So this is just a fun stupid time travel story that I'm doing. I know a bunch of people have these kinds of fix it or kids going to the past story too, but I just wanted to write one. And for anyone following my hunger games story, the 100th games I'm still working on that.

This is unbeta'd so any mistakes are all on me.

The Ripple Effect

It had started as a forgotten memory, nothing unusual, nothing that screamed warning. Just a little haze where a memory used to be. But people forget things all the time. It wasn't until there were large gaps that they began to realize something was wrong. And when it started affecting everyone, then they realized it wasn't an isolated incident.

It had gotten worse with Neal Nolan arriving at her castle's doorstep confused as to where he was, as if he hadn't been to the castle before. But he had, countless times. And then it had continued onto Snow, asking after someone named Elsa. But Regina didn't remember the ice Queen Snow was referring to.

And then Peter Whale arrived, asking why his father had been turned to ice. When Regina asked how it had happened Peter couldn't remember. His response had been, "he's always been ice." But Peter hadn't disappeared. Some magic was keeping him alive and altering the past.

When Robin and Regina had lost the memories of their wedding, to be replaced with a feeling of deep loss and longing that was when they knew they needed help. Something had changed. Or someone was changing it and it wasn't happening in the present. And when they went to see Rumplestiltskin, tucked away in his castle with Belle, he confirmed what they had already suspected.

"It would seem Miss Swan has had an adventure through time and she changed something," he said, "or brought something back with her that's changing it."

"I remember her going through the portal, but her and Hook came back alone. Right?" Robin asked, looking to his wife, still calling her his wife for as long as he could remember. It was all becoming a haze. Neither one sure what was real and what had changed, what was now becoming what had always been. He was clinging desperately to the remaining memories. To memories of Roland calling her mom, to their daughter's birth, a daughter that could soon disappear.

There were memories of cold. Of ice and deep snow over the town of Storybrooke that hadn't existed before and memories of their life were fading. A quiet wedding in town hall. A child's laugh. A final goodbye to the town they called home.

Regina nodded, "Unless now they didn't."

"That's not possible, is it?" He asked, feeling like the only one in the room who didn't understand.

"Time travel isn't an exact science. Whatever happens, there's a ripple effect." Belle dropped a book on the table, opening it up to theories on time travel, "Enough ripples, or one big change, and everything spirals. It doesn't explain why we're remembering it. Or why it's slowly happening."

"So there was a change. How do we change it back?" Regina asked.

"We don't," Rumplestiltskin told her quietly. He had become more subdued since they returned to the enchanted forest for a third and final time. Maybe it was Belle, maybe it was the loss of his son or his long life catching up to him, but he was more Mr. Gold less manic imp. It was safer for them to be here, no threats waiting, aside from the occasional angry villager, no organizations Hell bent on destroying magic. Oh yes, they had returned with a vengeance, and it wasn't Pan's crew trying to get Henry to Neverland. No, these were very real agents with very real hatred towards magic. And when they came for Storybrooke, the only solution was to erase it once again.

It had been alright. Regina and Robin had returned to her castle, Snow and David had theirs. Aurora and Philip their own. Cinderella and her Prince as well. The Kingdoms had been divided peacefully and the land flourished. Emma and Hook had sailed off with Henry, though he would return to the castle when he so chose. It was a good arrangement. Everyone was happy.

Until now, when it was all threatened and unraveling. When that life didn't exist or was beginning to un-exist, whatever it was called. Regina was taken aback, do nothing, she couldn't do nothing. She was the former Evil Queen she had magic to spare, she couldn't do nothing.

"What do you mean we don't, Imp?" Regina's voice rose in its power, the Evil Queen shining through. Robin would never admit it to others, but to her, in the privacy of their bedroom he loved that voice.

"We can't. Not when we're unsure of what's real and what isn't. We could risk making it worse," he giggled, the old him shining through, a plan coming together in his mind, "but perhaps there's someone who shares your desperation and who would easily spot the difference. Someone who wouldn't be recognized."

"No." Regina paced. She knew it was the best plan. The only plan. But it was too risky, what if she was hurt? All alone in the town with no one to help her, no one who knew her. And how would she get back? How would she fix it?

"What? What is he talking about?" Robin watched Regina, the concern etched on his face, shining through the lines around his eyes. She had his eyes. Regina might never see her eyes again if they didn't do this. Or her dark hair, or hear her laugh or her arguing with Roland.

"Katrina."

Robin was silent at the answer and Regina could see the gears turning in his mind. Weighing the risks just as she had.

"She can't go alone," Robin responded after minutes of silence.

"She can't go at all," Regina argued.

"She has to, there's no one else."

"There are a few others I can think of. Neal. I'm sure he'd love to prove himself on an adventure. Family trait and all."

"That we trust to do this? Who we know can do this?"

Regina sighed, he wasn't wrong. Even with her burying the hatchet with the Charmings, she didn't want to place her future in the hands of Neal Nolan. The prince was bright eyed and hopeful like Snow and just as insufferable. Katrina was capable. She would listen, she had always listened.

It was something of a shock to Regina to finally have a child that listened to her. Henry and Roland, they were adamant at doing things their way. In the year before returning to Storybrooke when Zelena had been the problem, Roland had been told time and time again to stop wandering the castle and to stop sneaking around Regina. But he hadn't listened and so he had endeared himself to her and as he grew older that rebelliousness continued and had gotten him into some scrapes along the way. He always managed to get out of it, something Robin said ran in the family, that or someone was helping him get out of it.

"Roland should go with her," Regina stated.

"Is that wise? He'll be in Storybrooke already," Robin argued.

"He'll be about five. He won't even notice."

"Almost six and I assure you he will."

"Do you want to send Neal with her? Or Peter Whale?"

Robin conceded.

"Good then it's settled. I'll work up the ingredients, shouldn't be too hard to modify." Rumple giggled, already flipping through the book.

"You should get them ready, warn them," Belle said, her voice dripping with sympathy.

"No, I was just going to throw them through the portal," Regina sneered, heading towards the door. Robin smiled at Belle with a grateful look, following his wife. It was then that he was hit with a new memory, of an old face returning, of the happiness and dread in his heart. Regina saw it too, the reunion in the diner and her heart broke all over again. Marian. She had returned. That was the change. That was the break in time. A woman supposed to die who didn't.

What was the solution for that? And could Regina ask her daughter to kill her son's mother? Or her son to watch it happen?

Not mine - to be continued