Once Upon a Dream:

Page 26: Hook's Return:

The next morning, Regina headed out when she saw Henry at school, filling up the bird feeder in the big tree on the school grounds. "Good morning, Henry." Regina smiled, from the other side of the white fence, making Henry look shocked to see her. "Um... What are you doing here?" He asked when he stopped filling the bird feeder while Regina walked around, heading into the schoolyard. "I've missed you. And I wanted to show you something." Regina said when she pulled out the bag with the bean in it to show him. "Emma and Mary Margaret and David have been keeping this from you, darling. They've been growing magic beans in secret. They want to take you... and your sister to the Enchanted Forest. Without me." Regina sighed, explaining what she found out to Henry.

"Maybe we're all going, and they just haven't told you yet?" Henry asked, sounding optimistic.

"No. They won't let me help. They don't see the good in me. The good you've seen. And your sister sees. They only see the Evil Queen, which they made me. And I don't want to be that anymore. This is my chance to go back and start over. For me to be the hero." Regina explained, bending down to Henry's height. "And you'd like that, right?" She asked him when he nodded, smiling.

"I'd love it." He smiled at her.

"Here's how it will work... There's a fail-safe built into the curse. A trigger." Regina started to explain. "Like a self-destruct button?" Henry asked, interrupting his mother. "Like you never did it?" He continued to ask when Regina nodded. "Yes. It's the next best thing to turning back time." She smiled at him.

"That's amazing. What happens to Storybrooke?" Henry asked when Regina sighed a bit, standing up.

"It disappears. Forever... And no need to worry, dear. We can get away first. Back to the Enchanted Forest, using this." Regina said, bending down a bit again. "But what about everyone else?" Henry asked, worried about his family. "They die..." Regina sighed when Henry took a step back, and his eyes widened.

"What?" He asked her, making Regina sigh.

"I don't have any other choice. As long as there are other people in our lives, you and Dream can never fully be mine... You loved me once. With them gone, you'll love me again. And you can see me for what I truly am. A hero." Regina said, trying to explain what she was thinking to Henry. "Not if you kill everyone! You're a villain." Henry spat, making Regina look hurt at his words. "Me? They're the ones that have been keeping us apart. They're the villains." Regina retorted when she scoffed at his comment.

"How could I ever love anybody who would do such horrible things? Why would you even tell me this?" Henry asked when Regina sighed, seeing the look on Henry's face.

"Because I don't have anyone else to talk to."

"Well, I'm going to stop you," Henry said when Regina pulled her mother's spellbook out of her bag. "Everything I just said will come to pass..." Regina sighed when she opened it up. "Never. Why would I let you do any of this?" Henry asked her, sounding confused and hurt.

"Because you won't remember a thing," Regina said, waving her hand when Henry paused, changing his mood, while she put the spellbook back into her bag.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Henry asked, with a calmer, happier mood than before. "Just came to say hello. I've missed you." Regina smiled when Henry smiled back at her. "Why don't you show me that bird feeder? Sure it'll make the birds very happy." Regina smiled when she watched Henry go back to filling the bird feeder, then showing her all of the birdhouses.

Meanwhile, Dream was making her bed while she stacked up the books from her desk, putting them back on her bookshelves. She sighed when she moved to go clean up her bathroom counter. She walked back with a basket of her laundry, setting it on her bed when she went to pick up the sheets that she had just changed.