She's Back

Real World

Emma

Three Months Later

I sighed and held Pandora's box and pulled up to the dragon's shop, knowing that he had some special weapon to kill Cora in this land where magic was scarce.

"Hey, you, yeah Mushu I'm talking to you." I spat, the old man turning at me and rushing away, I groaned and took off after him, chasing him down the busy street.

"HEY!" I yelled, running onto a ramp to gain speed before jumping in his direction and tackling him to the ground.

"Get away from me! That box, it's dangerous!" He warned, making me roll my eyes at him, shoving it into my purse.

"I'm aware! Now I have to kill what's inside of it here where they are powerless to prevent another curse!" I said urgently, making him stare and sigh.

"They won't be completely powerless, but they will be disoriented enough for you to act fast and kill them, do you have the crystal ball?" He asked, I nodded and pulled it out, showing it to the older man, making him nod and rummage through his things.

"Good, take that and this." He said handing me a silver dagger, I swallowed and took it, staring at the razor edge. "Stab Cora with this once she is released, and you cannot hesitate or she will kill you." He instructed, I nodded and took the knife, wrapping it in a cloth before placing it in my purse.

"Go somewhere secluded, where nobody else can get hurt." He ordered, disappearing in a puff of red smoke.

Regina

"Need help packing?" I asked my son who was sitting in his room filled with boxes, most of it packed away except for other trinkets and toys that he insisted stayed here.

"Sure." He said with a smile, standing up and helping me into a chair that he had pulled out for me, I slowly lowered down with his help and held my stomach, finally sitting back in the chair.

"Hand me a few toys and scoot a box towards me." I instructed, watching a pile of them move in my direction.

I lifted a worn blue monkey into my lap and moved my gaze to the back of my grown son's head, making my eyes water, remembering the night I had taken him to the carnival and he had tried his hardest to win the bright blue monkey with his allotted amount of money for the night, but without prevail, the face of defeat making my heart nearly split in half.

I had instructed him to stay put in the car, locking it tight before running to the booth, throwing whatever amount of spare change I had left at the teenager who seemed unphased by my urgency, handing me three baseballs, without error I knocked all of the milk bottles down, pointing at the blue monkey that sat on the shelf, taking it and rushing off to my toddler who had bear hugged me until my heart felt swollen.

"Mom? What's wrong?" I heard my now teenage son ask, I blinked a few times and realized that I had tears running down my face.

"Nothing, just thinking about Mike the Monkey." I said quietly, Henry sighed and smiled at me, crawling to my side, removing the stuffed toy from my hands, replacing it with his hands.

"Mom, I won't be far, I'm not going to college or another country, I'm just going down the street, you don't have to worry about not seeing me, this doesn't mean I don't love you, or that I love Emma more, it will help, I promise, and soon you won't even notice! My little sister will be keeping you busy enough, you won't even know I'm gone, she's going to be a handful enough." He explained, making my heart drop.