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Mushu had only made it down the path from The Dark Castle a little short of a mile before she was forced to the side of the road for a large black carriage to pass her by. It was drawn by four superior looking horses, all of which that made Mushu's horse she was forced to leave back in the village because of exhaustion look like a tiny pony. It wasn't just the horses that caught Mushu's eye, however, since there were six men dressed in black armor walking with the carriage; two on their own horses in the front, two on either side of the carriage on foot, and two bringing up the rear on foot. The only kind of carriage that Mushu figured to be so heavily guarded had to be coming from some sort of Royalty; it really was a shame she didn't know too much about the Royal families here.

The carriage passed Mushu by, however came to a slow stop fifteen or so paces behind her, causing the Chinese woman to stop and take a look with interest. The carriage door popped open and a truly beautiful, pale woman stuck her face out and looked back at the Chinese woman on the trail.

"Did my carriage splash you?" The woman asked kindly, glancing down at the small mud puddles that spread over the dirt trail. Mushu was quick to shake her head no. The woman stepped out of the carriage a bit more and spoke to her coachman as her feet touched the top of the path. "My legs need a bit of a stretch, I will walk for now." The woman strode over to Mushu with such elegance, it confirmed her theory about this coach coming from royalty. Only women with high status could walk so effortlessly on rugged terrain in heels.

"It's not very common I come across people on this trail. Tell me, are you coming from The Dark Castle?" The woman asked Mushu, gesturing with her black-laced gloved hand for the two of them to walk, away from the castle where the carriage was initially headed.

"The...Dark Castle?" Mushu asked with a quirked eyebrow, not only to the woman's question, but to the fact that she insisted that they walked in the opposite direction that she had been initially heading in. "I...I wasn't aware it had a name. If you mean the castle belonging to Rumpelstiltskin, then yes."

The woman in black put her hand over her heart, and her ruby red lips parted in slight surprise.

"Oh my dear, how are you still breathing?" She asked in surprise. "The Dark One is truly a cruel man, very few people venture to his castle and return in once piece."

"We have a deal." Mushu said with a casual shrug and pulled out the golden rose hair pin Rumpelstiltskin had given her earlier. "There's this girl he wanted me to look after, but she was cursed, so he gave me this to give to her." She offered the golden rose hair pin to the stranger to look at. The woman took the item delicately in her hands and looked it over closely, and Mushu could have sworn that she saw the corner of her ruby red lips twitch in an attempt to cover up a smile.

"A girl you say?" She asked turning the golden rose in her hands. "Her name wouldn't happen to be Belle...would it?"

Mushu hesitated before answering. This stranger seemed to know an awful lot about Rumpelstiltskin which more than likely spelt danger for herself. However strange, though, this woman seemed to have genuine intentions. Perhaps she was the 'good' that would rid of the 'evil' that she had seen take place in history time and time again.

"Yes, she's back in her own village now being watched over by...friends..." Mushu extended her hand to take back the golden hair pin from the woman, however the stranger jerked her hand back, not quite wanting to part with the enchanted object just yet. "Please, I must be going. If she turns back into that monster again people could die." Mushu halfly pleaded with the woman. This stranger may have been royalty, but she was a trained killer and highly doubted that she would be able to put up a reasonable fight against her if the need arose.

The stranger stopped walking and turned to face Mushu, blocking her path onwards that would eventually lead back to the village she had spoken of. Mushu stopped and met the woman's eyes, her face remaining firm as she once again held out her hand for the hair pin.

"No..." The woman in black said simply, letting her word trail off. Before Mushu's face even had a chance to react to the confusion of her reply, the woman's hand shot forward and embedded into her chest, clutching quickly onto Mushu's still beating heart. Mushu's body was on fire from the chest up; and completely numb from the chest down. The woman pulled her hand back out of the Chinese girl's chest and Mushu found her eyes looking at her very own heart clutched in the grasp of the strangers hand.

"No..." The woman said again, now observing the golden hair pin she held tightly in her opposite hand as if it were a great treasure. "Actually, you've been quite helpful, but [i]I[/i] will be making the delivery." Without even looking at the heart, the woman began to tighten her grip on the organ, forcing Mushu to fall to her knees from the lack of strength that suddenly ran through her body.

"W-what are you doing?" Mushu grimaced, trying to look up at the woman in black that now seemed to tower over her.

"It's nothing personal dear. I'm just tying up some lose ends." The woman in black replied, taking her attention off of the hair pin and down to the Chinese girl by her feet. Her lips curled into a vicious smile as she squeezed the heart harder and harder in her hand, watching the life drain from the small girl's body and eyes until the heart crumpled down into nothing but a handful of powder.

Regina let the grains of powder trickle from her hand as she watched the lifeless corpse of Mushu collapse down onto the dirt path until the last of what used to be a heart was carried away by a small gust of wind.

"I do hate the common riff-raff..." Regina sneered to herself, immediately dropping the 'nice girl' act and used her now free hand to gather up the front of her dress and stepped over the body of Mushu to walk the short distance back to her carriage.

"Are we still heading to The Dark Castle my Queen?" The coachman asked upon her arrival. Regina stepped back into the carriage and shut the small door.

"Plans have changed, we're going to pay a visit to a small nearby village instead..." Regina looked back to the golden hair pin in her hand and her white smile spread even wider.