door, finding Jefferson looking incredibly pleased. Which made me realize that it was high time for me to start asking questions. Because that was not a normal reaction to the fact that there was going to be a showdown between two people who could use magic to tear this town to shreds.

But just as I was about to start asking I found I couldn't.

"Couldn't get a babysitter…?" said Granny regarding him very disapprovingly when she noticed Grace.

"Why hello there," said Blue before anyone could react. And just like that, that little problem was solved.

"Oh you can't be serious. You know she likes kids…" I said as he sat down next to me. Keeping my voice down. For now.

"Of course I know. Everyone knows. The Dark Curse can be traced to her liking kids enough to hand them magic beans…" he answered. "Now don't you think that if she still has some stashed somewhere, it will be better if they ended up with someone who knows how dangerous portal travel can be…?"

"That's just…" devious. I really wanted to say that. That would be an appropriate word for that scheme.

But he did have a point. Which was the only thing that kept me from interfering.

"You better not be taking her to the witchfight," said Granny.

"Of course I'm not. Speaking of… anyone made a bet yet…?"

"Oh, you can't be…"

But I didn't even finish that. He was serious. I looked around, making sure no one was paying us any attention and just said it. "What did she do to you?"

"Want a whole list?"

"Just tell me."

So he did.

Sometime during that story I turned pale. Then white. Then Granny started looking at me like she wanted to call me an ambulance.

Which wasn't such a bad idea, since I didn't feel this close to fainting since mother forced me to wear that murderously tight corset.

"Dru… If you're going to tell me that it's someone your fault Regina is a heartless monster that drove me mad…" he said, no longer able to ignore what was going on in front of him. I just shook my head, having a really hard time finding words.

"No. I'm going to tell you a story. Just… show me your hands first."

"What?"

I just caught hold of them, as I explained that I wanted to be sure he wasn't holding anything that might be used as a weapon…

"Whatever you think you did, I'm not going to hurt you," he said, thoroughly confused, but not trying to escape my grip. And I really didn't know how to start explaining it. But then I remembered to… start at the beginning.

Something my uncle Henry used to say.

"It is my fault. And I don't mean, it's my fault that I never tried to slip something poisonous into her tea, even though I had a hundred opportunities."

"You did?" asked Granny, getting confused too.

"Yes. I…"

"You're some kind of distant cousin of hers," said Jefferson with calmness that I found unbearable right now. "Oh don't look so shocked. All the aristocrats are related. Everyone knows that…"

"Stop trying to make me feel better about it and just listen," I said. My nails were leaving marks on his skin, but I didn't think I could do anything about that. I had pretty hard time just breathing. "Henry would never even be in Wonderland if it wasn't for me."

"What?"

"I was warned about Queen of Hearts planning something. I could have warned them. I should have. But mother was working on some new scheme and I had to do something about it and by the time I got to Regina's castle it was too late. Don't even think about telling me it's not my fault. It is…" I said. "She only asked you for help because… I didn't tell her that I could take her to Wonderland."

"Oh…" Finally he looked at me as if he understood. Except he didn't seem to be anywhere mad enough. "That doesn't change things, you know… I still can't wait for that witchfight…"

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"I did."

I let go of him, since it became pretty clear that I was in no danger. Not that that thought prevented me from descending into depression no amount of alcohol could fix. Because this was wrong… So very wrong. And I couldn't help being mad that he wasn't.

"I had a looking glass the Duchess gave me. Just in case I felt like breaking my word and going to visit her," I said, trying one last time to make him see. "If I just told her… if I let her use it, none of it would have happened."

"You did…?" he asked. Sounding mildly interested instead of angry.

"Nothing I can say will make you…" I realized.

"It's in the past," he smiled. Actually smiled. I really didn't know how to react to that. "And you know what's in the future…"

"You can't just change the subject to the witchfight and act like…" I said, getting a little mad myself.

"So the King of Hearts was your uncle?" interrupted Granny before I could get too loud about it.

I turned to her, wanting to tell her, it was a good try but it won't work.

"Oh, we're not keeping that a secret anymore?" said Blue, picking up on that, and rejoining the grownups for a moment.

"I never told you to keep it a secret… Actually, I never told you. How do you know?"

"I played poker with you," she said. Probably thinking that was an explanation, since she went right back to ignoring the confused looks we were giving her.

"You kept winning, didn't you?" Jefferson said. "Being related to Queen of Hearts can do that. She did hate to lose…"

"I'm not related to the Queen. My father was Henry's cousin… And stop trying to change the subject…!"

"Right," said Granny. "We were talking about the witchfight…"

Just like that, I was overruled.

And it was all forgotten… One of the proper villainous things I did back in the day, and they could just dismiss it so easily. Not because they had hard time imagining me doing something that ruined lives – because they had hard time imagining me doing it on purpose. And these were the people who believed me when I told them about the lion with black mane that attacked me in the Dark forest. And the scar I gave him.

"So we're just going to ignore I ruined your life?" I said, unable to keep silent.

"Exactly. Because if we were to overanalyze things, I'm pretty sure we would find out that I did the same for you… I was working for a man that tried to steal your sister's firstborn," he reminded. "All stories are like that."

"Sooner or later everyone steps on the wrong butterfly. It's a mess. The best you can do is try to enjoy it," said Granny.

"Are you all really so excited about that fight tonight…?" I said, looking from face to face. Finding the answer.

And these bloodthirsty people were my friends…

I couldn't have chosen better.

"Fine. Let's talk about the witches – but no one is making bets," I said, giving up.

"We're not?" said Grace, sounding way too disappointed. If I wasn't getting slightly faint about what she might have overheard from our previous conversation, I would point out how disquieting that statement was.

"I know, I know, she's spending too much time with Will."

"No kidding…"

And next thing I knew, the sunset was almost here and we were heading for the crossroad in front of library. Loosing Grace and Blue somewhere along the way, because we might have been bad in our mild, non-villanous way, but we weren't into child-endangerment – and finding Ruby was joining us. Inappropriately to the situation we were laughing and generally not getting into the spirit of things. Because, let's face it, there was nothing to fear for any of us – the worst that could happen had already happened to each of us.

"I'm sorry. For starting the chain of events that ended up getting you kicked out of a window… by a princess…" I whispered when we found our place in the crowd. As far away from sheriff and her parents as was possible, which meant that we had the worst view imaginable.

"Still not mad at you."

I just sighed and said nothing, because that was when Regina showed up and I really didn't want to miss her one-liner.