Introducing:
Nicholas Galitzine (Mary and George/ Cinderella 2013) as Young Elijah.
This wasn't exactly how she envisioned the first full day of her curse being broken. Hell, she never envisioned it ever being broken in the first place. However, as the Queen woke up in this post-curse world, she couldn't help but feel exposed without her magic or Elijah by her side now that he was trapped in another realm.
She had to remind herself that she had been without her baby brother before. She survived then, as she would now.
As the uncursed residents of Storybrooke woke up in the wake of the Wraith's rampage through town, the uncursed town had spent their morning seeking out the loved ones they had been separated from for nearly three-decades as they found food and shelter from their homes being damaged from the creature looking for the Queen's soul as rooftops laid out in the middle of the road and their cars were being towed away on cracked roads.
The Queen's relatively peaceful morning stuck inside her home was interrupted when she heard someone pounding on her front door. Answering it, she was met with the image of the prince on the other side with the burnt and flattened hat in his hand as he let himself into her home without an invitation, climbing up the stair to stand above her.
"Tell me about this" he states to the Queen wanting to know how the hat worked.
"Surprised you don't have armed guards 'round the clock" she snipes at the man.
"Don't need them" he confidently tells the woman "We both know that now your little brother isn't here playing the loyal soldier. If you step outside now, there's a line a mile long for your head".
Swinging the door close, the Queen turned to face the man with a hard glare "Who's going to risk coming at me?" she retorts. She didn't need her little brother to protect her. The Prince should know that.
"Take your chances, then. But I think that little wallpaper trick? Was an anomaly. If you had your abilities back, this town would be charcoal by now. You're having problems with magic, aren't you?" he calls her bluff as she stared up at him "Right now, the only thing keeping you alive? Is that Henry wishes it. Now, this-" he states wanting to continue with the reason he was there in the first place.
"It's the hat that pulled your loved ones away" she observed outload as she climbs the stairs up to the foyer heading into the sun filled dining room.
"Yours's as well" he retorts, as he turned to follow the woman hearing the Queen scoff at him "Where did you get it?".
"I've long since forgotten" she answers him "You know what? Maybe, you should be less concerned with hats, and more concerned with taking care of my son".
"Oh, because you took such great care of him" he pointed out to the woman in a level voice.
"I will not listen to child care lectures from a man who put his daughter in a box and shipped her to Maine" she leers at him in turning to leave the man where he was only for the Prince to jump in her way.
"Okay, listen" he pleaded to the woman "I need my family. And deep own you need your brother. There's magic here now. There will have to be ways to follow them".
"Follow them where?" she shook her head at him "Into a sucking airless void? And good luck getting magic to work. Because, as you said, you'd be charcoal".
"Oh, frustrated, are we?" the Prince glowered at her seeing her irritation "Serves you right. You've earned every bit of this".
"Keep on baiting me, Charming. Right now, I don't have magic. I don't have my brother and I don't have my son. But, when I get one, I get the other. And you don't want to be around when that happens".
"If you have to use magic to keep your son, you don't really have him" the man states to her before leaving her to contemplate his words as she watched him go.
He swore he felt his heart pound in his chest in rhythm with Marcellus's hooves thundered against the dirt track he and his sister took to escape their impending future. Her marriage to the King. And his to the Princess in a decade or so.
Rosinante and Marcelles worked hard underneath their riders to carry them towards freedom and away from the palace.
"Come on, Rocinante, go!" Regina urged on her brown coated steed to run faster as his rider looked back to see her younger brother doing the same to his, keeping a wary eye on any guard that might've seen them leave in such a hurry.
"Go Marcelles, go! Yah!" Elijah yelled over the horse's hard gallop to push him beyond his limitations. Meeting his older sisters gaze over her shoulder only pushed him further to get them away from their mother's wishes. This wasn't going to be their life. Not when they had something to say about it.
Rushing past a lake, through a fog, the siblings found themselves getting closer and closer to their freedom as they entered the forest. Their freedom was near.
"We're almost free!" the elder sibling yelled back to her brother as they rode the long stretch of road ahead of them.
Although as close as the Mill's siblings thought they were ever to their freedom, it was literally snatched away from them as tree branches grew out towards the pair as one stretched out to catch the youngest around his neck, plucking him off his horse, making him let go of his reins to pull at the branch that had completely encircled his neck, silencing him from calling out in warning as he watched more branches take hold of Regina, around her stomach pulling her off her horse as more shot out from nowhere to take hold of her wrists as his ankles and feet, keeping them perfectly still as they suspended in the air.
The grip on his neck wasn't as tight as the reigns his mother had used week's prior, to pull her disobedient daughter back in line. At least he could still breath. Albeit wheezed and short. She didn't want to risk bruising her only son for others to question.
"And I thought we were done with all this nonsense" Cora addresses her children as the branches moved her son forward to place him next to his older sister. This wasn't the first time they had tried something like this. Nor would it be the last.
"Hello, Mother" Regina flatly greeted their mother, turning her head to look back over her shoulder, she saw why her brother was so quiet. The branch around his neck slithered like a snake, threatening to tighten its hold to suffocate its prey "What evil have you conjured?".
"Not evil, darling. A barrier spell" Cora tells her opening the book in her hand to the right page, the older woman pursed her lips and blew the magic inked on its pages, lifting it off like dust towards the branches making them loosen, dropping her children onto the ground in heaps with grunts of pain and gasps escaping their lips as Elijah pulling in a painful gulp of fresh air into his lungs.
"Designed to keep you both where you belong" she informs her children as they got to their feet to face her.
"We can't leave?" Regina questions their mother as the older woman approaches them.
"Your brother can leave" Cora corrects her glancing towards her youngest coming to a stop in front of them "He has duties now that he's taken over your father's Dukedom while he serves you in your new home. He will need to stay at home while he waits for his marriage to the Princess. A marriage that will serve this family for generations. He just can't leave with you dear".
"What about me?" the elder of the pair spoke up.
"Not alone. Not without the King. We've been through this. In two days, you'll be married – you'll be Queen. After that, you're free to go – whenever you're with him".
"Mama, I don't want to marry the King. I don't want this life!" she pleads to her.
"You're both just frightened of having all that power" Cora tries to reassure them.
"I don't want power. I want to be free" Regina tell her "We want to be free".
"Power is freedom" Cora states daughter, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder to encourage her back towards the palace "Don't worry. I'm here to show you".
As the mother/daughter duo walk away, the former pauses looking back at her youngest with a sweet smile on her smile like she hadn't just hurt him once again.
"Elijah my dear boy" she addresses him making him stand straighter than before with his hands tucked behind into the small of his back "Don't you have a portrait to collect. I've heard it's one of Mr. Hallward's best".
He did. He's been putting off the task of fetching his finished portrait from the artist since they had received word of its completion. He didn't want to see it. It would only remind him of a time he wasn't riddled with guilt and grief. A happier time. He didn't deserve to be happy. Ever.
"Yes Mother" he stiffly answers her with a nod, before she turned back to continue their walk back to the palace.
Refocusing her energy on getting her magic back the Queen sat in her living room with a candle in front of her, the Mayor stared at the wick as she concentrated lighting it, the most simple of enchantments she had learnt from Rumplestiltskin himself, but as she continued to stare out the item, using magic in the Land of No Magic seemed to become more difficult than she first thought.
"Come on" she whispers to herself as flame crackled on the wick of the candle as it started to burn only for the flame to extinguish itself out.
"Light, damn you!" she exclaimed in frustration snatching the candle up and throwing it into her fireplace. She needed her magic back to get Henry. And then even if it was possible to travel between realms without the hat, eventually get her brother back. Even if it took another curse to do it.
She needed help. There was only person who could, but he wouldn't be so willing seeing as he knew what she had done to his little maid. No she needed someone closer to home. Someone who was too dead to stop her from using her old book of spells. She just hoped her brother would forgive her for going after their mother's
Cracking her front door open, the Queen checked there was no sign of anyone after her head once again before hurrying to her car only to step when she see's the Cricket of all people in her driveway.
"Regina! I thought you might want to talk" he greets the woman.
"Oh, right. The conscience thing" she flippantly comments to herself. Elijah was always better at that thing than she was.
"It's what I do" he simply replies.
"I'm in no mood" she tells him opening the drivers door to her car only for the man to round the car to stop her again.
"That's too bad, cause… Cause I think talking about your pain might be very helpful. Might help you learn who you truly are".
The Queen paused as she thought over is suggestion, only it brought back the fight she had with her brother before she left the hospital with Emma to find the 'cure' for his sleeping curse.
"I know who I am" she sneers at him before sliding into the drivers seat to carry on her mission to get her son back from the Prince.
He hated it when he right. He hated the portrait and everything it represented. The end of his youth. The young son of a Duke looked so innocent, happy even; he would never look that young again. Oh how he wished to swap places with the image of himself in the portrait. For the image to grow ugly with age while he remained the same. Wake up as the young man that stood in his home as Basil Hallward painted him, with his future ahead of him, instead of the one his mother hand planned out for him and his sister.
While the portrait sat against a wall next to the fireplace of his room with a dust cloth covering the wooden frame that enclosed the portrait, ready to be mounted above the mantlepiece, once the wedding was over. His room would be put together for when he visited the palace in between his new duties taking over their family's estate while his mother taught him everything there is to know to run a household. And one day, a kingdom.
Sat at the desk the servant's had found for him, with a quill in his hand and a candle to light the surface, the youngest Mill's sibling inked a letter to Lord Henry Wotton to take up his earlier proposal of showing the young Duke of something called a 'New Hedonism'. To always be looking for new sensations outside the four walls his mother had put around him. Agreeing to accompany the man to a theatre to attend an Opera instead of joining Basil to dine after the wedding, the young man enjoyed the Lord's outlook on everything. Believing that the only way to rid of temptation is to yield to it.
He wanted that. To not fear in everything around him and instead allow him to enjoy it to its fullest. To come out of from behind his mother's dress. However he couldn't help but sense Basil's reluctance for him to experience such things so quickly and with Henry.
Small knocks on this door interrupted the young Duke's son from his letter as his brow's furrowed in confusion as who could be disturbing him this late in the evening.
"Enter" he called out to the person on the other side. Perhaps it was another servant brining him something for his room. Hearing his door creak open the young man placed the quill back into its pot as he looked up to see who it was.
"Elijah" the ten-year old Snow White greeted him, stood in her long nightgown presumably ready for bed, holding a small box in her hands.
"Princess Snowbell" the nickname rolled off his tongue seeing the young Princess at his door as a gentle smile grew on her lips at the nickname he had quickly come up with for her. "It's late. You know Johanna will be looking for you".
"I know, but I wanted to give you something to wear at the wedding. May I come in?"
"Of course" he waves her in as she makes her way over to the roaring fire place where a coach had been placed as he stood from his desk to meet her. His white doublet hung loose from his chest as he made his way over, thankful he hadn't changed out from the leather riding pants.
"What were you doing?" the princess asks him having seen him with the quill in his hand, taking a seat on the piece of furniture.
"I was writing a letter to a friend of mine" he answers her curiosity joining her "He's promised to take me to see a show a few towns away after the wedding".
"Can I go?" she excitedly asks him.
"Maybe when your older Snowbell" he tells her "I wouldn't want to get in trouble with the King so soon after his wedding".
"I suppose you're right" she sighs out in disappointment. She wanted to spend more time with him until he had to leave and go back home. She wasn't sure when she would see him again and she was growing quite attached to her new best friend despite now having Regina as a mother figure.
"Now" his voice brought her back out her thoughts "What have you brought me when you should be in bed".
"Your Mother said you wear them all the time" she says handing the box over to him "I wanted to give it you to wear at the wedding".
Opening the small box the young man was greeted with a single teardrop shaped pearl earring encased in silver. The beautiful piece of jewellery indeed. It would go perfectly with the suit his mother had picked out for him for his sister's wedding. It had her written all over it.
"Don't you like it?" she asked in concern. He hadn't spoken a word since opening his gift.
Lifting his head to look at her he hoped she didn't see the tears that brimmed in his eye's in the reflection of the light. He hated it. Anything that came from his mother he hated. It was always for some ulterior motive. Her own.
"I love it Snow" he made himself say as a tight grin grew on his lips to keep her happy "Thank you".
A grin grew on the Princesses lips as she threw herself into his arms as he caught her, her smaller arms hold him as tight as they could as he enveloped her in his safe arms "I will certainly wear it for your father's wedding, if that's what you want Snowbell".
As the Princess enjoyed the warmth she felt from her best friend she couldn't help but to think about what her father and Cora had told her earlier. That she had her own wedding to look forward to..with Elijah.
Pulling away from his chest the girl looked up to the twenty-one year old with furrowed brows as he look curiously down at her as she knelt of couch in front of him
"Would you wear it again, for...our wedding".
There it was. His mother was trying her best to make sure his marriage went ahead, she knew he wouldn't hurt the Princess by breaking her heart if it was full of love for him like doing something like leaving her at the alter.
"Is that what you want? To marry me when you're older that is?".
The girl simply shrugged her shoulders at him not sure what she wanted. Of course she didn't she was still a child.
"Do you know what that means? " he gently asks her. She shakes her head at him.
"It means that one day. We'll be family" he tells her "Just the two of us to face the world together at whatever it throws at us. And one day when we're ready. To make a family of our own to raise and love".
The Princess took a second or two to process what he had said to her. Until she looked up at her doe eyed and hopeful as she always was.
"Will we be happy?".
That was a question he would ask himself every night since the arrangement had been made. Would he be happy? Perhaps. His answer would be. He could grow to love her as the years went by, but he barely knew what that meant. The closest thing he has seen was his sister and Daniel.
"Who wouldn't want to marry a Princess" he simply told her forcing another smile as he echoed his mother's own words.
Satisfied with his answer for the time being, the Princess's head turned to take in the room her father had found for his future son-in-law to stay in as and when he could visit. Not much furniture filled the spacious room. Only the large bed, the desk and the couch filled the room as a trunk of his things sat at the bottom of the bed. Her curious eyes caught sight of the portrait sat near the fireplace.
"What's that?" the Princess asks her friend as she climbs down to stroll over to the item he had hoped to keep hidden for a while longer.
"It's nothing, Snow" he tried to tell her, jumping from his seat "You should really be heading to bed".
"Is that your portrait?" she gasped in excitement having heard what he was brining back home. Cora had been talking about it the whole day while she organised her daughter's wedding, praising the young artist that had painted it and anyone and everyone who would listen. It would certainly be a welcome painting to the Kings collection with the added bonus of it perfectly captured everything the shone about his future son-in-law.
"Don't touch it" he tried to warn her only for her to ignore his request.
As her finger's inched towards the dust cover he felt his heart beat harder and harder as his breath came out in shallow pants as if his sister's horse reigns were once again tightly coiled around his neck.
"I SAID DON'T TOUCH IT!" he raged at the top of his voice as his heart pumped the hatred he had for himself and the girl that told the secret of Regina and Daniel's romance around his body. It made him feel sick, he wanted to feel anything else but that feeling. Anything.
Snatched her hand off the wooden frame the girl looked at him like she had just seen a monster stood there instead of her best friend. Time came a complete stop for a second or two before he saw her bottom lip start to wobble, before scared tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Snow" he panted out as the anger drained from his mind "Please forgive-".
He didn't get very far as the girl ran as fast as she could out of his room and into the corridor to find either her handmaid or her father.
"DAMN IT!" he screamed out into the air as he lifted his leg to kick over the couch onto its back as he stood in the middle of his room with the small box holding the single earring in his hand.
"My my, aren't you an angry wee lord" the voice made him jump as he saw a strange man with shoulder length straggly hair sat on the chair at the desk looking straight at him.
His skin looked almost gold as it glittered in the light the fire gave off, his nails sharpened to a point as Elijah saw the rotten teeth the filled his mouth as he smiles and giggled to himself.
"You should be more careful who's head you bite off dearie" he giggled to the inside joke himself having already seen the young man's future and what he would become once Henry Wotton got his fangs into him.
The young man only stood there in confusion not understanding what he was going on about.
"You'll understand that joke later" a flurry of giggles escaped his lips again as Elijah found the wrought iron fire poker from it's holder next to the fireplace, holding it up like a sword towards the strange man that was in his room.
"How the hell did you get in here?".
"Magic of course" he said to the young man waving his hand in the air, the fire poker in his hand disappeared in a cloud of red smoke leaving him defenceless against the stranger that wielded magic like his mother "That, and your sister summoned me here".
"Who are you?" he shuddered out.
"Rumplestiltskin" the man rolling the 'R' as he bowed lowly to the young man in front of him. "Now, tell me how I can be of service to you?" .
Letting herself into the pawn shop the Queen looked for anything that resembled her mother's spell book as she searched through the bookshelves, cabinets and the piles of books that had been laid out on surfaces. This was worse than her brother's room. At least he had a system.
"The library's beneath the clock tower" his voice rung in her hears making her look to her left to see the Dark One himself stood there "You closed it, remember? When you still had power" he said as he made his way over a dark suitcase the side of the shop.
"I need the book" she demands "I need to get my son back".
"Which book?" he asks closing the case closed from her prying eye "Ah" he chuckles to himself knowing what book she was after as the Queen rounds the glass cabinets to stand opposite him "So, it's come down to that, eh? You need your mommy's help?".
"Give me the book" she demands out of the man.
"Do you really need the smell of the written word to get the magic flowing again, love? Maybe if you relaxed, it would just happen" he advises the woman "What would baby brother think eh? After everything he's done for you, only to go running back to Mommy when things got a little hard".
"I don't have time" she barks at him. She didn't have time think about what Elijah would think about this, he wasn't here "It worked once, I know I can do".
"He'd want me to get Henry back" she glowers at him "I just… I just need a shortcut back".
"Yeah, well, I don't have time, either. Leave." he retorts " Please" he say to the woman using his magic word to the woman to leave. But nothing happened. She didn't leave. His magic power against her had been broken along with the curse.
"Well, how about that" she smiles to herself "Your 'pleases' have lost their punch".
"Well, the fact remains, jumpstarting your magic is not in my best interest".
"You know what else isn't in your best interest? Having everyone know the Enchanted Forest still exists. Knowing that, you and I, are keeping that little secret. You're up to something" she states to the man looking at the dark case that sat on the counter next to them "And it doesn't involve going back home".
Lifting the lid she was quickly stopped form opening it further by a firm hand on the top as the man relents to the Queen's demand summoning Cora's spell book into his hand.
"Careful, dearie" he warns her "These are straight up spells. Rough in the system. Some I dare say your baby brother would struggle to survive even in his immortal state".
Snatching the book out of his hand the Queen looked the man dead in his eye and said "I don't care if they turn me green. I'm getting my son back".
At that the woman turned on her heel and headed for the door only for the Dark One's voice to stop her seeing her with the book.
"Oh my…" he trails off chuckling to himself.
"What?" she asks the man with a smile on her face as she held the book tucked in her arm and waist.
"It's just, holding that… I told you once you didn't look like her, but now… Now I can see it".
The woman stood stared at the man for a second or two at the comparison he made to her mother, before turning to leave with the book in hand. The comparison scared her instead of impowering her. Maybe she had to think about this again.
"What are you?" the question slipped out out of his mouth before he could stop himself as he stared at the man, even if he was a man underneath the glittered skin.
"What, what, what. My, my. What a rude question. I am not a 'what'" the Dark Once chastises him, jumping from the chair to approached the young man.
"Oh. My-my apologies" he quickly tells the man bowing his head in respect for the man "I'm Eli-".
"Elijah" the man Rumplestiltskin interrupts him a the young man straightens up "I know" he add as he circles Cora's second child taking in his appearance and why he heard rumours of his beauty being the envy of many in the Enchanted Forest. One that now stood immortalised in the portrait.
But he would get to that later. He had some growing up to do before he gave him the chance never age as he destroyed his body and soul with Henry Wotton.
"You do?" the young man questioned him.
"But of course" .
"You said my sister sent you here. You know her".
"I do" he confirms "But that's not how I know you".
"How then?".
"I held you and your sister in my arms at one point. You were younger. More..portable" he says rocking his arms side to side like he was rocking a child as he walked away from him see the letter the youngest Mill's sibling was writing to the Young Lord Wotton, snatching the parchment in his hands the Dark One didn't need to read it to now the young man's eagerness to join Wotton "There is much history between your family and me. History both in the past, and in the future".
"My mother" Elijah guesses to the man "That's how you know us. You're the man that taught her magic?".
He couldn't help but to giggle to himself at the young man's intuitiveness. He may not posses the gift of magic like his mother and sister, but he was smart and impulsive. Something he could work with in the future.
"Catches on quickly this one" he says pointing at Elijah before changing the subject to one he would be interested in "What if I told you your sister and I had a plan to, take care, of your mother?".
"Kill her you mean" the idea intrigued the young man as his eye lite up in excitement.
"No" he quickly corrects the younger man as he took a moment to take in how quickly he was willing to kill his own mother given the chance compared to his older sister "Huh maybe your more like your mother than your sister" the Dark One comments to himself before carrying on as Elijah sees his letter to Henry being waved in the air by the man.
"To put her somewhere where you can explore your new little lifestyle without mother dearest poking her nose into it before you marry the Princess" he proposes to the young man.
"What is it?".
"A portal between lands" he explains approaching the younger man to circle him again as he listened attentively to the Dark One's plan "To a specific annoying little world. Useless to me, but for your purposes. Perfect "You're unlikely ever to see her again" Coming to a stop the Dark One takes hold of the young man's by his broad shoulders as he leans up to hover over the shell of his ear "All she needs is a little push. The question is, who pushes her: You...or your sister?".
Sat beneath her apple tree behind the Town Hall, her red apples hung a rotten black in the tree above her as the Queen sat hunched over with her mother's book in her hands, stroking the red heart shaped jewel that had been set into the centre of the book. Gold's comparison to her mother has struck a cord with her. She never wanted to become her mother, swore to her little brother that she would never her gift with magic turn her into the heartless monster their mother was as one question played on her mind as eh held the book in her hands.
Would Elijah forgive her for doing this?.
Family Above All. That is what he has been striving towards for the last twenty eight years. Her redemption. Her hope.
But as she recalled the vow her brother made to their father, she recalled another vow they had made to one another when they were made to make their mark in the world their mother had created for them.
Always and Forever.
But he was no where near her side to keep that promise to her, he broke that vow to her when he chose Miss Swan over her. It was more clear now more than ever that he had left her side, not just by the different realms they now found themselves in, but by his decision to make a promise to her that he would protect Henry from her. His mother.
Opening the book, she finds a page that illustrated a tree that she had seen her mother use countless times either on her or Elijah. Gently blowing on the page, brown dust lifts off the page, hovering in front of her face before she deeply inhales the magic that had been infused in the pages as she felt the rush of power she felt making her eye's faintly glow purple for a moment before returning to their normal brown, as the rotten apple's on her tree behind her turned back to a healthy blood red.
Now that she had her magic back, it was time to get her son back. And no one, was going to stand in her way.
The Prince's two-hour deadline had come and gone as the town had gathered in the Town Hall to hear his plan to fix everything that had gone wrong since the curse had broken. With the ever looming threat of the Evil Queen in the back of their minds, and the newest problem of the town at the forefront, all in the aftermath of the Wraith. The town needed their hero's more than ever before. Only two of them were missing.
As the residents grew restless as they waited for the Prince to show his face, some had even taken up arms to defend themselves as Henry attempted to get a hold of his grandfather one again as Ruby and Archie did their best to calm everyone down and ease their minds.
"Come on, Gramps. Pick up. Come on…" Henry whispered into he cell phone as his call to his Grandfather went to voicemail one again.
"Please, everyone. Just be patient" Ruby's voice carried in the room as worried voices seemed to moulded together "I'm sure he's going to be here any second" the she-wolf insists to the crowd as she notices her own grandmother roaming the hall with a small crossbow in her hand "Granny, do you really need that?" the young woman questions her.
"We've got a lawless town, Ruby. Damn right I need it. Just feel lucky the vamper isn't here. Otherwise I'd be handing out the stakes myself".
"Granny.." she sighed out in disappointment as her grandmother walked away. Hearing the older speak about Elijah like that made the younger woman cringe.
They were like him despite everything that had happened. Second natured. They should mean something. He had helped her at her most venerable, he didn't even know her. He owed her nothing and yet he was the one to make her look up and move when those hunter's were after her. The least she owed him was to see the man behind the blood and fangs that she knew existed.
Hurrying to the front of the hall to find Henry after yet another missed call, she could only do so much to keep everyone calm. David needed to be there.
"Try calling him again" she pressed the young boy to try again.
"He's not picking up" he insists to his grandmother's best friend.
"Just keep trying" she encourages him. That's all they could do.
The loud chatter in the large room suddenly came to stop as the glass doors of the town hall opened by themselves to reveal the Evil Queen stood there with a new air of confidence about her as the crowd gasped in fear seeing the Queen smirking at them without their Prince there to save them.
"My, what a nice turnout" the Queen addressed the crowd in front of her before she made her way down the middle of the parted crowd "No need for a fuss. It's just little old me" she goes on until she stop at the very front of the hall.
"Regina" Archie called out to the woman stepping forward making he her turn back to look at him "Think about what you're doing".
"Bug" she sneers at the man before throwing her arm towards the man, magically throwing his backwards to be caught by other's behind him showing the entire town that she had her magic back.
"Hey!" Leroy yelled out in protest as he ran forward to confront the woman herself only for the same thing to happen to him as his brother's jump forward help him scramble off the floor where he had landed.
Aiming her weapon at the Queen, Granny pulled the trigger sending the bolt flying towards the Queen only for the letter to catch it mid-air next to her head before the bolt catches fire in her hand.
"How sweet" she smirks to herself before turning it into a ball of fire. Throwing it towards the crowd the residents screamed in fear as it flew above them, making them duck down in fear before returning her to hit the wooden Storybrooke insignia catching it on fire.
"What do you want?!" Ruby demands out of the woman causing so much terror.
"Me" she heard her son's voice call out from the crowd "She wants me" he adds walking out from the crowd of Storybrooke residents to face his mother himself "Okay, I'll come with you. Just leave them alone".
Stepping towards her son, the Queen cups his chin with her hand lovingly sighing as she grins down at him.
"That's my boy" she tells him as she turns him around to escort him out of he Town Hall with an arm on his shoulder. As the Queens steps out of the room with her son in tow, the woman waves her hand to shut the doors behind her.
Arriving home with her son, the house didn't feel as empty as it did that morning as they stepping into the large house. Letting themselves in, the Queen barely closed the door shut behind them as Henry sprinted up the stairs as she
"Now, I don't want you to think that things are just going to go back to how they used to be" she barely got the words out as Henry sprinted away from her to run the stairs
Running after son as fast as she called after him needing to lay down the ground rules for them now that her brother wasn't there
"Henry!" Henry heard his mother call after him as he entered his room, the eleven year old headed for straight under his bed to find the backup plan he had in place if he ever found himself trapped with the Evil Queen.
Thanks to his Uncle Elijah teaching him how to properly tie a strong knot, the young boy pull out the pre-prepared rope made out of bedsheets and blankets from under his bed, attaching it securely to the radiator under his widow before throwing the heavy bundle of of his open window to make his quick escape.
Starting is daring escape, the young boy barely made it half way down the side of his house before heard strange crackling coming from the tree in the front yard behind him. Looking back he saw tree branches coming to life coming towards him, snatching him off the rope as they held him securely around his chests as more took hold of his wrists as he tried to fight them off.
"Don't fight it, honey" Regina warns him from his bedroom window "You'll get a splinter".
"How long am I in prison? Till I grow up?" Henry asked Regina as he sat opposite his adopted mother on his bed after he was safety deposited back into his room after being stopped from escaping and running back to David.
"Henry, I rescued you because I love you" Regina tells him.
"So, I'm a prisoner because you love me" he states to her "That's not fair".
"You know where your Uncle and I come from. That was really not fair. Of all the places I've seen, this is the fairest of them all".
"You ruined lives. You sent away Mary Margaret and Emma" he reminds her "Even Elijah because he wouldn't help you anymore".
"That was an accident" she quickly argues as his point hit a nerve. She didn't send him away, he did that all by himself by deciding to stand by the saviour and not his own flesh and blood.
"The way you and Elijah treated me wasn't an accident. You made it so no one believed me. You made me feel like I was crazy".
"But that's all going to change, now" she tells him trying to deflect his pain "Henry, you can know all the secrets. You can live in a house with magic. Look what I could do" she says blowing out a puff of purple air a giant cupcake appears in the palm of her hand "And I can teach you. You can do this and so much more. You can have all the friends you want come over any time, and you can show them everything in your book".
"No one's going to want to come over here. They're scared of you. Including Uncle Elijah".
"You can make then not be scared" she said a little too harshly making her take pause before carrying on "You can make them love you".
She can make her brother love her again. She knew she could. He couldn't stay angry at her forever. That was eternity for him.
"I don't want that" he tells his mother "I don't want to be you" he adds echoing the words she once told her mother as he stand from his bed to leave her.
Making his way towards his sister's bedroom ready to take her down to the grand hall for the ceremony, the finery the youngest Mill's sibling had been stuffed into royal blue jerkin and matching trunk hose and stocking ensemble that made the him wish he was made to wear the off-white suit he wore for his portrait as the linin shirt he wore underneath included a ruffled collar with matching cuffs that made the man's skin ich to no end underneath.
However, he had no choice in the garments his mother had picked out for him. He had look his best for the evening. Tonight the King would announce to his Kingdom that his only daughter and heir would marry her step-uncle when she was age on his mother's wishes
So even on his sister's wedding day, the Princess and her baby brother would be receiving the praise and illation of the entire kingdom instead of welcoming a new Queen. Her humiliation on her own wedding day was set in stone.
With the single pearl earring dangling from his left earlobe, he made his apologies to the young Princess for losing his temper by bringing her freshly cut snowbells from the gardens that morning, making his excuses that he was tired from the wedding preparations the easily pleased girl quickly forgive him, accepting his gift after he promised at least one dance with him during the celebrations.
Upon entering his sister's room with her handmaiden's permission, the youngest Mill's sibling made note the 'gift' Rumplestiltskin had left the pair to do what they wanted with stood tall to his left, covered in a fine cloth with a bow, the object that would d take their mother away from over towered him as he saw it was twice the size of his won portrait.
Turning his head away from the object, he went to find his sister only to find her stood at her balcony in her wedding gown, as a tiara sat in her pinned up hair. Even if he just saw her back he knew she was be the fairest of them all in that palace today.
"Sister" his voice made her turn to face him "You look..." there was no words to how beautiful his sister looked in her white gown. The King didn't deserve her. He didn't deserve her.
"Horrible" he made himself say, making her laugh at his attempt to lighten the sombre mood of the room "Truly horrific".
His humour managed to bring a smile to the bride as she even managed to chuckle. She would miss this from him in their time apart. She couldn't remember a time in which the other had left the other behind. They were each other's halves. One could not exist without the other.
"Thank you" she tried her best to smile for him only to falter as her eye's let her down before she turned her back on her to hide the tears that threatened to fall.
Closing the distance between them he joined her on the balcony that overlooked the Kingdom, taking her gloved hands into his, holding them as tight as he could trying to comfort her as much as he could on this day. There was nothing to be happy about today for either of them.
"Believe me sister when I say, that I wish I was taking you down the aisle towards Daniel instead of the King" .
"I know Elijah" she sighed out reaching up stroke his cheek "Thank you".
"We must be strong sister if they see us with our guard down the vultures will feast more than they already have".
"It's fine for you" she spat bitterly at him, snatching her hands out of his "You can leave this place" she adds turning back towards the balcony.
"You say that like I had a choice in the matter. I'm as much as a pawn in mother's plan as you are. You think I want to marry Snow? She's a child".
"She won't be forever" she argued. It only be a short few year until she would be old enough to marry. Five years at least he would have to wait. It wasn't set in stone as the King had the final say when he would allow his daughter to wed the young man.
"Not if we work together and do as Rumplestiltskin suggested" her brother urged her. After meeting her, she sent the man that taught their mother magic to her brother. If she was going to do this she would do this with her brother.
"Send her away where she can't hurt either of us anymore" he continues "We'll be free do as we pleased with whoever we wished. You could even find love again if that's something you want in the future".
"You make it seem so easy".
"It is" he tells her retaking her gloved hands "As long as she remains in the Enchanted Forest, we will always be under her control".
"I propose we make a vow of our own today as brother and sister. To stand by each other's side through everything this world has to throw at us, never to turn our backs on the other To stick together as one. Always and Forever".
Taking his hand in her's the elder sister looked at her baby brother with unshed tears as she listened to his words.
"What's this?" the suddenly heard her voice come from behind them as they both turned to see their mother there looking at the gift.
"I don't know" Regina quickly tells her letting go of her brother's hands to turn and join their mother "A gift?" she guesses as Elijah closely follows her.
"Maybe it's a portrait" Cora guessed gazing back to her son with a also sweet looking smile on her face.
"Maybe" her daughter echoed as Cora uses her magic to roving the cloth covering to reveal the portal, which is disguised as a looking glass.
"Oh, a looking glass" the older woman observes outload seeing her reflection in the mirror with her children behind her "Not nearly as personal. I wonder, sometimes, if the people really love you" she voices her concerns for her. Elijah had time to gain the people's love as well as Snow's.
"I'm doing my best, Mother" Regina tells her in offence.
"Oh, honey I'm sorry" Cora quickly apologises to her eldest turning around to approach her children "Come here, both of you".
Taking a hand of each of her children's' the matriarch gently brings them to the mirror. As she wraps a comforting arm around her daughter's waist the mother slips her her arms around his, hooking her elbow in his to stand between her children to gaze into the looking glass dressed in their finery like a normal, loving family. About to celebrate an important life moment.
For a second Elijah's own mind tricked him into thinking that, before it corrected himself to remember of how easily their mother could turn on both on them if they didn't follow her orders.
"Look at both of you, with your whole life ahead of you" she beamed in pride at the pair as they continued to stare at their reflection "And it's going to be better than you can imagine" she tells her children squeezing their waist and arm with a warmth that had gone unseen until that moment when they stood at the beginning of their stories.
Moving to block her children's reflection in the mirror the mother takes a hand each in her's, she looked upon her children about to make their mark on this world with a sense of pride knowing that everything that she had done to get here was all worth it.
"The King's not a strong man. The kingdom will be yours." Cora tells her children, before looking towards her daughter "Raise the tributes, form a personal guard, let everyone know where the new power lies, and you'll both hold the hearts of your people in your hands" she instructs her daughter "And then you'll be able to hand that power straight to Elijah, once he takes everything from his wife-to-be, securing our family line for generations to come".
Taking a moment Regina turns her back on her mother taking a few step away from her as Elijah takes his hand away from his mother to follow her taking a step towards his sister as he waited for her to make the decision of the pair of them.
"Is that what you would do, Mother?" Regina asks their mother.
"That's exactly what I would do" she answers them.
"Well, the thing is, I don't want to be you" she tells her, turning to safe the older woman "We don't want to be you".
The pair lunge towards the older sorceress to push her into the looking glass only for their mother to react quicker than her children, using her magic to restrain them, trapping their arms again their bodies as they struggle to free themselves from her hold.
"What are you two doing?" Cora questions her children "You think it's that easy to get rid of me? You're both stuck with me forever, darlings. Because I'm your mother, and I know best".
Looking over their mother's shoulder as she spoke the pair see an apparition of Rumplestiltskin in the glass making pushing gestures towards the older woman, encouraging the pair to go through with their plan.
"No mother" Elijah growled out lowly catching his mother's attention as he felt his rage towards his mother grew as his body literally shook as he pushed against the magic trapping his arms "You don't, you never have".
"Aaah!" he yelled as Regina broke through her restraint as the pair lunged at their mother to push her into the looking glass. The pair's heart jumped into their throats as the older woman managed to catch herself on the frame of the portal onto to be sucked in despite her efforts to escape her fate, making the looking glass shatter, making the sibling quickly turn away to shield themselves from the shattered glass that exploded onto the floor.
The pair stood in shocked silence as they looked at their hands in disbelief at what they had managed to do. A triumphant grin grew on the younger Mill's lips as he felt a weight had been lifted from his shoulders that had been weighting down his shoulders since he was a young boy. Being trained from dawn till dusk on how to act, speak and move like a gentleman in the hopes he would hold the key to their family's future.
Looking up from his hands he saw his elder sister in the same state as he was as he rushed forward to check that she was okay, worried that the glass had hurt her.
"Sister?" he voiced in concern making her whirl around to see him.
"Always and Forever, baby brother" she echoed his earlier statement as small grin appeared on her lips that was mirrored before she engulfing him in a warm embrace that solidified their vow.
Always and Forever.
Sat alone in her dining room with her mother's spell book in her hand's the Queen stared at the object as the recalled the moment she promised her brother that she would stand by his side whatever came for them.
That is what Emma meant when she said that Elijah was terrified of her. She was turning into their mother, she had broken her vow to him long before the events that had led up to the curse being broken. She hadn't protected him from her.
She had heard his cries through the door to the vault telling her that he hated her as she crushed the huntsman's heart. She had only heard him the scared once before, despite all that he remained by her side because of the promise he had made to their father. Family Above All.
Henry. He was her redemption. And he was willing to break his promise when his life was threatened by her. He never broke his word. She needed to believe in Family Above All if she any chance of redeeming herself in the eye's of her son.
The door bursting open behind her made her jump in her seat as she whirled around to see David barging into her home with his sword in is hand.
"I want to see him!" he demands from the woman that has taken his grandson.
Leaving the book on the table the Queen stands from the table to silently approach the Prince as lift his weapon up to her neck in warning feeling the cool steel brush against her hair as she stared at the man in front of her.
"Henry, come down!" She called up the stairs as she kept her eye's firmly on the Prince "You won't be using your sword.
"Whatever you conjure, I can fight" he states to her "Your brother's not here to save you this time".
"You're right, he's not" she calmly agreed with him taking him aback. He wasn't here to protect her like he had always done despite everything she has done to and for him in the past. And she didn't need him to, she couldn't stop him from going anywhere near that portal "I mean, you won't need your sword" she adds pushing the sword away with the back of her hand as Henry come's down the stairs to find his grandfather there as she climbed the stairs to meet her son halfway.
"Henry, you're going to go home with David" she tells him.
"Really?" he questions her.
"Really" she echoes "I shouldn't have brought you here. I was… I don't know how to love very well. I wasn't capable of it for a very long time, but I know I remember… If you hold onto someone too hard, that doesn't make them love you. I'm sorry I lied to you. And that I made you feel like I didn't know who you are. But I want you to be here, because you want to be here. Not because I forced you, and not because of magic. I want to redeem myself. Go get your things".
Running back to his room to pack his things the young boy left his mother and grandfather alone.
"Then prove it" David states to the Queen, making her turn to face him.
"How?" she asks him.
"Answer one question. Does it exist?".
"What?".
"The Enchanted Forest. Our land" he clarifies "Does it still exist?" he pushed for the answer he desperately needed to know.
Climbing the few steps back to the bottom the Queen stood in front of him as she answered his question.
"Yes. But I have no idea how to get back there" she admits to him seeing the spark of hope return to the Prince's eye.
Even with the return of her magic, she had no way of getting to her brother. But he was alive, that's all that all that mattered and unless his portrait changed in anyway, she knew he was safe.
If Elijah was alive then here was a good chance Emma and Snow would be alive as well and if she knew her brother like she knew she did, he'd take it upon himself to protect them.
"I can see I just launched you on a heroic quest" she observes outload "Just also make sure you take care of my son?" she requests.
"That, I can do" David promised her as Henry returned with his backpack over his shoulder as she see's them out of the house.
As Storybrooke went back to relative normalcy as businesses and the school were re-opened, Regina found herself crouching in front of her fireplace with Cora's spell book in her hand as she was tempted to throw the book into the roaring fire as the first step to redeem herself not only to her son, put to the only other person that had remined by her side throughout the years only the change her mind.
Instead the former Queen opted to lock it away in a cabinet away from her or anyone else that might want it. It was the first step away from the Evil Queen. A first step she wished her brother was there to witness.
Bringing the key to her lips the woman paused as she reminded herself of why she was doing this.
"Family Above All. Always and Forever" she whispered to herself before walking away from the cabinet and the book.
His portrait had been hung above his fireplace by the time he had returned to his room the next day after the wedding. He was now the King's Brother-in-law and in the next decade he would be his son through marriage to his only daughter.
As he stood in front of the portrait the young man nursed the glass of red wine in his hand as he looked for what made this portrait better than the other one's Basil had made of him. Was it the suit? The setting? The lighting?.
He couldn't put his finger on it, but that didn't matter he needed to gather what little remained of his possessions to leave and head back home. It wasn't much but it was enough to have a carriage organised by the King to take the trunk the young man had brought with him.
However he wasn't travelling with it was he was taking Marcellus to join up with Lord Wotton and join him for the evening before he would make his way home and take up his parent's responsibilities while his sister remained at the palace.
"Leaving are we?" his voice didn't surprise him this time as he looked to find Rumpelstiltskin casually lounging on the the coach in front of the fireplace with his ankle's crossed over the other. He'd been expecting a visit from the man.
"That was always the plan" he tells the sorcerer as placing the glass of red wine on his desk before he made his way towards his pack laid out on his bed as he found the single teardrop pearl earring Snow had given him.
"I'm heading to meet a friend before I head home" he tells the sorcerer packing the earring away, safe and sound in the pouch of his satchel. He did like it, it suited him.
"Before you go" the sorcerer trails up flamboyantly standing up from the piece of furniture to make his way over to the young lord "Answer me this. How did it feel?".
Elijah stilled as he thought over what he was being asked. How did he feel exactly.
"I love my mother". And he did, despite all that she did, there had been good times between them when he was younger. They had bonded when she had taken her time him going over the running of their estate, what needed to be done. Praised him when he did well in his studies and comforted him as best she could when he hurt himself as he played with his sister.
The bittersweetness was tasted later that evening as he danced with Snow. But it was necessary if he were to survive the next decade or so a a fringe member of the royal family until the time came when he was needed to show his face more around the palace.
"That's not what I asked, dearie" the man sneered at him "How did it feel to have that power over her?".
"It doesn't matter" he brushed the question off "She's not here anymore".
"And why that Master Mills?" the man pushed him to answer stepping close enough that he had paused his packing.
"Because I loved it" he admitted to the sorcerer, feeling the bittersweet taste on his tongue for the second time as the man giggled at his admission. He taking his first steps into his future without realising it. One that would bring him straight back to the Dark One.
"You've discovered who you are" he points out to the young man "You could do so much now, only if you'd let me show you how" he sang at him
"And what do you get out of it?".
"Someday, you and your sister will do something for me".
"Well, until that day, stay the hell away from me". Snatching up his satchel Elijah stormed past the Dark One heading straight for the door
"You're more like her than you think dearie" the sentence made the man pause mid-step "And you'll come running back to me when you do!".
At that the young man continued his journey to the door as Rumplestiltskin yelled out the next sentence with the flurry of giggle's that followed;
"Give my regards to Lord Wotton!".
Enchanted Forest
Present
This wasn't the home he had left behind for twenty-eight years in the Land of No Magic, not by a longshot.
Instead of the sprawling green grass that seemed to go on for miles into the horizon he had grown up around, looked like a plague had swept over the entire realm leaving behind only dead grass and mud as he, Emma and Mary-Margaret were dragged towards to unknown place by their captor's, a female warrior names Mulan and sweet Princess Aurora of all people for the vampire to wake up to seeing awake from her curse.
While all three of them had been tied by their hands she and Princess comfortably rode towards their destination.
The warrior have taken an extra precaution with Elijah as a chain the woman had found tightly wrapped around his hands that broke his skin each time it tugged as they moved attaching him to the saddle of her horse as she literally held the rope to drag Emma and Mary-Margaret along behind her. She knew what he was. He should just be thankful that he wasn't attached to the same rope as the mother/ daughter duo, only downfall, he was put on a longer leach than the two woman.
He would heal from the cut and bruises the chain made quickly from the human blood he had before he came to this place. He knew it wouldn't last long, he would need to feed soon.
Each time Emma caught a glimpse of the principle's reddened skin underneath his chains, the saviour voiced her objections at the way he was being treated from her and her mother. Her protests were met by dignified silence from the warrior as the Princess glanced towards the vampire over her shoulder in worry. She knew what he was as well. The one time she and Elijah made eye contact the vampire would only give her a smirk and wink of his eye in reply that made the Princess quickly look away as he heard the blood rush to her cheeks in embarrassment.
Coming to a brief the Evil Queen's little brother too the moment to look over the long stretch of coast their captors were taking them on. It connected a small island to the rest of the Enchanted Forest. He wasn't sure how the pair had manged to remain behind in the curse, his sister claimed it would take everyone. Perhaps the island was the answer to his question.
"What is this place?" Mary- Margaret asked their captors as they took a brief pause in their journey.
"Our home" Mulan tells them before kicking her horse to continue their journey as the dragged behind as his chains rattled It was safe to say his shoes were now ruined by the mud and water they had trodden through. Not that it was his biggest problem at the moment in time.
Arriving at the island, the three were escorted by Princess Aroura with their hand still bound minus the rope and chain that Elijah was attached to, they stepped into a populated village- like encampment of sorts of all those that had survived the Dark Curse.
While Elijah and Mary-Margaret calmly waled into the encampment, Emma frantically looked around her new environment as their presence went noticed by those around them as a few had dropped what they were doing and ran from the monster Mulan and Aroura had brought back with them.
"It's like they're refuges" Emma voiced to Mary-Margaret and Elijah as the vampire subtly moved out of the way to give his ex-fiancé the room to make her move she had been planning since they arrived. If he did it, he'd kill the poor girl.
"We're survivors" Mulan corrected the blonde as she tied up their horses.
As on que, Mary- Margaret suddenly turns on the Princess kneeing her int he gut as Elijah uses his supernatural strength the pull on the chain around his wrists making them fall onto the ground.
"Emma, Elijah run!" she cries out to the pair.
Taking take's Emma's hand in his as best as he could running at human pace away from the their captors as Mary Margaret quickly catches up to them as Mulan quickly reacts to their escaping prisoners as she grabbed a roped sling.
Swinging the weapon in the air the warrior aimed for the vampire as she let it loose only for it to hit the dark-haired woman instead as it strikes the back of her head knocking her down and unconscious making the pair fleeing stop and turn to see the woman on the ground.
Snatching her hands out of Elijah's, the blonde saviour turns, falling onto her knee's to help her mother as the vampire met the warrior's eye.
"Mary Margaret! Mary Margaret!" she called out to the unconscious woman trying to wake her back up as Mulan, Aurora and other's ran to them in order to apprehend them again.
"You should've have done that" Elijah lowly states to the warrior and Princess as his eye's darken and veins protrude under his eye's as his fangs extended out on their accord as his rage takes over his mind before he speeds over to the warrior in a blur ready to feast on her blood only stop short when he felt the warriors' steel sword sink into his heart and out of his back.
"ELIJAH!" he heard Emma's voice scream out as she looked up to see a sword protruding from out of his back.
Mulan watched the vampire's demonic face soften back fearful human as his pink healthy skin turned ash grey as dark veins crawled out across his face and hands as he felt himself being dragged back into the darkness as his eye's closed shut, before the sword is harshly tugged back out of his body allowing his body to fall onto the ground alongside his friends as Emma watched on in horror.
"What did you do?!" she yelled at the warrior as Elijah laid out dead before her.
"Take them to the pit" he orders a guard, looking at the desiccated vampire on the ground "Including the vampire" she spat out making the blonde snap her head up at the their captors.
Wait, what did she just say? Did she hear her right?.
"Hey!" she what do you mean by that?" she demands to know as she was picked up from the ground by the refugees along with Mary-Margaret and Elijah "What did you mean by that!".
She continued her questions as she was taken underground and thrown into a makeshift dungeon, managing to stay on her feet as she was pushed into their 'cell', ash turned and watched as Mary Margaret was dragged into the room by under her arms and literally dumped on to the floor before Elijah quickly joined them as he was dragged in by his feet as the same was done to him.
"Be careful!" she yells at the man before they hurriedly left the dungeon, leaving her kneel down between her mother and Elijah.
Looking to the man first she was taken aback by his ah colour that covered his skin head to toe and dark veins stretched out on his face.
"Elijah, oh my god, no, no, no" she shuddered out as she took hold of his head and face into her hands tried to see any sign of life only to feel how cold he was to touch. "You can't be dead, you just can't okay" she trembled, as the word Mulan had used came back to her mind.
"Vampire" she whispered out to herself as she stilled looking down at the man on the ground. It made sense now, the attack on the porter in the hospital, his strength, his speed, that weird way he had been acting as held Whale against the house. He didn't have magic to do all those things. He was a vampire.
Dropping his head from her hold his head fell to the side lifelessly as she stared down at the man she nearly kissed in his office, the man that promised to keep Henry safe, the man that went out of his way to make sure that she spent time with her son.
Pushing herself away from the man she turned her attention to her unconscious mother trying her best to shake her awake, needing her help to what to do with him, she seemed to know. They all knew what he was.
"Come on… Wake up. Can you hear me?" she calls out to her only to get no response from her.
"Do you need help?" A voice suddenly akas her from the shadows of the dungeon making her look up to see a figure of a person in the dark.
"Who are you?" Emma asks the stranger.
"A friend" the figure states as they step out from the shadows to stand under the sunlight that streamed down from the surface, to see an older brunette woman in a dark cloak
"My name's Cora".
AN:
Easily my favourite line in this episode :"I don't care if they turn me green. I'm getting my son back".
Oh, Regina only if you knew the irony...LOL.
Regina centric chapter and Emma knows! (dramatic gasp).
I really enjoyed writing this chapter and explore Regina and Elijah's relationship. I hope you've enjoyed it just as much.
Thanks for reading!
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