The Evil Queen's Black Widow

by 06bromleys

Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted. Cursed for betraying her Queen, Amelia Montague must figure out how she wants the rest of the world to perceive her. As the villain she became, or the hero she wants to be, but will her feelings for the Queen be a help or hindrance to the Master Assassin or she will she always be known as the infamous Black Widow (Rated M for safety)

75. Chapter 75: Sympathy for De Vil

AN:

Introducing: Milly Alcock (House of Dragon) as a young Anastasia

and Timothy Chalamet (Little Woman 2019) as Dimitri

---

Enchanted Forest

Many Years Ago

Outside Monteriggioni

It was early winter in the Enchanted Forest. Pure white snow covered the fallen autumn leaves as Master Romeo Montague stood with his neck inclined as he searched for any sign of his young apprentice among the high branches above him. The crisp cold air was the perfect time to test young girl's balance on the high treetops in the winter conditions. So far, she hasn't slipped once as she traveled across frosty branches, quick feet move underneath her as the frost shakes off the bark.

"Keep going!" he encourages her from the ground. She could easily outrun Tybalt is she just put her mind to it. But her mind was always distracted. She excelled with everything the master's threw at her, only for her mind to lose focus at the most important moment. He had spent many hours trying to figure out what was on her mind. Was it her mother? She was so young when Juliet died, its hard to think she was having difficulty mourning her loss.

But the answer came a week ago when she was at the archery range with Richard. With bow and arrow in hand she was taking her time with her aim when a group of children had wondered into the gardens of the Villa playing. She became distracted by the game they were playing making her loosen her arrow. Missing the target altogether.

She was lonely. In all her years of training, there had never been another child that had been gifted enough to be trained alongside her. They had deliberately kept her away from the other children as the way of a life of an assassin wouldn't allow her to make meaningful attachments.

How much of a hypocrite was he?.

She would have to grow up without the knowledge of knowing who he really was to her, yet she already looks up to him as a father she will never know she already has. Any revelation know would just confuse the poor girl. It was too late to take her away from all this. This is everything she has ever known.

Hearing a branch snap quickly followed by a small yelp took him out of his thoughts when he looked up to see his young apprentice was no longer in the tree's "Are you okay?" he waited for her voice to travel through the tree's.

"Yes Master!" it came eventually allowing the breath he was holding in out.

"Good, now get back up there".

"Master Romeo!" he hears her panicked voice in the distance. Something was wrong. He felt his heart clench in fear when he heard her small voice calling to him.

Quickly unsheathing one of his saber's from his waist as he runs towards her voice that continues to call out to him finally finding her crouched over something. His stomach dropped when he saw a small blonde haired girl curled up against a fallen tree in a dress that had been torn and ripped. But what made his stomach really turn was the color of her skin, it was almost blue.

"She's so cold" Amelia whimpered, moving Amelia out the way his fingers to her neck as he felt a weak pulse as he looked to his apprentice.

"Run back to town and tell Paola to ready a warm bed. And get a doctor to meet me at the gate" she looked at her master as she hesitated to leave them "Now!" at that the young girl turned and ran back towards the direction of the town as he looked for anything that could hurt her before he scooped her up into his arms and chest. A whimper came from the girl as he started to make his way towards the town to safety.

"Shh I've got you" he hushed the girl in his arms "You're safe now".

---

Storybrooke

Present

"Hello Amelia. Miss Me? You've probably gotten the full story from Rumple by now of how I'm alive, if not I'm your Uncle will fill you in. It's a shame I couldn't watch your little marriage fall apart with your dear Captain. But rest assured I won't be making the same mistakes with Robin. That's right Amelia, I'm here with him in New York, I must say your little speech to his little wife nearly had me shedding tear or two, if only she were alive to hear your little apology. See you soon Amelia".

Zelena's message only made her more angry than she already was. At Snow. At Regina. Everyone around her was keeping secrets from her. She didn't speak a word to her partner as they made their way back to the mansion. All she knew the sooner she get to Snow and Charming the better she would feel that the goodness preaching couple wasn't perfect after all. Especially the Princess.

Romeo did nothing but care for her throughout her childhood, the memories of their reunion on Neverland made her stomach turn knowing she was the to send him there. It was her fault he was ever found out, it was her fault that he was ever poisoned with dream shade. It was her fault she didn't get more time with him as her father.

Despite the hours alone she had spent with her younger sister going through memory after memory the assassin bounded up the stairs of the mansion more determined than ever after finding out what the former Queen had been keeping from her ever since they had gone undercover with the villains.

"Amelia!" the former Queen tried calling after the redhead as she followed her to the master bedroom, but her concern for the assassin was abruptly ended when she came face to face to the bathroom door shutting in her face and locked before she heard the woman inside retching up whatever the last thing she had eaten before getting caught up by the villains.

Calling the assassin a mess wouldn't do her justice as the redhead continued to throw up inside their now shared bathroom. For the last days she looked like she had been running on fumes from the bags under her eyes, as her hair no longer held the same brightness it once did. And now her sister antics were just too much even for the assassin's body.

"Melia.." the Queen tried calling through the door, tempted to use her magic to unlock it, but she knew she couldn't barge in there and beg her forgiveness. She had been lying to her for weeks. Not only that she had learnt something she wasn't sure she would ever forgive Mary Margaret for. She wasn't even sure she would ever forgive her for writing it in the first place.

The former Queen was taken out of her thoughts when the door suddenly opened making her step back to see the redhead right in front of her.

"Are you okay?" she asked her partner in concern.

"I'm fine" the assassin told her as she brushed past her partner pulling her leather jacket off her shoulder's as she headed to the walk-in closet, the former queen watched as the assassin pushed the numerous hangers apart to reach for something behind the clothes that hung from the metal railing.

"Melia what-" she didn't get a chance to continue her questioning when the assassin pulled out the tan leather carry on bag that held every attachment to her bracers taking it to the bed.

"Melia" the former Queen called out for the former Widow once again as she tried to find something within the bag, before her frustration got the better of her as she tipped the whole bag out on the bed "Amelia" the Queen tried once again only to go ignored once again.

With her patience worn thin the Queen waved hand towards the assassin. Purple engulfed the weapons on the bed as well as the bracer's on her arms taking the items that distracted her partner away from the homicidal assassin.

"Really?" the redhead exasperated at her in disbelief "You know I don't need those to kill them".

"Kill who?".

"Snow and David, didn't you hear what they did to Maleficent" she said heading back to the walk-in.

"You have to be joking" the Queen exasperated herself, making the redhead double back forgetting about what else could be hidden in the shared closet.

"They interfered with the natural order. If they had done it before the Brotherhood fell apart, I would've been sent to kill them anyway. I can go for them for what they did to Mal. They killed an innocent to get what they wanted. I have a cause, and proof of what they did. They're guilty".

"Do you even hear yourself right now?" she questioned her usually reasonable assassin "This is insane!".

"What else do you expect me to do? I've killed people for a lot less, we both have" she retorted.

"This isn't a contract, it's murder. The murder of someone you care about. I understand you're angry about the letter, but this is Mary Margaret we're talking about, you've cared about her ever since she was fourteen years old".

"She didn't care about me when she sent that damn letter!" the outburst made the Queen flinch "She didn't care about Romeo when she sent that letter. Why the hell should I care know?".

"Because you're not the Widow anymore".

"That's funny you should say that. Because that's all you've wanted out of me ever since you decided it was alright for me to go into that coven without all the information".

"Don't" Regina sternly warned her "Don't you dare put that on me. I was only keeping her secret from hurting you".

"But it was better coming from my sister right? Not from you? Someone I still trust with my life despite all the crap we've put each other through. You want to trade the last few weeks for a happy ending you literally have to put in the hands of a man that's currently in my Uncle's possession. Is that it?".

"No, of course not".

"Then why couldn't you tell me?" she asked her "And don't say because you wanted to protect Snow. She's had years to tell me and yet she stands there preaching about being a good person when she's done something so..horrible to another person. She let me hate you for what happened to my father. There has to some sort of justice here, otherwise everything I've lived by has all been for nothing".

"What you're talking about is not justice Amelia, it was to stop Emma going down a path we've both been down".

"Why should I care? I was captured and drained of my blood all because you couldn't tell me why I was risking everything to keep something like what Snow White did from coming to light, because what? she couldn't face being a disappointment in her daughter's eye".

"For the same reasons we don't want Tom or Henry hearing about the thing we did in our past" Regina tell her as he former Queen recounts the words the former Princess told her before she told her about the two deepest secrets to her.

"We want to protect them, so they don't lose faith in the person you've become. You said it yourself not so long ago. You're only just getting Tom back after John left, If you do this whatever bonds you've worked so hard to forge back, will be for nothing".

"Get out of the way Regina" the redhead calmly tell her as Regina keeps herself in between the redhead and the door.

"No. Not when your not thinking clearly. This is what Gold wants. You think Swan will sit by and let you kill her mother. No matter how angry she;ll be with her mother, she will kill you".

"Do you really think I really care at this point. It's better than whatever my Uncle has in store with me with the Apple" she tells the former Queen "Get out of my Regina" she slowly tells the Queen.

The former Queen had been left with no choice at this point. She had to do something drastic to stop the woman she loved from doing something she would hate herself later doing.

"Then I'm sorry" at that the former Queen disappeared in purple smoke as the bedroom door slammed shut before the assassin could reach it, the Queen reappeared on the other side of the door as her love yelled out from the other side.

"REGINA! OPEN THE DOOR!" Amelia demanded out of the woman as she tried to "Open the door, Regina!" she repeated her demand as closed fist hit the wooden door as the woman started to panic "Open the door!".

The door shook from the force of the assassin's hits as the Queen wiped away the tears of anguish she felt for the woman she loved at that moment before turning her back on the room that her soulmate was trapped within for at least the next hour or so.

Hopefully that was enough time for the assassin to come to her senses. If not, well, then they are all for hell to pay.

---

"This is highly unorthodox Mentor, even for you Montague" Iago spat across the room from inside of Claudius's private study that sat on top of the villa that also doubled as his bedroom. The leader of the Brotherhood stood against the edge of his desk in deep thought as Romeo, Angelo, and Iago discussed their next move with the girl they had found.

The Prince Regent of Monteriggioni as the others liked to call him behind his back was all up in airs at the Master of Ships suggestion to what to do with the girl they had found in the forest. His position as the 'heir apparent' of the Creed once Claudius dies went to his head as soon as the Mentor named him the second in command in his absence.

His portrait hung next to Claudius's which only made his own ego inflate tenfold as the other's own portraits decorated each of the four walls of the room. Each a likeness of each Master Assassin in their robes encased in thick gold frames held each as menacing as the other.

The girl he and Amelia had found was thankfully looking better under the close care of the doctor and Paola in the Bordello, the color in her cheeks had returned to her as she was slowly warmed again and treated for the cuts and bruises, she must've sustained running in the woods, lucky not to encounter the creatures that lived in the woods first.

"Master all I am suggesting is that bringing Anastasia into the Brotherhood could only benefit Amelia's own training" the Master of Ships tells his Master. In the time she had been he conscious the girl had told Paola her name and nothing else of how she ended in the middle of the woods by herself.

"Benefit Amelia's training how?" Claudius inquired with the man "i haven't been made aware of any issues".

"I don't know if anyone else has noticed but she has become distracted as of late" Romeo started.

"That can be easily rectified" Iago quickly intervened "She just needs more discipline".

"No!" he tells the man. He knew what he meant by discipline. He had seen the scars on her back, he would always do it when he was on a long voyage on the Jackdaw. Looking back towards his Mentor the master of ships tried o plead his case "She needs someone. This life. Our way life. Is hard. But we always had other initiates going through the same thing every day. She has no one Claudius".

"What exactly are you suggesting here Master Montague?" Angelo finally spoke up from this place where his had slithered out from behind his desk downstairs to join in on this discussion.

"When the girl is healthy again allow me to train her alongside Amelia, she's only a few years younger than her and with no parents around she has no where else to go".

"Another mouth to feed you mean?" Iago sniped at the younger assassin.

"Iago" Claudius chastised the weapons master before he looked at his master of ships "It wasn't so long ago you came to me wanting to train the daughter of a dead whore".

"And have you been disappointed?".

"No" the mentor admitted "If you think bringing this girl into the Brotherhood would help Amelia concentrate on her training, then I'll allow it. I remember how close you and Shay were before he betrayed us" the name made Iago visibly grimace at the mention of "But she must learn our ways quickly".

"And she will. I will make sure of it".

"Then I'll allow your petition Montague. From this day henceforth Anastasia is now your Apprentice along with Amelia until the day she makes the rank of Master. And if she dies before, you're burying her".

---

After spending the whole night looking for the Author who had been released from the illustration, the hero's and Hook returned to the loft completely unaware of what the former Queen and her assassin had been all night and the secrets that had been revealed in the short few hours. And with the secret that the saviors parents had been holding onto for years now exposed, the blonde needed answered now more than ever from her parents.

"You have to remember something else about the Author, some way to find him" Emma tells them as they all file into the loft "Now think" she urged them.

"We told you everything we know" David insisted to his daughter turning to face her.

"Are we sure about that?" she questioned her father "Because secrets just keep coming out".

"Okay. You're clearly still upset" the saviors mother observed.

"Yes, I am still upset. You were the ones who taught me there is always a right way. A heroic way. And what you did to Maleficent's child...".

"It was our only option to make sure you grew up good" her father argues.

"I'm sorry, but if it were me, no matter what, I would not harm a defenseless person".

"And that right there" her mother spoke up "That goodness is exactly why we did what we did. It was worth it".

The family argument was interrupted when the door opened behind the savior to see Regina let herself in.

"Regina, where have you been?" the savior questions her "Where's Lia? Tom's been worried sick".

Ever since they had woken up from the sleep spell the teen had been going out of his mind after seeing the note his mother had left for him in his notebook. She had seen what he was looking at.

She and others had a hell of job trying to convince him to go to school instead of joining them to find the Author, insisting that he would know what Gold wanted with her mother's newly discovered title as a product of Star Crossed Lovers and her role in Gold's plans. With the adults assurance and their promise the teen followed his friend to school

"In the middle of a very bad day" the former Queen tells them "I'll tell you the whole story later, after I rescue Robin Hood with Amelia".

"Robin Hood?" Emma questioned her "What the hell are you talking about?".

"I called that number you gave me, but Marian answered the phone, and I discovered... She's not really Marian at all".

"So, who is she?" David asked her.

"Zelena" Regina revealed to the hero's and Hook much to the blonde disbelief that the Wicked Witch was still alive.

"The wicked witch?".

"I don't know how it's possible, but my sister has been masquerading as her this entire time. And she's in league with Gold. Robin's in danger, so we're going to New York to find him and stop her".

"And what about Gold?" Hook spoke up making the Queen look at the pirate "If they're working together, he's not just gonna let you waltz off and spoil his plans".

"I wouldn't worry about Gold. I know exactly how to handle him" she tells him.

"What about Amelia in all this?" Mary Margaret asked the older woman in concern "Where is she?".

Regina paused glancing towards Mary Margaret before going back to Emma "Well my bad day was nothing compared to her's" the older woman started "Gold left her alone with the Duchess and a dream catcher for the day".

"Duchess?" Emma asked the former Queen in confusion.

"It's what Amelia's her sister went by back home" Hook informs his girlfriend clenching his jaw "The rumors are that the Duchess was just as bad as the Widow, if not worse".

Hearing this the blonde looked back to the former Queen for answers of what she could do to someone like Amelia "What did she do?".

Instead of answering the blonde straight away the brunette looked towards her former step-daughter.

"Anastasia told her who was the one to send my letter to Monteriggioni" Regina said making Mary Margaret physically flinch that didn't go unnoticed by her daughter as her father instantly reached over to try and comfort his wife.

"Wait" Emma spoke up "What letter?" she asked for anyone in the room to answer her even glancing towards her boyfriend who looked just as confused as she did.

Letting out a deep sigh the former Queen braced herself to retell the story that had almost ended any sort of relationship she had with the redhead now.

"Years ago, after your mother and I first met Amelia. I wrote a letter to her old Mentor, accusing Romeo of fathering a child. Only I never sent it. Instead, your mother did, out of jealousy for Romeo's fatherly affections after finding out he had an apprentice, a girl that held a place in his heart she could never hold".

"Lia" Emma trailed off for the former Queen as her eye's glanced towards her mother. If she wasn't already angry with her before, she was now, what made it worse is that the pixie haired woman couldn't look at her.

"Losing Romeo the way she did, was only the start of becoming the Black Widow" Regina carried on as the blonde continued to watch her mother in a mix of anger and disappointment in her eyes.

"Let me guess, you never told her?" Emma supplied for her the former Queen "You lied to her for all these years".

"Emma, it was a mistake" Mary Margaret tried to defend herself with tears in her eye's. But with both her darkest secrets had now been exposed "I never meant to hurt her or Romeo" she plead to her daughter's forgiving side.

"And yet you did hurt them. You made her think her father was dead for years. She lost everything".

"But we know now he wasn't" her mother argued as Regina stayed quiet behind the blonde.

"That's not the point and you know it" Emma sternly tells her "She risked her life so many time for you, all she has ever wanted is to keep you safe".

"Emma" David warned his daughter as he continued to rub his wife's back in comfort.

"Luv" Hook's voice gently coaxed her away from her verbal attack on her mother "That's enough, she understands" it seemed to do the trick as she turned her back on her mother with a huff, refocusing on the former Queen.

"Where does this leave the Widow exactly?" Hook was the one to ask the former Queen.

He knew the woman too well that she wouldn't let this slight go without some sort of vengeance, whether it be blood or something else. The price she paid for Mary Margaret's childish jealousy would be a steep one. The loss of her father but her on a path that would only be cemented years later.

"Hurt. Betrayed...vengeful" Regina listed off to the family as David tried to comfort his wife "At the moment she's in too angry to think straight. With that and discovering what my sister's been up to. She's using what you did to Maleficent to justify killing you both for interfering with what the assassin's thought about free will. Your actions to assure Emma's goodness created an imbalance she thinks she need to correct by killing both of you".

"She wouldn't, would she?" the savior asked the former Queen. After everything would Amelia really try and kill the one person, she's made it her mission to help. Would she kill them now?.

"I honestly don't know" the dark brunette tells them "Anastasia's somehow gotten into her head. Maybe if I can refocus some of that anger towards my sister, she'll calm down enough by the time we get back".

"And if she doesn't?" Hook asked the former Queen.

"Then I'll stop her" Regina promised the family "Even if she hates me for it".

---

Stepping off the school bus in front of their home with Henry, Tom followed his cousin off the bus with his phone firmly in his hands as he tried to figure out what to say next to his study partner Mary Jane. Should he try to be funny? Charming? Maybe he should talk to David about this or Killian. They would know what to say.

Meeting shortly after starting school with Henry, Mary Jane or as she liked to be called MJ, was assigned by the teachers to help him catch up with the others as a tutor, often meeting up before and during school to help him come to terms with the new environment, but the weeks went by the two had become study partner's. in no time after exchange number's they were texting the other whenever they could.

They would text each other throughout the day, even getting caught a few times while eating dinner with Henry and Regina, each time his Mom would subtly pry the devise out of his free hand under the table without Regina noticing before returning it to him the following morning.

As the teen tried to figure out what to say next to the girl without sounding like a complete idiot he was taking out his thoughts when he heard Henry talking to Pongo who was sat in the middle of the sidewalk with no Archie in sight.

"Hey, Pongo" Henry greeted the Dalmatian "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be out here by yourself" he says to the dog before it runs down the street with Henry chasing after it.

"Damn it" Tom cursed to himself seeing his younger cousin run off by himself "Henry!" he called after him. He knew better than to run off especially now. Pocketing his phone the teen ran after his friend keeping his backpack firmly on his shoulder's.

"Pongo! Pongo!" the pair yelled after the running Dalmatian. The dog took them both someway down the street before turning a sharp corner down an alley way full of uncollected trash until the dog finally stopped at the dead end.

"Okay" Henry panted as they came to a stop "Come here, boy" Henry encouraged the dog only for Pongo to suddenly start to growl and bark at the two boy's he knew so well.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked the dog he would pet if he ever came across the dog in the street or during some of his sessions with Archie "Calm down" he said reaching out his hand to pet him only for the adult's dogs teeth to snap at him barely missing the tips of his fingertips as the teen recoiled in fear unaware of the car that had blocked them into the alleyway. He only felt the feeling of the hairs on the back of his neck alerting him to the danger only when it was too late to do something.

Hearing the familiar purr of the engine he knew who it was straight away as the older teen whirl around to see Cruella De Vil come to a sudden stop inches from his chins making him scramble away from the car bonnet from hitting him.

The woman herself climbed out of the care to face the pair she had been searching for to use as leverage against their mothers for the Author's life.

"Don't blame the dog, darlings. He's simply following orders, and I told him to fetch" the older woman tells them as the assassins boy protectively reaches out to the Queen's son.

"What do you want?" Tom demanded out of the woman's that had trapped them.

"I want you to be good boys and get in the car" she instructs them as Henry glances back to the viscous Dalmatian behind them as Tom continued to stand up to the villain.

Tom gulped as his backpack suddenly felt ten times heavier than it already did.

---

Returning to the mansion, the former Queen was relived to see that her partner was calmer than she was before she left. Thankfully her isolation inside the house had made her refocus her energy on New York having found her packing a small suitcase, more than ready to find her friend.

Throwing her case into the back of Regina's car next to the tan leather bag that Regina had returned to her, a wave of dizziness washed over the assassin reminding her that she hadn't stopped since her little 'donation' the previous night as her hand quickly found the car to keep her on her feet long enough for the wave to move on unaware of Emma's own arrival in her yellow bug.

"Hey" Emma's voice rang through her ears as the slam of her car door made her wince "Are you okay? Regina told us what happened with your sister" she adds approaching the assassin.

"I'm fine Swan" she tells the blonde as her partner walked out of the house with her own bag seeing the savior with her partner.

"Still..you look like how I'm feeling" the assassin in front of her was a shadow of the woman she remembered the last time she had seen her. Her face looked tired and gaunt as the usual bright green eye's dulled so much she wasn't even sure the woman behind them was still there.

Anastasia had done some real damage to the resilient red head that once rolled her eyes at an arrow in her shoulder.

"I'll take that as a compliment then" Amelia added with sarcastic smirk as Regina added her bag to the trunk.

"You sure going to New York is a good idea?" Emma voiced her concerns to the pair "You don't know what Zelena has planned. What if you're walking into a trap?".

"Robin's in trouble" Amelia stated slamming the trunk down with everything they needed for the trip to New York "I have no choice. I't either that or I go after your parents".

"You don't have to go alone" Emma reminds them knowing she would join them if it hadn't been for the Author.

"Don't worry about us. I've been doing this before you were born" the red head was her problem, she needed to go find him and bring him and Roland home before Zelena could hurt him.

"Are you sure this isn't about Mary Margaret?" the blonde brought the subject up to the redhead who physically winced at the woman's name.

"I think it's best for the both of us if I get some distance between me and your mother, until I can think a little straighter at least. Its not the first time your family has screwed me over in the past and probably won't be the last".

"Besides" the former Queen spoke up to change the subject "You have your hands full with the Author. I can handle one wicked sister" Regina tells her.

"Things are different in New York" Emma pointed out to the pair "Without your magic, you..." she paused "Listen. If you won't take me with you, I want you to take this" she says handing Regina a handgun to the older woman "I hope nether of you don't have to use it, but... I want you both to stay safe".

Accepting the weapon from the blonde, the former Queen gratefully took it from her, knowing she was right. Without her magic, the redhead was very limited to what she could use. Her bracer's on her arms with the bag in the trunk of her car wouldn't help them if someone used a gun on them.

"Thank you" she says putting it her handbag "So, you're not... Angry with me for keeping your parents' secret?" she asks the younger woman.

"It's between me and them. You were just trying to help" Emma tells the former Evil Queen when both their phones chimes ring out making the redhead furrow her brows at them.

"It's Henry" Regina announced "Video message?" she questioned the savior and her partner as the assassin felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

"Must be a thing now" Emma comments as she retrieves the message from her own phone "I got one, too. Lia?" she questions the redhead as she takes out her phone, but she didn't get a video message, just a picture from Tom.

"Mom, Mom Cruella has us." Amelia hears Henry's come from the phone making her look away from her own screen to peer over her soulmates shoulder to see Henry and Tom in the frame.

"If you ever wanna see us again, you have to do what she says" Tom was the one to speak up this time as he looked up to the camera.

"What the-".

The assassin's question was answered as the camera was turned to focus on Cruella De Vil herself.

"Hello, darlings! As you can see, I have your dreadful son and the Assassins little runt. If you prefer them to remain intact, you'll do exactly as I say... Kill the Author. Then, ah, bring me his broken little body, or... Your boys will meet a very unhappy ending".

When the video finally finished, the redheads phone went off again as she quickly looked at it to see she ha received another picture. Finding the first one it was a picture of the burnt out Apple sat on the hood of the Panther and the second being Cruella herself with the Apple in her hand holding Tom close to her.

A growl escaped the assassins throat making the savoir and former Queen look at her in confusion "I'm gonna skin her alive" she hissed to herself as she felt her blood boil in her veins.

"What?" Regina and Emma ask her in unison.

Turning her screen around she presents the source of her frustrations to the pair as their eye's widened seeing the woman with the Apple of Eden in her hand.

"She has the Apple".

---

The tension could be cut with a knife as Regina, Emma and Amelia went back to the loft to plan their next move to get their son's back from Cruella's paws. While Regina and Emma sat around the dining table Amelia lean against the front door with her arms crossed over her chest.

With his daughter's phone in his hand, the Prince looked for clues where they could be, focusing on background a still of the woman with the boys.

"I recognize that trail head marker" he tells the mothers "Cruella is holding Henry and Tom a couple of miles South of the toll bridge" he informs the group with a sense of unease in his chest as he glanced back to the woman at the door who hadn't even looked at either him or Mary Margaret since arriving.

"So, what now?" Hook questioned the group sat at the table.

"Time to get our hands dirty and do whatever it takes to get them and the Apple back" Regina voiced. She knew the redhead would want to get the Apple back, seeing how far he had gone to be able to control it himself.

"You're not actually considering Cruella's demand to kill the Author?" the former Prince questioned the woman making the assassin roll her eyes at the man boldness to call the woman out after what he and his wife did to ensure Emma's goodness.

"Of course not" she defended herself "Even if we could find him, it wouldn't be half the fun of killing Cruella" she says "Let's see how she likes being made into outerwear".

"Regina" Mary Margaret scolded the brunette across from her.

"What? It's Emma's heart we're trying to protect, not mine" she reminds the pair.

"If we go in guns and blades blazing, we risk hurting Henry and Tom" the assassin spoke up for the first time since arriving making the others look to her "And we can't risk the bitch dumping the Apple at the bottom of a ravine, not now, not while my Uncle is still after it".

"We have to find another way" Emma tells her parents and boyfriend on the same wavelength as the assassin.

"I've headed many rescue missions" Hook voiced next to his girlfriend "It would be helpful to know the terrain more".

"And where the Author is" Emma added "If he's enemies with Cruella, maybe he knows the best way to defeat her".

"Oh, we may be able to help with that" Mary Margaret spoke up looking to her husband to elaborate.

"We went back to the convent and found a flask that we gave him" David tells them "He dropped it when he escaped. A locator spell might work on it".

"Sounds like a perfect job for you two" Emma tells them "I'll take Regina, Lia and Hook, and we'll scope out the area where Cruella's holed up with the boy's".

At that the three went to leave only for Mary Margaret to stop her daughter from leaving "Emma, I know you're still angry, but avoiding us is not going to help" she tried to reason with her only for it to go ignored. Stepping away from the door the redhead watched the interaction closely with a smirk playing on her lips seeing the distrust the blonde showed to her parents.

"I'm not avoiding you" Emma tells her "With Henry and Tom's life on the line, I need to be around people I trust, and right now, that's not you" at that the former Queen and the savoir head for the door leaving the assassin to lag behind. Seeing this the pirate stayed back to see what the woman would do as the Princess sat at the table in disbelief at her daughter's lack of trust in them.

A whistle resounded in the loft as Regina and Emma left making the Princess look up to see her friend stood at the table with a smirk on her lips having witnessed Emma's coldness "Tough crowd there Princess" the assassin drawled out to the woman.

"Luv not here" Hook tried to call the Widow away to focus on the task at hand only for the woman to carry on, he knew better than to stop her.

"Lia, please-" the pixie haired woman started only for the redhead to interrupt the younger woman as she presented a single white feather to the couple making her go quiet.

"Consider a blood debt called Princess" she calmly tell the woman before her eye's trail to her husband "That goes for your true love as well" at the debt called the assassin followed the savior and former Queen out of the apartment knowing she had made her intentions clear to the pair.

---

Her eye's shone through the dull woods as she and Emma led the small party through the woods to the trial David had told them Cruella was holding their son's with the Piece of Eden, Gold had been after. Her dampened hair from the misty rain was the least of her worries as she tried to look for any clue Tom might've left for her.

He had been trained for this. He knew what to do if he ever got into this situation, she had just hoped he wouldn't do something stupid like putting the Apple above his own personal well-being.

"You're acting like a petulant child" the former Queen scolded the blonde savior as she held an umbrella above her head as the misty rain while the others went without "Your parents did a bad thing. They apologized. Now get over it".

"Forgive me if I don't take advice from the woman who held a grudge for half her life because a 10-year-old spilled a secret" Emma dryly retorted.

"She's got you there, honey" Amelia threw back to her partner as she continued her search un-interrupted from the conversation behind her.

"Swan, if you won't listen to Regina, perhaps you'll listen to me" Hook spoke up catching up to her "You were able to forgive us all because you found it in your heart to see past it".

"The difference is that you never held yourself as some paragon of virtue" Emma argued looking at all three of the villains around her "None of you did!. You were honest about who you were. My parents weren't. They said they were heroes".

Making the savior stop the pirate made her look at him "Even heroes make mistakes, love" Hook sighs out trying to make her see reason in her stubbornness.

"You know, not long ago, your mother gave me some advice" Regina spoke up again making the blonde look at her "She said I needed to believe I could still earn forgiveness, that I had a chance at grace. I didn't realize it then, but... She was talking about herself. Emma, she's been trying to make up for what she did for a long time".

"If you two understand them so well, you forgive them. I...can't. More important things to worry about right now, like saving Henry and Tom" at that the blonde walked ahead of the others as the redhead looked between the Queen and the pirate waiting for her own speech about how she should forgive Snow, but they stayed silent as the redhead spoke up for them.

"What? No hero speech for me?" she questioned the pair as they continued to look at her "Either of you?".

"Amelia-" Hook started only for the redhead to stop him.

"Thank Odin, had me worried there a minute" she says to herself not wanting to here whatever her partner or the pirate had come up with to stop her blood feud with Mary Margaret "Now if we can focus on our boys are out there with a weapon no-one here knows how it work". Without giving the pair of former villains a chance to retort the assassin turned her back on them to follow the blonde savior to continue there search.

With a glancing look of concern towards the former Queen, the pirate stepped forward to re-join the rescue. At least she wasn't' the only one concerned about her partner's behavior since learning discovering what Snow White had been hiding from her all these years. She just hoped she could stop her love from going any further on the darkened path in front of her.

---

Sat on the back of her Panther, the heiress played on her phone as she waited for the town's hero's to kill the Author in return of the son's of the savior, Evil Queen and Black Widow. She was tempted find Rumple herself once she discovered what the Widow's son had been hiding in his school bag but thought better that the woman should be able to let out some of the anger she must be holding onto since being tied up and given to her sister for the evening.

"Blasted birds" she curses at the mobile game furiously swiping at screen "I'll show you what angry looks like" she mutter's as Henry and Tom watch on from the ground.

Sat side by side with their hands bound behind their backs the elder of the two hadn't let the Apple leave his eyesight as it sat in its burnt out state behind the woman that currently had them with Pongo still under the heiress's spell obediently sat nearby.

Tom knew if they had any chance of getting their mother's to do what she wanted she needed to keep them both alive. That's that advantage they held over her. The dog however was the problem as he glanced over to the pet. The canine seemed to watch every move he would make.

Luckily for the teen, Cruella didn't think to check his forearms for a weapon. Despite his protests that morning to the adults he wasn't going to school unarmed after not hearing anything from his Mom. The blazer he wore easily concealed the hidden blades from his teachers the whole day as the hoodie he wore underneath added an extra layer to hide them.

Gently nudging Henry, he silently gained his friends attention he straightened his back and flexed his forearm making the hidden blades in his gauntlets jump out to cut through the rope Cruella used on him, showing Henry they had a way out.

However, the actions made a noise that didn't go un-noticed by the heiress, mistaking the noise of the blade coming out of its sheath for a hushed whisper.

"Hush, or I'll cut your tongue out and send it to your mother" she warned the young Montague without looking up from the phone screen as he kept his hands in place slouching forward to keep his secret.

"Sorry" he quickly mumbled the apology.

"Hmph" she huffed to herself at the teen's politeness "At least she taught you some manners" he heard the woman grumble to herself as she went back to her game. With the woman looking away Henry lent to his left for his older cousin to quickly cut through his ties.

Now free, the boys stood up from their place on the damp ground, alerting Pongo to thier movements making him bark and growl. As Henry ran into the woods, Tom threw himself forward to grab the Apple from behind the heiress before following his cousin.

At the barking made Cruella look up and see the boys running into the woods and the Apple gone from her possession.

"Pongo, sic!" Cruella orders the Dalmatian before the dog goes running after the boys.

"Split up!" Tom yells at Henry as the teenager ran to the right as Henry went left. He knew it was risky, but he had no other choice. One of them had to make it to the vault.

---

Unaware of the events transpiring in the forest. Anastasia watched the memory play out in the dream catcher in her hand as she knelt in front of Romeo's grave in the cemetery, not too far away from the mausoleum where she and the other villains had been holding her sister and the Evil Queen for the whole night after releasing them from their temporary confinement in their vault.

While she replayed the memories of her sister and the thief she was really taking out the memory's she needed to prove to herself that it was her sister to kill her love in cold blood. The only problem. She had to go through them in order. The first was when Amelia had first found her in the woods after falling through a portal.

She needed to know the truth, once and for all.

"Mom!" a voice she knew called out from the forest around the graveyard "Mom! I'm here!" it called out again as the blonde assassin saw her sister's son running out of the wooded area around them as he runs straight to the front of the mausoleum that sat over the underground vault making her stand back onto her feet to watch as the teenager reached the wooden doors of the stone building.

"Mom! I'm here!" he called through the doors trying his best to open the door only for them to not open "Mom!" he called out again frantically hitting the doors with a closed fist.

"Your mother is not here Thomas Smith" Anastasia's voice rang out behind him making the teen stop and turn around to see her stood in front of him,

"Oh shit" he squeaked seeing her there.

"Thomas Smith" Anastasia drawled out in greeting seeing the real Apple of Eden in his hands "I thought I told you not to get in my way".

"Where is she?" he demanded to know out of the assassin in front of him ready to fight her if need be "Where's my Mom?".

"With any luck" she says slowly sauntering up to the teenager "Killing Snow White and her Prince Charming for what she did to your grandfather".

"What?" he asked with confused furrowed brows "What are talking about?".

"Snow White has been lying to you both for years. It was her that informed our old Mentor about Romeo fathering your Mother.

"No" Tom denied shaking his head at her is disbelief "Mom told me it was Regina. That it was a mistake".

"She was wrong" Anastasia informs him "The Queen had been telling the truth after all, she might've written the letter but she never sent it" she tells him "No, it was a jealous Princess that couldn't stand the thought that her precious godfather could love someone more than her. A debt of blood must be collected young Thomas and you're mother has done it before, for you and your father in fact. All that blood in her ledger and she's about to add to it".

"I won't let her" the teen tell her "If you really care for her, you'd stop her".

"No, because once she's killed the Princess. Then I've been given the go ahead to kill her myself". He felt his heart skip at that. She meant every word she said.

"Even if it goes against Mr. Golds plans" he uses the last card in his deck to stop her.

"What do you know about his plans?" she asks his suspiciously eyeing him. He knew something she didn't. She needed the Apple in her possession if she any chance of getting back onside with the Dark One.

"More than you know apparently" he tells her holding up the real burnt out Apple in his hand "I bet he needs the Apple to do it though".

He had never felt his heart pump this hard as it did now as he held the thing his Mom had needed to keep away from his great-uncle and his aunt.

"You wouldn't".

"There is no deal to be struck here, piccolo ragno (little spider). I will kill her whether I have the Apple or not".

"So what do you want first. My Mom or the Apple?".

"Give me the Apple. Now" she growled out the last word.

"You'll have to catch me first" he tells her before sprinting back into the forest, quickly finding a fallen log to use to climb up to the high tree tops.

"Merda" the blonde assassin spat out as she heads for the trees herself pocketing the small dream catcher in her suit-jacket

If it's a chase he want. He'll get one.

---

"Help me! Please! Help me! Help!" the search party in the woods suddenly heard in the distance making them freeze.

"It's Henry" Emma announced heading in the direction she heard , it's coming from over there"

"No, it's this way" Hook pointed in another direction.

"Has cannon fire damaged your hearing?" Regina snapped at the pirate "It clearly came from over there" she told the pirate pointing in a third direction.

Emma looked back to a confused Amelia who's eyes shone gold "Lia?" she pressed the Assassin for the correct answer. The red head's eye darted back and forth as the voices melded into one making her sense become over-whelmed and returned to her normal vision.

"There's too many" Amelia quickly answered the blonde as they heard Henry and Tom called out for help once again.

"No! No! Help me, please!" the voices continued.

"Split up. Go!" Emma ordered.

At that the search party split off into four different directions as the redhead backtracked to a voice her ears seemed to be focusing on.

"Tom? Henry?" the assassin called out for the boys hoping one of them would hear her.

"Help me, please!" Henry's voice became clearer as she unknowingly stepped nearer to a spelled conch shell that was intimating her cousin's voice. "Help me!" he called out again making the assassin snap her head towards the shell tucked into the roots of a tree.

They'd been tricked.

"Fuck" she grumbled under her breath as using the heel of her boot into the shell shattering it into pieces making Henry's 'voice' stop calling out to them. A trick by her Uncle no doubt. She needed to get to Tom.

As if something was reading her mind the branches above suddenly shook, her head snapped up as her eyes shone gold as her sight sought out two figures, one gold and one red with the latter chasing the former. But her vision chose to focus on the spherical object the figure in blue had in its hand as it jumped and climbed from branch to branch trying to get away from the figure in red.

It was Tom and the figure chasing her was the only other person in town to know how to travel through the tree's.

Anastasia.

Without a second thought the redheaded assassin sprinted forward in the same direction of her son and her sister from the ground.

---

His heart felt like it was about to burst through his chest as he ran through the branches, his sneaker covered feet barely touched the branches as he smoothly maneuvered himself around the trunks, and brushed past leaves that were in his path. But behind him Anastasia was doing the same thing as he saw her climb higher up the tree's than him as she kept up with him.

Seeing what she was planning on doing the teen continued not seeing a weak branch in his path. Once his foot landed he heard the distinct crack of the branch giving way underneath him. The Apple slipped from his hands as he fell a short way until his arms painfully caught himself on a a thick branch, only for a branch he was clinging onto

"No" shuddered to himself as he tried to save himself from falling further as the branch kept splintering itself from the trunk "No,no" his protest did nothing to stop him falling into a heap on the forest floor. The dead leaves thankfully cushioned his fall, but it still felt like he's been hit by a truck as he pulled back in the air that was forced out of his lungs from the impact.

After a beat or two he looked up and saw the burnt out Apple of Eden not too far from him. Forcing himself to get up, his feet slid through the mud and dirt as he tried to reach for the Apple only for a boot to firmly pin his arm down, making his yell out in pain.

"I'm impressed" Anastasia panted out above him as she kept her boot on his arm "My sister's training has paid off. You nearly got away from me" she added before pressing the heel of her boot further into his right arm making him yell out in pain yet again. She stopped her onslaught as she heard him mumble something through the screams, her sister should be hearing anytime now.

"What was that?" she asked him.

"My Mom, wasn't my only teacher" he growled out from the floor before using his free hand, he swiped out with his free hidden blade towards her legs making her jump away from him and off his arm, allowing him the space to push himself across the ground to grab the Apple off the ground and scramble onto his feet only for the blonde assassin to grab his free hand, she pulled him back around making the Apple fall onto the floor once again.

The blonde managed to swing the teenager to the ground with both her hands around his fist only for the assassin the use the momentum against his to get himself back onto his feet, before sending a closed fist into Anastasia's face.

His eye's widened in fear and shock having seen her head jerk to the side from the amount of force he had used as the blonde assassin looked back at him just as surprised as he was.

"What was that?!" the blonde assassin exclaimed at him after a beat or two of silence as her cheek throbbed out from his fist meeting it.

"I-I- don't know" he stammered out in fear. He had never hit another woman outside the training ring before, he was literally going on pure instinct to get the woman to let him get the Apple again "I-I'm so sorry".

He turned to run only for the assassin behind him to grab his blazer from his shoulders only for the teen to twist himself out of her hold as his blazer came off leaving him in the hoodie and shirt underneath, as his gauntlets rested on the sleeves of the hoodie.

"Did you plan that?" Anastasia asks him.

"Yes" he quickly tells her making her look at him with a raised brow, the same look his mother or Regina would give him if they had caught him in a lie "No" his confidence faltering before quickly turning away from the older assassin he picked up the Apple from the ground before running off again.

"No, no" the assassin protested "That is so annoying" the blonde hissed to herself as she took the grey suit jacket and the blazer onto the dirt "Suka".

At that the blonde ran after the teenager once again as she started to recognize where she was going, she had been there the other day as she ran into the home-made obstacle course that had been set up by her sister. platformed littered the area at different heights and angles as she saw a few rope hanging across the tree above her as platforms has been cut into tree trunks as makeshift piles of hay and leaves had been littered around to give her and Tom some places to leap into as faceless straw dummies stood in spots that would allow the teen to practice his stealth 'kills'.

It must've taken some time and effort to put into this as she saw a branch above her shook. Looking to her right she saw a quick way of following him, seeing a rope ladder dangling from a branch. With quick feet the assassin rushed up the rope ladder with no issues as it swung in the air, climbing up onto the branch to start her chase.

She quickly gained on the teen as he suddenly stopped in between a tree fork, turning himself around in the tight space she came an abrupt stop in her pursuit as he blocked the way to continue the chase as she saw that he had managed to stuff the Apple into one of the pockets of his hoodie.

"What are we doing?" the teen started brushing some of is brown hair back off his eyes were it had fallen out of shape from the sweat that had covered his face "I mean w-we-re family, let's go to Granny's get something to eat, maybe talk things out. Granny's makes a great hot coco with cinnamon".

"Okay. Yeah. Sure" she saying trying to catch her breath.

"Cool" the teen breathed out in relief. He'd gotten through to her.

"After I kill my sister and I get the Apple" she quickly adds making his face drop.

"No, no that no that's not what- come on let say you don't need to.." he was cut off short as the bottom of Anastasia's boot hit him in the ribs making him cry out on pain as he toppled backwards until his back met a few branches on his way back down to the ground, luckily his fall had a soft landing as he fell into a pile of leaves.

"Ow" he wheezed out as sharp pain flared up on ribs. That would bruise. Getting his bearings back he pulled himself back onto his feet out of the leaves as he heard Anastasia land feet first onto the ground in front of him. The blonde assassin didn't give him a chance to breath as she threw fist towards him only for him to easily parry the punch away from him only for another fist to be swung towards him, making him duck under it as Anastasia sent her leg into his thigh making him stumble onto a wooden platform.

Catching himself onto the edge his eye's saw a lose two-by-four the dwarfs hadn't quiet nailed down into place. Wrenching it off the teen swung the wooden board towards the woman's head only for her easily duck under it. Catching the teen' arms on the momentum of the swing the blonde took control of his arms making him swing around before letting him go again making him fall towards another wooden platform, using the force to his advantage he caught the edge of the platform with his hands making himself jump forward into a forward roll until he was on-top the wooden podium that had given a slight height advantage.

Seeing this the blonde assassin quickly leveled the playing field to jump onto the same platform in one fluid motion, as the teenager swung to two-by four at her head again. The assassin ducked once again as the piece of wood left Tom's hand as she saw that his hoodie pocket was now absent of the Apple of Eden.

"Wait!" "Where's the Apple?" His eyes gave him away as he glanced up to the form in the tree he had been kicked off of as she saw the Piece of Eden nestles comfortably in the narrowest part of the fork at the bottom.

"Shit" the teen hissed as he saw the blonde sprint forward to get to it only for the teen to send his body in her's making her fall off the platform onto the ground as he back-tracked, using the obstacle course to his advantage he found a climbing rope and started his way up as the blonde quickly recovered from the teen's body slam to run ahead of his to the Apple, as she quickly made her way up the tree. Both made it to the makeshift bridge that would take them straight to the fork of the tree the teen had deliberately left the Apple in as Anastasia's quick feet gave her the speed advantage as the long bridge shook under their feet.

He needed to slow her down. And he had the perfect thing to do it. Coming to a stop he reached out his left arm and triggered the rope launcher to shoot out and hit the blonde woman's right hand as she reached out to grab the Apple as it continued its journey to attach itself to the tree, impaling itself in place as the woman creamed out in pain.

"OW!" the blonde loudly exclaimed in pain as she painfully shook out her hand that had been struck, turning around with her back to the Apple to confront the boy that had hurt her again "That really hurt!".

"Yeah" he huffed out "Yeah, so did the kick to the ribs" he said pointing to his chest reminding the blonde assassin of her earlier attack on him.

"Oh yeah that is a good one" she says continuing to shake out her pain in her hand "That was good form, but you did the really cool..body slam".

"Yeah thank you. Thank you" he tells the woman only to pause as he realized what she was doing "Stop making me like you".

"I'm sorry, I can't help it" she shrugged at the teen "That was really fun. I feel like we have really bonded Thomas Smith "I only wish we had more time" she says throwing her arm out for a hidden blade to jump out of her gauntlet in the silent threat.

"Hey!" a voice they both recognized yelled out to from across area. Snapping their heads to the sound they both saw the former Black Widow stood on high platform with a bow and arrow in her hand aimed straight at her sister's head.

"Stay the hell away from my son" her sister demands out of her as the redhead let loose of her arrow. The blonde ducked thinking it was aimed for her only for the arrow to strike the Apple of Eden stuck in the tree fork making it fall back onto the ground and into the pile of leaves Tom had fallen into earlier, making it disappear from sight.

Seeing what she had done, his eye lit-up seeing that the Apple was now lost to his 'aunt'.

"Nice shot!" Tom yelled over to his Mom with a thumbs up and smile.

"Yeah. No shit honey!" she yelled over to her son before Anastasia forgot about the Apple having seen her sister. Instead of going for the Apple of Eden the blonde sought out a rope that was keeping the bridge in place.

Grabbing the rope Anastasia cut it making the bridge fall from under the teenager's feet as she was taken up. Using the momentum to swing herself straight to her sister before letting go she threw himself at her sister making them both fall onto the ground together in a painful heap the blonde was the only one in the pair to get up from the ground as the redhead remained on the ground on her back as her whole body screamed out in pain and her vision swam.

Her mind had finally catching up to how bad her body she felt at that moment. All the anger from that morning that been covering up the fatigue had dissolved as soon as she hit the ground. The blood loss was finally taking it's toll as she didn't have the energy to fight her sister anymore. She knew she couldn't fight her like this, and at the same time she couldn't bring herself to kill the one person that threatened her and her son's life. She couldn't do it anymore.

The blonde stood over her sister's weakened and beaten state as she reveled finally having the upper hand over the person that had always gotten the better of her over the years. She was finally going to her chance to kill her after all these years. There was no Rumplestilskin to get in her way this time.

"Mom!" Tom yelled out for his mother as he hung from the rope that had saved him from hitting the ground along with the bridge.

"Before I kill you, I need to ask you one question" her sister starts as the redhead painfully got onto her knee's "I need to know what happened".

She was talking about Dimitri. It happened so long ago, she still wasn't sure how it happened.

---

Somewhere in the Enchanted Forest

Many Year's Ago

Anastasia was in trouble. That's what the letter she had received said, and that she was back in the Enchanted Forest. The letter had also told her that her sister would be found with her love Dimitri in a large chateau set deep into the countryside, in the middle of a heavily wooded area some miles away from any kingdom.

She and Robin had almost missed as they rode through winding country road to the large-ish estate, but as they sat up in the tree's that surrounded the home, she couldn't quite put her finger on what the danger was as she listened and watched for anything out of the ordinary.

"What if it's a trap milady" Robin voiced from next to the assassin as he watched her keeping a close eye on the house. Senu flew above them to warn them of something they might've missed, But the reassurance of the bird above them didn't put the thief's mind at rest as something didn't quite sit right with him.

It had been years since she had seen her sister Anastasia, and now was the first time she had heard anything about her since becoming the Black Widow. It couldn't be a coincidence just as the Widow's name was spreading throughout the Enchanted Forest like a forest fire.

"It is" Amelia tells him with a laser focus on the task on hand "I just need to figure out who's trapping us first".

"Perhaps someone from the Brotherhood" he suggested to her.

With Richard holed up with King George in his castle as his general, Ophelia having not been seen or heard of in the entire Enchanted Forest and Claudius always on the move, it didn't seem likely. Anyway, they all think her sister is dead. And she was better for that in the long term.

"This isn't really their style" she drawls out to the man next to him "It doesn't matter, she's my sister. I need to keep her safe".

He couldn't help but smile at the woman's words next to him, the woman that he had fallen in love with, the same one who was so willing to give her own vengeance for him for a life together. It hadn't been that long since they had confessed their feelings towards the other, and they were for it.

"You don't need to be here" she suddenly tells him taking her eyes off the house to look at him "You can go back and wait, this isn't your fight. I can handle this on my own".

"I know but I wanted to be here" he says taking her hand into his "I promised to be at your side until the end. And that includes looking out for the people you care about the most. You're stuck with me until the end milady" he tells her bringing her knuckles to his lips to leave a loving kiss on the soft skin.

"I hate you" she deadpanned at the man, snatching her hand back, as the man caught the slight blush on her cheeks.

"No you don't" he says just as a scream rang out from the house taking the pair by surprise. Without wasting a second the assassin jumped from her perch in the tree onto the ground and sprinted to the open window she had heard the scream coming from. Her quick feet took her to the house as she jumped up the side of the home and climbed as servants ran out of the house screaming for help as she vaulted into room for her to freeze seeing a man she thought long dead stood in front of Dimitri holding the handle of a knife that has been impaled into her old friends stomach.

"No" she shuddered in fear seeing the man again"You're dead".

Slowly the man she knew as Rasputin that had killed and led a revolt against her sister's real family. turned his head to see the woman that had killed him only a decade ago.

"Think again" he said as his image changed right in front of her eye's into someone that she had been looking for so long.

"Claudius" she shuddered in fear. She hadn't seen him since fighting him on the frozen fjord of Arendelle.

"Hello again Amelia" he said with a sinister smirk before pulling the knife of of Dmitri's stomach making the man stumble onto the floor "Goodbye Amelia" at that the Master assassin ran for another open widow jumping out of the room as quickly he must've entered for her not see him coming.

Letting her old Mentor go the redhead ran to he friend seeing the blood seeping out of the deep wound soaking into this clothes as she threw herself onto her knee's next to him as tried to stop him from bleeding out, pressing her hands into the wound making his groan out in pain.

Behind her Robin had made his way in through the window with his bow and arrow poised to fire as he surveyed the room for any ore threats before finding the redhead on the her knee's with a man on the floor of the ornately decorated room. Rounding the man she was helping he knelt down across from her to see the tears that began to freely leave her eye's.

"Dimitri" she called out for her sister's true love as he struggled to stay awake from the blood loss.

Hearing her voice her eye's moved to make him look at his wife's sister knelt over him "A-Amelia, you are here" he breathes out as the blood seeped through her fingers. She could see how pale he was as he bled out in front of her.

A scoffed laugh left her mouth hearing the man's broken English. Years ago he only knew a few words, but now he was almost fluent.

"Your getting better" she choked out through the tears as she struggled to keep her emotions at bay.

"Ana, she has been teaching me" he tells the redhead.

"Shhh, don't talk" she tells the dying man as he skin became paler she tried her best to push further into the wound "I'm gonna get you some help okay".

She knew he wasn't going to survive this, but she could help him along. She could help him move onto the other side with ease, but she couldn't do it.

"Amelia" Robin's voice was he saving grace as she looked up to see him in front of her. She hadn't even realize he was with her until her eye's met his "What do you need?".

He knew what she needed to, she couldn't let him suffer the painful slow death Claudius has sentenced him with.

"My medicine" she tells him "In my pocket" he knew what she was talking about as he reached over to seek out the small vial of clear liquid that would ease the man into the next world. Taking one out he was stooped when she spoke up again "Two" she sniffed out "I need two".

"Right" he agreed reaching in to take another vial from her robe.

She remembered the rule clear as day that was taught to her in case she was ever in this situation in her life. One for sleep. Two for an endless sleep.

"Does it hurt?" Dimitri suddenly asks her making her look back at him.

"Does what hurt?".

"Dying" he said as he felt his body come out in chill's. He'd never been this cold before, and he had lived and worked in some of the coldest places in all the realms.

"Quicker than falling asleep" she says forcing herself to take the pressure off the stab wound.

Holding her hand at her thief she silently asked for the vial back, she wasn't' going to let him do this. She had to. Hesitantly the thief handed her back the vials to her blood covered hand as she took the first one and uncorked it. Gently taking Dimitri's head in her hand she gently tipped the contents of the vial into mouth, the medicine took hold of him quickly as his eye's fluttered closed as his breathing even out.

As quickly as the bottle was empty she had the second one ready to finish the job as fresh tears fell down her cheeks, resting the edge of the vial against his bottom lip she poised herself to let the man slip into the next world as peacefully as she could.

"Requiescat in pace, my friend" she whispered to him as she tipped the bottle into his mouth, easing the liquid down his neck as she and Robin saw the rise and fall of his chest lessen as she seconds ticked by. It didn't take long until the overdose had stopped his heart from breathing.

"Dimitri!" she heard her sisters voice echo through the hallway outside the room where her husband had taken his last breath. Stumbling into the room Amelia could see that Claudius had't just attacked Dimitri as she saw defensive cut littering her arms as she held on to deeper cut across her stomach that bled out in the white dress she was wearing.

Freezing in the doorway, the Duchess saw her sister in her home for the first time in years.

"Amy" she states in surprise until she saw the blood that literally covered in her husbands blood as she saw her still form on the form covered in blood. The redhead quickly deduced what her sister was connecting in her head. This was the trap. For her sister to 'catch' her over her husbands dead body. To divide them in case they decided to join in Amelia's cause.

And she had walked right into it.

"Anya-" she tried to reason with her younger sister as she and Robin stood from the floor. The empty vials fell onto the floor quickly fogotten about.

"You killed him" she accused him as her face contorted into pure rage and grief "You-" she growled out taking a threatening step towards the redhead only for Robin to quickly notch his arrow in his bow, aiming straight at the blonde.

"Don't move" Robin sternly instructs the blonde woman that was his love's sister "My arrow never misses it's target" he warns her as he stood in between her and Anastasia "Amelia leave now" he tells the redhead behind him.

"Robin-" Amelia tried to argue only for her thief to interrupt her. They were in more danger more than ever if Amelia tried to stay and explain.

"Leave!" he insisted as he kept an eye on the blonde assassin.

"I'm so sorry" Amelia breathed out before running for the window before he took a careful step over Dimitri's today to follow her sister out of the house.

She heard her sister's wails of grief from outside as she made her feet move forward as the tears continued to fall. An arm around her waist practically carried her into the tree line as Robin held her close to him whispering words of comfort that went unheard by the redhead. She had no idea how Claudius had found out her sister was still alive, but she knew one thing for sure;

She had lost her sister. And it was the worst feeling in the world.

---

Present

"If I told you what really happened, you would never believe me, but if I had any other choice I wouldn't let him die".

"No" her sister stated with an angry pout shaking her head at her "Not him" she tells her sister "Romeo. Our father" she clarifies "How did he die?".

This is was never about Dimitri. She had found the empty vials of medicine on the floor next to her dead husband. She understood what her sister had done, but she didn't understand what had happened to Romeo.

That had been her mission all along. Rumple must've told her she was responsible somehow. That she had allowed her father to succumb to the dream-shade poisoning. That's how he recruited her. No-one knew but a hand-full of people that Romeo had thrown his water overboard before leaving Neverland. That's why she was so curious to know how he died shorty after she and Regina had 'joined' the villains.

And she had only made it worse by telling her she told Romeo that she died on their last mission.

"You still wouldn't believe me. All you need to know, is that our father sacrificed himself for me. For us. I'm sorry".

He scarified himself so that she could be happy. After hours of endless conversation's with Archie she had figured out that her father didn't want her living in the past anymore. That she needed to move forward with the family that she had found. She could never do that if he was still alive.

"You're lying" Anastasia accused her, not believing what her sister was saying.

"What?".

"You're pathetic" the blonde calls her as she shook her head "You're so pathetic" she spit as her storming towards her sister before sending the bottom her her boot into her sister's chest making the redhead topple over backwards onto the ground.

"MOM!" she heard Tom call after her as Anastasia stood over her sister form only to topple over next to her sister after her own legs where swept out from underneath her. Both female assassins got up onto their knees and grappled with each other until Amelia had locked her arms and hands around her sister's shoulder and head as Anastasia had a hold of her own shoulders.

From this close proximity she saw the malice and hatred in her sister's eyes that made her think that she was looking in a mirror that greeted her that morning after retching up whatever had been left in her stomach since being held by her Uncle. The image made her take a double take as she realized what all this time apart had done to her little sister. Looking straight back her was the Black Widow. And it terrified her.

This was the very thing she had spent years for her sister not to become. Taking Master Iago's sense of corporal punishment's with gritted teeth. Trained to follow every order to the letter. The had became the very things both Angelo and Claudius had been molding them into.

Pawns in a larger game. Only they had no idea what the rules were. Easy to sway between what was right and wrong, between hero's and villain's. But underneath the tenets and hoods, no one ever saw the little girls that only wanted everything everyone else in all the realms wanted.

And the closest thing they got to them had been ripped away from the every chance they took to get it.

They had lost so much but they still had each other. She just needed her sister to see that as well. Whatever it took.

"Nobody killed him" she tries to tell her sister keeping a tight hold on her"He made a choice".

"STOP LYING!" Anastasia bellowed at her before pulling the redhead towards her, she shifted her feet underneath her sister to pull her up and over her making the redheaded assassin land heavily onto her back making her groan out in pain. as she heard her son call out to her again.

Glancing to where he was, she saw him on the ground holding his ribs in one arm as the other kept him on his feet as he lean on the tree he had fallen from.

"Go home" she tells him. Regina would be somewhere out there still with Emma and Hook. This was a fight she needed to fight alone. Only she could convince her sister that whatever she had been told about how Romeo had died was a lie to get her to conform to Rumple's fantasy of a happy ending for all of them.

"No" Tom refused as his eye's brimmed with tears shaking his head at his mother "No, I don't want to".

"Thomas Romeo Smith" her mother sternly addressed him making him look straight at his mother whole was struggling to stand on her own two feet. "Go home" she tells him, as he silently begged her not to send him away. He could fight, he could help. He knew what would happen the second he turned his back.

This is what he feared ever since his conversation with his aunt. Anastasia was the one she couldn't beat no matter how much she wanted to, someone she couldn't kill with a simple flick of her wrist.

"Go home" Amelia repeated to her son as she saw the tears leave his eyes. With a reluctant nod the teen turn his back on his mother and his aunt.

Watching her son walk away. Anastasia took the opportunity to stroke as a wide swig at her distracted sister only for the redhead to duck down allowing her to turn on her heel and sent a hard jab into her sister's side before send her other fist into the blonde's face, stunned by her sister's actions the blonde couldn't stop the redhead from grabbing her head before dragging her down into her knee.

The move didn't stun the blonde for long as she retorted, sending a closed fist into her face making her expose her side as the younger assassin jabbed her in her side in reply to the one she gave her. She went for another hit to the face only for her older sister to block her with her arm as her other hand grabbed her sister's shoulder.

Amelia forced her sister's back into her chest with her arm locked around her neck and the other around her stomach to keep her in place as the blonde tried to pry her off her neck.

"You're not listening to me" Amelia says into her sister's ear "He sacrificed himself, understand? I couldn't stop him".

"No!" her sister cried out turned herself out and under her sister's arm, the blonde grabbed the back of her neck and lifted her knee to painfully connect making her sister stumble back onto the forest floor, instead of standing back up the former Black Widow sat on the forest floor dazed and defeated, as her sister once again stood triumphantly above her.

"Why would he sacrifice himself for you?" Anastasia asked her "Why do you deserve it Black Widow?" she spat at her sister.

For all the good their father had done for both of them, she repaid it by becoming the one thing he had feared for them both. By letting herself by letting her fear lead down a darker path, when that fear became reality, she let her anger take over into hate for the people that raised her, and now her heart suffered the darkness that was encased within it.

"I don't" Amelia admit's to her sister. She wasn't worth his sacrifice.

"So he died because you let him" she concluded.

"I fought him for it" Amelia retorted, she really did. She tried to let her take someone else's chance of a cure for him to risk everyone's safety to return to Neverland, but his kind heard stop her "But he was better than me".

At her sister's admission the blonde reached into her pocket to take out a small baton that was lengthened with a simple flick "You should've fought harder".

The redhead didn't fight as she let her sister take out her frustrations and anger over their father's demise, lazily blocking her sister's blow's with her arms. With each swing the blonde assassin letting out grunts of her anger until she met her mark sending her sister onto the ground.

With her sister on the ground once more after she let out her grief with the baton, the blonde assassin dropped it onto the forest floor ready to do what she was hired to do by the Dark One.

Kill the Black Widow.

Pulling her gun out the holster from her thigh, the redhead heard the click of the gun as it was leveled at her as a whistle echoed through the tree's coming from the redhead, the blonde froze as her older sister whistled out the reply she usually gave it.

After all this time she still remembered the secret whistle they had both come up with so they could find each other even in the thickest of forests. It would tell the other where they were.

"You remember" the blonde shuddered out as the redhead got back onto her knee's to face her sister once more.

"Our secret whistle" Amelia stated as Anastasia continued to point the gun at her "It was real for me too" she tells her "Our family. Everything that we were led to believe that was true was real for me too".

Anastasia stayed silent at her sister's admission as she finally lowered her gun.

"Romeo found you" she tells her sister taking aback "He found where you were even when I told him you were dead. He didn't believe me for a second that I would let you die".

"How do you know that?" Anastasia asked her as the redhead looked to the golden gauntlets on her arms.

"Your gauntlets" Amelia simply told her "I took them back with me remember?".

She did. Once she gave up the Brotherhood she didn't need them any longer. So instead of keeping them, she gave them to her sister to return them to their father. And then they suddenly reappeared one day.

"He did?".

"Yeah" Amelia breathed out with a ghost of a smile playing on her lips "I could've only been him. He kept going back for years, keeping a close eye one you. He talked about you all the time Anya".

"What did he say?".

"He said you were happy" her sister tells her "In love" Amelia adds her as Anastasia's brows creased hearing that he hadn't forgotten about her after all that time. "All he could think about is that you were safe. Away from the Brotherhood. Away from our Masters" she gulped "Away from me. That never changed. He loved you. And always wanted you safe".

Strangled sobs left her sister's throat as she looked away from her sister on the ground on front of her as the tears ran down her cheeks. All this time, he still loved her as one of his daughter's. That never mattered to him. She just wished she got more time with him.

Looking back to her sister, the redhead had kept quiet allowing her sister the time she needed to contemplate what she was hearing.

"You got so much time with him" she wept out.

Amelia nodded to herself at this "Yeah, I did". All that time she did have with him was for nothing since the day she started her vengeance. All his hours of teachings had been thrown out the window so she could feel like she was getting some sort of justice for what had happened to them.

It blinded her. Like it was doing ever since she found out what Snow had done.

"It shouldn't have gone this way" Anastasia tells her, shaking her head at her sister "If I was there, I could have stopped it. I could have- I could've changed it".

At those words, Amelia imagined herself back in the belly of the Jolly Roger, holding her father's hands, feeling completely helpless that there was nothing she could do but to hold his hand as his heart stopped beating. She felt that guilt like a dagger to the heart for not fighting harder with him to turn the ship back or to take David's water.

"Nothing was gonna stop him, Anastasia. Not even us. You know Romeo" she quickly tell her little sister as her sister sobbed in front of her "He made his choice. We're gonna have to find a way to live with that".

"I loved him so much" the words made the redheads final resolve finally break as she fought back the tears that stung in her eyes, but failed miserably as she felt the hot tears rolling down her face.

"Me too" Amelia tells her as she looks to the ground, waiting for her sister to finish her once and for all for letting their father leave them.

Taking in deep breath's of fresh air, Anastasia looked to her sister as saw the woman that was truly underneath the Black Widow, so full of grief and regret for what she had let herself become for the first time, instead of the woman that had moved on with her life with the Queen she had loved so much.

Underneath the happiness that she displayed for the sake of her son and her family, she was silently suffering underneath.

Slowly, the blonde approached her sister she holstering the gun in her hand as she stopped in front of her, holding out a helping hand to the redhead on her knees. Taking her hand her sister got herself onto her feet not letting her hand go she looked upon her sister for the first time since seeing her across the town line. The girl that had grown up into a beautiful woman in a blink of an eye that had lost just as much, maybe even more.

"I'm sorry" Amelia simply tells her before letting her hand go, stepping away from the blonde the redhead went to turn only for a voice to stop her.

"Wait" Anastasia called out to her making her sister turn back "Don't go" she pleased to her sister.

"Never".

Quickly closing the distance between them the blonde assassin engulfed her big sister in a tight embrace that was quickly mirrored by the redhead. Pulling away from the embrace the redhead placed her forehead against her sister's as she took her sister's face into the palms of her hands.

"Il sole splenderà di nuovo su di noi sorella" The sun will shine on us again sister) Amelia repeated the words they had once parted with all those years ago when she went to start her life with her true love.

---

Monteriggioni

Year's Later.

"Anya" her older sister called out to her once again as she hid from the tree tops above her redheaded sister strolled on the ground looking for her once again. This was a frequent occurrence on the blonde girls part as she refused to follow their Master's order's and training and run into the forest and hide. There was only one person that could convince her to come back to the city.

Ever since the Brotherhood had taken her in, she had been growing strength to strength alongside her 'sister' Amelia who was only a few years older than her. The other's likened them to sisters in the they seemed to always be on the same wavelength, balancing out each-other's strength's and weaknesses.

Claudius hadn't seen a pair so close since Romeo and Shay shared the same training ring the young girls use today. They were both each other's greatest strength and possibly one day their greatest rival or weakness. Romeo's intuition had once again paid-off as the redheaded girl was getting the companionship she needed to excel in her training.

"Anya!" her voice echoed through the forest once again as she tried to find the small blonde girl that hadn't shown up for their last training session that morning.

Calling out her name wasn't working, she needed change her approach. Coming to a stop the redhead surveyed her surrounds before whistling a long tune allowing it to echo through the forest around, waiting for it's reply. No reply.

She knew her sister wouldn't be able to last long without replying. The seconds ticked by as she waited before she whistled the same tune. Her tune was answered this time as a blurred figure landed on her back. The novices instincts kicked in as she quickly turned the tables on her little sister as she pinned the young blonde onto the ground with the sharp point of her hidden blade sat below her chin.

"Nice try Anya" her sister smirked above her.

"Maybe not sister" Anastasia replied with her own knowing smirk as Amelia's brows furrow in confusion until she felt something digging into her stomach. Looking down she saw her Anastasia's own golden hidden blade resting below her where her stomach was. Her head snapped back as brown and green's eyes met willing for the other to stand down.

"Truce?" the redhead offered the blonde.

"Truce" Anastasia nodded as the pair of them let their hidden blade slide back into their gauntlets as the redhead unstraddle her sister's torso, to fall back onto the forest floor allowing her sister to sit-up next to her.

"Why weren't you at training?".

"I didn't wish to go. I'm sick of being Iago's plaything" she griped to her sister. Iago was being partially unfair to Anastasia as of late. His training was getting harsher as well as his punishments.

"He is like that with me" she reminds her sister "You know nothing is ever good for him".

"You know how much trouble you'll be in once I take you back".

"Must you?".

"Yes I must. Master Romeo left me to look out for you while he was away" the young redhead says making herself get onto her feet "That is what I am doing".

"I'm not really your sister you know" Anastasia points out as she jumps from the ground to walk after her sister "And Romeo isn't our father".

"I know he isn't, my father was a no good drunk that abandoned my mother and I, I call him my father because he is the only one out of all our Brother's that cares for me. For us".

"And yet we called each other sister in front of them".

"I call you my sister because I love you as one, nothing less. No matter how old we get I will always call you my sister".

An unsure pout grew on her lips as she thought through her sister's words "Do you promise?".

She had to show her how much she meant it and there only one way to do it. Flicking out her left hand hidden blade she brought up her right hand to holding the blade in the palm of her right she closed her fist around the sharp edges and pulled as she stifled a painful groan from her mouth, Anastasia watched her sister cut a deep wound in her hand as she saw her blood seep through her fingers

Seeing what she was doing the blonde quickly did the same to her right hand wincing as the blade cut through her skin before they knelt before each other. Grasping each other's blood covered hand the pair looked into each other's eyes as their blood mixed

"Repeat after me" Amelia instructed her sister as Anastasia nodded along "Blood of my blood, bone of my bone.."

"Blood of my blood, bone of my bone.."

"I promise you now, you'll never be alone.."

"I promise you now, you'll never be alone.."

"The blood that we now share.."

"The blood that we now share.."

"From this day until my end.."

"from this day until my end.."

"Sister's forever, .."

"Sister's forever".

Leaning forward Amelia rested her forehead against her sisters as Amelia said "May the sun be always shining on us sister".

---

As news had filtered through that Emma had thrown Cruella off a cliff edge. Amelia couldn't help but feel like a failure for letting the product of true love to darken her heart. They were playing right into her Uncle's hands, and there was nothing she could do to slow down the eventual downfall that would befall them all.

As the dust settled on the day's even so did the feud between sisters as Amelia led Anastasia up to her old apartment.

"It isn't much, but it served as home for twenty-eight cursed years and a bit more" Amelia told her sister as she let the younger woman into the apartment. All that had been left in the small apartment was the furniture as every piece of sentiment had been taken off the walls and shelves, packed in boxes ready to be taken to the mansion.

Slowly the blonde walked into the living room looking at her surroundings as she took in her new living space that her sister had provided her for her long-tern stay in Storybrooke.

"This is where you lived?" she asked her sister as she ventured into the kitchen, opening a closing the cabinets that had been emptied a while ago while they ate either at the mansion or Granny's. The only thing they had were cereals for the rare occasion she and Tom were there in the morning before they both had to leave for school or work.

"This is where Amelia Smith lived" her sister corrected her "A hot-tempered bar owner that flirted with waitresses whenever she could, trapped. Well.. until Emma came along that is".

She found out why her sister had been cursed with all the other residents of the Enchanted Forest that had been caught up in the curse. Telling her sister that what she did defying her Queen like that 'very cool' but also 'very, very stupid'.

"And our home?" she asks her sister thinking back to what Rumple told her of what the Wicked Witch did to it. Her sister had dome the right thing. Saving it's people was more important than bricks and mortar. Monteriggioni was never a place, it was it's people "Is it truly gone?".

A tight-lipped smile grew on the redhead's face as she thought back to what she saw when she returned to the deserted city after it's sacking with Regina and the dwarfs to see the damage for herself. They offered the assassin to help rebuild it, but quickly declined their offer. The city may have been her home once but it was time to let the place go. Let someone else find it to use it for what it was meant to be. A sanctuary.

"Ready to be rebuilt, if chosen to do so" she says perching herself on the back of the couch "The foundations and most of the buildings are still there but the shield around it is gone forever, but a little magic wouldn't hurt the place one bit".

"That sounds like a shitload of work" Anastasia state's making her sister chuckle with a genuine smile she hadn't seen her sister wear since they were younger.

"It does" the redhead mused out loud before she approached the subject of what her Uncle really wanted from her. "Before Romeo died" she started getting her sister's attention from her curiosity of her old home "He told me there was a fight he was now passing down onto me. Does it have something to do with what I am? A Hybrid?".

"Yes and No" her sister answers her "Rumple never went into much detail, but when he first sought me out he told me what your blood could do, what power it could hold".

"He once told me, I could become once of the most powerful being's in all the realms. He used the term star-crossed lover's".

"A product of Star-Crossed Lover's" Anastasia clarified "Two people who are fated to love each other no matter what side of a war they were on. Only most are separated by death before they could ever have a child. You were the exception to that rule".

"-He said that most star-crossed lovers die before they have a child, but you defied that rule".

"How?" she asked despite not wanting to know the rest.

"You defied fate" she quoted the Dark One's own words to her "As a price fate fought back, by making you into something even he's afraid of not being in control of. He told us that once he had darkened the saviors heart, he need you to use the Apple to unlock that power for him and the Author".

"And now he has it". He had her blood on tap to use with the Author. The only piece he was missing was the Apple, but once he got his hands on it, then they were all in for whatever he saw as his happy ending.

"He has your blood. Not you" Anastasia argued her seeing the fear in her eyes "Not your heart. As long as your heart is still beating in your chest he had no way of controlling what you do with that power. No one does".

"We need to find out what he need's before he does. I could use another Assassin to help me though" Amelia offered the olive branch to the younger woman.

"No. Not an Assassin" Anastasia told her "A sister, if you'd have me as once again".

A pleased tight smile grew on the red head as she approached the Duchess "I wouldn't want anyone else".

The blonde ventured into the kitchen as she opened up the cabinets on the wall until she found some biscuits the redhead just about remembered she bought.

"I think I got those before the first curse" but her sister didn't listen as she took a mouthful of the food anyway "How are they?". Even from where she stood she could see her younger sister struggling to chew the dry food she had found.

"Dry" she answered her with a full mouth "Very dry" she replied through the dry biscuit. Amelia couldn't help but laugh as the blonde continued to eat the dried food before subtlety throwing the rest of the biscuit into the trash can.

"Come on, I'll show you were everything is".

She had her sister back. And she couldn't be happier about it. Now she just needed to find her best friend. But before she did, she had to make sure she still had a soulmate to go home to.

---

Walking up to the mansion with her tail between her legs later that evening the redheaded assassin mentally prepared herself for what her partner would say once she opened the door. Luckily she came prepared with something the Queen couldn't say no to.

Instead of letting herself in the assassin knocked on the front door she wished she was on the other side already. After a beat the door opened to the former Queen still in the same outfit she was wearing earlier as they searched for Henry and Tom minus the coat.

"Hi" the redhead softly greeted her partner from her side of the threshold.

"Hello" the brunette greeted her closing the door to behind her , making herself stand in what little space there was with her arms across her chest, telling the assassin she wasn't quite welcome back with open arms, just yet.

"I-uh just wanted to let you know that Anastasia's all settled at my old apartment. Also gave me a chance to pack the last of Tom's things" she said holding out the gym bag in hr hand to the former Queen "It's mainly old books we borrowed from the school, and a few clothes he left behind".

"Thank you" she politely tells her partner taking the gym bag from the redhead "I'll make sure he get's it" she says observing the bruises that covered the redhead's face. Tom had found her in the woods after his altercation with the blonde assassin only to tell her Amelia has sent him away to face her sister alone.

"I see you and your sister talked out your differences the usual way" she observed out load. With their fists.

The former Queen saw the corner of her soulmates lips quirk up in a half-smile at her observations "Consider Anastasia apart of Team Swan now. She'll be good in a fight, magical or not".

"That's good to hear" she mused to the assassin "Anything else?".

"I'm sorry" Amelia tells her "About this morning. Things got a bit out of hand there for a minute".

"It did" she sighed out "Does that mean you've stopped trying to kill one of your closest friends".

"No" she honestly tell her, she had time and a clearer head to think about what Snow had done, there was still some anger there, but it wasn't the same anger that was there that morning. She has a blood debt to pay, she need's to pay even if it's not her life I take. You can understand that".

"I do" the former Queen trails off knowing her partner was right. This wasn't something Mary Margaret could fix with an apology. Too many people had been hurt and too many wounds that had been made were still open. She was just worried her Amelia wouldn't come out of this debt the same way.

"I should go then" the redhead was the one to speak up after a beat of silence "There's a room at the B&B with my name on it. Forest view" take a step back the woman turned to leave as Regina watched her leave.

The former Queen saw how much her soulmate was creeping. She wasn't subtle at it at all.

"Wait" the former Queen stops her partner from leaving, the redhead turned to see her partner open the front door wider and stepping to one side to allow the redhead to come back in "Villainous wagon, right?".

"Are you sure?" she gulped not sure if it was what she really wanted especially after that morning.

"Of course. It's our home now" Regina tells her reminding her that they had a home together now.

"Thank Odin" the assassin exasperated in relief as she walked back towards the house "My back cannot survive another night on those mattresses" she says as she walks past her Queen to enter their home as a smile crept up on the brunette's lips at her wife's comment.

"Your welcome dear" she drawled out as she closed the door behind her to re-enter their home to rest ready for the day ahead of them.

She was going to get her best friend back, no matter what or who got in her way.

---

AN:

Hello there!

Very Anastasia focused chapter today.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Credit to the fight scene(s) goes to Hawkeye (2021). Yelena vs Kate and Yelena vs. Clint, owned by Disney blah blah blah.

I wanted to respond to a review from the last chapter:

Theylovemaddiee: Shh! Spoilers! *wink* Haha

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