Regina—the evil queen, not the psychopathic mayor—had spent all night dueling the Wraith, keeping her soul from him by launching fireball after fireball at him. She'd hidden from him for a few nights, but now she was done hiding.

However, she knew the beast was inexhaustible, so the only way to permanently shield herself would be to hunker down under a spell of chandeliers that never faded.

Regina didn't like beautiful things enough to enact such a spell. What she enjoyed was torture.

Daniel hadn't really known her because she herself hadn't uncovered how much she loved to crush the hope out of people's eyes until after he was dead. It was the ultimate high. She couldn't picture a kind, gentle, caring man who was so good with horses loving her if he'd known. She'd loved him for who he was, but when he loved her, she hadn't met herself yet. She'd been a soldier on foreign land trying to duck under rocks to avoid her mother's bombs. She hadn't been living. She'd been surviving. Naïve, a blank journal. The three things she'd been sure of in regards to herself was she adored horses, cared nothing for being rich but yearned for love shown through actions, and her heart pined for Daniel's sweet kisses.

Stealing kisses from him had been her greatest joy then, but she'd found a bigger high.

And it didn't involve creating a set of chandeliers around herself to combat a soul-sucker.

Thus, she growled rabidly, "This ends now!" and teleported to Granny's Diner.

The sound of crows filled Granny's Diner as the Evil Queen burst through the door, murder in her eyes. Dressed to the nines in her queen attire, having burned her mayor outfits to soot.

Emma had been leaning toward Snow, whispering a plan she'd been devising when the actress starring in her bad dreams appeared. The expression on Regina's face made the back of Emma's neck burn. She was sure to know what they were up to. Emma sank back in her seat and ducked, a guilty fox kit.

"Swan!" the dark-hearted woman snarled, standing over the center of the edge of their booth. What a con artist would describe as a "cruelty-free" smile swaggered on her lips. Even the most gullible person couldn't deny that smile held no sweetness. "And Snow White. You two will help me outsmart that Wraith, or you'll die. Right here, right now," she promised, rolling her sleeves up as only a queen could.

Snow arched her banditish brow in disdain. "Mother Dearest, you tried to have me murdered countless times. Forgive me for finding that an empty threat. But why on earth would I ever help you? That's absolutely insane on your part. The mental institution is in the basement of the hospital, not Granny's Diner."

Regina shrugged and asserted rudely, "I failed. You're still alive. Thus, of course you're going to help me!"

With animosity, Emma grunted, "You tried to have me murdered as a newborn baby. I don't owe you forgiveness. You just want to stick a bull's ring between my nostrils."

In an unaffected, unworried manner, Regina sang, "It matters not. The two of you classify yourselves as 'heroes', which makes you nothing but goody-goody doormats. Which translates from mental confusion to you women will help me, and I don't have to appreciate bullshit."

Emma stared at the entitled woman with lasers in her hard hazel eyes. "I don't think so. Get outta our Pride Lands." She wielded a bottle she'd snatched from another table as if she intended to use it.

The Queen made the bottle evaporate. "Not today, Zurg." Without using her hands, Regina yanked Emma into a standing position by the collar of her shirt then twisted it. A seductive smirk that'd make any horndog not care how cruel she was consumed her mouth.

Emma was no horndog. So the expression didn't make her want to rip Regina's clothes off and have adult relations with her. Thinking about what Graham had said and concluding Regina had turned him into a sex toy for refusing to murder Emma's mother, Emma whipped her hand back and launched it so swiftly Regina hadn't been prepared. The blow landed directly under the Evil Queen's eye. "Justice for Graham!" she bellowed, her neck taut. She'd never glared with such hostility at another person. Her eyes were a loaded gun. Empathy for Graham sparkled green in her blood. Empathy for all the years Regina had used him as a live blow-up doll.

She'd managed to wipe the smugness off Regina's face and replace it with a panther's fury. "Alright, Swan, get ready to be cremated. I've got a fireball with your name on it after I punch you."

Regina was about to get down and dirty and rip out a few of Emma's favorite hairs then give her neck a right nasty bruise when an angel with devil's horns appeared. Regina was immobile, frozen by magic, except her speaking utensils.

"Sorry, Dearie," apologized Rumple in the way of someone who was the opposite of contrite. "This behavior is befitting on Aladdin and Emma Swan, but it's most unbecoming for a queen."

"What do you want, vermin?"

"Isn't the implication to vermin that they multiply unless you kill them? I'm not on a breeding spree, but thanks for your confidence in my virility."

Regina sniped, "I'd rather not picture you without clothing, so out with it, or I'll neuter you."

"Careful, Dearie. Idle threats such as that could cost you your life. Besides, if you neuter me, you'll have to see me in the nude. I'm not about to drink anything you prepared."

"Burn you, madman."

"Leave Emma alone, or you will burn."

He evaporated from Granny's Diner in a golden mist, leaving behind a spool of iridescent gold thread.

"What a drama king," fumed Regina. "I guess he is royalty after all, which makes me wish I could remove that from me like a pesky mole. I hate having things in common with that man," she stewed.

Emma couldn't stop herself from soothing, "Nah, he's a lot kinder than you are. Don't twist your panties in a knot in fear he's the person who understands you the most."

Regina held her hand out and made a fireball. "Alright, Swan, you want to fight fire with water or a tree? Because I'm ready to fry you no matter what you throw at me."

Emma didn't think twice. She lifted her glass of milk and hurled it with the intent for half to splash in Regina's queenly face (mainly her nostrils) while the other half put out the fire. The sticky liquid did exactly what she wanted. She belted out, "The Wicked Witch is dead!"

Regina flung white specks out of her lashes while making the horrible expression of someone inhaling liquid. After she was done fixing her face, she tried to stroke Emma's cheek condescendingly. Emma smacked her hand away before it made contact.

Gripping a steak knife, she snarled, "Try to touch it again, and I'll lop your hand off."

"Pity. You're just like your father and nothing like your mother. Well, I do find his body savory. After Graham, he would have been a nice…pet. It was your tattletale mother with whom I had a bone to pick, but I do hate people who defy me. I hit on your father twice. Both times he rejected me without hesitation. Once more and he would join the Longbottoms and Potters. Only, instead of Voldemort, he'd be daring to defy me." She said this as if she were more formidable than a man who'd magically tortured his Muggle peers since before he knew Hogwarts was a school.

Though Emma had to attest both Voldemort and Regina had killed their fathers, Regina had definitely been more evil there because she'd loved her father and still murdered him. Even so, at least Regina had a nose and—at the moment—her soul was whole in her body.

Then—smirking naughtily—Regina used her magic to transform Emma into a bawling six-month-old baby.

Granny stopped by. Picking Emma up, she coddled her on her hip. While glowering at Regina. "Wow, Regina, I didn't notice you were with child, but considering you forced yourself on her father, no wonder she abhors you! She just wants her daddy, you murderess!"

Regina stretched out her lips and batted her lashes in irritation. "She's not mine, you daft dingbat. It's Emma. Snow and Charming's peach fuzz."

Granny whipped Regina with her eyes. "You're a bully." Gently placing the infant on the table, Granny icily commanded, "Change her back."

Equally frosty, Regina informed her, "I regret that she got away all those years ago. I'm going to kill her now—while it's easy—and nothing you can do will stop me."

Snow snatched up Emma. "Wait! We'll help you defeat the…dementor, did Emma say?"

Regina smiled coldly. "That's more like it," she uttered smugly, returning Emma to adulthood with an upward swoop of her hand. Mockingly, she contributed, "And it's a Wraith, or a Qui Shen. Saw one in my father's kingdom once, but there's never been one on Leopold's turf, which is why you have no idea what they are, Princess."

Fully grown Emma sat on the table, blinking rapidly. Then she pulled her sack of onion rings out from under her and stuffed one in her mouth as a fat tear dotted her cheek.

Incredulous and bearing haughty amusement, Regina inquired, "Is that your breakfast? My god, you eat like a child. Or a squirrel."

Emma rolled her eyes. Without looking at the Evil Queen, she mused, "I bet you eat something real classy for breakfast. Like eggs. How original. Screw me for eating how I want to as an adult." She gave Regina direct eye contact, a nauseated sniff. "'Cause I can. Got no one to impress, but you really ought to book a session with Archie to figure out why my diet—which is none of your business—rankles you so. Or read a self-help book on how to start minding your own business with a cherry on top."

Then Emma drawled, "And don't you dare try to claim you're stellar at minding your own business after making Sidney stalk me."

Regina opened her mouth but no sound came out. Snapping her jaw shut, she raised her line of sight to the ceiling.

Scratching her nose, Emma mused, "I guess your mother sheltered you so much you never learned how to stop controlling everyone like you're playing chess against yourself and my mother and I are mere pieces. But my diet is not yours to mock, Miss Frog Legs 'n Poached Eggs."

"Actually, I liked grilled lion cub on a biscuit," Regina corrected in the manner of a grumpy cat, "but thanks for the idea. Hope you don't have a patent or a pet frog."

Smiling with false civility, Emma assured her, "Working on it." Then she slid off the table and into her seat. "Since you've gone and twisted my mother's wrist into paying a ransom, I guess we're stuck helping you beat the dementor. What's your idea? I like drowning it. You got any Gillyweed?"

"The hell is that?"

Emma stretched. "Something you'd know if you watched Harry Potter."

"I would never," Regina defended herself. "TV is a mindless waste of time."

"Wrong!" Emma bleated a la Jim Carrey. Regina flinched at the power and goofiness flaunted at her. "The best TV captivates your attention and removes you from your own crappy life. Though," she squinted at the window on the door fleetingly, thinking she saw Graham's silhouette through the blinds. Her heart fluttered before she swallowed hard. Knowing she was hallucinating. She rubbed Graham's shoelaces on her wrist against her cheek. "There are some rabid people who become Hulks every time the media depicts anything that has a derivation from reality. They completely miss the point of TV. They should look at a sunset instead. Because all they do is gripe, 'That's not realistic! TV should be a complete reflection of real life, or it's trash.' I mean, what's up with people thinking Pokémon is evil just because there's a Psychic type? Oh. Right. You don't know what Pokémon is…"

"Like I care about that nonsense, Miss Swan." Emma flinched in spite of herself at Regina's sharp tone. Unable to stop her innate, irksome people-pleasing nature from wincing over the fact Regina was scolding her harshly for trying to be open with her. Clamming in on herself, Emma was reminded of every time she let her walls down as a child and was met by harsh apathy. "You're a lousy Sheriff. You aren't doing Graham proud."

The people-pleasing nature was emasculated by Regina's obvious attempt to shame her. "Whoa, there, girl," Emma tsked. "We already agreed to help. Don't butter us up into dancing with that thing. I'm sure his breath reeks."

"Lousy sense of humor." The way Regina said it told Emma that wasn't all the Evil Queen meant.

Emma didn't like the curiosity that jabbed her. Tiny needles puncturing her mind. Lips drooping down, she asked with a tremble at her throat, "Ex-excuse me?" She knew she was going to regret asking but couldn't stop her yellow Bug from hitting the diesel.

"That's why," Regina uttered silkily, smugly, "You could not find one person to love you prior to Storybrooke." Emma rolled her eyes so hard, trying not to let Regina's callous words sting. Reminding herself Regina was the woman who abused people into saying, "I love you," to keep her from killing them. "It's a large world, Miss Swan," the miller's granddaughter continued, "and as you blew out your pathetic candle on your cupcake you 'bought for yourself', as you told me, you were alone. Twenty-eight years on this planet, and you could not accrue one. Single. Friend. Because you're unable to carry yourself like Taylor Swift."

Emma was done being insulted. One minute, she and Snow were sitting in Granny's Diner, facing off Regina. The next, she and Snow were flopping in the forest, due to the absence of the booth that had just been under their thighs.

"Whoa!" Snow gasped as she partially broke her fall with her palms. "Regina…" She stood and massaged a tension in her neck.

Emma's head was buzzing. She felt high and was partially blacked out. So overcome with emotion, there was no way she'd remember this when she came to her conscious self. "That wasn't Regina."

Aghast with fear (for Snow associated magic with evil and had cast Maleficent's child away to banish Emma's darkness), Snow gasped, "You did magic?"

Not seeming to hear her, Emma put her arm around her mother's shoulder. "Let her stew. I need a vacation from her. Then we'll help her beat the dementor."

Snow White swallowed hard, recalling David's amnesia. This was different, though. This was Emma being her true self due to a steep ascent in anxiety.

Emma linked arms with her mother, guided her to the lake, and sat, staring at it with her mother.