❃
|The Center of the Labyrinth|
❃

The Apprentice had taken Merlin an Neal's idea of splitting the room in half again. Killian, his dad, and Zelena were all in one half of the room while the Apprentice watched their bickering from the other.

According to Zelena, she had been killed in Oz and while she shouldn't have died because the Underworld was sealed off, Hades had allowed her through. Hades spent the entire week they were unconscious quoting Romeo and Juliet at in Zelena in attempt to win her heart but as the week drew to a close, Zelena snapped and told Hades she had a boyfriend who was still alive. Hades got mad and sent Zelena to the center of the Labyrinth after stripping her of all her magic.

Killian and his father had done some tense catching up before Hades' spell hit, and now that Zelena was with them, they were all just arguing over petty matters.

And then the room shook, causing everyone to go silent.

"What's happening?" Killian turned the Apprentice.

"Regina found the throne room," Zelena answered absentmindedly. "Megaera's killing one of them now."

"What?" Killian spun to face the witch. "Well what happens if you die in the Underworld?"

Zelena shrugged. "If we die again, then we just reappear on the banks of the River Styx." Her tone of voice made it clear she wasn't very interested in what happened to her half-sister or Robin.

"And what about Emma and the others? They haven't died before."

"Well then it's the end of the line for them Whoever dies isn't coming back. Ever."

"So what? They just flicker out of existence?" Killian's dad asked.

"Not quite," the Apprentice spoke. "If one of the two has indeed died, that person's soul will be pulled down to Tartarus; the deepest pit in the Underworld. The chances of saving someone from Tartarus are miniscule, but it has been done once before."

Killian nodded. "Alright. So if either Regina or Robin has died, though hopefully neither has, they're just stuck in Tartarus until someone does the nearly impossible and rescues them?" To be completely honest, Killian was only asking in case Emma ended up dying in the Underworld.

The Apprentice nodded. "Yes, but don't underestimate Tartarus. If at all possible, you want to stay as far away from the pit as possible."

❃
|Storybrooke|
❃

Dorothy wasn't sure why Belle wanted to find a way to the Underworld, but she was pretty sure it wasn't to bring Zelena back to life. However, you could never be too careful.

"Why do you need to get to the Underworld?"

"I need to find Rumple. But I have no idea how he and the others got down there in the first place. I've searched his books on magic, but there's nothing about making a portal to the Underworld."

"Rumple as in Rumplestiltskin?" Dorothy didn't know why Belle would want to go to the Underworld to save the Dark One. Then again, why had she and Merida been in his shop when Dorothy first arrived in Storybrooke?

Belle nodded. "I need to find him and no one can know about this portal because they'll try to stop me."

Dorothy thought for a moment. The right thing would be to help Belle, and she was supposed to be the Witch of Innocence. Though creating a portal to the Underworld wasn't very innocent. Eventually, she gave in. "I will help you. But you have to tell me why you need to find Rumplestiltskin so badly."

At that request, Belle almost decided she could make the portal herself. But Dorothy seemed to know what she was doing and the process would be much faster with her help. So Belle told Dorothy the truth.

"I'm pregnant with his child."

❃
|The Labyrinth|
❃

Regina hadn't moved or even spoken for nearly twenty-four hours and Henry, Cora, and Gold were beginning to worry. She was asleep at the moment which was probably better, as long as she wasn't having a nightmare.

"It wasn't this bad last time," Henry muttered.

"What happened last time?" Cora asked.

"Robin had to leave town, but it turned out to just be a trick of Zelena's."

Cora wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to her question, but she asked anyways. "Who's Zelena?"

"Your firstborn," Henry answered.

No wonder Regina was so mad at Cora for hiding her half-sister from her. Cora half-wondered if Regina had somehow found out about...other things...Cora was hiding, but she dismissed the thought almost immediately. Regina definitely would have gotten mad at Cora for them as well. Not that Cora would blame Regina.

Speaking of Regina, she had begun to toss and turn in her sleep. Henry looked to his grandfather for an explanation. Gold simply said, "Nightmare."

Henry glanced back over to his mother. "We have to wake her up."

"Her nightmares may be better than her reality at the moment," Cora muttered.

Henry shook his head. "No, her nightmares are worse versions of her reality at the moment. We have to wake her up."

"And we do that how?" Gold asked. "She's just going to pull away from us and refuse to talk."

Henry frowned because Gold was right. Robin seemed to be the only one who could consistently break through Regina's emotional barriers she was constantly building because she didn't trust anyone else besides Henry, and she didn't want Henry knowing about her nightmares or anything else that hurt her.

"Let me try," Henry stood up and walked over to his mother. Her shook her a bit and her eyes snapped open, instantly focusing on Henry.

"You were having a nightmare," the boy explained.

Regina simply nodded and moved into a sitting position. She managed a barely audible, "Thank you."

Henry sat down next to her. "How are you doing?"

Regina sighed. "Honestly? I'm not sure."

Henry didn't respond because he didn't want to accidentally push Regina away when she was finally speaking again.

"I don't think I can do it," Regina confessed quietly.

"Do what?"

"Tell Roland. And the Merry Men. I don't think I can raise Megan on my own, but there's no way I'm letting anyone else raise her besides maybe Emma or Mary Margaret and David because they'll be convinced she's going to grow up to be just as wicked as her mother."

"Mom, you won't be alone. You still have me and Emma and my grandparents and as much as he irritates you, Hook will be there too."

"But what happens when things get difficult and everyone has to go on a quest to defeat a villain and everyone has someone except for me?"

"What would Robin say?" Henry felt bad for mentioning Robin when Regina flinched at his name, but it was a valid question.

"He wouldn't want me to shut everyone out. He would want me to move on, even if it meant loving someone else. Why was he always so selfless?"

"Love is selfless," Henry responded.

Regina nodded, only half paying attention to the world. She wiped a tear that had fallen before speaking again. "We need to find a way out of here and get back to Emma and the others."

❃
|The Throne Room|
❃

Hades was unimpressed by Magaera's method of killing Robin Hood off for good, considering his throne room was now a mess of fallen rocks. However, it did the job and with a flick of his wrist, Hades had his throne room back to normal.

"Next time, try to leave less of a mess," Hades told Megaera.

The fury nodded. "I'll do my best. But you should have seen how devastated Regina was. She's probably still moping about in the Labyrinth, refusing to do anything but stare off into space. Though, to be completely truthful, she would have been sent to Tartarus as well if not for Cora."

"Her mother?" Hades asked uncertainly.

Megaera nodded. "Yes. Apparently she's not as heartless as she used to be."

Hades rolled his eyes at Megaera's pun. "Now that Robin is out of the picture, I need you to supervise those in the Fields of Asphodel. Emma Swan is there, and I want her to run into someone certain. Can you do that?"

"Of course. Who shall I send at them?"

❃
|Tartarus|
❃

Robin was laying on the ground of some place very dark and not very comfortable. He stood up slowly. His entire body ached and he suspected that was the result of him falling to his death.

But what happened when you died in the Underworld?

Robin looked around. He couldn't see anything and he wasn't sure if he actually wanted to be able to see because the whole place felt weird and rather terrifying. And if he alerted some sort of monster that he was there, he wasn't sure how far he could run before his aching legs gave out.

But there had to be some way out of...wherever he was. He needed to get back to Regina before she did something drastic or started being too reckless. Henry had outright hated Robin when he had first come back from New York because of how broken Regina had been, and he had still been alive at that point.

Robin wasn't about to let Regina go through that again.