juliet •peter pan•

EIGHTY-SEVEN

After cleaning up, Mary Margaret, Regina, and Juliet hung out in the kitchen. Mary Margaret was holding an apple, looking at it forlornly. Regina was doing the dishes.

"I want to apologize, Regina." Mary Margaret spoke. "For Cora, for..."

"Murdering her?" Regina finished her thought. Mary Margaret nodded.

"Right. Yeah. I don't take it lightly. I think about it every day." She confessed. Regina sighed.

"So do I." She turned to face Mary Margaret. "And when I do think about it, I remember that she did kill your mother. So I'll admit that it's complicated." Mary Margaret smiled.

"Thank you. I'm sure you had some things you wanted to say to her." Regina scoffed.

"Yes, well... I'm realizing that my mother walled off a lot of her life from me. She wasn't the warmest mother. But at least I occupied a singular spot in her heart." She sighed, chuckling to herself in disbelief. "A sister. Zelena." She leaned on her elbows on the table. "Why would she give her up? Why would she make us strangers to one another?" Juliet sighed.

She was going to answer, but all of a sudden, the three heard a noise coming from upstairs.

"What's that?" Mary Margaret asked, and Regina stood up.

"I have no idea." All three looked up at the ceiling.

"It's coming from upstairs." Juliet noted. They all ran upstairs. Once upstairs, they cautiously approached the door making noise.

"It's in there." Regina warned. "There isn't anything in this room. It's..." She reached for the door handle. Before she could twist it, the door flew off its hinges. Inside the room, a smoke cloud was forming around a spinning wheel.

"Has there always been a spinning wheel in here?" Juliet asked and Regina shook her head.

"I've never seen that before." The smoke turned into a figure, and as the three got closer, the figure turned around. Juliet almost didn't recognize it, but Regina did. "Mother?" She asked. Ghost Cora started flying around the wheel. "This can't be." Regina was shocked. "The spell opened up a limited portal for talking." Mary Margaret sighed.

"It's me. I killed Cora. She sensed my presence and found a way to bleed through into our world." Ghost Cora raised a finger pointed at her, and then charged. Regina jumped in front of Mary Margaret to defend her, and Cora stopped in her tracks.

"Back down, mother." She warned. "You will answer my questions. Now tell me, what did you do to Zelena?" Cora said nothing, just moved her arm. This sent Regina flying, leaving Mary Margaret open. Juliet jumped in as another layer of defense. For a second, Cora seemed a little apprehensive, muttering something that Juliet couldn't quite pick out, but then she pushed Juliet anyway. Juliet hit her head on the wall.

With her attention back on Mary Margaret, she charged. Luckily, Regina transported them downstairs. Juliet sighed, still disoriented. But, as quickly as they got there, Cora followed. Regina shot a beam of purple light at her, which slowed her down.

"You're holding her off." Mary Margaret commented. Regina sighed.

"But I can't hold her forever." Her hands started to shake. "I don't know how much longer I can hold her off. Juliet brought her hand to her head, trying to dull her headache.

"Cora, I'm sorry." Mary Margaret pleaded. "Please, forgive me." She ducked behind Regina.

"Save your breath. Your mother was nothing like my mother. She only understands power and weakness. But if she wants to kill you, she's gonna have to go through me." She lowered her voice. "This isn't about you. This is about her and me." Regina lowered her arms. "It's time for answers, mother. What did you do to Zelena?"

Cora slapped her out of the way and immediately dove into Mary Margaret. The pregnant princess collapsed into the chair next to her. Juliet stood up and went over to help Regina onto her feet.

"Mary Margaret." Regina shouted as she ran over to help. She and Juliet stood on opposite sides of the chair, figuring out what to do.

"How do we stop this?" Juliet asked. Regina sighed.

"Hold on. I won't let you go!" Raising her arms up, she started to draw Cora out of Mary Margaret. Once the spirit was out of her, Regina threw her back into the dark abyss. At that moment, Emma, Hook, Belle, and David ran in.

"What the hell was that?" Emma asked. Juliet sighed.

"Cora." Emma looked at her, then back at Mary Margaret.

"Is she okay?" Regina asked. They all crowded around her.

"Mary Margaret, can you hear me?" David asked. Mary Margaret opened her eyes a little, still out of it.

"It's Cora. Not what we thought." She mumbled. "She's trying to communicate."

"She what?" Regina asked. "What did she say?" Mary Margaret sighed.

"Leopold. My mother... my mother..."

"Shh. Relax." David attempted to comfort her. Juliet folded her arms.

"She's not making any sense. We need to call a doctor." Emma commented.

"If she knows something that could help us..." Regina argued. David turned his head to look at her.

"Regina, it's gonna have to wait."

"It can't wait." She shot back at him. "If we wanna stop Zelena, we have to know what the hell she's doing and why?"

"I can help with half of that." Belle spoke up. All eyes turned to her.

"What?" Regina asked.

"She's planning on going back. Back in time." Regina furrowed her brows.

"Are you sure?" Belle nodded. "No one's ever been able to cast a spell to go back in time."

"Well, clearly she thinks she can succeed." Belle argued. "Hey, brains, courage, a resilient heart. Those ingredients are in every time travel spell I've found."

"But why go back in time?" David asked. "I mean, we have no idea what she's trying to accomplish." Mary Margaret sat up.

"I do. She didn't..." She tried to speak.

"Don't push yourself." David said. Mary Margaret shook her head.

"She didn't want to give up Zelena. She was forced to by... by my mother, Princess Eva. She told a secret, just like I did." Juliet's eyebrows shot up. Snow White's mom had a less than perfect past.

"Wait, I thought our family were the good guys." Emma whispered. Juliet rolled her eyes.

"Life is too messy for it to ever be that simple." Regina muttered. David sighed.

"You're saying that if it wasn't for Snow's mother, Cora would have kept Zelena?" Belle nodded.

"She would have been tutored by Rumplestiltskin."

"And all if it weren't for this Princess Eva?" Hook asked.

"So that means..." Emma started.

"Zelena is going back to kill my mother." Mary Margaret sighed. Juliet's eyes widened.

"You'll have never been born." Regina remarked. Emma sighed.

"I'm guessing this is where your help ends." She looked at Regina, who shook her head.

"Now think it through, miss Swan. That means, you'll have never been born..." As she went on her tangent, Juliet thought about it. If Cora kept Zelena, she wouldn't be living in Oz. And even though Juliet had no idea who her father was, the likelihood of Zelena meeting him if she was kept was not very high. Juliet didn't notice her breath had started to get quicker.

"I might not be born." She barely got out. As soon as the words left her mouth, she started to hyperventilate.

"Juliet?" Regina asked, getting up. "Juliet, are you okay?" Juliet felt like she couldn't breathe. The world was closing in around her. She felt arms on her shoulders guiding her to a nearby chair, but she couldn't focus on it. Her i thoughts were racing as fast as her heart.

It was one thing to abandon your child. But going back in time and erasing your child as a result was another thing. Did Zelena really hate her that much?