A sense of dread, and anxiety, hanged over Emma Swan when she sat down next to the mayor of Storybrooke. Regina was, to her mind, unusually stressed, looking nearly dizzy. Awkwardly, Emma reached over and loosely embraced Regina. To her surprise, Regina did not object, but she did not seem to react much either. Numb. Regina briefly closed her eyes, opening them again as soon as she felt Emma release her. Every thought in her mind was terrifying her. Whatever the bounty hunter could have found within only a few weeks of the request could not be good. Cora was good at cloak and dagger, and always had been. She would only have gotten more adept at it, however she had managed to reach this world. Would she not be able to have become almost invisible to the authorities, now? It was terrifying to consider. What was more terrifying was the thought of Cora trying to get to Lynn. Cora always had been trying to meddle in the way the queen parented her daughter, the way she barely let Lynn out of her sight. Scarier still was the knowledge that Cora had saved Lynn's life, giving up a significant amount of blood with no question. The Storybrooke General Hospital had broken every safety and legal protocol to do so. They could have been sued, and even investigated or shut down.

The curse is exactly why they did so. It's elastic. On some level, they knew Cora must be obeyed. On another level, they knew that allowing my daughter to come even close to death would be akin to suicide. It is because of the curse, then, that Lynn is alive today.

She tried not to dwell on the thought.

Henry's accusations still rang in her ears whenever she thought of it.

A loud, resounding chime had been ringing out. Once. Twice. Again. Mother and son had both run outside, and, much to her shock, it was the clock tower. It hadn't just started ringing. It had moved. The clock had begun moving.

"See?" Henry had said, tugging on his mother's hand. "That hasn't worked my entire life, but it does now."

"Well, I -" She had found herself feeling as if she were drowning, struggling to find an explanation.

"It's okay if you don't know what it means right now," Henry had gone on. "But the curse is weakening. Because Emma's here. And she's going to break it."

"There's nothing to be broken," Regina had said, her voice wavering. "Things are just fine."

"They haven't been, though," Henry had briefly hugged her. "They were fine when I was little, and they've been fine in the almost two years since Netta's not really and super shitty friends tried to kill her. But they haven't always been stable, or just fine."

For a few seconds, his mother had been unsure whether she were surprised her son had a perfect description of Aria and Cindy or annoyed with him for using the opportunity to swear.

"Henry, you're only ten," Regina had eventually said. "Let things go, and just try and be happy."

"I will be," He had said, crossing his arms. "Once Emma breaks the curse or you stop lying to me and make things right."

Lynn's horror at what it had taken to succeed in the curse became omnipresent, too.

"You said grandfather was…" Lynn's voice shook, starting to cry. "You killed him! You had to have, right?"

Regina looked between her daughter, and then the scroll in her hand.

"Lynn," Regina said, swallowing hard. "I didn't have any other choice."

"How didn't you?" Lynn gaped at her. "I thought -"

"I was never going to let anyone hurt you!" Regina suddenly snapped. "Much less myself!"

"Alright, Miss Swan," Regina warily glanced at the computer the bounty hunter was beginning to open. "I expect this to be particularly unsavoury, so please do not try and make it sound better."

Emma grimaced. "There is absolutely no way to make this sound better at all."

Regina raised an eyebrow, her heart pounding in her chest when she watched the files slowly load. No. Please don't let this… She glanced down at her hands. She was wearing the ring she had not worn in years, and had only begun wearing it again out of fear of what her mother would do to it. On her right hand, the queen wore what would have been her wedding ring, had she married Daniel. The only man she had ever loved. The father of her daughter. How would he have been with raising their daughter with her in this world? How would they have leaned on each other when everything happened to Lynn by the hands of Stefan and Leah's daughter? Would they have become only closer, or would they have divorced as so many other parents would have? No, that could not have happened. She bit her lip. Would Lynn have other siblings than just Henry? And how would things be now that Emma would not leave. Though she pushed down as far as she could, the queen had begun to feel something she had not felt since having been with Daniel. The dreams, too, had returned, and they were almost embarrassing. That is why you must only be cordial with her. It… No. The queen steadied herself, and focused on the loading computer screen. Her fingers shook against the table, and, to her surprise, Emma gently rested her own over the queen's to soothe them.

"I only just noticed," She said, noticing the ring. "Are you a widow?"

"Yes," Regina said, far quieter than she had expected. Damn it. "Lynn's father, who died before she was born. An aneurysm, completely unpredictable."

At least, that is what happened in this world.

"I guess that explains what Henry meant when he said you're really attached to Lynn," Emma squeezed the queen's hands for just a fleeting moment. "I only wish he were that way to you. It's really…sad, I guess, to see your relationship deteriorate. Although it is partially your fault."

Regina sent her a dark look, but, before she could speak, the files loaded.

"The most disturbing of these is the audio," Emma's voice hardened in an instant. "Phone calls before your mother and the Watson family."

"Disturbing in what way?"

"In that she seemed to be furthering Henry's belief that all of these damn fairy tales are real."

Regina turned to her in disbelief. Leah's words came rushing back, and, suddenly, made sense in the absolute worst way imaginable.

"Then, I remembered my daughter had called you the evil queen. I won't give away our secrets, because I know you won't give away yours, but the final piece for me was that I recalled you had once said the world would burn if we chose her. I had no idea where that memory came from, or what it could pertain to until my daughter flippantly recalled what had caused her first fight with Lynn. The world would burn if we chose her. You said that to us when you were talking about your step daughter, Snow White. You cursed my daughter, Aurora, as a baby because Stefan and I expressed our condolences and love for Snow. You are a murderer," Leah's voice had become almost violently forceful. "You are the evil queen. Everything fell into place for why Lynn started that fight after we realised the truth."

"Why on earth would she do that?" Regina snapped when she finally regained her voice. "How could she have possibly -"

"I have no idea," Emma said, stunned by her own calm. "Nevertheless, she did. Do you want to hear it?"

Regina hesitated. Then, she nodded.

"Play it."

Emma's fingers lingered over the keyboard. Finally, she pressed play, and turned up the audio.

"This was suppressed," She softly added. "I only was able to find it via the dark web, and illegal hacking of their mobile devices."

Silence. A line clicked on in the audio.

"...I was rather disturbed by the things you brought to our home during that last interview, Miss Mills."

"...I only brought what was necessary to prove the point, Dr. Watson, and, by all accounts, it was effective."

"...It was. It also has left me and Stefan feeling deeply unnerved."

"...Understandable. My daughter is quite the monster. My condolences on what she did to your daughter. I would have stopped it if possible, but she sent me to another realm well before the curse. From that point on, I was searching for my other daughter."

"...Did you ever find her?"

"...I did. In this world, her name is Zara Corvus."

Emma paused the recording.

"I actually knew a girl named Zara Corvus when I was young. We had a friend named Lily Serphine, and they were both orphans like myself. I have no idea what happened to them, but I was horrified by hearing her name come up in this recording. I tried to research the two of them, but came up empty. That said…I think because of that they had no involvement with the Watsons."

"Reasonable," Regina shortly agreed.

I don't have a sister…do I?

Silence, The hum of the central AC and heating took over the room.

"Continue the recording," Regina said, her voice shaking despite herself. "That isn't really relevant. She may very well be talking madness to manipulate them."

Emma nodded. "That's what I want to think, too."

She clicked the computer again, and the recording continued.

"...I cannot believe Regina's daughter would be so re -"

Emma suddenly fast forwarded through the recording.

"She called your daughter a slur," She quickly put in when Regina raised an eyebrow. "I nearly broke my mobile when I threw it across the room in anger at that, not only because it's untrue, but because Lynn had been through enough - Henry told me how she had been kidnapped briefly as a child - and Leah was completely out of line."

She always was, even in our lives before.

The recording continued.

"...Lynn is an impulsive child, always has been. I'm sorry she caused quite the distress for you and your husband, and, of course, your daughter."

"...Aria has to know."

"...Yes, I would tend to agree. She and Lynn ought to be put on an even playing field."

"...My daughter has slept with the girl! I cannot have her do anything like that again with the child of the woman who cursed her!"

"...Do you think Aria will believe you?"

"...With the evidence you provided? Absolutely."

"...Very well. Please let me know if you have any questions. I do not have direct contact with my daughter or granddaughter these days, but I have been watching Lynn's every move when she is not in her hometown."

"...Thank God someone is."

"...In that…"

Regina lost all focus, her mind starting to spin. It was all too much. She reached over, and turned off the recording. Her hands were shaking again. Much to her surprise, Emma closed her computer and hugged the enigma of a woman she was faced with. Barely aware of it, Regina was silently beginning to cry. She closed her eyes. You couldn't stop at killing her father, and chose to do something that could have killed her? Is that why you say I am so indebted to her for giving her blood to Lynn, to manipulating, to using the curse like that? Accuse me of being a monster all you want, but….but I am nothing compared to you. I learnt what I did from you, and from Him. DId you feel some semblance of remorse? Is that why you saved Lynnie's life? Or… Regina pulled herself away from the bounty hunter. She stood up, brushing aside tears, and avoiding looking at her for as long as possible. This is completely embarrassing. When she did turn back towards her, the words she spoke were harsher than any words she had ever spoken.

"I said I would never give up on my revenge, once," She met Emma's eyes, and the bounty hunter nodded. "But this is the cruellest thing imaginable, and, hesitant to admit it as I am, I have done things that would make the worst thing you have ever done look reasonable in comparison."

Replies To Reviews:

jasouatfan: and you were absolutely right to be worried

julz: absolutely! where to even begin with a chapter like this, too - it was a bitch to write, that's for sure, but i am pretty happy with it overall (also the chapter label is sequential, since there have been interludes, etc)

Sammii16: this may very well have been, at least, Regina's precipice…