When Lisa opened her eyes, she was in some kind of cell. It was dark and a couple of torches were lit to provide light.

"Are you alright?" She recognized the annoying princess, Aurora, chained to a wall by her ankle. "You're Emma's friend, right?" Lisa returned to her human form and Aurora let out a sigh of relief. "I thought you were her."

"Cora?" Lisa slowly sat up, her body aching and turned her head as Cora herself materialized inside the cell.

"We have a penchant for meeting."

"You have a penchant for attacking me."

"I wasn't attacking you, obviously. I just wanted the compass, you were the one who made the decision to return and help your friends. How you knew about the attack is quite intriguing." Cora stepped forward and raised her hand, her palm glowing with a bright blue light. Lisa's body glowed as well and the aching in her body quickly dissipated.

"My mother told me." Lisa sighed, leaning against the wall.

"Your mother?" Cora tilted her head. "The woman's name on your wrist? Anita?"

"Yeah."

Cora smiled softly. "You knew her well?"

"Not at all, until I came here. She's a ghost wolf or something."

"How did you come here?" Cora asked with a curious look.

"Why do you want to know?" Lisa responded sharply, looking up at the sorceress.

"You can't tell her anything! Don't-" Aurora's scream was cut off with a wave of Cora's hand. The girl continued to try and scream, but no sound came out.

Lisa glanced at the princess, but remained focused on Cora. "I only came here to save Regina." She finally said. "I attacked a wraith that was hunting her, and fell through a portal and ended up here."

"You would save the woman who cursed an entire world and devastated an entire population. Why?" Cora asked.

"I couldn't let her die. I just wanted to protect Regina, that's all. I don't know, she has some sort of spell over me, I else might want her dead but I don't."

Cora smiled at that. "And this connection you have with her….transcends worlds. Interesting."

"I already told you that I'm not using whatever this connection is to help you get to Regina. I won't allow her to be hurt, not by a wraith, not by the town and certainly not by you." She rose to her feet, showing a strength that surprised them all. Cora took a step back. "No one is going to hurt Regina, not anymore, not while I'm around." She grabbed Cora by the throat. "No one, dearie, is going to hurt my woman."

Cora smirked and simply poofed herself out of the cell. "You are very loyal to her, even after everything she has done."

"She told me, about some of the things that happened to her. Her life was never her own to live. It was either you trying to force her to be a queen simply because you couldn't be, or it was Rumplestiltskin. He destroyed her to get his perfect monster to cast his curse. Everything that Regina has ever done, has been a direct reaction of someone else's actions, the opposite of what someone wants because every decision she's ever made has been influenced by someone else. I don't want her to feel that way anymore. You will never touch her. You will never manipulate her again, no one will." Lisa said, eyes burning with conviction. "Believe that."

"But Regina isn't exactly your woman, is she dear?" Cora asked, tilting her head. "Your love for a woman who hasn't shown any affection towards you whatsoever is making you weak. Love in itself, is weakness."

"Love is not a weakness. It's not easy, but it's magical.I've never felt it, but I've seen it."

"She will never care for you." Cora reached out to touch her cheek and Lisa didn't move. "You will never feel her love because she will never give it to you."

"You're lying. I don't-"

"Believe that." Cora smirked.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Was it true? Was she right? It was true Regina had never given her any indication that she desired anything other than a friendship, but that was enough, wasn't it? Wasn't it enough to simply be with her? Painful dread, doubt, crept into her heart. Regina did care something for her, otherwise, how else could they have this connection? Why did it hurt so badly to think that the queen would never return her love?

Cora returned later with food, but Lisa refused to eat. She remained in the darkest corner, curled up into a ball, trying not to cry or destroy anything she could get her hands on. Her wolf was oddly quiet. She didn't respond when Cora tried to get her to talk again, neither did she turn her head when the sorceress turned to the princess and tried to get information out of her. She no longer cared.

"Hey!" Lisa opened her eyes, glaring up at Hook. "What the hell? You're not even chained up."

"I'm not exactly in the best condition to fight a sorceress either." She countered, laying her head back down. Her body was too weak to even move, much less escape a prison.

"Well, you better move your tail before said sorceress comes back."

"Is this some type of pirate's ruse?" Aurora demanded.

"Look, I know you're sleepy but isn't it obvious? I'm setting you free. Cora has denied me passage to Storybrooke and my vengeance. And I don't like being double crossed, now get a move on."

Aurora nodded. "Thank you." She turned to Lisa and helped the werewolf to her feet. Lisa groaned recently healed muscles were pulled and some were probably torn, but she managed to soldier on.

"You can thank me by giving Emma a message. Tell her our deal still stands. If she helps me get back to Storybrooke, I'll help her find that dust."

"You really wish to assist us?" Aurora asked. Lisa sighed.

"Well, it hurts Cora and helps me, so yeah. Go."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Can you find them?" Aurora asked after they'd been wandering in the woods for an hour.

"I've known Emma for almost 10 years now, I'm pretty sure I can recognize her scent when I smell it. Turn left." With each step, she was regaining strength, but it was a slow process and they were moving too slow. Lisa growled lowly and pushed herself off Aurora, standing on her own. "Let's move. They're close, I can smell it." Both of them surged forward with new strength and walked for a few more minutes before coming upon Mulan and Mary Margaret in the middle of some kind of quarrel. Mary Margaret had an arrow to the warrior's throat.

"Stop!" Aurora yelled.

"Lisa!" Emma screamed, running to her friend. "I thought you were gone for sure. What's wrong, are you alright? Don't take this the wrong way but how the hell did you get here?"

"Followed my nose." Lisa said.

"Let Mulan go." Aurora snapped. "I said, let her go!"

Mary Margaret stood up and Aurora helped the warrior to her feet.

` "Dammit, did I stop the princess from killing the bitchy warrior? Should've waited a few more minutes before barging in." Lisa crossed her arms.

"Were you followed?" Mulan asked, with a quick glare in the she-wolf's direction.

"No, Lisa made sure of that. Cora may know we're gone, but she didn't see us escape. The pirate let us go. Because of you." She said, looking at Emma. "He wanted to prove to you that you should've trusted him. That if you had trusted you and he could have defeated Cora together. That the two of you could've gotten the remains of the wardrobe. Without him, you'll have to go up against her all by yourself. He only wants to help, I...think he might care for you."

"Says the pirate who did not explicitly say all of that. You could have summarized that little uneccessary monologue." Lisa muttered. "When we get home, remind me to have a talk with you about your taste in men."

"Says the werewolf who has a thing for the Evil Queen." Emma retorted. At the mention of Regina's name, Lisa's eyes darkened and Emma looked at her friend with concern. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Lisa said. "I think Cora might be getting into my head. What's next?" She could tell by the look on Emma's face that she didn't exactly believe her, but Lisa wasn't about to budge on this matter. "Did you find a way to stop Cora in our absence?"

"Yeah. We're going to Rumpelstiltskin's cell."

"Great then, lead the way."

xxxxxxxxxxx

"So this is the cell. Dark, bit of a draft…" Lisa said, watching the others search for the...squid ink? She curled her lip at the thought of seafood.

"It's not here!" Mulan said. "Was someone locked up with him? Could they have taken it?"

"No, he was kept alone. Visitors were forbidden." Mary Margaret said.

Lisa sighed and leaned against the entryway.

"You know this would go a lot faster if you got your ass down here to help." Emma looked over her shoulder at the brunette, who simply crossed her arms.

"i found something." Aurora announced.

"What is that, a message?" Emma asked.

"Yes, and I think it's for you."

"Why would you think...that." She opened the long scroll where Emma's name was written probably a hundred times, covering every square inch of the paper.

"That's creepy, Savior." said Lisa.

"What does this even mean?" Emma asked, sitting cross legged on the ground.

"He was obsessed with you, Emma. You were the key to breaking the curse." Mary Margaret answered, scaling the wall, looking for any signs of ink.

Lisa sighed again and wandered away back down the tunnel. She was getting tired of this whole situation. She just wanted to go home and fall into a nice warm bed.

"What's wrong, dear?" Cora asked, appearing next to her.

"Why do you only show yourself to me? Am I the only one you want to torture physically and emotionally?" Lisa snapped.

"What do you mean?"

Lisa stopped. "You told me Regina would never love me, something I might've been okay with up until this point. I just want her to to be happy, that's all."

"But you're in love with her. Unrequited love can be a powerful thing."

"Unlike you, I don't want power."

"But you already have it." Cora said immediately. "Why do you think you mastered your wolf so easily? Or that you can hear the dead and talk to Regina, who is literally a world away? Or that I have not ripped out your heart yet? I do like you, dear, but if I could, I would've ripped your heart out the day I met you."

"Then what am I?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I can find out. You just have to trust me."

"Well, that's not going to happen."

"Have I given you, specifically you, any cause to think otherwise. I healed your injuries,

spared your life."

"Attacked my friends, almost killed me, almost them." Lisa said.

"Power is not something to be afraid of. It's something to embrace. This bracer is just the

first sign of it."

"What are you talking about?" Lisa demanded.

"If you weren't what I thought you were, that bracer would've sucked your soul dry the

moment you put it on. But it didn't. You're heart is special, a perfect blend of light and dark, a true balance of the scales. You are a Guardian, a great and powerful being from ancient times. More powerful than even a savior."

"This is a joke, right?" Lisa rolled her eyes.

Cora grabbed her arm. "No, it's not. Honestly, dear, why won't you believe me about this when you can turn into a wolf and was just sent through a portal to another world? The only question is...what are you supposed to be guarding?"

Read and review please!