I wound up putting a lot more of the Storybrooke side in this, which is 100% unnecessary but wHATEVER. More insight re: Regina's POV, let's have some fun. =)

There is some dialogue taken directly from Quite a Common Fairy and Going Home! And a brief bit of Regina/Milah for those who are sensitive to it. And I'll be back in a couple of weeks with Part III ready to begin! :)

And now she's standing in a cave with the fail-safe trigger floating in front of her and peace thrumming through her even as magic courses past it, straining every last bit of her as she pours it into the trigger. Let me die as Regina. She hadn't said as much to David when he'd seen her off, hadn't parted with anything other than a determination to stop a mess she'd begun, but he'd still looked at her as though he hadn't known what to make of any of this.

She isn't certain herself. She's stretched too thin these days, caught between anger and a desire to protect, to keep Henry safe and even Snow and David but also the town Henry values, the people Emma had once been so devoted to feeding and supporting. Henry and Emma are good, good in all the ways that she can't disdain as hypocrisy, and she wants to…she wants to make them proud. Even if Emma's gone. Even if Henry still looks at her sometimes with such mingled disappointment and love, like she'll never be able to be enough for him.

She'd once believed that her death would be a final spitting in Snow White's face, a death of pride and vengeance and whatever bare satisfaction she could glean from that end. She's never once thought that she would die a noble end, get a chance to mean something and to save the people whose suffering she'd once sought in the process.

They're her town, her people, even if they loathe her. This is her land and she's tired of always wanting to destroy, demolish, end. She'd thought Emma a fool for feeding villagers who would only wither up and die eventually, wouldn't they? There had been no satisfaction in salvation as there is in destruction, just ongoing struggle, day in and day out. Her own experiences with salvation had been nothing more than the first steps to loss and suffering. Weak, Mother had said with disdain. Liar, Zelena had cried out. Mother, Snow had beamed.

But Emma had kept fighting. Henry keeps fighting. Even Snow, turmoiled as Regina's feelings about her are, keeps fighting. And now she feels it- strength in fighting for good when she'd only ever clawed for survival and love. Peace in the certainty she'd never had before.

She'll die as Regina. Maybe someday, others will know that.

She's startled when there's the sound of voices nearby, Snow's shrill as she says, "The fairy dust is all just…gone. And no one can find Blue anywhere. What are we supposed to do?"

Another voice, one that makes her teeth grind. "I told you, throw the trigger into the portal," Milah says impatiently. "Take your chances with our land. There's nobody left there."

"My Ma might be there!" Henry protests, and Regina does look up now to see them rounding the corner and Henry run to her, hugging her to him as soon as he spots her.

"David," Regina says, betrayed, her gaze piercing through him, and Snow steps between them.

"We're not going to let you die. Not now." Snow looks determined and chagrined at once, wringing her hands as David holds onto her shoulders, torn. "There must be another way."

"Why is she–" Regina nods to Milah. "Now we're working with her?"

"We seem to yo-yo between villains every day," David says wryly. "But Milah is helping us now."

"I'm helping him," Milah says fiercely, eyes on Henry. "Bae's son is all I have left of him. And if you want to save him, then you'll toss that trigger into a portal before it destroys this town." She holds a bean between her fingers, one of the ones from Regina's office, and Regina finds it difficult to hate her right now.

"Henry's right," she murmurs, defeated. "Emma might be in the Enchanted Forest. We can't risk it." Emma comes before the town, before Regina, before anyone but Henry.

"And if I told you she was dead?" Milah's eyes are defiant and Regina can't tell if she's telling the truth or lying.

"Take the bean," she says, hands shaking with the force of the magic being funneled out of her. "Take Henry with you. Take Snow and David and anyone who wants to escape. I'll hold off the trigger for as long as I can."

"Mom, no." Henry clings to her and Milah looks highly displeased at all of this. "I won't leave you!"

"I love you," she says, tucking her head against his. "I swear, if I could stop this…" She can feel the power still rushing from her, opening reserves she'd never known she'd had, and she feels Henry kissing her cheek, over and over again as though true love might save them.

But there's no curse now, only Regina.

She closes her eyes as the trigger's power intensifies and takes all she has into it, every last bit of her life-force that remains, and with her dying thought she dwells only on a single image, Emma lying beside her on the castle grounds with tiny Henry between them, the three of them staring up at the stars.

Emma dusts off her hands and says, sinking to the ground at the bottom of their hill, "That must be the last ogre in this land."

"Maybe up here," Al says, crouching down beside her. "Who knows what's going on down south?"

"I've heard that people are spreading out again," Lancelot tells them, sheathing his sword. "Supposedly, our witch- our first witch," he amends. Too many witches, as far as Emma's concerned. "Was even impersonating me for a brief while. She massacred dozens before she left this land."

"Many are clearing out of the area close to the Evil Queen's old castle," Will adds. He'd gone down on the last scouting mission, and they're due to make another trip down now to report the safe space to some of the villagers remaining. It's been months since Zelena had burst out of the Dark Castle and set up camp in Regina's old castle, and they've been occupied with the ogres. "But the land is clear of ogres. Our second witch has begun sending her flying monkeys after them."

"Great." Emma scowls at the reminder of her two lost men. "So it's a witch or ogres to choose from. This land has been left to ruin." Regina had sown destruction and then left to her victorious end, whatever it had been, and they're still picking up the pieces.

Hating Regina had once been hard, before Henry had gone missing and this curse had ravaged the land. Now Regina's absence means that Emma's been seething for over a year, focusing on her people and the ogres and the land in an attempt to keep herself under control instead of remembering how much she loves Regina. Loved. Loved. Loved.

"We'll pack up tonight and prepare to go south," she decides. "We can't waste any more time. Enough people have died without us." They'd be dead, too, had they joined with the refugees killed by Cora, but Emma can't help the twinges of guilt that she'd protected her men and left others behind in her panic. "Make sure that Zelena fails where Cora succeeded."

The others fall into step behind her, Lancelot and Al and Aziz while Will lingers to wait for Much and John's return, trudging up the hill to the Dark Castle. "More fighting." Aziz is the only one who sounds excited about it. "Abi, can we stay?"

"Not much longer," Al says. "We have a kingdom of our own to maintain." They've been traveling back and forth over the months, Al reluctant to leave them alone and Jasmine sending messages to Emma promising them whatever soldiers they need to take down Zelena.

She might take her up on that.

Aziz is whining, "Yeah, but ogres! Witches! Our palace sorcerer won't even let me fight him," when Emma sees movement in the windows of the castle. She throws up a hand and he falls silent.

Slowly, in sync, they creep to the one open window, Emma crouching on the sill outside it as she eases out her bow. There's a female knight standing at the center of the hall, listening as a man with his back turned to them is talking. "He must have something. He always had something."

The voice is vaguely familiar, like a dream from years ago, and she frowns, nocking an arrow as the woman responds. "If he couldn't come after you–"

"I have to tell Henry that I'm alive," the man insists, and Emma is so startled that she lets the arrow fly, narrowly missing the woman.

They both spin around, the woman raising his sword, and Al pops up beside Emma and says what's running through her head. "Neal?"

"Al! Emma?" It is Neal. He's a good decade older now, has passed her by more than a few years. "My god, you're a child."

"Neal!" She jumps down, dropping her bow on the sill as she clambers down, his arms encircling her as she ducks into his embrace. He holds her tightly, her head tucked under his chin, and she closes her eyes and enjoys the familiarity of him with her before she pulls out of his grasp and demands, "You've seen Henry?"

"He's safe," he's quick to assure her. "Last I saw him, he was heading off to school for the day while the rest of us put together a plan to find Regina."

"Regina. What has she done?" Emma demands, dread building at just the name. Henry's been living with her for years, as far as she knows. Regina who never changes. Henry who she loves, who she must love, but she never changes.

But Neal is shaking his head. "It seemed like she was being tortured," he says, clearly troubled, and then he seizes her by the shoulders. "We thought you might be dead. We haven't gotten any reliable news on you. I thought you were gone."

He's holding her again, wrapping her in a far less comforting hug now, and all she can think to say, is, stupidly, "Regina's being tortured?"

Al is racing across the floor now, pulling Neal from Emma to give him an exuberant hug of his own, and the two of them launch into conversation while Emma stands back, arms around her as she struggles to remind herself, again and again. Loved. Loved. Loved.

"Emma," the female warrior repeats, and Emma starts and turns to face her. The woman shrugs in greeting. "Mulan," she introduces herself. "And you're Swan Hood."

"You're the most valiant warrior on this side of the Enchanted Forest," Emma counters, recognizing the name.

"You're missing," Mulan says, flushing a bit at the compliment. "That is…that's what we all thought when Snow was asking after you. No one had seen you in our kingdom."

"Snow's here?" The hope that surges forth is impossible. Whatever their earlier disagreements, Snow may know about Henry. Snow might be able to help them all.

"No longer," Mulan says apologetically, and Emma's face falls. "She was here for a brief time, fought Cora, and returned to the other world with Cora at her heels."

"Cora went back there. To where Regina is," Emma says slowly. That prickle of fear is completely uncalled for, too. "No news of her, right?"

"Dead," Neal informs her. "Regina…Snow…someone killed her. I'm not really sure of the story there. I'd just gotten to town."

"Regina killed Cora?" She's beginning to develop a headache. She zeroes in on the most important detail of all of this. "Henry. How can we get to Henry?"

Regina wakes up. Which is a surprise in itself, actually. Maybe she is dead and this is some death dream. Though she doesn't know why she'd be lying in a dank cave, hands and legs bound together, if she's already dead. "Henry?" she whispers into the dark.

A voice says, "No." When she leans into view, Regina is suddenly certain that this is all impossible. "About time you woke up," Tinkerbell says, her face hostile as she leans forward. "I've been looking forward to this chat for quite some time."

"Is this…is this the part where everyone with a grievance comes forward to harass me for the rest of the afterlife?" she groans, shifting. "When is Emma coming in?"

Tink smirks with no humor. "You're in Neverland. Your family brought you here while you were unconscious. They were searching for your son."

"My son. Where's my son?" She tries to stand and makes it to a half-sitting position. "What happened to him?"

Tink shrugs. "I'm not here to help you. Not after you burned me."

"Burned you?" She remembers well their meeting, remembers Tink interfering, so convinced of how perfect her end would be. "You're the one who interfered with my life."

Tink doesn't have magic anymore, and she releases her own bonds, stands- where is Henry, where am I, my family brought me here? Are we in exile?- and Tink promptly threatens her with a poisoned arrow.

"Okay," she says, with a rush of recklessness. "You want to kill me? I can make it easier." She reaches into her chest and grips her heart, prodding Tink in all the right ways. It's frighteningly easy to do this, to put her life on the line to save herself. She's grown accustomed to being her own sacrifice. And if this– if there's a chance that Tink won't, that she can bring her to Henry– "Crush it," she says, and hands it to the former fairy.

Tink squeezes her heart and Regina feels it, dull and not nearly as painful as surrendering to the trigger. Death will hurt less than life, and she breathes easier knowing it. "Do you know what you cost me?" she demands, turning around.

"Your wings," Regina says, understanding at last. And there's the remorse, sharper than it's been in so long. She'd known, back when Tink had invited her to find her soulmate. She'd known how it would end. And she'd gone along with it…out of shame? Out of some daring hope that anything could change?

And now Tink is demanding the truth. "I know you went inside! I know you didn't run and I know the spell worked so why couldn't you just accept it? Why couldn't you just go through that door and try to know your soulmate?"

"I knew her." Regina says, and she can feel the frustrated energy still there, the grim resignation that she's taken her last option and lost it. Tink stares at her in disbelief. "Her name was Emma and I was nearly in love with her then and I'd already… All you did was confirm to me what I'd been afraid of. There was no happy fate for me. There was no chance for new love because…" She squeezes her eyes shut. "I'd already destroyed that."

She'd loved Emma and she'd been terrified to lose her and all she'd been thinking about was Mother reaching into her chest and taking her heart out. All she'd wanted was to possess Emma, to keep her safe as she couldn't Daniel, to bring her closer and closer until Regina would be certain that she'd never lose her. So she'd taken Emma's heart from her chest and Emma had begged her, had cried and gasped I hate you and Regina had lost her forever in that moment. No matter what had come later, Emma had always been lost to her from then.

"I chose darkness and anger and hate because it was all I had, don't you understand? There were no more second chances." Tink is still watching her, face still and unfriendly, and she plows on, turns the heart so Tink can see it gleaming black and red. Small, hard, dark heart. "If you make the same choice I did, then what you're looking at is your own future." Tink rips her hand away from her and stalks away, but Regina can see the uncertainty in her eyes. "I'm not going to tell you what to do. The choice is yours. Kill me or act like the fairy you are."

"You said I was a terrible fairy."

"Well, then prove me wrong. Pick hope over anger." She's the last person in the universe to advocate for that, and yet, surrounded with people who believe as firmly as Snow and Henry do, she thinks it's the only choice she's had. "Choose love and help me find my son."

Tink holds her heart, looking a bit breathless by all of this, staggered in place and still undecided. "You love your son?"

"Very much." It doesn't take effort to smile at that, at the chance she'd never thought she'd get. "With Henry I finally got something right."

Tink has just returned her heart and they're trudging through the woods when there's a burst of motion and Snow and David are emerging in front of them, bow and sword raised. "Regina!"

She has Snow's arms thrown around her an instant later and she wavers in place, dismayed to discover that her own hands have moved to rest on Snow's back. "We've been so worried! We brought you here and we thought…you still had a pulse even though you hadn't moved in days!"

From behind Snow she can see Milah lurking, and she gets a long-suffering roll of her eyes at that. Days, she can nearly hear the sigh. There's something like apology in Milah's eyes, too, and Regina almost relaxes at that.

Except… "Henry. Where is he?" she demands, and the look in Snow's eyes terrifies her.

He's a boy sitting on an overturned tree, drawing letters in the dirt with a branch. They're long and jagged, H, E, N, R,Y and then M, I, L, L, S. "Mills?"

"Their surname," Neal supplies, and Emma keeps her hands tight on the crystal ball they'd found and watches him, the lump in her throat growing and growing until she can't breathe.

Henry Mills. She's been searching for him for what seems like forever, over a year now of longing desperately for him. She hasn't seen him in more than eight years. And here he is, twelve years old and completely lost to her, and she wants to sob, to sink to the ground now and give up, hate Regina for all she's missed and can never recover, and…

The scene blurs and changes and she sees instead a woman walking through the woods. Milah, murmuring to David. (David?) And behind them both, the orb zooms in so she can't possibly look away. Snow, a hand resting on Regina's elbow. She sucks in a breath.

Regina looks like a stranger. Yes, her hair is shorter and she's wearing breeches of some sort with a short waistcoat, but it isn't that. Her steps are lighter, her eyes don't flash with the same dangerous hatelovehate that had been like dancing with a flame even in their quiet moments, and she's half smiling at something Snow is saying to her. Snow. The lump in Emma's throat grows some more.

"Neverland. Why are they in Neverland?" She hears the question from afar, hands still pressed to the crystal ball as the vision switches back to her son. And then back to a Regina she doesn't know. Eight years, she reminds herself, and doesn't know why she wants to cry about this. "Pan was looking for a boy," Neal is saying. In the orb, Milah says something loudly that has Regina smirking and swaggering forward. David's hand drifts across her back as she hurls a fireball at something ahead of them.

"And you believe that to be Henry," Mulan says dubiously. Henry has stopped drawing his name in the dirt and is slumped over now, staring at his hands as though he can will them to make fire.

"It must be. Why else would he be in Neverland?" Neal is moving around her toward the closet they'd found. "Help me look. Lots of things make portals. Beans. Magic mirrors. Ruby slippers. Some kind of ashes."

"I went to Neverland once," Aziz says, and Emma and Neal both turn around. He shrugs. "A few years ago. I looked out my window and I called for Peter Pan to see if he'd come and this shadow took me to Neverland. And then in the morning I was home. Zumurrud was still with us then and she told me it was true, that Pan comes for boys who believe."

Al shakes his head. "I won't let you–"

"I have an idea," Neal says quickly, and they spring into motion. Al is reluctant but Aziz is eager, already trailing Mulan around like a pup and desperate to impress her. "Aziz, you need a better reason than that," Mulan says patiently.

"I can be a hero!"

"You can," Mulan concedes, grinning at him in acquiescence. "But I don't think your father wants you to throw yourself in front of Peter Pan's shadow as bait."

Al shrugs uncomfortably. "Look, I don't like it. But Emma and Neal are friends. And Henry…Emma can't lose Henry again. I trust you two. If you say he'll be safe–"

"He'll be safe," Neal says again. "Al, I would never let your son be in any true danger. And listen." He kneels down to look Aziz in the eye. "If you do get taken- and you won't," he says hastily. "But if you do, find Henry. Find Regina. That's Henry's mom. Tell her who you are. She'll look after you."

"You want to trust Regina with another child?" Emma says, her voice rising dangerously.

Neal gives her a pained look. "Aziz, you're going to be fine. But this is your decision. I'm sure we can find…some other way, if you don't want to…"

"I do," Aziz says immediately. "I remember Henry, kind of. Or…I remember what Abi told me about us. We were friends. I can help you."

Emma bites her lip and turns to Al, uncertain about this next part. "I know that I have…responsibilities here. I'm supposed to be leading us down south again. But I have to go."

"No one will question it if you leave. We know what Henry means to you," Al says, squeezing her hand. "Now, we wait until nightfall."

She sits with Mulan as they set up the room to accommodate their mission, Mulan supervising from a couch as Al and Lancelot drag a bed to the front of a window. "Neal…"

He stops what he's doing to come sit beside her. "This will work. I swear to you."

But she isn't looking for reassurance as much as answers, of what had happened in the last moments before the curse and what's been going on since. "Tell me about Regina and Henry," she says.

"They're fine. Well. Henry's fine," Neal is quick to assure her. "I don't know how he wound up in Neverland but he's a good kid and Regina's taken good care of him. Regina's been kind of…complicated, but her mom was in town. And with our parents, it's kind of run away or compromise who you are, not much in between." He winces. "I was shot on a rescue mission for her, actually, because my fiancé and some other asshole took her captive. But I guess Snow and David bailed her out. She looks like she's doing fine now." He laughs. "I thought my family was fucked up."

The prickle of worry slows the hatred, makes it into something more manageable, and Emma takes a deep breath, remembering Snow's hand on Regina's elbow in the crystal ball. "And they're all…fine with Regina. They don't care about what she's done?"

"She broke the curse," Mulan says suddenly. They both stare at her. "That's what I heard from Snow. Snow was very confused about how to feel about her. But she did say that Regina and Henry had broken the curse."

Emma can feel a headache coming on. The hope headache, the one she'd shaken off the moment that she'd woken up one night to find Henry missing. She doesn't care about Regina's redemption anymore, not when it's built upon her lost years. She doesn't care about who Regina has become as long as Henry is safe and well cared for and her family is alive.

Regina is not her family. Not anymore.

Mulan is still peering at her with a sidelong glance. Emma's jaw works almost violently before she reminds herself that Mulan is not her enemy. "What?"

"Nothing." She bites her lip. "Just…I've heard the rumors, too. I think everyone has. Swan Hood and the Evil Queen."

"Ugh." Emma leans back, covering her eyes and refusing to let this continue into that kind of a heart-to-heart. "The rumors are crap. Regina is vile."

"You raised a child with her."

"And then she snatched the child away," Emma snaps. "I wouldn't call it all true love, Mulan."

"I'm sorry." Mulan looks crestfallen, something deeper at work here, and Emma feels instantly guilty.

"It wasn't all bad," she concedes. "I just…it's hard to dwell on the good anymore when I'm here in this land and Henry is with her and she did all of this. If you ever fall in love, make sure she doesn't have a body count." She claps her on the back and notices Mulan's face tense even more. "Or…if you're already in love?"

At the window, Lancelot looks disappointed at that speculation. Emma shoots him a sly glance.

"She doesn't," Mulan mutters. "But we aren't something she'd ever consider."

"You'll never know unless you try, huh?" Emma says, her tone light. "Make sure she doesn't take out your heart when you do make a go of it. There's a good sign that you're going to have a fucked up relationship." She gets four alarmed stares from that and one fascinated, which is when she considers that Aziz really may be too young for this.

"I am not!" he protests when she points it out. "I can do this. I just stand at the window and say–"

"Not yet!" They move into position, Emma and Neal crouched on either side of the bed, Mulan hiding to the side with her magic-cutting sword, and Al and Lancelot pacing on the other side of the room.

Aziz stands in front of the bed and says, rolling his eyes, "I believe."

They wait a long minute. Neal is moving to stand just as the windows blow open and the room darkens. A black mass- like a shadow, but more menacing- appears at the window and Emma stands, preparing herself, as it reaches for Aziz's hand. Aziz stumbles back and Mulan darts forward, slicing at the shadow's arm. There's a cry like an angered screech, the shadow fleeing the room, and Emma and Neal each seize a leg of it, wispy and barely tangible.

"Hang on!" Neal calls as the shadow moves higher, twisting and kicking in an attempt to make them release it. "You're a girl, it'll resist more–"

"I've got this!" She's hanging on for dear life, even though the shadow is rising and falling now to cast her off. It doesn't even seem to notice Neal, not when there's Emma still holding on, and she focuses all her energy on what's going to happen next. She's going to see Henry at last, going to find him and bring him home to her, going to see her brother and Snow and–

They slam into a tree and Neal howls in pain and Emma drops, Neal toppling down just below her as the shadow flies away free. "No!" She grabs at branches, slows her fall and seizes Neal with her feet against his chest. "No, no, no," she chants. She can feel herself sliding, feel the lack of anything in her grasp that means that she'd failed, that Henry is out of reach again and she's lost once more. She's scraping against the tree and it seems to go on forever, tangling in branches and falling, falling, down into an abyss.

"She's alive," Milah says suddenly. They're alone together in the woods, Snow and David having disappeared some time earlier for alone time. Milah and David had returned from a mission to find some sextant or…something. Regina doesn't really care about leaving the island, only finding Henry.

Snow had given Milah suspicious looks before they'd gone and she'd laughed. Curb your jealousy. I've been married to Rumplestiltskin. I've discovered men aren't worth the bother. She'd given Regina a sly look at that and Snow had relaxed only a hair, looking equally unhappy with Milah's interest in Regina as she had with David.

And then Regina had had to knock Snow unconscious to take a Lost Boy's heart and use it to send him to Henry, to see Henry in her mirror and reassure him that she's alive and coming for him. Snow had still been brooding when David had returned, and now here they are, the outcasts of the camp alone while the lovebirds go off on their own. "Who?" she says, desperate for the confirmation and no more games.

"Your lady love. Emma. We met briefly in the Enchanted Forest." Milah reconsiders. "Well. I nearly killed her. That knight of hers spared her and Cora decided that she wasn't worth the bother of pursuing when she went north. There was something up north that she was–"

Regina crashed her lips against hers, kisses her with fierce relief until they're both locked together, Regina's legs up around Milah's waist as the pirate woman leans back to allow her to slip down to her hips.

"Thank you," she breathes, grinding against her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She leans back down to kiss her again, yanking her up by her overshirt and pulling her close until Milah's hands are moving up to support her instead and the ardor is fading.

Still, she doesn't pull away, just remains in place with Milah's thumbs brushing against her breasts and her lips resting on her until Milah gently disentangles her from her. "You are so disgustingly monogamous," she says, shaking her head. "It's a travesty."

"I've been told." Graham, of all people, had made a move on her early in the curse, and she'd been far too busy struggling to find Emma to do more than rudely brush him off multiple times. "So this is what you meant by men aren't worth the bother."

Milah leans back beside her, fingers trailing up Regina's leg. "Not since Killian."

"The pirate captain you replaced. The one Rumple killed."

"He was…well. Not a good man." Milah smiles to herself, then grows serious. "You know how the Enchanted Forest could be about women who didn't want to… And this was long ago. Rumple was the village pariah. I spent years being reviled in town, kicked out of the town square, confronted by men who wanted a go at me because my husband was a coward and who would stop them? I begged Rumple to let go of the town, to leave with me and Bae."

"But he didn't." Regina can't imagine Rumple powerless. But she can't imagine ever leaving Henry of her own free will, either.

"He wanted his same old life, same old home. And me, his little wife." Milah grimaces. "Killian wasn't a good man, but he gave me a life beyond that, an escape from that world where being caged in a village was going to be my only future. And Rumple came after me and killed him and took my hand for ever daring to defy him." She shakes her head. "And now he has another woman poised to be his little wife as well. Poor girl."

"I thought you'd attacked her?" Regina can't throw stones in this case, she supposes, but she definitely recalls saving Belle's life from Milah at least once in the old land, and some altercation on Milah's ship here.

Milah leans against her. "Never simply for being Rumple's. I've been his collateral damage far too often to do the same to her. I wish only the best for her." She sounds wistful and brokenhearted at once, and Regina knows she's thinking of Bae.

She says, "And you know my mother and Rumple had some dalliance, didn't they?" A second thought crosses her mind and she tears away from where Milah's hand is absently running along her thigh. "You didn't do this with my mother, did you?"

Milah's lips turn up in a half smirk and Regina is suddenly very glad they hadn't gone any farther than this together.

They sit in silence for a moment and Regina tentatively touches Milah's arm, craves the contact to center her even if it's all it is.

Milah confesses in a whisper, "I should never have followed Rumple to Bae. Bae was…my one regret. I wanted to come for him, but it was never the right time to face Rumple again. And when I met him in Neverland, he jumped off my ship. He was so angry." She ducks her head. "And now he's gone."

"I'm sorry," Regina says, and means it, even if a part of her is still terrified at the thought of Henry having other options. Of a father who he can run to when Regina proves insufficient.

"But we'll save your Henry."

"Yes." Regina stares into the distance and wonders, and wonders… "And if we can get to Neverland…maybe we can find our way to Emma someday."

Milah laughs like a whisper in the night. "Disgustingly monogamous," she repeats, and Regina pulls up her knees and waits for Snow and David to return. They don't apologize, don't talk about past betrayals or what else lies behind them. They're the villains of this piece, and they deserve each other, and there's no need to do anything more than sit together and long for the ones they love.

On their third day trudging through the Infinite Forest, Emma is nearly stampeded by a horse. "Whoa!" She ducks back, getting one blow on the cheekbone for her trouble. "Hey! Calm…Rocinante?" She whistles Regina's old whistle for him on automatic, eyes wide.

The horse whinnies and bows his head, nuzzling Emma's hair, and she puts a tentative hand on his mane. It's matted and dirty and the horse neighs again when she touches it, clearly agitated. He looks underfed and mangy in ways that Regina would never allow, and Emma says without thinking, "Let's get you cleaned up."

"We can finally get out of this forest now that we have a horse," Neal says, blinking at her. "And now you want to play stable girl?"

"Give me a few minutes. This is…never mind," she mutters, a flush on her cheeks. Regina's horse is not Regina, and doesn't deserve to be neglected for her grudge. That's all. And a familiar face is a familiar face, even if it's a horse's face.

She leads Rocinante down to some water and fashions a comb for him with some sticky tree sap and broken arrowheads. Carefully, gently, she untangles his mane and orders Neal to go find them something for the horse to eat.

Rocinante resists Neal mounting him even when he's finally clean, and Neal slumps. "It's fine. You go get the others. I'll wait here."

"I'm not leaving you alone in the Infinite Forest!" Emma protests. "Rocinante will just have to get used to you." Rocinante chews happily on her hair. She gives him a dirty look.

"Or you could ride with me," says a voice, and they both spin around.

"Mulan!"

"I've been tracking you for days," she says, dismounting from her own steed. "I left the castle shortly after you, and when I came back, the others were gone. Lancelot found me the next day." He arrives behind her with a genial smile, dismounting as well.

"We saw you fall." He frowns, clasping a hand on Emma's shoulder. "I'm so sorry about your attempt."

Emma shrugs, uncomfortable thinking about it. She's declined all of Neal's prodding too, his determination to find another way that will only end in more heartbreak. Emma resigns herself far too easily to loneliness, she knows, and she's falling back on old habits now, giving up rather than coping with elusive hope. "Yeah, well. I guess it is what it is. We're here to fight ogres and witches, right?" She turns to Mulan. "How about it? You want to be a Merry Man? I barely got any time with Jasmine before she left and I could use someone a little less male on my team."

Mulan looks at her for a moment, something almost like despair haunting her eyes. No, Emma recognizes. Heartbreak. Then she had spoken to the object of her affections, after all, and returned to the castle shortly after, and thus…

Lancelot smiles down at her, his affection already strong and clear, and Mulan doesn't seem to notice it at all. "I think I've become a Merry Man," he says, shaking his head. "It's not all it's cracked up to be. Dank castles–"

"Lots of alcohol," Emma says brightly.

"Ogres everywhere."

"Singing. Brotherhood. Sisterhood."

"You may be turned into a flying monkey, but if you aren't, she puts you to work."

"I'm a great leader!" Emma shoots back, then reconsiders. "Or…halfway decent. I let Little John do most of the work."

Lancelot's lips curve upwards. "You're the very best," he concedes, and Emma notes with relief that some of the heartbreak has faded from Mulan's eyes as she watches them.

"I'd be honored to join you," she says formally, and ducks her head in a polite bow. Emma inclines her head, too, gripping Mulan's hand with both of hers. "Welcome to the team," she murmurs, and they forge forward together.

They save Henry. Well. Regina saves Henry, with plenty of help from the others. Rumple and Milah seem to find some peace from their shared grudges against Pan as they fight him. Snow speaks to the Lost Boys, promises them mothers if they'll only help them find Pan with Henry's heart in him. And Regina yanks out Pan's heart and rescues Henry and holds him tight to her, breathing for the first time in days.

(Snow had looked at Regina significantly during her little mothers spiel, and after, Regina feels obligated to lay down the law. "I'm not your mother."

"You're kind of like my mother."

"I am not your mother."

"Sister?" Snow's eyes had danced and then turned solemn. "Sister-in-law?"

Regina had ignored her and returned to Henry.)

And then, because nothing is so easy, there's a body swap and a new curse and Rumple is sacrificing himself to kill his father.

Belle sinks to the ground with an agonized cry and Milah hesitates for a moment and drops down beside her. "Belle…" she begins, and Belle slaps at her blindly, shoves her away.

"Stop it. Don't you dare. You hated him! You wanted him dead!" She's sobbing and Milah remains on the ground, looking hard and defiant but lost at the same time. Regina knows what it's like, when your vengeance ebbs away instead of gaining the satisfaction of ending them, and Milah still seems uncomfortable until Belle leans into her, taking the comfort where it's offered.

But there are worse things coming than Rumple's end, and Regina knows it with a clarifying touch to the curse scroll. She sees in a flash what must be done, and then she sees nothing at all.

When she comes to, it's to impart grim news on the others. The curse is coming, and all she can do to stop it is a full reversal, taking them all back the Enchanted Forest. But there's a price. There's always a price.

"I have to say goodbye to the thing I love most," she says faintly, and Henry gapes at her in denial.

This is it. This is the only ending for them. She can walk over the town line right now with her memories intact, take Henry with her and leave the rest of them to the curse. She could have left them to their fate and never spoken of the counter-curse and Henry would mourn but never suspect that there's anything more that she can do.

Except she can't do any of that. She doesn't even think about it, not anymore. Let my die as Regina now seems the easier path, but it's one she's eschewed for good. She sometimes feels as though there's a long line in history, tracing back all evils that befall this town to her and all she's done. And now yet another has begun and it's her task to undo it.

I should have never made you break the curse, Henry says, and she's horrified to realize that he's doing the same, finding blame in a situation that is only her fault.

"Henry, no." She bends down to meet his eyes. "It wasn't your fault. I cast a curse out of vengeance and I'm...I'm a villain. You heard Mr. Gold. Villains don't get happy endings."

"You're not a villain. You're my mom." He wraps her in a hug, pressing so hard against her that she can feel his tears wet against the side of her neck.

When she parts from him, it's to turn to Snow and David, their hands joined tightly as Snow murmurs, "I don't want to do this."

"You have to stay," David says, kissing her on her temple. "There's a kingdom that will need your guidance. You can find Emma. And someone has to look after Regina." He laughs wetly and she laughs wetly and Regina stares at both of them, bewildered, until David says, "I'm going to go with Henry."

"You'll lose your memories," Regina says, uncertain. "I don't even know if you'll be able to resist the curse if you were a part of the first one." Her eyes flicker to Milah for a moment, wondering for a moment, but it's Henry. She wouldn't trust Milah with him quite yet.

But David…

"He shouldn't be alone," he says, smiling at her even as it fades when he gazes at Snow. "And Snow. You won't be alone, right? You'll take care of her." He returns Regina with such faith in her eyes that it staggers her. She doesn't know how they've gotten this far this quickly, how David is trusting her with Snow's life, how she doesn't even hesitate before she nods.

"She won't be alone," she says faintly, and she doesn't resist David's arms around her, leans in and opens her eyes only to meet Snow's grieving gaze.

David and Henry get into David's old pickup truck and Snow is already sobbing, is standing beside her watching them leave and Regina murmurs, "They need you to be strong." There are tears spilling from her cheeks, too, but she isn't the one the town is looking to for hope. That's who Snow is, even without…

I shall destroy your happiness if it is the last thing I do.

And she has. She has.

Snow turns, her face as still as she can muster, and they both face the crowd of people in front of the town line. Regina tears the curse from its scroll and feels the energy overwhelm her, reaches upward for it to meet Pan's curse and thinks for a moment of Henry and David, grants them good memories of the years they'll lose when they cross the line. Of David taking Henry in after his mothers' loss, of an uncle and son finding joy in every day of their lives. Of a safe house she keeps in New York and of a world where even Prince Charming no longer believes in fairytales.

And she's weeping and her heart is in agony and Henry, Henry, Henry, and even knowing what's on the other side of this curse- a woman she'd loved, a future she'd thrown away- is a bright light of hope obscured by the darkness that Henry leaves behind.

Beetle is waiting for them down south with Will and Little John. "There aren't many people left, but Much still managed to find a lass to settle down with," John says, rolling his eyes.

"Al and Aziz have returned to Agrabah for the time being. It's just the four of us now."

"Six," Emma corrects them, nodding to Neal and Mulan. "So what now?"

"We can't get into the witch's territory. She has some sort of shield up. But the flying monkeys have still been roaming the land." As if on cue, there's a screech from above and Emma's arming her bow, lifting it upwards and aiming for the monkey's wing. It squalls in pain and flies off.

"That might've been the Friar," Lancelot notes, an eyebrow lifted.

"If he's trying to kill us, we do what we have to." She climbs back onto Rocinante, nodding for Neal to take Beetle. "Although."

"Hm?"

She bites her lip. Conceding defeat is never easy for her, and these thoughts have been nagging at her for days. "This land…is there really a future in this land? How many people are we throughout the woods? Fifty? A hundred? Is it worth fighting a witch to protect our land?"

She can see the same doubts mirrored on all their faces, the same indecision. This isn't a life for them, fighting and fighting for scraps. There's the Dark Castle up north. There are lands beyond the Enchanted Forest that remain untouched by the curse, safe and distant from Zelena, and maybe they shouldn't stay here. Maybe they're better off giving up.

Mulan is frowning at her suddenly, eyes wide, and Emma thinks that she may have gone too far with this suggestion when she sees Neal gaping, too, and there's a sudden roar of energy from behind her.

The sky goes dark and Emma spins Rocinante around just in time to catch sight of a massive, billowing cloud of purple smoke. It's magic, it's familiar magic, and she ducks down as Rocinante raises his head and neighs a long, loud call.

The magic washes over her until all she sees is purple wind all around her and Rocinante's mane against her forehead and she holds on for dear life and thinks only one word, enough to have hope light on fire in her heart and scorch her in the process.

Regina.