Chapter Seventeen: Family

The question lingered in the silence.

David's expression – so frank, so earnest, so oblivious to what Mary Margaret was about to say – stalled her voice. It was hard enough to think the answer, but to actually say it? To put into words her own failure, to acknowledge the truth that would wipe the look of anticipation and excitement from her husband's face? How could she do that to him?

She swallowed and lowered her gaze.

"Mary Margaret?" David pressed in concern, his voice softer, quieter. His fingers came to rest on her chin, tilting her face upwards, and they locked gazes. His eyes darted upwards, to the cut on her forehead, and he traced it, his finger running gently over the wound.

But his eyes settled back on Mary Margaret's gaze, and he waited.

"She didn't make it through the portal," Mary Margaret said, tears burning in her eyes. She blinked, then brushed them away angrily. Now was not the time to cry. Tears would not bring her daughter back.

"I… she… what?"

Mary Margaret pulled away from him and stood up. "Something happened. A… a storm. Emma was knocked overboard. We both were. But I was pulled into the portal, and it closed before Emma could reach it."

She started pacing. Henry stepped backwards, scurrying out of her way, while David slowly rose to his feet.

"Overboard? You were on a ship?" he asked, bewildered.

His confusion – and the fact that he clearly did not, could not, know much of the story only vaguely registered with Mary Margaret. She paused in her pacing just long enough to nod at him, then said, "We were still close to some of the islands, though. She must have made it back to one of them. She must have."

Her words were strong, emphatic, and the fact that David was only barely following them did not matter, because she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince him.

She was supposed to protect her daughter, and she'd failed.

She stopped her pacing once more and looked up at the ceiling, still blinking back tears. "We'll get her back," she said again.

"Of course we will," David agreed simply, coming to her side and grasping her shoulders. She tilted her head to the side, studying the expression on his face – the determination, and the utter belief that they would triumph in the end. He smiled wanly. "Is she with the other princess? Um… Aurora?"

"No…" Mary Margaret sighed. "We were separated from Aurora and Mulan. Emma's alone." She glanced to the side, aware of Henry's presence hovering in the background. She wanted to say something reassuring, but couldn't think of the right words. She had already promised that they would get Emma back – and they would. One way or another, she was going to find her daughter.

She just didn't know how.

David looked between her and Henry, then asked, "Is Emma near our kingdom? Is there anyone she can go to for help?"

Mary Margaret felt her lips curl into a sardonic smile and said with a bitterness she didn't realize she possessed, "It wouldn't matter where she was. There's nothing left there. Our home is destroyed, David." She paused, then added, "And the ogres are back."

To his credit, David managed to keep his expression fairly neutral as he asked, "So Regina's curse destroyed the land, too?"

Mary Margaret shrugged tiredly. "I guess." She looked down at Henry. "Come on, let's go downstairs. I need to talk to Regina."

David looked around and frowned, as though for the first time realizing that he was in Regina's house. He squinted, scanning the room suspiciously, before turning to Mary Margaret with raised eyebrows.

But it was Henry who answered the unspoken question.

"My mom put a… a force-field… around the house. To keep her mother out," the boy explained. "Only a few of us can enter or leave. I asked her to bring you here, to keep you safe."

David nodded slowly, but if he wondered why Regina had agreed to that request, he didn't mention it. Instead, he looked over at his wife and asked, "Regina's mother made it through the portal?"

Mary Margaret chewed her lip. "She defeated us," she whispered. "I… we couldn't stop her. We had to find another way. It delayed our return for three days."

"But you made it back," David said, taking her hands in his own. "You made it back to me, and we'll get Emma back, too."

The sound of footsteps on the stairs caused Mary Margaret to pull away from David and turn towards the door. David's hands slipped off of hers, but came to rest on her back, and she was absurdly grateful for his touch. She could feel the warmth of his skin through the fabric of her shirt, and it gave her a support, a confidence, that she hadn't felt in a very long time.

She straightened her back, standing up taller, just as Regina stepped into the room.

And was struck, once again, by how tired Regina looked.

"Regina," David said.

Regina's lips flattened into a thin line. "You're awake," she said, her tone carefully neutral.

"Yes," David agreed.

There was an awkward silence.

Mary Margaret cleared her throat. "We need to talk," she said.

Regina smiled coolly, but to Mary Margaret's surprise, she simply nodded in acceptance. Her eyes moved to Henry, and her expression melted into something softer as she said, "Henry, why don't you go downstairs and get started on your homework? We will be down in a moment."

Henry jutted his chin out stubbornly. "I want to hear whatever you have to say about Emma," he retorted, suspicion flashing in his eyes.

Regina hesitated, then said, "We will be down in a moment, and you can hear everything then. I promise that we will tell you what we can."

"If you're just going to tell me everything later, why do I need to leave now?" Henry grumbled petulantly.

Mary Margaret opened her mouth to say something – to agree that Emma was Henry's mother and Henry had a right to know – but Regina sent her a look that made her bite her tongue. It wasn't so much the anger in Regina's gaze, though there was plenty of that; but rather it was the worry that gave Mary Margaret pause.

David apparently missed the exchange, because he started to argue, but Mary Margaret caught his hand quickly and gave it a squeeze. He slanted a puzzled look at her, but bit his tongue.

"Henry, please," Regina continued.

Henry huffed. "You haven't let me go to school since your mother came through the portal, but I still have to do all the homework?"

"Yes," Regina said.

At the same time that Mary Margaret asked in surprise, "You haven't been to school?" Regina was a lot of things – but she had always valued education. Mary Margaret could not remember the last time Regina had allowed her son to miss school for any reason other than being sick.

"It wasn't safe," Regina answered in a clipped tone.

Mary Margaret nodded. That, at least, she could perfectly believe. With Cora here…

She shuddered.

Henry gave Mary Margaret a pleading look, perhaps expecting her to intercede on his behalf, but she just gave him a sympathetic smile and silence.

He scowled, and stalked out of the room.

Regina stepped into the hallway to watch him walk down the stairs, and once he was out of sight she reentered the bedroom with a grim expression and closed the door.

Looking straight at Mary Margaret, she asked bluntly, "What are the chances that Miss Swan is still alive?" Mary Margaret's breath caught in her throat and David stiffened angrily. But Regina held up a hand with the same regal poise that she had possessed as queen, and added, "I need you to answer this question rationally and not emotionally, Miss Blanchard. What are the chances that Miss Swan is still alive?"

"We will find her and get her back," David growled angrily, but Regina didn't even look at him. Her gaze was locked on Mary Margaret, her eyes boring into the other woman with an intensity that was in stark contrast to the weariness in the lines of her face.

Mary Margaret let out a breath. At least she understood now why Regina had asked Henry to leave the room for this part of the conversation.

"We were close to some islands when the storm hit," Mary Margaret said. "If Emma made it to the island, she is at least still alive now." She thought for a moment, then added, "She might even be safest on the island. Ogres can't swim."

Regina pursed her lips. "And… do you think she did make it to an island?"

"Yes," Mary Margaret said emphatically. She couldn't explain how she knew this, but she absolutely knew it. Her daughter was still alive.

Regina studied her expression for a long moment, then turned to David and said, "I have no doubt that you and Miss Blanchard will do everything in your power to retrieve Miss Swan. But that does not actually mean that you will be successful."

"Is that a threat?" David hissed.

Regina rolled her eyes, but the weariness in her expression took some of the sting of condescension out of the gesture. "Of course not. I intend to help you, not hinder you. But I am merely pointing out a fact." Her gaze flicked towards the closed door and she added softly, "Good doesn't always win, David. That is a lesson that my son had to learn the hard way. I'd rather not make it worse for him by pretending that everything is going to be alright now."

"A little hope is better than none," Mary Margaret countered.

Regina laughed hollowly, a dark look passing through her eyes as though she was remembering something from long ago. "And false hope, once it is revealed as false, hurts all the more for it." She sighed heavily. "Of course I believe we should tell Henry that we are doing everything in our power to find Miss Swan. Of course I believe that we should provide reassurances for him… within reason. I am merely asking that you temper your… optimism… with a dose of reality."

The formality of the words was not lost on Mary Margaret. Regina had always used decorum as a shield, a protection against emotion, and she was obviously trying to disguise her own fear. She did not want to hurt Henry.

"It isn't false hope," David snapped. "We will get Emma back."

Regina exhaled slowly, and didn't answer.

Mary Margaret broke the standoff by pulling away from David and heading towards the door. She knew the others would follow her, and while she wasn't sure how much of this conversation to have in front of Henry, she knew it was a good idea to seek out his presence now. Having Henry in the room would keep everyone civil, and she could feel the tension starting to build in the air.

David hurried after her.

On the stairs, he asked, "Have you seen anyone since you've been back? Leroy? Ruby?"

From behind them, Mary Margaret heard Regina's soft chuckle, and the older woman commented dryly, "So you haven't told him yet?"

"Told me what?" David asked, catching Mary Margaret's arm and stopping her. "What else is going on?"

Regina stepped passed the two of them and descended onto the main floor while Mary Margaret tried to put into words everything that had gone wrong in the town.

Regina found Henry sitting at the kitchen table. He looked up hopefully when she entered, but his eyes clouded over when he saw it was just her.

She wondered vaguely how many more times his reaction could catch her by surprise, how many more times it could hurt.

She sat down across from him.

"Where are David and Mary Margaret?" he asked, giving the closed door a puzzled look.

"I believe they are discussing the most recent events in Storybrooke," Regina said.

She watched Henry closely, studying his expression and wondering whether or not she could risk asking her question. The suspicion that had flared this morning was mostly gone, though he was clearly still annoyed at her for forcing him out of the conversation moments before.

She looked towards the door. She didn't know how much time she would have with Henry in the future. Although she could make a logical argument for why Henry should stay with her until Cora had been dealt with, she wasn't sure that either Mary Margaret or David would buy it.

They weren't exactly known for being logical.

And even if they did believe her, even if they did accept her reasoning, would they insist on staying here as well, imposing themselves on her life and her hospitality? They were certainly meddlesome enough to do it.

She closed her eyes for a moment. She wanted to ask this question later, when Emma's absence wasn't looming over them quite so forcefully, but she also didn't want to involve Mary Margaret or David in what would likely be a personal quest for answers.

She opened her eyes and took her chances.

"Henry, what was on the final pages of your book? The pages you tore out?"

Henry started, then narrowed his eyes and asked suspiciously, "Why?"

She knew she had to tread delicately. She had put him off the last time he'd wondered why the book was so biased against her, and she desperately needed to keep him disinterested. If he did anything stupid or reckless in his pursuit of answers…

"Well, I wondered if perhaps the book said anything about my mother," Regina lied. "About how she and Captain Hook – and Aurora and Mulan – escaped the curse. It could help us."

Henry considered this, still giving her a distrustful look, but finally seemed to relent. He shook his head, and said, "It didn't say anything about her."

"Are you sure?"

Henry nodded, a far away look in his eyes. "It was just about how to break your curse."

Regina raised an eyebrow. That she had not been expecting. The book had told Henry how to break the curse?

Before she could ask anything else, David stormed into the room, followed by Mary Margaret. It was clear that they were both angry, but David's anger was louder and more vibrant. He was pacing, his eyes narrowed and his lips bared into a snarl.

"So I take it you told him about Leah and Stefan and Miss Lucas?" Regina commented.

"And Charles," David snapped. "I can't believe Charles of all people…"

Regina leaned back in her seat. She had no idea how Charles figured into this, but she was surprised that he would have done anything to so anger David. He had always been quite fond of Snow and her Charming.

Mary Margaret laid a hand on his arm, and David paused in his pacing and gave her a tight smile that did not reach his eyes.

"We have to do something," he growled.

"I already tried, David," Mary Margaret countered softly, reasonably. "They aren't going to listen to us. We need to come up with a new plan – a different plan."

Regina pursed her lips. In the past, Snow's only truly successful major plan had involved an all-out war, and that was not guaranteed to work this time around. Besides, war would be viewed quite differently in this land than it had been in their past home, and the consequences of a battle might be more than Mary Margaret could handle.

Mary Margaret rubbed at her eyes, a frown furrowing her brow. "If only we could get them to see reason…"

Regina bit back a sarcastic remark. As far as she was concerned, Stefan and Leah were not the only ones unable to see reason in this situation.

She stood up.

The dizziness hit her quite suddenly, and she swayed ever so slightly on her feet. One hand reached down, fingertips skimming the surface of the table to steady her, while she slid the other hand onto the back of the chair to keep herself upright.

Her movements were quick, subtle. David and Henry did not notice her short-lived vertigo.

But Mary Margaret did. Her eyes narrowed on Regina for a moment, and Regina staved off the inevitable question by remarking swiftly, "I doubt you can get Leah or Stefan to see reason, so you will need to come up with a different idea."

"I've got one," David suggested dryly, his tone clearly conveying exactly what he wanted to do to the people who stood between him and Ruby.

"Diplomacy is preferable to physical force," Mary Margaret admonished quietly, though she looked far from convinced. She lifted a hand to brush away a few strands of hair, and her fingers ghosted over the gash on her forehead.

She winced.

Diplomacy is easier when you are everyone's beloved princess, Regina thought bitterly, but she did not say the words aloud. She doubted they would be well-received, but Mary Margaret and David would learn the hard truth soon enough. She might have been the adored, caring, perfect princess of the past, but this wasn't the Enchanted Forest and nothing was quite so black and white here.

Cora would see to that.

A thin smile curled Regina's lips. Some part of her desperately wanted to be there to see Mary Margaret fall from the pedestal she'd been place on in the past.

Mary Margaret turned her attention back to Regina and asked, "How many kingdoms did you curse?"

Regina raised an eyebrow at the question, but answered readily enough, "The curse took everyone in your kingdom, as well as any kingdom that had allied with you. I also cursed the kingdoms of the people who had remained neutral during our war, provided that I had asked them for help and they had refused." She ticked the names off on her fingers, "You, Midas, and Charles fall into the first category. Leah and Stefan and Thomas and Primrose fall into the second category."

"Thomas and Primrose?" Henry asked eagerly.

"Rapunzel's parents," Regina answered, knowing he would at least recognize that name, even if he knew nothing of the true story of the locked-away princess. She looked back at Mary Margaret. "I also took the two orders of magical beings you were friendly with – the dwarves and the fairies. I took Ariel as well, though she was already human, so perhaps she doesn't count as magical."

She said it all simply, matter-of-factly, but she could see the dismay and disgust on Mary Margaret's face at the number of people she'd cursed. She didn't want the younger woman's expression to bother her, and yet somehow it did, and she found herself averting her gaze.

Angry at her own weakness, she added spitefully, "From other lands I took people who had failed me in specific ways."

"Such as?" Mary Margaret prompted.

Regina thought of Whale, but had no desire to talk about that.

Instead, she said simply, "Jefferson," then added, "Maleficent."

Mary Margaret studied Regina for a moment, then asked pointedly, "But you didn't curse Captain Hook? He failed you, didn't he?"

Regina hesitated. Hook most of told Mary Margaret and Emma the full story about their first meeting, and Mary Margaret was obviously hoping for some answer that would show her in a better light, that would explain why she had attempted matricide.

She bristled, and found herself replying coldly, "I didn't know he had failed me until Henry told me that my mother was still alive. It was unexpected."

She felt supreme satisfaction at the way Mary Margaret flinched.

David put the pieces together quickly, and looked between his wife and Regina. Finally, he demanded in an aghast tone, "You sent someone to kill your own mother?"

Regina opened her mouth to answer, intending something scathing and derisive, when she heard Henry's surprised inhale and caught sight of his eyes trained on her in disbelief.

She had forgotten he was listening.

"It's… complicated," she said softly, skirting the issue quickly. To Mary Margaret, she added, "And I am not the one who arranged for Hook to stay behind. I have a feeling my mother did that." She stepped away from the chair that she was still using as a support and added, "The only person I deliberately wanted to leave behind was Cora."

"So why didn't you just not curse her?" David asked skeptically.

Regina sighed inwardly. People who did not use magic thought it was so simple, so easy, to manipulate. But it wasn't, and the curse was even more challenging than most. It had played on her emotions, and instead of being able to make it take specific people, she had merely been able to make it take groups of people towards whom she felt certain emotions. Anyone she disliked, anyone she blamed for her fall, anyone who had failed her or betrayed her… anyone who had hurt her.

Unfortunately, her mother fell into several of those categories, and the only way Regina had thought she could keep her mother out of the curse – and therefore out of her happy ending – was to kill her.

She didn't say any of that aloud. David was too thick-witted to understand.

Mary Margaret, perhaps realizing that her silence meant she would not answer the question, said to David, "It is a lot of different kingdoms, a lot of different cultures and traditions. I don't know how we're going to unite everyone."

"You're not going to unite everyone," Regina answered flatly. "It's pointless to even try. The most you can hope for is to avoid an all-out war."

David glared at her. "We can do more than that."

Regina rolled her eyes.

"Alright, let's first focus on how we're going to find Emma," Mary Margaret said, once again stepping in to play the peacekeeper.

David nodded, and the eager look on Henry's face was enough to force Regina to reluctantly acquiesce.

"Cora's probably looking for her, too," Mary Margaret said, "so we need to move quickly."

"But Emma's back in your land," Henry protested, confused. "How can Cora be looking for her? How can Cora do anything to her when they're in different lands?"

That, Regina knew, was a very good question.

"I don't know," Mary Margaret admitted, resting her gaze on Henry for only a moment before she turned to Regina again, "but I am sure that she caused the storm. It was magical – I could feel something different about it. Something strong, powerful… dangerous. Almost… angry."

"The wind was angry?" Regina mocked, though she silently had to agree with Mary Margaret's assumption. One way or another, Cora had played a role in preventing Emma's return.

David sent her another glare, but Mary Margaret ignored her comment and continued, "And earlier we felt as though we were being watched."

"Watched?" David echoed.

"Yes. Everything was too still, too quiet." Mary Margaret addressed her next question to Regina, "Can you think of a way your mother could have magically spied on us?"

Regina froze, the realization coming to her, accompanied by a sinking heart. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to come up with a logical argument for why she couldn't pursue this idea, why it would never work, why it was hopeless.

Nothing came to her.

She straightened, ignoring the ache that was continuing to grow behind her eyes. "Take Henry for the day," she said curtly, her attention focused on Mary Margaret. "And do not let him out of your sight. I need to pursue a… possibility."

"Where are you going?"

Regina gritted her teeth. "To visit an old… friend."

Conversations with Henry had never been difficult.

Before the curse had broken, Henry had been lonely and distant, but Mary Margaret had always managed to coax a smile from him, even if the smiles were only half-hearted. He'd hung on her every word in class, but she hadn't given his actions that much thought because it wasn't unusual for children to like their teachers in elementary school. Sullen behavior generally didn't hit until middle school, and Henry had yet to reach his teenage years.

Looking back on it now, though, she knew that he didn't like her because she was his teacher; he liked her because she was a fairytale heroine.

And that had always made conversations easy, even during the year when she didn't believe him.

Something had changed.

Henry sat perched on the edge of the stairs in the apartment. He had been unusually quiet on the ride over, and though he had stayed physically close to Mary Margaret since leaving Regina's house, his lack of chatter made him seem distant.

Mary Margaret sat down next to him.

"We're going to get Emma back," she offered. It was the same promise that she kept making – to herself, to David, to Henry, to anyone who asked – and she firmly believed it. But she also remembered the hollowness in Regina's eyes when she spoke of false hope, and something inside of her twisted painfully at all the possibilities that she did not want to consider.

It was unthinkable that Emma wouldn't return.

It was unthinkable that Henry would never get his mother back.

Henry offered a faint smile. "I know," he said, but his voice shook. He looked down, and started fiddling with the hem of his shirt. His shoulders were hunched over, his body language radiating anxiety and... defeat?

"How have things been?" Mary Margaret pressed. "I mean… since Emma and I went through the hat?"

Henry shrugged moodily. "Alright, I guess. I've missed you. I miss Emma."

"Did you get to spend time with David?"

"Yeah," Henry said, an actual smile breaking through his gloomy expression for a moment. "He took me to the stables so I could get used to the horses, and promised to teach me to ride. And he taught me some sword-fighting." He tilted his head up and looked at Mary Margaret. "I liked staying with him."

"You stayed with David?" Mary Margaret asked, surprised. She hadn't expected Regina to let go of Henry so quickly, and wondered what David had done to force the older woman's hand.

"Uh huh," Henry said. "My mom let me go after you and Emma went through the portal. But I had to move back in after Cora came because it was safer." He chewed his lip, then said in a quiet voice, "I think my mom is really worried that Cora will go after me the way she went after Daniel."

Mary Margaret started at the admission. "You know about Daniel?" she asked.

"A little," Henry replied. "My mom doesn't like talking about him. She got mad at Archie because he told me about Daniel dying."

"Archie told you?" Mary Margaret frowned. How did Archie even know?

"Sort of. I mean, Mom told Ruby – they were yelling at each other after Cora came through the portal, and Ruby didn't trust her, but Mom said that she needed to keep me away from Cora because Cora had…" He stopped abruptly, and flicked his gaze away quickly before looking back at Mary Margaret and saying in a rush, "Cora had ripped out Daniel's heart and crushed it in front of my mom."

Henry was looking at Mary Margaret with a questioning gaze, as though waiting for her to confirm or deny this story. It was clear from the tone of his voice that he already believed it to be true - completely and without reservation - but he desperately wanted it to be a lie.

Mary Margaret had no idea why he wanted it all to be false, but it wasn't - so she nodded slowly.

Henry sighed, downcast, and continued, "And then I met Daniel, and after…"

"Wait, you what?" Mary Margaret interrupted, trying to put together the pieces of this very bizarre story. How was it possible that Henry had met Daniel when the stable hand had died years earlier in a different land?

"I think Whale brought him back to life," Henry explained, scrunching his face into a thoughtful expression. "I mean, no one really said anything about that, but I heard Mom and David talking about it after he tried to hurt me."

"Dr. Whale brought Daniel back from the dead and he attacked you?" Mary Margaret demanded incredulously. What had happened to this town while she had been gone?

"Uh huh. 'Cause he's Frankenstein… I think. I mean… he's not in the book, so I'm not sure, but…" Henry trailed off, a dark expression passing over his features, and he lowered his gaze once more.

Something about the book was upsetting him, but Mary Margaret wasn't sure what it was, and the entire conversation was leaving her so bewildered that she didn't know how to proceed.

"I just want Emma back," Henry said finally.

"I do, too," Mary Margaret replied, wrapping her arm around Henry's shoulders and pulling him into a hug. He didn't resist, but he didn't hug her back, either.

There was a long moment of silence.

"What if we don't find a way?" Henry ventured in a barely audible whisper, as though he could only just force himself to voice the question aloud.

"We will," Mary Margaret replied emphatically, but the words sounded empty even to her own ears. How could she promise him anything when she was entertaining these same doubts herself?

During the previous year, Henry had told her on more than one occasion that she would win because Good always won. She hadn't understood what he'd meant then, but he had been so sure, so unwavering in his beliefs. It was strange to hear him voice doubts now.

This was not the boy she had known.

Regina stared at the door marked S. Glass.

The lock disappeared with a wave of her hand, and the door swung open slowly, revealing a room not unlike the one she had locked Belle away in during the curse, though the bed had a thicker mattress and an extra blanket. They were material comforts that she had unconsciously bestowed upon Sidney even as she tricked him into trading away his freedom for her safety.

She stepped into the room.

Sidney was sitting on the bed. He looked at her as she entered, but made no immediate move to get up or acknowledge her presence. The look in his eyes, though…

It stopped her in her tracks.

Regina didn't step any further into the room. The curse had broken weeks before, but this part of the hospital had been a secret to most, and clearly no one had thought to see if anyone was still trapped down here. Belle had escaped – Sidney had not.

She cleared her throat.

"I need your help."

Sidney laughed coldly. "Do you?" he asked, rising slowly to his feet. "I gave you my help. I gave you everything… twice. And what did it get me?" He gestured towards the barren room around them. "Not much."

Regina glanced around. The nurse who was in charge of this part of the hospital had been a prison guard for the Evil Queen in the past, and when the curse had broken, she had continued with her duties. There was a plate of half-eaten food by the door, and a large bottle of water next to it. Not much, but enough to keep Sidney alive.

"I'm tired of being trapped," Sidney added bitterly.

Regina pursed her lips. "You are the one who made the first wish, the one that trapped you in the mirror," she snapped back. "If you had just taken the out that I had given you, if you had simply left…" She shook her head. "Your decision was not my fault."

"You tricked me into killing the very man who had given me my freedom!" Sidney snarled.

"And you knew exactly what you were doing when you killed him, dear," Regina retorted pointedly, refusing to take the blame even though she knew that she was just as culpable as he was for what they had done. But she pressed on regardless, "It is not as though you did not know that those snakes were deadly."

Sidney looked away. "You preyed on my love for you," he said softly, venom lacing his words. "You let me believe that you reciprocated that love."

"If you had been at all perceptive, you would have known that I didn't," Regina answered coolly. "But you were so desperate for my love that you tricked yourself into believing that you had it." She pursed her lips. "Really, dear, you can't blame me for your own foolishness."

"So you really refuse to take any blame for what happened?" Sidney shook his head, a darkly amused smile curling his lips. "You haven't changed at all, have you, Regina? You still see yourself as the victim, as though every life you've taken, every family you've torn apart, all the pain you've caused… it was all justified." He stepped forward, studying her intently. "But you are still the same in other ways, aren't you? Still lonely and hurt."

"What are you…?" Regina started, but Sidney cut her off.

"You pretended to be so lonely, so miserable, married to the king," Sidney said. "But I've been around a lot of lonely people as a genie, Regina, and it's been my experience that people are only ever that good at pretending to be miserable if, deep down, they aren't really pretending."

Regina internally reeled from both the calculating look in his eyes and the discernment of his words, and had to force herself from taking a step back. She met his gaze, refusing to flinch, and raised an eyebrow in what she hoped was a defiant expression.

"Is that so, dear?" she drawled.

"Or was your marriage to Leopold actually happy?" Sidney asked.

Regina hesitated. Like her uncle, Sidney had somehow grown a backbone now that the curse had broken, and she wasn't sure how to proceed. She had not expected this version of him. She had known he would not be as in love with her as he had been while still a genie – his time trapped in the mirror had tempered his love with distrust and some anger, but that had never concerned her before because the spell keeping him trapped in the mirror had also forced him to do her bidding.

Now that he was free of the mirror, she had expected some of the distrust to remain, but she hadn't realized that his hatred would have outweighed his love this much. She had not prepared for that, had not thought through how to approach him.

Well... there had never been a need for it in the past. She had never considered the possibility that the curse could be broken, and had never considered that everyone she knew might be different once it had.

"As much fun as these reminisces are," Regina said after a pause, "Emma Swan has gotten herself trapped in our land, and I need help getting her back."

"You want to help Emma?" Sidney asked disbelievingly.

"Not particularly, no. But it seems I have little choice in the matter." Regina lifted her hand and studied her fingernails, assuming a bored expression that covered the anxiety she felt. "Can you help me find her?"

"With what?" Sidney replied, shrugging. "I have no magic here." His eyes narrowed, and he added spitefully, "And I am not trapping myself in a mirror again."

"Ah, but you agree that you were the one to trap yourself in the mirror the first time?" Regina questioned, unable to pass up the opportunity to press her point.

He glared at her in response.

She sighed. "I'm not asking you to become an enchanted mirror, dear," she said. "But I do imagine that, in your time as a mirror, you might have learned a few tricks. And I still have my magic. So between the two of us, I do believe it is possible that we could locate Miss Swan."

"But would you be able to communicate with her? Would you be able to bring her back through the mirror?" Sidney asked skeptically.

Regina knew that was highly unlikely. She had never mastered the magic of mirrors – with Sidney to do her bidding, she'd never needed to. That had been more her mother's domain, and had likely resulted from Cora's initial trip through the mirror to Wonderland.

Still, actually finding Emma and confirming that she was alive would be an important first step.

"How much control did you have over the curse?" Sidney asked abruptly.

Regina frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Did you get to choose what happened to each person? How they were cursed, who they became?"

Regina clicked her tongue against her teeth in annoyance at the question. For the second time in a single day, she was dealing with people's idiocy regarding magic. Why did this idea persist, why were people so convinced that magic was simple to control, that all she had to do was wave her hands or murmur a few words and the world would bend itself to do her bidding? How could they constantly fail to realize that most powerful magic such as the curse required strong emotions – and once emotions became involved, nothing was ever simple.

And Sidney did not even have the excuse of all the other fools in this town. He'd been a genie and a magic mirror and he should have understood that the curse would be far more complicated than his question implied.

But maybe he did know. Maybe he was really asking something else.

"Why do you want to know?" she questioned.

"Curiosity," he replied, studying her intently. He paused, then offered, "Answer my question, and I'll help you find Emma Swan."

Regina weighed her options. It seemed an innocuous enough question, but she was hesitant to answer it given that she didn't know why he was asking. Every instinct she had told her not to trust him – not to trust anyone. She'd learned the hard way what could happen if she confided in someone who then betrayed her.

On the other hand, she did need his help.

And she was doing this for Henry.

"It's powerful magic," she replied finally, "so it's would not be that... detailed. Besides, dear, there are hundreds of people in this town. Do you actually think I spent time planning an identity and a life for each and every one of them?"

"Then how was it decided what would happen to each person?" Sidney pressed.

Rumpelstiltskin had explained it to her once, a long time ago. Before he was locked away, before she had killed Leopold, before the magic inside of her had taken its final hold and she had crossed the line on the path of darkness. She'd been appalled when he'd told her about the curse, but he'd merely laughed it off as an academic exercise, and not something anyone would actually ever cast.

The curse was more alive than most magic, and it had a mind of its own. It would create the new identities based on the lives of the victims and the emotions of the caster, but so much of it was still unpredictable.

She wasn't entirely sure how she had managed to make the curse accept her deal with Rumpelstiltskin, but she'd spent twenty-eight years having to do whatever he wanted so long as he said the word please, so that had obviously worked.

And none of this was anything she wanted to discuss with Sidney.

"The deal was only for one question, dear, and I already answered it," she said.

Sidney continued to study her for a long moment, as though searching for something in her expression, and Regina wondered if he was going to argue with her.

She didn't know what he was looking for, and she didn't know if he found it, but eventually he merely nodded his head and said, "Lead the way."

Sidney watched Regina exit the room, then looked around the cell one more time before following her into the hallway. He took a deep breath as soon as he stepped into the hall, savoring the feeling of freedom, and feeling a growing anticipation for what fresh air would taste like.

How long had it been since he had seen the sun?

Regina was walking briskly away from him, her heels echoing on the floor, and he turned and hurried after her, towards the exit. He had no idea what he was getting himself into, but at least the bonds of servitude were gone and he would be free to walk away at any point. He knew how much danger he was in around Regina, and he did not want to risk losing everything to her again.

He'd already fallen for that trap twice, and yet the danger still lingered. For all his efforts to distance himself from her, he had a feeling he would never quite learn the important lesson.

The problem wasn't that he hated Regina.

The problem was that, despite everything, he still loved her.