I posted this theory elsewhere, but it’s based on the promo for 2×9. Maybe Regina hires Captain Hook as a mercenary pirate to kill Cora. Being a persuasive villain, Cora, however, convinces Hook to side with her instead, promising him the information he desires: how to kill the dark one. Then Cora fakes her own death using magic, and Regina sees what looks like her mother’s body and tells Rumplestiltskin that Cora is dead.
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"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy