A.N. Well it happened. A non-Rumbelle fic popped into my head and wouldn't go away. I officially had about two hours of sleep one night plotting it, and the fingers are literally tingling, so out it comes. The title comes from the poem "The Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross and if you've read his works, you know we are going dark, dark, and darker, so dark it should come with a warning label, and by the time we get to the Epilogue we'll hopefully be so cleansed as to assert with moral certainty that unicorn stickers and rainbow kisses really are the true meaning of life. He pulled it off brilliantly. We'll see if I come close. My first OutlawQueen fic.

Prologue:

Dear Henry,

I've left this letter with Emma. I will let her decide if you can read it. This is my goodbye. I want only one thing: for you to be happy. You can't be with the way things are between me and your parents. When Rumplestiltskin showed me the way to end this new curse, I knew what needed to be done. I am the only person nobody will miss if I fail. This is for you. I love you, Mom.

P-P-P-P

Regina opened her eyes. Home. But not home. And certainly not where she wished to be. "Where did you take me, fairy?"

She looked about for several minutes, listening to rustling grasses and searching for the telltale green.

"What the hell, Tink?" she called out.

"Slight detour," Tinkerbell finally flickered into sight. "You owe me."

Regina rolled her eyes, "I owe everybody. Be more specific."

"For that ultimate fail of yours."

The fluttering sounds from the wings were already starting to annoy Regina. "Which ultimate fail?"

"Oh good gods," Tiinkerbell exclaimed, "the one when we first met!"

Regina was starting to think along with the fairy's eccentric frequencies on this one. "You didn't bring me to Rumplestiltskin's castle, did you?"

Tinkerbell fluttered around her, "Not quite."

Regina's contralto dropped another octave, "How not quite?"

"Not quite two week's walk away."

P-P-P-P

A group of about ten men halted in their progress. There were shouting, high pitched squeals. The leader paused a moment, trying to discern. All he heard were snatches of "You owe mes" and "I hate all effing fairies and all their mother-f&#%$*#..." Did a lady just say that?

He gestured and all automatically surrounded the feuding females who were so engaged in verbally abusing each other that neither noticed that they were surrounded.

He stepped up to them and, began, "Ladies, I would suggest you …." Only to be cut off as the dark-haired one shouted, "Shut up!"

He paused a beat, waiting to be certain the silence was his to fill and inquired, "Was that for me or the fairy, m'lady?"

The dark-haired woman froze, and then slowly turned to see the arrow pointed straight into her face.

Instead of answering him, she whirled around and shouted, "I will hold this against you for ten life-times, Tink!"

But before she finished her sentence, the fairy was gone.