Chapter Seventy-Three—"A Curse to End All Curses"

"Where will you put her, Mother?" Zelena asked eagerly, gesturing at her sleeping sister.

After the sleeping curse had sunk in—only a matter of seconds—she had teleported them both to her mother's home on the edge of town. It was far larger than the mansion in town, and very few people seemed to even know that the house existed. Zelena was the only one privileged enough to know which prisoners Cora held inside, along with the ways in which Cora was already working to fortify the 'summer house'. Her mother was so smart, so good at planning for every eventuality. She'd even had the curse create this place in the beginning, to give herself a stronghold to retreat to in case the worst happened. And now she had Rumplestiltskin's son locked up in the cellar, without the Dark One even knowing he was in town.

She's so brilliant, Zelena thought to herself, admiring the pensive look on Cora's face. And she trusts only me. That thought sent a warm flush of happiness through her, but Zelena was careful to keep her glee to herself. Cora valued self-control and composure. Zelena would not let her mother down.

"You could put her in the other cell," she suggested hopefully when Cora did not answer.

"I think not," her mother replied, turning sharp eyes on her. "Regina remains your sister, darling, even if she is disloyal. We will not treat her as we treat our enemies."

"Of course," she agreed, abashed. Her mother was so strange sometimes, but Zelena was going to do her best to make her happy. Even if Cora could be terribly unpredictable where Regina was concerned. One moment, her mother hated Zelena's younger sister, and in other moments, she was supremely protective of her.

"We will put her in the red room upstairs," Cora decreed, and Zelena nodded quickly. Mother knew best, after all.

"What do we do when someone tries to wake her?" she inquired carefully.

Cora smiled. "We kill them, of course. Not that any of them will manage to wake her—even when the curse breaks, Regina's True Love is dead."

Remembering Daniel's death made Zelena smile, but a second and more worrisome thought occurred to her. Zelena knew she had studied far more magic than her mother had; Cora was meticulous, but disliked reading and was not the type to chase down obscure magical references. But she had read every book on sleeping curses as her mother taught her to brew them, and Zelena remembered one very important thing: True Love is not only the domain of lovers. Several books had been very specific on that fact, and Zelena could recall a few historical cases of siblings waking one another, parents waking children, or even one case of very good friends. Best not mention the part about siblings. Snow White is useless, anyway, and Mother would only get angry.

"What if it's the boy?" she suggested hesitantly.

"Oh, I have other plans for Henry," her mother laughed, and proceeded to explain.

Now Zelena found herself smiling again, this time without any concerns at all.

He was out of options. Cora had Grace's heart—even if poor Paige didn't know that, because at least the Evil Queen had been kind enough to tell his little girl to forget about that traumatic experience—and he couldn't get it back without help. Jefferson had no one to turn to, because his cursed self hadn't exactly been good at making friends, and he'd already made an enemy of the Sheriff because he'd been stalking poor Mary Margaret. Going up to Emma now and trying to explain that 'Cora made him do it' would be worse than useless, and that left him with exactly one place to go.

The only problem was that there was no knowing if Rumplestiltskin was awake or not. Jefferson wouldn't put it past his old employer/(sort of) friend to have been awake during the entire curse, but Gold's on-again, off-again, decidedly lopsided relationship with Cora indicated that he was not. Yet Gold had seemed far less likely to do Cora's bidding of late, which Jefferson interpreted as a very large clue. He has to be awake, the Hatter told himself for the hundredth time, opening the pawnshop door as the little bell rang. Because if he isn't, my daughter might as well be dead.

At least he had information to trade. Rumplestiltskin was always good for his word; Jefferson knew that better than most. And the Dark One had helped him more than once, letting Jefferson take all the gold he wanted in exchange for piddling little trips to other realms, even when they failed. Jefferson knew the sparkly-skinned man better than almost anyone in the Enchanted Forest, and he knew that Rumplestiltskin was loyal to those who helped him. Oh, he was capricious, temperamental, and sometimes manic, but Rumplestiltskin never forgot his friends. And Jefferson had never been bothered to call himself one, even when others back home had thought him mad.

"You're out and about early today, dearie," Gold said mildly, looking up from behind the counter. "I didn't think you even ventured into your shop until noon."

Grimacing, Jefferson didn't bother to argue. His cursed self had been lazy and indulgent, rarely rising before noon and forcing his junior manager to run Modern Fashions on her own. Now that Cora had woken him up, however, he'd hardly spared the clothing shop a second thought. Who cared about clothes and fashion when his beloved daughter was in danger?

"I need your help, and I can trade information for it," he replied bluntly, hoping to see Rumplestiltskin gleaming out of those impassive brown eyes.

"Can you now?"

"Assuming you want to know about a little trip I just took, yeah," Jefferson replied, and finally saw Gold blink.

"I was wondering what that little bit of magic I sensed was," Rumplestiltskin said, his tone blasé. "It appears you gave your hat a workout, didn't you?"

"Not willingly," he admitted, his anger a little tempered by relief. Rumplestiltskin was awake, which meant Jefferson had someone to turn to. Some people would have thought that counting on the Dark One for help was the height of foolishness, but Jefferson knew the man—or whatever it was he'd been back home.

"Took your daughter's heart, did she?" the Dark One asked next, though there was a hint of something in his tone that kept Jefferson from snarling at him. Yes, Rumplestiltskin was a villain, but Jefferson knew he was a decent man despite that. After all, only an idiot or someone who'd never been to the Dark Castle—and never seen Rumplestiltskin with his so-called 'maid'—would think that the slender pawnbroker in front of him was incapable of love.

"Yes," he ground out, fear and fury wrapping tight threads around his heart.

"I may not be able to get it back for you," Rumplestiltskin replied straightforwardly. "Cora is careful with her hearts."

"Grace is only eleven," Jefferson protested. "She doesn't deserve this. She…she…"

"I know," the other man cut him off gently. "I'll do what I can."

"You haven't even asked what information I have to trade."

Rumplestiltskin quirked a smile. "I trust you'll make it worth my while," he chuckled without humor.

"Yeah, I can," Jefferson replied, shaking away his memories of that short trip to Wonderland with an effort. He knew that his experiences there only amplified his fears, but what else could he do? There was no way to fight Cora, not for someone like him. Especially now. Yet Rumplestiltskin was the most powerful sorcerer in the Enchanted Forest. He had to know what to do with this force of nature that Jefferson had been forced to bring back, so the Hatter sucked in a ragged breath and added: "I went to Wonderland. Brought Zelena and a dead body from the morgue—some guy who used to be a knight back home."

"And what did Cora want from that useless little world?"

"The Jabberwocky," he answered simply, and watched Rumplestiltskin's eyes go wide. So, even Gold can be shocked, Jefferson thought. Good. Because that crazy creature is enough to terrify me.

"She really is reaching, isn't she?" Rumplestiltskin murmured, seemingly mostly to himself. Then dark eyes flicked up to meet Jefferson. "Well, the saying in this world is accurate. Forewarned is forearmed. Thank you for the information. I will do what I can to return your daughter's heart to you."

All Jefferson could do was nod, his heart in his throat. He trusted Rumplestiltskin to keep his word, but Cora could hurt Grace at any time. She might have done it already, could have killed his daughter because Jefferson dared to argue with her. That thought made him hurry out the door of the pawnshop without so much as a backward glance, desperate to make sure Grace was all right.

The Casting of the Curse

One moment, Cora had been reassuring Regina that of course she would not be so cruel as to leave a sick and dying Daniel deep in the dungeons, and the next her mother had disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. Suddenly realizing that the compassionate note her mother had sent had to be a lie, Regina threw magical feelers out and caught the very edge of Cora's teleportation spell, using that to track in on where her mother had vanished to. She didn't even bother to determine what her destination was before she appeared, heart pounding with a thousand terrible fears.

I left Snow giving birth for this, Regina thought, guilt threatening to crush her. Mother has tricked me yet again, but maybe I can get here in time. Whatever she has planned, even if it's this terrible curse she says she can cast, I might be able to stop her before—

She was too late. Her mother stood over the fire pit, with Daniel by her side. He was on his knees and looked defeated, and Regina tried to rush to him, only to be stopped by a wall of magic.

"Mother, no!" Regina howled, and Cora smiled thinly.

"I'm glad you could be here for this, dear," her mother said calmly. "I always knew your stableboy would have his uses."

"Mother—!"

Further protests died in her throat; Regina wasn't sure what her mother was doing, but she could feel magic in the air, hovering dark and dangerous. The curse was almost complete, the terrible curse that Rumplestiltskin had foretold Snow's daughter would someday break. But why had Cora brought Daniel to the fire pit? Why did she want Regina here? She didn't need either of them to cast a curse—yet the curse was incomplete. Regina could feel that. She could sense the almost-finished power hanging in the air, suffocating and ominous, like a giant hand just waiting to crash down and crush the entirety of the Enchanted Forest.

Still struggling against the magic that held her—a spell she could tell had been in place and growing in strength for some time—Regina's eyes found Daniel. He did look pale and drawn, but she knew he was more broken than sick. As was she. After all, Regina didn't have to know what her mother had planned to know that this was bad. If Cora was going to delay her own revenge in order to invite Regina to see Daniel, Regina knew Cora could only have one purpose in mind. She's tying up loose ends, she realized, devastated. Mother doesn't want to leave anything to chance.

"Casting this curse was more difficult than I expected," Cora explained, and the detachment in her voice sent a cold shiver down Regina's spine. "But I suppose that the Curse to End all Curses should come at a high price, even when it is one that I, for one, cannot pay."

The whisper tore out of Regina, high pitched with fear. "What price?"

"Well, the curse requires sacrificing the heart of the one you love most," her mother replied, gesturing at Daniel. "And while a more pedestrian magic user would assume that meant I had to crush your heart to complete the curse, I know the truth. After all, they say that True Loves share a heart."

"You can't," she pleaded, her voice barely audible.

"Of course I can, darling. I never approved of him for you, anyway. In time, you'll get over him," Cora said coldly. "I will give you a proper marriage in our new world, and you will be grateful. Eventually."

Once again, Regina threw every bit of power she had at the shield holding her back, but it only bounced back in her face, throwing her back several steps. Then Cora's hand plunged into Daniel's chest, and Regina froze.

"Please don't," she begged desperately, stretching her hands out to her mother as cold terror snaked down her spine. "I'll do anything to save him!"

"I know you will," was the answer as Cora stepped forward to hold her hand over the fire pit. Winds of power swirled around them, magic deepening and preparing, the fathomless pit of the curse ready to tear out and take over their world. "And that is why this will work."

"Daniel!" Regina screamed his name one last time as Cora crushed her True Love's heart, and they fell to the ground together.

As they did, the Curse to End all Curses tore out of the fire pit and purple smoke raced into the sky.

Regina hadn't come back.

Henry knew that his mom had headed out to try to steal his dad's heart back from his grandmother. She hadn't told him exactly what she was doing, but by now it was pretty obvious that Cora had David's heart, and Henry knew that Regina wasn't going to let that stand. She'd told him not to worry and that she'd be back before he got home from school, but now it was dinner time and she still hadn't returned. David had wound up ordering pizza for the two of them, which Henry liked, but he still would rathered have had Regina there. Getting to eat his favorite kind of pizza wasn't better than having his mom home, not when Cora was getting more and more dangerous.

That's because we're getting closer, Henry told himself, flipping through the Book at the kitchen table. Emma had been right; they had to learn everything they could before the curse was broken, including who the power players would be (or already were). And he had to figure out a way to actually get the curse broken, because although he'd assumed that Emma would just know how, that obviously wasn't going to happen. Talking it over with his dad really would have helped, but Henry wasn't going to have a conversation like that when Cora might have been eavesdropping. That, of course, was just another reason to hope Regina got home soon. Henry needed someone to bounce ideas off of, and his cursed/currently heartless dad just wasn't the right guy for that.

"Can you call Mom again?" Henry asked, looking up from his Book to where David was putting leftover pizza in the fridge.

"I'm sure she's fine, Henry," his dad replied, and Henry scowled. Was Cora controlling him now, or was that just cursed David Nolan not caring? It was so hard to tell.

"Please?" he said as convincingly as he could. "Mom always answers her cell, and if she hasn't called back yet, maybe something is wrong."

Maybe Grandma has locked her up somewhere, he thought worriedly. Or Zelena has. She wanted to take Mom's heart, and was really gleeful about it. I always thought the Wicked Witch would be more serious and less giddy, but she's really dangerous, and Mom's out there by herself. Not shouting that at his dad took all the self-control Henry had, but if David didn't do something soon, he was going to call Emma. Emma would know what to do.

"All right," David gave in. "I'll call her again."

Henry forced a smile, but it didn't banish the worry in his gut. "Thanks, Dad."

Unfortunately, David hung up almost immediately after dialing, turning to Henry with a shrug. "It went straight to voicemail."

"Oh." He wasn't sure what else to say, only that every instinct he had said something had gone dreadfully wrong. Still, if Cora was controlling David right now, Henry couldn't let his dad know that he was going to call Emma, so he waited for David to finish putting the leftovers away and head into the next room to watch TV. David did ask if Henry wanted to watch with him, and most days Henry would have loved the opportunity to catch up on Spiderman with his dad. Today, however, he was way too worried.

But Henry had barely managed to get to his feet and head for the phone when a voice made him spin around.

"Hello, Henry."

Whirling to face his adopted grandmother, Henry felt all color drain out of his face. "What do you want?" he demanded.

"My, what terrible manners you've developed. Clearly, Regina has been neglecting you lately as she chases after the Savior," was the light reply, but Cora's mocking tone still made Henry gulp.

"Dad?" he called nervously, and David appeared almost immediately.

"Cora, what are you doing here?" he asked, looking surprised. Only then did Henry notice what Cora held in her right hand. And only then once she raised the glowing red heart ever so slightly.

"Do be a dear and stand over there," the Evil Queen commanded. "And out of the way."

Moving like a robot, David headed to the far corner of the kitchen and stood there, his expression blank and eyes unseeing. Henry had read in the Book all about what happened when someone controlled someone else using their heart, but he'd never seen it, and he found himself staring at David, horrified. He'd really wanted to be wrong about Cora having David's heart, but now he knew he wasn't.

"Why are you here?" Henry asked, trying to sound brave. But it was hard. He wasn't even eleven yet, and his grandmother was the Evil Queen.

"Well, I did want to remove your annoying birth mother in a rather permanent fashion, but Miss Swan is a bit too mistrusting to easily destroy. So, I thought I would come to you, instead," Cora replied, her voice utterly dispassionate and chilling.

Henry had always known what she was, but he'd never seen her like this before. And now he really could see how she was the Evil Queen and how everyone in the Enchanted Forest had been afraid of her.

"I'm not doing whatever it is you want," he said as strongly as he could, starting to creep backwards. If he could get to the back door, Henry was sure he could outrun Cora. She might be a sorceress, but she was getting older, and she was wearing high heels. He could do this. He had to.

Emma and Mary Margaret's loft was too far to run to, but Mr. Gold didn't live that far away, and if there was anyone in the Enchanted Forest who even the Evil Queen didn't mess with, it was Rumplestiltskin. He's mom's friend. He taught her. I bet he'll make a deal with me, Henry thought desperately, watching Cora's face crinkle as she smiled falsely. It wasn't quite dark yet; he could make it to Mr. Gold's house.

"Of course you will," she purred, and then lifted the heart again. "David, lock the back door."

Henry's heart plummeted as his father obeyed, and he stopped moving next to the kitchen table. There wasn't another way out, because the window to his left was always locked, and it wasn't like he could teleport. "You can't make me do it."

"Can't I?" Cora laughed.

"No!" Crossing his arms over his chest, Henry tried to think of a way to keep her from stealing his heart, but he knew he was just bluffing when he said that.

"Silly boy," his grandmother replied. "I don't need your heart. You're going to do exactly as I say without me taking it."

"No, I'm not."

Cora took three steps forward, and suddenly the Evil Queen was almost in arm's reach. Henry couldn't help it; he flinched as she said: "You will, or your mother will die."

"You can't hurt Emma. If you kill her, you'll break the curse," he retorted victoriously.

"Who said anything about hurting Emma?" Cora countered. "Or did you not notice that Regina is missing?"

"I noticed," Henry gulped. The words were a whisper.

Waving a hand, Cora turned the reflective surface of the nearby window into a magical mirror. It shimmered for a moment, before revealing the image of Regina, lying on a bed Henry didn't recognize, pale and as still as death. Was she even breathing? Henry couldn't tell, even when he rushed forward to get a closer look at the image. David, of course, continued staring blankly at nothing, blocking the doorway but otherwise completely disengaged from the conversation between his mother-in-law and his adopted son.

"Mom!"

"She's safe. For now." Those words made Henry turn back to look at Cora, dread coiling in the pit of his stomach. "But she won't be if you misbehave."

"You wouldn't kill your own daughter," he objected.

"Wouldn't I?" Cora snorted. "I've already put her under a sleeping curse, and I don't need Regina. Not when I have Zelena, or when your mother has proven so disloyal. I'm happy to kill her to preserve the curse, Henry. Don't mistake any lingering sentimentality I might have once possessed for a hesitation to kill anyone who gets in my way."

Despite his earlier resolve to be brave, Henry shivered. Hard.

"So, here is what you're going to do," his grandmother continued, holding an apple out to him. "You're going to take this apple and find Miss Swan. Once you do, you'll tell her what has happened, and you'll tell her that the only way to cure you is to take you out of town. Otherwise, the curse inside this apple will kill you within a week. And then you'll eat the apple."

"It's a Nightmare Curse, isn't it?" Henry whispered.

"I always knew you were a bright boy."

His mind was whirling. Errol—or Robin—could wake his mom up. Henry knew that, though Cora probably didn't. Cora probably thought that, because she'd killed Daniel, no one could wake Regina up. But it was good that she didn't know. And yet—That's it! The thought occurred to Henry with the force of an oncoming train, and he suddenly knew how the curse needed to be broken. Emma could do it, Henry knew. She just needed the opportunity, and Cora was going to hand it to them on a silver platter! Emma didn't have to leave town with him; she just had to give him True Love's Kiss and break the curse! Then he'd be okay, and so would Storybrooke, and then they could get Robin to help rescue his mom.

He could do this, Henry knew. This was his chance to get the curse broken, to help Emma bring back everyone's happy endings. Being under a Nightmare Curse would suck, but he could face that. His Grandma Snow had been under one, and she'd come out okay! Henry knew he would be fine. He was from a family of heroes!

"What if she doesn't take me out of town?" he asked, trying to pretend to be worried that Emma might balk at leaving Storybrooke. "Emma doesn't really believe in all this magic stuff."

Cora only smiled. "I'm sure a clever boy like you can convince her."

"If I do this, will you promise not to hurt Mom?"

"You have my word," the Evil Queen replied, and Henry barely managed not to grimace.

"Okay," he said quietly, taking the apple when she offered it.

Something vicious flashed through Cora's eyes, but she only lifted David's heart once more. "Keep him here until morning, and don't let him use the phone," she commanded, and David nodded lifelessly.

"Why?" Henry demanded.

"Because I have things to do," Cora said serenely, and then fixed a hard stare on him. "Don't try to leave or call Miss Swan," she warned him. "Or anyone. I'll know if you try either, and you will regret it."

Yeah, Henry got that message loud and clear. It was going to be a horrible night, sitting around and thinking of everything that was going to happen when he was under the Nightmare Curse, but that was why Cora was the Evil Queen, wasn't it? She liked to make people suffer, and now Henry was next on her list.

As the Curse is Cast

Her mother had disappeared in a swirling cloud of smoke, but Regina hardly noticed. The curse billowed out of the fire pit, too, dark and powerful, raging into the late afternoon sky and boiling out to overtake the entire realm, but Regina ignored that, too. Instead, she simply rushed to Daniel's side, falling to her knees next to her True Love and cradling his dead body in her arms.

"Oh, Daniel," she whispered, tears rolling freely down her face. "I'm so sorry."

Her mother hadn't even given her a chance to apologize to Daniel, hadn't even given Regina the opportunity to say good bye. Oh, she'd known this would eventually happen, had known it when Daniel had sent her away, telling Regina to stand by Snow and not to let Cora use him against her, but that didn't make the reality any easier to bear. Nor did the fact that they had said their farewells then and Daniel had sworn he would not blame her for his death. Neither of those facts lessened the howling emptiness inside Regina, the way her soul was split in two and the light within her felt like it had been crushed forever.

If she could have died in that moment, Regina would have been all too happy to go.

"I love you so much," she sobbed, leaning over to kiss him pointlessly. But having his heart crushed was no curse, and there was no True Love's Kiss to bring him back from this. Daniel was dead, and it was her fault, and nothing would ever be the same again. "I love you. I love you. I love you…"

Regina didn't know how many times she repeated those words, whispering them over and over again as she rocked back and forth, cradling Daniel's body in her arms. The curse continued to sweep around them, not pulling her away just yet—and it was finally that fact that brought Regina to her senses. It could not erase the heartbroken emptiness she felt, but purpose slowly crystalized in her mind.

Snow's daughter can break this curse, Regina remembered. Mother doesn't know that, but she won't pass up the opportunity for one last bit of revenge.

She had to get back. She had to tell Cora that Snow's daughter had died, and that no one could threaten her now. Regina might even enjoy that, might enjoy lying to her mother and watching Cora's victory sour just a little. Rage boiled up within her as Regina set Daniel's body down as gently as she could, pausing to kiss his forehead one last time.

"I will avenge you," she whispered. "I'll stop her, Daniel. For you."

Then her magic swept her away, and Regina refused to look back.

News that the Jabberwocky had been brought to Storybrooke was not welcome, and Rumplestiltskin could guess what Cora wanted Wonderland's resident demon for. That thought made him shudder; Rumplestiltskin's own cowardice meant he knew he would be more vulnerable to the Jabberwocky than most, and he was very, very glad that he was not the Savior. Who Cora meant to sic the fear-reading (and creating) creature upon was more than obvious. Whenever that situation happened, he intended to stay well clear of it. Let Regina deal with the fallout of that one. Emma was her niece, after all.

Where is Regina? Rumplestiltskin wondered. He found it interesting that Jefferson had been the one to come to him with news about the Jabberwocky's arrival. Did Regina not know? If she did, Rumplestiltskin would have been very surprised if she had not thought that fact important enough to tell him. They were getting so very close to breaking the curse, and it was imperative that they work together now, even more than before. Still, it was early yet. Jefferson had only arrived yesterday morning. Perhaps Regina was distracted and did not yet know.

For now, however, he'd finish what she started, in addition to retrieving Grace's heart. After all, Rumplestiltskin never broke a deal.

"And what are you doing here, Rumple?" a voice demanded as he approached the outside of Cora's mausoleum, having tripped the outer magical wards without fanfare not too long after seven o'clock a.m.. Regina had told him how she'd been ambushed, which meant he knew the vault was being watched. That made drawing someone in dreadfully easy, and he'd guessed that Cora would not come herself.

"Waiting for you, of course, dear," he replied, pivoting in place to face Zelena. He'd remembered his cane this morning, and folded his hands over it calmly, watching his former student smile widely.

"And why should I believe you aren't here to steal something from my mother?" Zelena asked astutely.

"Now why would I want to do that?" he countered casually.

"Because you're plotting with Regina," she shot back, looking put out. "Though I don't know what you see in my stupid little sister. She's a failure and a fool."

"Sibling rivalry starting already?" Rumplestiltskin couldn't help chuckling, particularly when Zelena went red. "You barely know each other."

"It's not a rivalry when I'm clearly more powerful and smarter than she is," she said, squaring her shoulders self-importantly.

"Are you now?"

Zelena tossed her red curls proudly. "She tried to get past me and couldn't. And you won't, either. The vault is guarded by blood magic."

Rumplestiltskin shrugged. "So it is."

He saw no reason to delay further, and simply teleported himself to a spot right behind Zelena, concealing the normal swirl of smoke as he did. When he appeared, Rumplestiltskin held a small penknife in his hand instead of his cane, and his left hand snaked out to grab Zelena by the wrist before she could react to his presence. Quickly and efficiently, he sliced Zelena's palm open, and then disappeared again while she yelped in pain.

Having her blood on the knife was the key to entering Cora's mausoleum, and Rumplestiltskin took himself straight into the vault that held the hearts Cora had claimed. From there, it was quick work to determine which box held Grace's heart; he had dropped by Jefferson's store to claim a hair of his, and a quick bit of magic sent it floating right to the appropriate box. This he retrieved, box and all, and then reached into his pocket to pull out one of the hairs he had bargained for so many years earlier. Rumplestiltskin had kept this, and the extras from Snow, in reserve for the better part of a lifetime, waiting to make a second True Love potion, if need be.

Of course, he'd then found out that he could make his own True Love potion, but Rumplestiltskin had not thrown Charming's hairs away. Why would he? He was a careful man, and a meticulous one, and you never knew when you might need something like this. And now it would allow him to retrieve Cora's prize heart. Regina had been right about one thing, after all. If Cora had Charming's heart when the curse broke, she probably would kill him. That would make Snow suffer, if nothing else, and Cora still held a grudge against Eva and her entire line. The only thing stopping Cora now was that she could make Mary Margaret suffer through other means, but if Snow White woke up, Rumplestiltskin would bet that Cora would want to break her heart in the most vicious way possible.

He was no hero, and no one would ever mistake the Dark One for a good man. But Rumplestiltskin had chosen his side—his family—and it behooved him to have the heroes in his debt. So, he touched that single hair with magic, and sent it flying to the appropriate box. However, Rumplestiltskin knew immediately that something was wrong. When he pulled the box out of its cubby hole, it was empty.

Damn. So much for saving Charming's heart. The still-glowing hair continued to float near the box he held, which meant the heart had been there, but was no longer. Cora must have it with her, he realized, waving a hand and watching the slight enchantment on Charming's hair dissipate. Tucking the hair back into the envelope, Rumplestiltskin teleported himself—and Grace's heart—out of the vault, only to find Zelena fuming outside.

"Still here, dearie?" he asked, smiling as she glowered.

"You tricked me!"

"Did I?" Rumplestiltskin said lightly. "Oh, dear."

Then Zelena spotted the box in his hands. "Give that back!"

"I think not," he replied, stepping aside when she tried to grab the box. "Look at it this way: I'm keeping your promises—or your dear mother's—for you. And I'll give you a word of warning while I'm at it. Don't steal children's hearts. That's just crass."

"Mother does whatever is necessary," she retorted hotly. "And you don't get to dictate to us."

"I'd never dream of doing that," he assured her, smiling thinly as Zelena glared.

Emma's last stop on her patrol was the cemetery, which had always been her least favorite place to go. She'd wound up pulling an all-nighter because Gary had called in sick and Keith had been drunk by the end of his own shift, which meant she was strung out and tired enough that she almost missed the odd little scene in front of the Mills family mausoleum just after seven in the morning.

Regina had fessed up that Chloe Zephyr was actually her half-sister (and named Zelena, which was just kind of weird), but why was Gold there? Rumplestiltskin, Emma remembered, thinking of her conversation with Henry. He's the Dark One, supposedly dangerous and powerful. Emma still wasn't entirely sure what that meant—and she hadn't had time to ask Regina why she hadn't volunteered that minor fact, either—but she knew enough to be wary. Henry had said that Gold was unpredictable and sometimes allied with Cora, which certainly made sense given the fact that they'd apparently gone on two dates recently. This gets more and more suspicious. I really need to talk to Regina about what side he's on.

And now he was hanging out with Cora's other daughter, who looked downright put out by something. Then again, Zelena seemed to pout quite often, or at least when she wasn't busy trying to prove that she was superior to everyone else. Emma's own run-ins with her hadn't exactly been pleasant, so she just watched the pair for a moment before her phone rang. It was Mary Margaret.

"Hey. What's up?"

"Emma?" her roommate/cursed mother asked when she picked up. "Can you come home? Henry's here, and he says it's important."

A/N: Next up: Chapter Seventy-Four—"An Apple Red as Blood," where Henry eats the apple, Emma tries to save him—while Cora and Zelena gloat—and Rumplestiltskin does the unexpected.

While you're waiting, please do tell me what you think – and if you haven't checked out Ruins of Camelot yet, please drop by my new story!