Ch.5: Rescue Mission

        While Rumple was off looking for what was needed to find her, someone had informed Regina that someone wanted to see her. Now, Regina was in the underworld's version of her office, where she was face to face with someone that she hadn't seen for three years. Not since she'd died in her arms because of Snow, but also sorta because of Rumple. 

        "Mother. You're here," Regina greeted, shocked that she'd be in the underworld. 

        "Yes."

        "I had hoped you were okay." 

        "I know, darling," Cora replied, before they hugged. "I know." Cora then pulled away. "But I do have unfinished business. And that would be you."

        "You don't have to worry about me," Regina assured her. 

        "I'll always worry about you. I want you to be happy."

        "Then help me find Katherine and Elijah, and get out of here," Regina asked of her.

        "It's too dangerous," Cora told her. "You need to leave. Now." 

        "I promised Gold I'd help him get Katherine out of here," Regina replied. 

        "Sweetheart, you must do what's best for you," Cora told her. 

        "I am," Regina replied with a smile. 

        "No, you're not. And if you won't, I'll see to it that you do. It wasn't easy, but I've arranged for a boat to take you home. It departs in one hour. Go before it's too late." 

        "Mother, I can't." 

        "You must," Cora stated. "I know it's hard to put aside all suspicion after how I raised you, but, Regina, do you remember the last thing I said to you before I died?"

        "That I would have been enough," Regina replied, remembering. 

        "You would have been," Cora stated. "It just took me too long to realize it. Don't make the same mistake. Go."

        "What would happen if I stayed?" Regina questioned her, seeing that Cora just wanted her out of there to protect her. 

        "Sometimes a mother has to do what's best for her child, even if it's reprehensible."

        "Are you threatening me?" she inquired. 

        "Oh, no," Cora assured her. "No, of course not. I never. But there's something I have to show you."

        Cora made both herself and Regina disappear in a cloud of purple fog, before they both appeared in what looked to be a cave. A cave with a hole. Where the hole was, there was fire. There was a cliff above the fire, where the messenger Regina had spoken to earlier stood. 

        "Where are we?" Regina asked Cora. "What are you doing?" 

        "Showing you your fate if you don't return to Storybrooke," she informed her, before making the guy be surrounded by fire and then fall to the fire below. 

        "You killed him," Regina stated. 

        "Killed is, um, a relative term down here. This underworld...most can only leave it in two ways. To a better place or a worse one. But you, my sweet daughter, have another option," Cora informed her. She rested hands on either side of her head, when she called her her sweet daughter. She then put her hands down. "However, not for long. Go home, or there will be a cost. Someone will suffer."

        "Who?" Regina wanted to know. 

        "Your father," Cora informed her.

        Rumple entered the underworld version of his pawn shop, going to the safe, and retrieved something small that would help find Katherine. Elijah was down here too, but he only cared about Katherine. The item was called The Ale of Seonaidh from a land called DunBroch. It essentially let people communicate with the dead. 

        Regina entered his shop after her encounter with Cora. She didn't know what the thing was that he held in his hand, but assumed it was going to help. 

        "This will help us communicate with Katherine. Everyone down here has a grave. Pour this over her grave, and we can stop guessing where she is, and simply ask her," he informed her.

        "What are we waiting for then?" Regina replied. 

        Rumple headed for the door, and they both left, heading for the cemetery.

        Once in the cemetery, they went searching for Katherine's grave. When they found it, Elijah's was next to hers. 

        "Let's do this," Regina stated. 

        After a moment, Rumple sprinkled some of it onto her grave. Then they waited for her spirit to appear. 

        Meanwhile, the God of the underworld, Hades, had sentenced Cora to the life of a Miller's daughter, having found out that Cora had failed. And the fact that he'd heard a tick of the clock above ground, which meant that a soul had gone to a better place. 

        Katherine slowly awoke. Thankfully, she wasn't in any cell or anything, so that was a plus for her. Another plus was that she didn't feel that any darkness was inside of her anymore. She was herself again, no longer needing to fight any darkness inside of herself for control. She felt that there was blood on the side of her head and a few cuts here and there, but she didn't feel like she'd be dying again anytime soon. Another plus was that Rumple and Regina were on their way to come get her. 

        She put a hand on the edge of the wall, forcing herself to her feet, before making her way to the stone hallway, looking for where Elijah was. Rumple and Regina knew where she was. She just needed to find Elijah. He'd joined her in death. She wasn't coming back to life without him.

        "Elijah," she stated, when she saw him on the ground, and rushed over to him, kneeling by him. She then rested a hand on the side of his face. "Elijah," she called.

        After a few moments, she was relieved, seeing him wake up. 

        "Katerina," he stated, sitting up. 

        "I'll be fine," she assured him. "Rumple and Regina are here. They came. Rumple, probably just for me. Regina, probably for both of us. Maybe if we can find a way out of whatever this place is, we can make it easier for them to find and get us both out of here." 

        "Easier said than done, Katerina," he told her. Being an Original, he remembered a time when Gods were still worshipped, so he knew what was guarding their entrance out of there. He'd already tried to get past it once before, hoping the same as she was hoping now. He'd wanted to find a way out and then come back and get her, but he'd failed. 

        After a moment, something clicked in her. She realized that he was also injured, but by something else. 

        "What happened? Why haven't you healed?" she questioned. 

        "I tried to find a way that we could get out of here while you were still out. There isn't a way out, even for me. The thing that's keeping us here. Guarding the entrance. It's a three-headed mythical dog named Cerberus. Although, in my time, we didn't see Gods as mythical," he informed her. 

        "We have to try. You did it alone, but together, maybe we can win. Especially, with two of the most powerful magical beings coming to rescue us," she replied. "Come on," she added, putting an arm around him. 

        He got to his feet with her helping him, and they headed down the hallway. They then stopped at the end, when they saw six pairs of red, glowing eyes, and then saw the outline of three heads. 

        Cerberus approached, able to be seen better now, and growled at them, as it began to approach. 

        Kat wasn't sure on anything that would stop something like this, but didn't want to get bitten, so she was ready to make an invisible wall between them and Cerberus. But then they showed up. 

        "You have a way out of here?" Kat inquired, once Rumple had put Cerberus in a temporary sleep state. 

        "My mother arranged a boat to take me back home, but I think we can all leave on that boat. I'd say we probably have half an hour before it shows up," Regina informed her. 

        "Good. Let's get out of here. We need to get back. I hope one of you has the cure for a Cerberus bite," Kat replied.

        "I'll figure one out, once we're out of here," Regina told her. Then she went over to the opposite side, helping Katherine with Elijah.

        "Allow me," Rumple stated, before he magically healed Katherine of her wounds. Then he magically brought them all to the river, which was where the boat would soon be showing up. 

        "Thanks," Kat replied.

        A while later, they'd made it back to the land of the living. Now, Kat was seated on the corner of the couch, using a cool wet washcloth, trying to cool her favorite Original down. In the meantime, Regina was working on finding the cure before it was too late, working as quickly as she could. Unlike Rumple, she actually cared about the Original. And it was her job to help Katherine save him. After all, she'd saved Robin recently. It was only fair that she save Elijah for Katherine. 

        After a while, a cure was put together, so Elijah lived to see another day. And so, everyone kept their happy endings that they had. Her and Elijah even stayed together, as well as stayed in town, so they got to be happy for once in over 500 years.