They wouldn't be able to do anything for another few hours. While Zelena and Tink worked on the Black Fairy's wand, everyone else were making plans for the worst case scenario. If Myra and Nala had already been taken to the Black Fairy's world, they needed a rescue team. Problem was, everyone wanted to be on it.

"I can stay behind and watch the kids." Evie volunteered.

"Regina said that world is riddled with magic and if Fiona takes out their magic, we might need a doctor on stand by." Grace said.

"Well, I'm going so I can punch that bitch in the face." Dianah voiced. "We should bring the dragons and some guns and Regina and Emma. That should be enough."

"I want to help rescue the girls too." Snow cut in.

Emma listened to them argue for a few minutes more before stepping outside. She hated this. Waiting around for Zelena to reconfigure the wand was making her crazy. She couldn't just sit and speculate like the others, she needed to be doing something. By now, it was dark outside. There was no moon and no stars. Darkness was blotting out everything thanks to Fiona. She looked out across the street, where a bunch a people were picking flowers. Per Regina's command, Cody and Henry had gathered a team of people to tear up and collect or destroy as many pixie flowers as they could. Anything to keep them busy because silently seething was starting to drive her crazy. Ivar was nearby, furiously beating up some training dummies while Giselle attempted to calm him down. He certainly had Regina's rage and that rage was directed more at himself than at Fiona at the moment. He was angry that he had failed in protecting his siblings and after Regina's theories and Mal's insights, the anger had welled up again. Emma glanced around, searching for her wife. She found Regina when she rounded the street corner, walking with Robin Hood. She thought it was as good a time as any to discuss their next plan of action and possibly Regina's pregnancy. "Regina." The brunette looked up at her. She said something to Robin and he nodded and walked away. "What was that about?"

"A part of a plan that I've been thinking about." Regina shrugged. "It's not quite there yet, so don't ask."

"Well, what are you thinking?" Emma joined her side as they took a walk, heading for the forest trails. Regina always felt calmed there. A little white ball of light appeared above their heads as they walked, illuminating the dark forest.

"I told you not to ask."

She smirked a little. "You've been really quiet."

"Do you expect me to join the ones currently arguing about something that may or may not occur?"

"It's all they can do until Zelena gets done. They hate doing nothing as much as we do."

"In any case, it's not productive. Perhaps, we can strike a deal with Fiona." Regina said. "Her children for ours."

"We're not ransoming my grandmother-"

"It was your grandmother's idea." Regina cut her a dark glare. "You really think I want to do this? At least, if she bothers to show up, we'll know that she hasn't already run off with our daughters. She cannot leave this world. Her world works differently, in that it works any way she fucking wants it to. We could lose them forever."

"And you think Rose is expendable?" Emma snapped.

"Again, it was Rose's idea. And unlike Rose, who is already an adult, Myra and Nala are not. They are very young and malleable. If Fiona works her magic on them, we could lose them entirely." Regina stopped walking to meet her eyes. "Do you really think I want to lose anyone? That I would purposefully put others in danger?"

"We need a new idea." Emma crossed her arms. "We're not exchanging one person for another."

"Then what's your idea?" Regina demanded. "Wait for her to go back to her world and launch an attack? That gives her plenty of time to set up a defense as well as get back to the safety of her army and her pixie dust. What do you suggest we do? I'm all ears!"

"I don't know, but there has to be a better way than this."

"Then find it, give me another option or we'll have no choice but to go through with it."

"She has to come here anyway to get her wand-"

"That doesn't mean she'll bring the kids with her. And maybe she has an extra wand we don't know about. She could have other plans and other goals we don't know about either." Regina retorted.

"If she's here, she can't harm the kids." Emma said. "If she shows up, we take her out. Build a trap or something."

"That's why I wanted us to exchange Rose and Gold. At the very least, we get her in one place and we know the kids are okay. I asked Robin to be on standby."

"What do we need him for?" Emma asked.

"His bow is heavily enchanted. He can't miss a shot no matter how far away he is. With Mal's knowledge, she can improve it to where he can't miss even if he doesn't see his target. A little more magic could make the arrows impervious to anything Fiona does to try and stop it. I had planned to do this to all of the Merry Men's bows to build a trap." Regina shrugged. "But there are plenty of ways it could go wrong if she prepares for it and based on everything we've seen, she will be."

"Why bows and not guns?"

"Guns are loud." Her wife scoffed. "And even with a suppressor, you can still hear it. This way, the Merry Men don't even have to be in the vicinity. They just need to know what to shoot. Besides, Fiona knows your family. She'll be expecting a gun. As I said, it was just a thought. I wouldn't be surprised if she has a constant protection ward around herself."

"So they shoot Fiona and then what?"

"Magic is her strength. Pixie dust is her strength. If we take it away, she's nothing. I'm almost certain she wouldn't know what to do without it. If we can incapacitate her, then-"

"We both know she's not going to come alone. She has an army of armed soldiers to protect her."

"We don't know much at all, Emma. If Mal is right, then none of this will matter because she already has what she wants. She wanted Myra and she has her." Regina sighed, shaking with grief or rage, Emma didn't know. "None of this matters. She doesn't have to come back here if she doesn't need her wand to return to her world. At the very least, Robin is a thief. I don't think he's ever been asked to steal a child before, but I doubt he'd object now. I just need to know where our children are and I'm going to get them. If I have to go through an entire army then fine. They will all die. Every single one."

"Don't go Evil Queen just yet." Emma cautioned. "We need to find them first."

"It's a bit too late for that." Came the dark reply. Even now, Emma could see her wife's magic cackling along her skin like electricity. She'd seen Regina angry before and she almost wanted to unleash her on Fiona and her lackeys. As much as she wanted to see it happen, and as much as Fiona would deserve it, there was still a problem.

"Did you know you're pregnant?" She asked abruptly.

"What?" Regina seemed to freeze for a moment before she turned around slowly. "What are you talking about?"

"You're pregnant. Evie found out after you got blown up in a prison escape." Regina started to calm down with this new information and by her reaction, Emma could tell that she hadn't known.

"This can't happen now." Regina whispered, turning away again. "Not now." She hissed, running a frustrated hand through her hair.

"Regina-"

"Don't mistake me, Emma, I'm happy, but this is the worst possible time for this. I'll just…" She let out an irritated huff. "I'll just use a spell to protect the baby. I'll have to. Don't say anything about this to the others."

"And why not?" Emma asked.

"Because they'll try and stop me from going to get Myra and Nala back. I'll protect our baby, you know I will."

"I know that, but maybe-"

"May I be alone right now, Emma?"

Emma could see her wife on edge, starting to pace. She would eventually get caught up in her own thoughts and wouldn't even realize Emma was there. It was a habit Regina tended to fall back on when under duress and at the moment, she was under a lot. She wouldn't listen to Emma right now either. "Fine, but not for long." Regina paused in her pacing to look at her. "I get it, but don't shut me out. Please."

"I'm not. I just have a lot to think about."

Emma sighed and spun around, knowing she would get no further with her wife. She made her way back to the mansion, but everyone there was just as stressed. She found Jackson sitting on the front steps with Elias next to him. Her big brother was in a trance, that big brain of his going into overdrive. "You might start a fire with all those gears turning."

"Nonsense. I am quite...perplexed." Jackson frowned. "Do you remember if the men who attacked Mal and Grandma said anything?"

"Yeah. They came to take Grandma and kill Mal."

"Yeah, see, all of this is…" Jackson stood up, his fingers moving rapidly on his right hand as he touched his thumb to each of his other fingers. "This is a lot of...smoke."

"What are you talking about, Jack?" Emma asked.

"It still doesn't make any sense. Fiona wanted your daughter, why all the other stuff? To an untrained eye it looks like she didn't really have a plan or at least changed it midway through a couple times. But we know she wouldn't do that considering she is a very methodical person. She's been planning this for a long time, but it just seems like a very convoluted and haphazard way to abduct a child."

"A lot of smoke…" Emma whispered.

"Yes." Jackson said. "And she's always known about Myra's existence. She could've taken her when she was a baby, when you had your guard down and you and Regina were just enjoying life as new mothers, not even aware that she was there. That would've easier, less messy. She says she wants our grandmother back but clearly she can get to this world easily enough. Why wait until Grandma is a grandmother to get her back when she ran away as a child? Not to mention she doesn't seem to give a damn about Gold when he should be the one closest to her. He was the one she wanted to save from the darkness and he is the Dark One. She's the Black Fairy. They should be kindred spirits, no?"

"What does this have to do with the attack on Mal?"

"It's smoke. We've been looking at the attack as if it's important, Fiona even said it was just a distraction, but all it did was send Grandma and Mal back home, to us, to Myra. All it did was injure Mal slightly and put you and Regina on high alert."

"She probably meant for Mal to die." Emma shrugged.

"If that's true, then I think she would be dead. Surely Fiona would've accounted for Mal's resourcefulness and skill in surviving."

"She's a dragon." Emma scoffed. "She said people tried to kill her all the time. And not everyone thinks like you, Jackie. You could be giving her too much credit."

He sighed. "I suppose, but I stand by my original statement. She's doing an awful lot to get to Myra."

"And Regina cursed an entire world just to get to Snow. Villains take go big or go home very seriously."

Jackson huffed and seemed to concede that maybe he was doing too much thinking. "How is Regina?" He ventured to ask.

"Pissed."

"Did you get her checked out? Is her pregnancy well? Stress is never good for babies. So I hear."

Emma rolled her eyes. "She's fine and how the hell did you know she was pregnant when we didn't?"

"I'm a genius, Emma." He deadpanned. "It's not that difficult to see."

"Fine then, Genius, what do you think we should do? Regina and Grandma want to do a bait and switch."

"We should confirm Fiona's location and the location of the girls before we make a move against her. We need Zelena to finish the wand before we can do anything. I would advise waiting for that, or if possible, locating Fiona beforehand. Can't Regina do that with magic?"

"We don't have anything that belongs to Fiona to use a locator spell." Emma said. "But...we have blood."

"You have her blood?" Elias curled his lip.

"You want to join the army but you don't like blood?" Emma smirked at him, racing into the house. "Grandma!" Rose and Mal were in the kitchen, softly arguing about something. "Hey, Grandma, can I have some of your blood?"

"Excuse me?"

"We could use blood magic to find Fiona, right?"

"Tried it. Several times." Rose glared at Mal, who just shrugged.

"Damn it-" All three looked up as Zelena walked into the room, looking exhausted and flushed. Redness stained her skin and her muscles spasmed slightly on their own accord. She placed the wand on the kitchen table. "What is it?" Emma asked, noting that there was no happiness in her expression.

"The wand's been used multiple times before. It's severely depleted but it could open a portal to Fiona's world. It would be a one way street."

"You couldn't reprogram it?"

"Not without destroying it. I tried fifty different ways. Even Tink."

"Regina was probably right then. She has another wand. She could be gone already." Emma pulled out her phone to call Regina. "We should let the others know. Try to come up with another plan."

"Sorry." Zelena whispered, looking defeated.

"It's okay."

"It's not. I know it isn't."

Emma came to her side and put an arm around her. "We'll get them back. Don't beat yourself up over it." Zelena simply nodded but she wasn't very convincing. Emma pulled out a chair for her and she almost collapsed into it. "We'll get them back, Z."

"I just wasted all of my energy doing something that doesn't help us in the slightest."

"It did help us. It let us know that there's no use waiting around anymore and Fiona might be gone already. We can move on to the next step."

"Which is?" The redhead asked, arching an eyebrow in a manner so similar to her younger sister.

"I don't know yet." Emma admitted. "I think we might have to plan a rescue mission in the Black Fairy's world. Don't think about that right now. Take a break."

Zelena sighed and nodded, laying her head on the table. "Regina's in her office, by the way."

"Thanks." She left Rose and Mal to pass along the new information to the rest of the family. She desperately wanted to punch something. She wanted to rip something apart and her fingers twitched at the mere thought of doing so, but someone had to stay sane. That was not going to be Regina if she ever saw Fiona. So she took a deep breath to calm herself down before walking into the office. Jackson was there, sitting in Regina's chair on her laptop, frantically typing away. Regina was looking over his shoulder, gripping the back of the chair. "What's this?"

"Regina's a secret genius." Jackson answered. He stopped typing and Regina leaned forward to see what had come up.

"Explain please." Emma said, walking into the room, a bit surprised to see Regina back already.

"Jackson expressed some concerns to me. The same ones he said to you." Regina said, turning to a stack of papers next to the laptop. She turned the page and handed it to Jackson, who started typing again. "He's right. Just like Mal is right. I haven't stopped thinking about it. Now, I get it." She walked around the desk and urged Emma to take a seat. "Fiona doesn't want her family. She knows it's lost. Rose rejected her, Gold hates her. She'll never get them back without a lot of magical intervention, but Myra and Nala are easier targets. I believe she's going to turn them into her family. More than that, she's going to turn them into weapons."

"Weapons? Weapons for what? What does turning them into her family have to do with anything? She can hire people to fight for her and can probably get her hands on any weapons she wants."

"Some people believe family is everything, Miss Swan. My mother hurt me and I hated her with a burning passion. Growing up, she was a poisonous part of my life that bred only malice and anger despite my attempts to please her. Even after Daniel, I still couldn't kill her. I still cried when she died...because she was my mother. You could hate your family and blood will still demand your allegiance. Fiona wants their allegiance, their loyalty, because her own family wouldn't give it to her. I think she's already gone, already taken them to her world, but that's only part of the problem."

"What could be worse than her taking our children?" Emma asked.

"The pixie flowers." Regina replied. "It's what Jackson and I were just researching."

Jackson took over the discussion then, pointing out the copious amounts of flowers all over town. "They only grow in the presence of great darkness, which is Fiona herself. I noticed that at her house, the one we found she'd been staying in, the only pixie flowers there were potted and pretty. She came to Storybrooke once and they're all over the fucking place. So, Regina suggested that maybe she removed the other flowers, had them cut with the grass or something of that nature, but considering their connection to her I doubt she would do that. So what could she do with them? They're magical flowers so she wouldn't destroy them. We phoned a friend who did some sleuthing and found that she has an alias. There are no records of Fiona Black because she wasn't using the name."

"Aurelia Rose." Regina said. "Aurelia means gold and rose stands for...Rose. She named herself after her children."

"Aurelia Rose is more well known than Fiona Black." Jackson continued, spinning the laptop around to show a quaint little flower shop bursting with red pixie flowers.

"She's a florist." Emma said as it dawned on her. "She's selling the flowers."

"No, she's spreading them and we believe it's because of their magical properties. Do you remember what Zelena said about our magic and this world?" Regina asked.

Emma nodded. "You mean to tell me she's trying to use her flowers to take over the world?"

"The flowers are made from magic and they are connected to her. There's no telling how many she's grown or brought with her. That means all of that potent magic is fully at her disposal in this world."

A fairy that wanted to take over the world? "What are we up against, Regina?" She whispered. They were at a huge disadvantage. Fiona not only had their children, but she had a headstart doing all of this.

"I don't know, but we have to end her and this." Regina took her hands and gave them a squeeze.

Emma slowly nodded as she processed this new information. "We need a new plan."

/

"That's a stupid plan!" Dianah exclaimed.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Di, hear us out. Besides, it's not your decision." She took a look around her gathered friends, family and allies. Her eyes fell on Regina, standing to her right. Her wife gave a small nod of encouragement. "Look, I know all of you want to help get Myra and Nala back. I know you're all angry, but attacking Fiona in full force is stupid. It's what she's expecting. She has the army and the magic to defend herself and she knows us. She knows we're going to go all out to get our kids back and that's exactly what we can't do. Now, we have reason to believe that she's already taken the girls to her world."

"What reason?" Grace asked.

"Aurelia Rose. It's an alias she used to get a job as a florist, selling her pixie flowers. Not many people bought them, but we found records of her moving large shipments of them to warehouses across the U.S. If she got to one of these warehouses, she could use the magic in those flowers to get back to her world easily. She wouldn't even need her wand. That means she is way ahead of us and we've lost a lot of time. First, we're going to go to her world with a small force, a quiet one, to get the girls back and destroy it if we can. The rest of you are going to the warehouses and destroy them."

"Why?" Dianah asked.

"Because that's either the failsafe she doesn't think we know about or the master plan. With the amount of magic she has stockpiled in this world, there is nothing we could do to stop her from doing whatever she wants. No army, no weapons, no nothing. An atomic bomb would probably bounce off of her. That's how dangerous pixie dust is and all of it combined…"

"So who's on the teams?" Grace asked.

"Me, Regina, Mal and Rose will go to Fiona's world. Robin and some of his men will go with us. They're trained thieves and if they can get in and get out with the girls, we'll try it. If not, we'll just let the beasts loose." She gestured to Regina and Mal. Many of her family did not look happy but she didn't miss the pleased growl that rumbled out of Mal. "Now, there are three warehouses and all of them will most likely be guarded. Mom, Dianah, Jake, you three will lead the teams and you all can work out amongst yourselves who's doing what."

"Excuse me." Zelena said. "What about me?"

"You can stay here and help Jackson find any more warehouses. You're tired. Too tired and you expended more than enough of your magic tending to the wand. It's okay. Take a break, Sis."

"You sure you don't want any more backup?" Dianah asked.

"I'm sure." Emma said. "Does anyone else have a problem with this because I don't have time for it." No one spoke out against her and she looked to her mother. "Sorry. I just-"

Grace raised her hand for silence and stood up. "If this is what you want to do, then we'll do it. We're with you, Emma. Although I would want to make a small change."

"I know you want to go with us-"

"I will go." Grace said firmly. "I know you want to take Mal and Regina because of their power and their anger, but you have to remember that you are taking them to a world made of magic. The owner of that world can use that magic against them. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to have someone like me there as well. Someone who can't use magic."

"Yes, what if we go?" Snow asked.

Zelena suddenly sat up. "Actually, you can. I might have something for all of you."

A few minutes later, Emma, followed the others, ventured down into the basement of Zelena's old farmhouse where she kept the door to her own magic vault. Zelena's vault was much brighter than Regina's and twice as big. The floors and walls were lined with gold and green and golden chandeliers covered the ceiling. There were various tables covered in equipment and pristine tools and marked chests pressed against the walls, even a forge. A small section of the room was dominated by bookshelves and scroll shelves, all of which were filled to bursting. A marble lined stream of water cut through the floor, flowing from a place Emma couldn't see, to a small fountain that also ran into a mini garden of sorts, although she didn't recognize any of the mushrooms or herbs that were growing there.

"This is impressive, Zelena." Mal commented.

"Thank you. Don't touch anything." She paused to look at Emma. "Especially you."

Emma looked at Regina. "DId you tell everyone about my magic lessons?"

"Yes. You're a hazard in a vault, Em." Regina replied with a small smirk.

"I haven't experimented much with pixie dust." Zelena said, catching everyone's attention again. "I was looking at some of the pixie flowers we found when we raided Fiona's house, but I haven't had enough time."

"Time to do what?" Regina asked.

Zelena shrugged. "To play with it, understand its composition, its nature. Pixie dust is powerful and so little is known about it. You are a queen, Baby Sister, but I am a witch. Magic is my specialty."

"Except light magic."

"I've done a lot with that too." Zelena smirked. "I think you'll find that I won't be so easy to defeat next time. Anyways!" She walked over to a row of drawers and pulled out one of them. "Take a look at this." She returned with a marker and took Mal's hand, drawing a magical symbol on her palm. A wave of magic rolled over her, covering her from the neck down like a faint suit of rippling gold. It eventually faded out, but the mark remained. Then she conjured a gun and fired it right into the dragon's chest.

"Zelena, what the hell!" Regina exclaimed. She and Rose both rushed to Mal's side, but the blonde was unharmed. The bullet was suspended in front of her, as if imbedded in the suit. She even picked it out and showed it to the frantic women.

"Are you two done being a bunch of wimps?" Zelena asked, motioning for them to step aside. They reluctantly obeyed and Mal simply arched an eyebrow at what was to come next. Zelena conjured a green fireball in her hand and fired it at Mal. The suit flashed back into existence as the fire washed over her, quickly dispersing and turning the suit green. Again, it faded out, leaving Mal looking completely normal.

"It's absorbing it." Mal said.

Zelena nodded. "It absorbs energy, magical or otherwise. In a sense, it will make you impervious to Fiona's magic. The more energy it absorbs, the more powerful it will become and the more damage it can withstand. Now, it is mostly untested, but it will even modify itself to fit your dragon form."

"Can you use the absorbed energy?"

"Yes, but I've only done it once. It's meant to be a defensive measure, not the other way around. Not without more testing."

"We'll take it." Regina said. "How many can you make?"

"Enough." Zelena turned around and walked over to a display shelf and pulled open the glass doors to pull out a couple things. "Take these too. I can't go with you, not as weak as I am, but I'll be damned if I can't do something to help." She returned with two little boxes that looked like ring boxes. She opened them to show they were buttons. She handed the brown one to Emma. "Use these only in dire situations. Hopefully you won't need them, but knowing you all, you might. They only work once." She handed the green one to Regina. "This is all I can do unfortunately."

"It's more than enough." Regina said. "Thank you."

"Anything for my little munchkin. And you, I guess." Zelena shrugged.

It was decided that Emma's parents would accompany them. While Zelena marked them with her magic pen behind their ears, Jake, Dianah and Lily gathered everyone who wouldn't be going but still wanted to destroy something, for an assault on Fiona's warehouses.

Emma watched as Belle placed the familiar looking globe on the coffee table. The raiding party was assembled, consisting of Mal, Rose, Grace, Alexander, David, and Snow. She and Regina were obviously going. Robin and a couple of his men were on standby until they found wherever Fiona was keeping the girls. They would be brought in using the pixie dust in Fiona's world and hopefully they could get in and out without detection. The less people stuck in a world of Fiona's creation the better. Her parents had gathered their weapons and were more than ready to offer their hand in rescuing the girls. "Everyone ready?"

"More than ready." Xander answered.

Regina reached out and pricked her finger on the globe. The entire thing turned red for a few moments as it began to spin rapidly. When the redness dispersed and it began to slow, only a single red blip remained. "You were right, Regina. She's gone and taken the girls."

"Let's go get them back."

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