Impermanence

David had received a phone call a few hours later asking him to go get the bracelets that were used to bind Regina’s magic. The brunette had plenty of time on the drive to realize that her mother could be a threat with her magic back, but luckily, she knew how to stop that from happening. He met Regina at the town line and gave her the cuffs so there was no chance of Cora getting any bright ideas. Once back in town, the woman drove straight to Mother Superior. She knew David had Hook in jail and sure, she needed to get Cora in a controlled environment, but she needed to see Emma more.

The blonde had been cleaned up, and while it did make her appearance a bit less gruesome, the extent of the damage inflicted was clearer and Regina’s hands began to burn with angry magic. Emma was still unconscious which worried everyone, but the blue fairy was doing all she could to help Emma heal. Regina wanted to stay beside her and hold her hand until she awoke, until the blue and purple bruises faded, and all the cuts disappeared…but she knew she needed answers and the boiling magic inside her wanted them right now. With great reluctance she kissed her love on the forehead and left with strict instructions to be called the moment she woke.

Hook had done very little since he had been separated from Cora. He didn’t speak and hardly moved. It was really freaking Mary Margarete out. David left for a short time to help Regina and by the time he had returned the pirate hadn’t moved an inch. He sat on the bed in the cell with an angry but blank expression on his face. She hadn’t looked hard enough to notice, but part of her was almost sure he hadn’t even blinked. That was the case until Regina came bumbling into the station with Cora in tow. As soon as the door swung open, Killian stood and walked up to the bars of the cell. “Regina don’t put her in there with him. Something weird is going on.” Snow explained as Regina walked Cora up to the cell. She received a questioning glare from both Regina and her husband before she explained her observations, which David agreed to notice as well. The three of them ganged up on Cora. Surely whatever was going on was her doing.

It didn’t matter what they asked or how they asked it Cora managed to evade every attempt at information or redirect any questions turning the conversation in circles.

“Charming…Snow…my mother is a fort and I think I am going to have to use some methods that you two won't agree with to get her to talk.” Regina warns.

Snow starts shaking her head immediately “No, Regina, there must be something. You have come so far. Please don’t let your magic pull you to that darkness again.” The two women stare at each other for long moments before David breaks the silence.

“Regina, did you search her? Maybe she has something on her that will answer some questions.”
Regina shakes her head and David steps in place behind Cora who had started to wiggle and strain against the cuffs behind her back. Regina starts very thoroughly checking her mother's hair and patting her loose clothing down. As she gets down to the older woman’s hips, she feels a bulge in the pocket of the cardigan she is wearing. Tentatively she reaches into the pocket and her eyes grow wide as she retrieves the contents. Glowing and swirling in black darkness is a heart in Regina’s hand. Snow immediately gasps and covers her mouth with her hands, still unfamiliar with seeing someone’s heart outside of their chest. Regina steps back and David releases his hold on the woman.

“I wonder who this belongs to?” Regina allows the wicked grin of victory to shine as she steps to the cage containing the pirate. She lifts the heart in front of her and calmly states “Punch yourself in the eye.” David and Snow are taken aback when the black-haired man punches himself without abandon.

“Regina?” snow squeaks.

“Oh, Snow, that didn’t make me evil, I assure you. Just a little payback for Emma. But it’s not even close to what he has coming.”

With confirmation that the heart was in fact Hooks, she reluctantly reaches through the bars and shoves the organ back into the man’s chest. He fumbles back a few steps before sitting on the bed and dropping his head in his hands.

“Cora would never tell us anything, it doesn’t matter what we do to her. Trust me, I know. She trained me to be just as heartless.” Regina all but whispers turning back to the couple. “But now that Hook has his heart back, I bet he’ll squeal like a pig.” She turns to face the cage. “But David, I need you to do it. My anger and magic…I may lose control. I have to go, but I will be back soon.” She lifts her arms as she’s enveloped in a cloud of purple smoke and disappears from the station.

The only place she knew would be safe was the woods. No one would look for her there and hopefully, no one would be out there. She paces for a few minutes trying to grasp all the thoughts that were running through her head. The tears begin to flow, her lungs burn, and her hands shake. With reckless abandon, she throws her head back and she screams. She screams until she has no voice left to scream and no air. When she starts to feel like she may suffocate she falls to her knees and plants her hands on the ground and lets go. She lets the anger, heartbreak, and magic flow from her hands into the ground below. The earth shakes around her, but she can’t stop. She lets the magic flow for what feels like forever, and when her body finally stops, she collapses forward. She takes a few moments to catch her breath before the reality of the situation hits and she rises. A queen can’t very well be lying in the dirt in the woods. But standing and taking a deep breath she feels the exhaustion wash over her. It doesn’t matter. She can’t stop now. She has to keep going. For Emma…for Henry…and even a little bit for the Charmings. With a wave of her hand, she cleans herself up and rights her makeup and hair. She allows herself one more minute to gather her strength before she teleports herself back outside the station.

“Regina, you’re back! Are you okay?” Snow White. Why must this woman be so endearing that it's nauseating?

“I’m fine. Where are we with the pirate?” She walks further into the station to see that they now have Cora in the cell, she is gagged again, and Killian sitting in a chair next to David’s desk. “What happened?”

David looks from Hook to Regina “he’s harmless with his heart back.”

“The hell he is! Have you seen Emma, David!?” Regina fumes.

David puts his hand out in a show of surrender. “You catch more flies with sugar than salt, Regina. Can I fill you in, please?” He steps away from his desk sending Regina’s heart into her throat until she notices the pirate has one hand handcuffed to the desk. Taking a few steps out of earshot David starts “Okay, so Cora had his heart and that’s how she controlled him. He also said she gave him a potion in the Enchanted Forest, she told him it was to connect him with Emma so that he could find her but Snow and I think it was a binding potion to bind him to Cora so he wouldn’t do anything unless she instructed. He still seems bound to her, because he was reacting when she would speak to him, so we gagged her to stop that. She found him in the Enchanted Forest and told him she had a way back, which she was telling the truth about because they beat us back to this world. When they got back, she took him to Emma, and he was supposed to make her fall in love with him. He doesn’t know why he was instructed to hurt her, but he said they saw us in the Enchanted Forest. They were hiding, but they saw the three of us there and Cora said she didn’t have enough of the potion to bring everyone back.”

“Breathe, Charming. They are contained and I’m not going to kill him…yet.” Regina interrupts. She holds her temples as the information sinks in. She paces in the small sheriff station. Looking at her mother she speaks “Why?” She stops and walks to the bars. “What was this all for?” She turns her back on her mother and begins pacing again. “Everyone knows Emma is the Savior, so you wanted her out of the way. That much I get…but you saw me in the Enchanted Forest. Why would you leave me? The Charming’s I understand, but why wouldn’t you bring me?”

“You’re weak.” The pirate speaks from the other side of the room.

Regina audibly growls and stalks to the man. “What did you say to me you drunken insect?” David walks in front of Regina, pushing her back and putting space between the two.

“Your mother said that…in the Enchanted Forest. When we saw you with Snow and Charming she said you had gone soft, and you were weak.” He drops his head.

“That does sound like mother dearest.” Regina sneers.

“But why did she have Hook hurt Emma?” Snow softly chimes in. “If he made Emma fall in love with him, why did she need him to hurt her?”

Killian lifts his head and turns it to look at Regina, “because, she wasn’t falling in love with me.” He drops his head, again.

The three exchange a confused glance. “Because Regina is her true love…” Charming connects. “She must have been in love with you before the curse was cast and she left.”

Regina feels a heat rising in her face and her heart constricting. One more question for Hook was burning in her brain. “Okay, pirate, I have a question for you.” Hook turns to meet her eyes. “When I was in Boston last time, Emma had been beaten up by several men. That was your doing, but why when you could have done it yourself?”

Hook shakes his head “Cora had my heart and had me bound, but I couldn’t…. I couldn’t kill her.” Tears fill his watery blue eyes.

Regina snaps, “So what, you paid off someone to kill her and left town?”

Hook drops his head, and that’s all the confirmation she needs. David and Snow come to stand next to Regina, “So Cora wanted Emma out of the picture, but why? What was her plan?” Snow whispers to the other two.
Regina’s phone starts to ring in her pocket, and she runs out the door as soon as she sees the screen. David and Snow share a look…” Emma must be awake…”