Sleep was her worst enemy. As each day passed since her resurgence, her endurance waned, and it soon became difficult to pay attention to the task at hand. Still, Regina put everything she had into staying focused on getting the rest of her family back. Sleep wasn't only a roadblock with reaching her goal, but also an open invitation for memories from her purgatory to be relived, over and over again. She wasn't interested in being stuck in the past, not anymore.
"Do you want me to make you something for lunch?" Regina asked, looking up from the book she was reading to notice Roland staring off, the sadness still prominent.
Her words made him snap back into reality. "Sure, I guess. I just... I wish this didn't have to be so hard- the whole finding people from the past thing."
Promptly snapping the book she was holding shut, Regina sighed. "I know it is. But nothing worthwhile is easy, right?"
He knew just how true that statement was. As Regina started towards the kitchen, her son following not too far behind, she debated how to get him to properly open up about what was troubling him. Having to tread carefully around him was only adding to her exhaustion.
A pan was soon heating up on the stovetop, slowly melting cheese onto toasted bread- Roland's favorite. She presented him a plate in a matter of minutes, watching him eagerly eat like the teenager he was. It may have been easier to keep the uneasy formality between them going and attend to the bigger problem at hand, but she knew family had to be there for one another. After spending so much time in isolation, it was intimacy she yearned for.
"What happened while I was gone?" She asked gently, "what... really happened."
Putting down his half eaten grilled cheese, Roland panicked inside, knowing the conversation was bound to happen eventually. He was never one to keep things from his mother, yet the secret he harbored refused to make itself known, almost against his will. The words stuck in his throat.
Heat rushed to his cheeks- he knew if he didn't press the breaks then, everything would explode. He then felt his mother's arms tightly around him, bringing him back to reality. Letting out a sob, he allowed his emotions to get the better of him.
"It's okay, everything is going to get better," she soothed, masking her inherent surprise over his reaction. Her son had always been mild mannered in every aspect of life. Henry always had a slight temper when things didn't go his way; it was in his nature, simply how things were. In the midst of his teenage years, Roland was proving to be far more complicated than she thought.
He cried like she had never heard him cry before, his entire body shaking with each jagged breath. Witnessing him in that state practically broke her heart in two, feeling a familiarity to his anguish.
Time seemed to slip away as they both sat on the living room couch. It wasn't until she felt her phone buzz in her pocket that she became aware of her surroundings again- fishing her phone from her pocket, she saw the incoming call was from Henry. She debated whether or not to answer, but knew that right then, Roland needed her.
He cried until there were no tears left, still holding onto his mother like she was the one thing keeping him tethered. Seeing him in that state sent a million questions racing across her mind; whatever it was disrupted him to the core. The words would follow eventually.
The next thing Regina remembered was snapping her eyes open, midday sunlight glaring through the windows. A blanket was draped over her slouched position, her head resting on the edge of the couch. Confused, Regina carefully came to a stand, easing the crick in her neck as she glanced around the room. Her son was nowhere to be found, and for a moment panic began to rise within her. She checked her phone, noticing multiple texts from Rumple stating that he would be there within the hour- forty minutes ago.
Calling out Roland's name, she started for his bedroom. Though she was relieved to find him half watching tv, she couldn't help but feel betrayed. The fifteen year old seemed to know exactly what she was going to say when she arrived at his door.
"You let me fall sleep?"
"You practically passed out. People need sleep, Mom. Magic can't keep you awake forever."
She didn't know how long she was out for, but looking at her son, it was impossible to tell that earlier that day he was sobbing in her arms. The exhaustion only seemed to amplify due to her unexpected nap, but somehow she had to push through it. Rumple told her through a text message that he had a few things to bring over that could assist in bringing the rest of the family back.
"Gold is coming over to help soon- I think Emma and Henry are still researching at the library," she said, disregarding his previous statement, "do you want to stay here or join up with them?"
Selfishly, Roland didn't feel like being around his brother. He was always so intense- obviously he wanted to find a way to bring his family back together too, but his stamina wasn't nearly as fueled. Everything became too overwhelming when he allowed all the negative thoughts to enter his mind at once. On the other hand, he knew to always give his mom space when she was around Rumple, there was some sort of an unspoken rule that was made over the years. They didn't speak together one on one often, but Roland knew that the history between them was volatile to say the least. The man was a tether to the past he knew almost nothing about.
"I'll stay here," he told her, moments before the doorbell sounded downstairs. Roland swore he saw a flicker of uneasiness across her eyes before tending to the door.
Rumple appeared distracted when she first saw him, perhaps just as tired as she was. The wrinkles surrounding his facial features seemed more defined than usual; maybe she had gone longer than she had realized since she last saw him.
"Thanks for coming," Regina said, allowing him inside, "I need all the help I can get."
In his arms was a cardboard box filled with an assortment of things from his shop. Setting the box on the table, he took a second to analyze Regina's troubled countenance.
"Before we get started on all this..." his voice trailed off, sentimentality still a challenge for him, "I wanted to speak with you about Zelena."
Regina was surprised- that was not what she expected from him. But, of course Rumplestiltskin was involved with everyone in some form or fashion. With all of the intensity of the past few weeks, she hadn't had a moment to think about the letter she had dug up after Zelena's initial threat.
"You wrote my mother a letter about finding her, didn't you?"
Part of her didn't want to know what he thought of Zelena, who was still a mysterious character in the grand scheme of her life. The feeling of betrayal still cut deep; that letter had given her so much needed confidence in the early years of her life, confidence that ended up being completely misguided.
"I did, yes," he started cautiously, "that was when I first discovered who she was. I still had a lot of spite towards Cora back then... I wanted to bring her as much pain as I possibly could by writing her that letter."
His brazen honesty continued to astonish her. Rumple was usually a man of skill, dodging around an issue so he could have total control. Others were delegated to do the dirty work so his hands remained clean. Yet here he was, revealing it all, absolutely no armor to him.
"What happened between you and Zelena?"
It took a moment for him to collect his thoughts. "She... sought me out, in the Enchanted Forest- while I was teaching you. She knew everything about Cora by then. I suppose she was already jealous about you, because she demanded that I teach her as well. I thought it was amusing at first, and she proved to have very powerful magic... but Zelena quickly became too compulsive, too... unpredictable."
Regina could already feel anger bloom within her, the hatred towards her mother revisited. The woman had herself tangled in so many webs of wrongdoings, it was impossible to discern what the actual truths were about her.
"She could just... do magic naturally? Even before you started teaching her?"
Rumple gave her a slightly inquisitive look, suppressing a smile. "Don't stoop to her level, Regina. You worked hard, and it paid off in the long run. Everyone is different."
Rolling her eyes, Regina couldn't help but feel like a child again, vying for the approval from her mentor. "So you only trained her for a brief moment? Then where did she go?"
"Zelena got attached to me too quickly- it was her first time meeting someone else like her after being alone for so long. After I told her I couldn't work with her anymore, she went back to Oz in a fury."
"So you're telling me my daughter has been kidnapped by a deranged, unstable woman who shares a mother with me?"
The words, though nothing new, sounded purely dismal as soon as they left her mouth. The two of them stood in the kitchen, taking in the atrophy of it all for a moment. Eventually, Rumple spoke up.
"Let's see if we can do anything about it."
He took out the items from the cardboard box one by one, carefully setting each item down in the table. Regina immediately recognized the globe used to track Henry when he was taken by force to Neverland, shortly before she first met Roland. The other items were more unrecognizable, old looking trinkets that hadn't been moved in decades.
"Can we use this to find them?" She asked eagerly, "does it still work?"
"As long as one of us has the proper magic," he replied, giving her a look. "Have you tried anything since your return?"
She hesitated to reply, part of her not wanting to disappoint him. "It's been... difficult. I'll give it everything I have now, anything to get them back."
The process was simple, a prick to her finger and a drop of her blood. With her emotions still hanging in limbo, magic had been the last thing on her mind. She commanded whatever magic resided within her to make the drop of blood do something on the globe. After a few seconds passed, nothing happened. She felt fragments of familiar energy, but whether or not it was enough remained a mystery.
Letting out an irritated huff, Regina let her hands fall to her sides. "Why isn't this working?"
"Your magic seems to be working, which can only mean one thing."
Her expression rapidly turned desperate, knowing already what he was going to say.
"It means they're not in the same time frame as we are. Zelena's time travel portal must have worked- something like this has never been done before."
Memories from their first and futile encounter resurfaced in her mind, where she unfolded her plan in its entirety. If everything went without error, Caroline would be gone forever, and all of Storybrooke's inhabitants would be scattered along the Enchanted Forest, all living out their separate lives. Seeing as Regina was still alive, her plan must have gone wrong.
"If Zelena didn't stop my mother from abandoning her like she wanted, then where did they all go?"
When Rumple remained without an answer, Regina allowed her frustration to take over. "You're the Dark One, aren't you supposed to know everything?"
His eyes were fixated on the drop of blood sitting stagnant on the globe, not a trace of matching DNA to be found. He debated whether or not to tell her the truth, that he was not the powerful being he used to be, and that his brain was slowly beginning to fail him. The powers of the Dark One were everlasting, but the human body was not. Belle had made an appointment with the best neurosurgeon in the country, a doctor based out of a town in New Hampshire.
"I know that a surge of energy occurred inside of my castle two days ago- most likely from your daughter- and a portal was activated. Six people entered, and five went through the portal. I couldn't detect what happened with the last person with the enchantment I put around the castle, but they never left, so we can assume whoever it was didn't make it out."
"You're not a man that makes assumptions," Regina replied back coldly, "you do whatever it takes to find out the truth. My husband and daughter were shot back to a random point in time with a crazy woman hellbent on destroying my existence- you're telling me that none of these things can locate them?"
Her strained voice carried easily up to Roland's bedroom, where he stood at the doorway, feeling utterly hopeless as he listened to their conversation. The reality of it all began to set in; what if he never saw his dad or sister again?
"I know they're both still alive, I can't explain how, but I can feel it." Rumple reassured, not doing much to convince her. "Come hell or high water, they will come back to you- this I know."