Disclaimer: I do not own any character or any other derivative of ABC's Once Upon a Time. I have taken some creative liberties with the storyline so I hope that's okay with you guys. Please enjoy
The first time that Emma Swan smiled at Regina Mills her face was unsure and tentative but at the same time she was open, her eyes were bright and there was only the presence of a woman who was hard as nails on the outside but still somehow soft; a person who wanted and needed to be loved in the deepest of ways on the inside.
The last time that Emma Swan had smiled at Regina Mills was in darkness. The black mass of tendrils that was the Dark One were swimming around her and the dagger was lifted into the air as though Emma was, with one last movement, still upholding herself as the saviour, still fighting; only this time, it was a fight that she would have to lose in order to win. The last time that Emma Swan had smiled at Regina Mills her eyes were tired and her skin was growing pale, the darkness was swallowing her and everything was disappearing.
Now The Dark One had returned to Storybrooke. When she had been taken apart and put back together again with the darkness inside her she had stayed away from the people that she loved. She still loved them but she couldn't feel it. Her love was trapped behind a wall of darkness and pain; it was like everything that she had ever felt that had caused her hurt had collected around her heart and hardened. But her mind was clear, it was unclouded and she enjoyed such clarity. At the same though time she felt incomplete. Before she would allow herself to be seen by the people in the town she needed to hide the most precious part of herself.
Emma disappeared from the edge of town and arrived in front of the Mayor's Mansion. It was dark inside except for one light, which leaked out of the house and lightly illuminated the porch and the garden. Emma used her magic to conceal her approach and began to walk towards the front door.
The door silently swung open and closed behind Emma. She could feel Regina upstairs in her office through her magic. In an instant she was in Regina's bedroom covered in darkness. Emma unsheathed the dagger from its place in her coat and laid it on the pillow at the head of Regina's bed. She then took a deep breath and slammed her hand into her chest, gripping her heart. She pulled it out and almost gasped at the black muscle in her hand. It was not dead as Rumple's had been but it did not look as it once had either. Instead of glowing red and beating fast it now glowed a rich black and there was a deep beat that was barely detectible only once every half a minute.
Emma brought a box into her hand with a puff of smoke and placed her heart inside. She laid it next to the dagger and took one last look around the room, her eyes falling onto a picture of Regina, Henry and herself at Granny's. It was the only photo that had ever been taken of the three of them together and if Emma had had her heart then the word 'family' would have run through her mind. She considered visiting Henry's room but guessed that Regina would have covered it in all kinds of protection spells and shields that would alert her of even the presence of a fly.
Instead she walked in silence from the bedroom to the door of Regina's office and laid her hands against it. She was so powerful now and so with only the tiniest effort the walls that were keeping her from Regina disappeared and left her with an invisible barrier. The walls remained physically but now she could see Regina behind them. She looked tired and drained. Her head hung low in her hands on her desk where Henry's storybook rested and a tower of other older books were off to the side. Potions were laid out across the large table and there was paper all over the floor. Just before Emma was about to leave she heard her name come whispered from Regina's lips.
The Dark One disappeared but a black heart on a pillow glowed for a moment with the faintest white light that would be missed in a blink. The mayor of a small town closed the book on her desk that had not yielded any answers for her that evening and stood up to exit her office. She walked over the papers that littered the ground without a care and switched the light off as she walked out without turning back, the door closing of its own accord.
Regina didn't go into her own bedroom right away. Instead she walked over to Henry's room and quietly made her way inside. She found comfort in hardly anything since Emma had left, but seeing the rise and fall of his chest underneath the blanket calmed her heart somewhat. She enjoyed and needed this time with him, he reminded her so much of his mother.
When she was content with watching him she waved her elegant fingers and in a puff of purple smoke appeared in the middle of Stroybrooke. The town was almost silent and the only light came from the faint glow of the street lamps. Regina stood over the spot where the Darkness had taken Emma. There was nothing that marked where it had happened, she just couldn't help but remember. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes she may not have believed it at all.
The Dark One was walking the streets of Stroybrooke that night. It was the only time that she could walk around the place that she considered her home without inviting some kind of violence from the people who inhabited it and who had experienced so much evil in their lives that it would not be unfair of them to think the worst of her immediately. She would still stick to the shadows. That was until something drew her attention to the middle of the street. She could sense Regina's magic again and it confused her.
She followed the magic trail until she found Regina standing in the middle of the street, staring at the ground. She knew exactly what the older woman was doing.
Poofing into a cloud of grey smoke she silently placed herself behind the older woman.
"Regina."
The brunette jumped slightly in surprise and turned quickly, her hands were raised in anticipation of needing to defend herself but as soon as she saw Emma they quickly lowered and instead came to rest on her hips.
"Emma."
With her name hanging in the air, Emma's face softened slightly and she instinctively took a step towards Regina before remembering herself and bringing back her pensive, stiff and protected self.
"Reminiscing?"
"Something like that."
Emma waited a moment for Regina to continue speaking or to explain herself somewhat but the older woman only looked at her in that way that she always had herself convinced was special.
"How's Henry?"
"He's fine."
Regina was not giving Emma anything that she wanted. Normally the air would not be this tense between them. But it was becoming electric with magic and something heavy was settling over Storybrooke.
Emma took a step towards the brunette. Her eyes were steady but Emma could feel her heartbeat and her magic. The fact that Regina hadn't mentioned the dagger or Emma's heart meant that she hadn't discovered them yet. The blonde was struggling to deal with this new lack of feelings that her empty chest caused. She missed the flutter in her stomach and feeling the quickening in her chest that Regina always evoked.
Regina remained steady and took no steps towards or away from Emma.
"You seem different."
"Well I am the Dark One now. It does change you."
"You know that's not what I mean, Emma," Regina said with an annoyed look on her face.
"I just don't feel so alive. But it's not like dying either. Its just darkness. Sometimes I feel like I'm not whole, not solid as if I've never existed before this."
The brunette was taken aback by the openness of the statement.
"Emma what happened? Why did you take my place?"
"We are all connected. Every person carries a miracle inside of them; their unique purpose that is promised to one person and one person alone. Every single one of us is on a voyage towards our destiny in order to find that person that our miracle is meant for. But nobody warns us that as we strive to seek out the light, darkness begins to gather and that eternal conquest between good and evil is being fought between all armies, but always one person at a time."
"That doesn't answer my question Emma. Don't be vague with me."
Emma stepped as close to Regina as possible. The brunette could feel the warm breath of the younger woman as she spoke.
"Nothing has been without purpose. Nothing."
And with those words Emma vanished into a cloud of grey smoke and Regina was left in the middle of Storybrooke with even more questions than she had begun to answer.
Regina decided to walk home in an attempt to clear her head. Once she passed the threshold of the door she accepted the fact that she would not be able to let Emma go from her mind so easily.
She made her way upstairs, quickly checked on Henry again and walked into her dark bedroom. She went into the en suite and switched the light on. It was obvious that she had not been sleeping and the mirror was not helping her try to forget her worries.
She removed her coat and unzipped her dress, both coming to fall on the tiled floor. Her heels were kicked off and then everything was shrouded in darkness once again.
As she came to the end of the bed she unclasped her bra and let it fall to the floor as well. Had she not turned off all of the lights she would never have seen the tiny glint of light that emanated from her pillow. She was curious but not afraid. With a wave of her wrist her bed-side lamp came to life and let a soft glow fill the room. Regina gasped at what lay before her. A black heart with such a slow beat she imagined the owner to be barely living and a black box engraved with golden swans adorning intricate crowns. She opened the box and finally her breathing stopped altogether.
The heart of the Dark One and the Dagger. At this moment Emma had quite possibly made Regina the most powerful woman in the world.
Regina wrapped her fingers around the dagger's hilt and lifted it from the casing. It was heavier than she had expected and the magic coursing through it was stronger than anything she had ever felt. Except for when she felt Emma. When she had combined her magic with Emma's to save Storybrooke and destroy the fail-safe that she had created, something more than magic had surged through her.
She placed the dagger back in the box and steeled herself against the emotion that would crash into her when she lifted Emma's heart. Her fingers were gentle and slow as though she was reaching towards an injured animal. It was cold and it was hard and each beat was so deep she felt it in her own chest.
She sat down on her bed and held the black mass close to her hoping that somehow her warmth and everything else she was feeling would somehow make its way to Emma. The brunette closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek and fell onto the heart of the Dark One.
Had her eyes been open she would have witnessed the small shaft of golden light that broke through the darkness.
The Dark One had taken herself to her new home in Storybrooke and had poured herself some whisky. She sat at her kitchen table and took a small sip of the golden liquid hoping that it would still have the same effect on her mind as when she was just Emma. It travelled down her throat and heated her core in the same way as before but she needed something quicker. So she downed the remainder of the whisky in the glass and left it on the table, instead taking the bottle up to her bedroom with her.
Just as she closed her door behind her she felt a deep pang in her chest that reverberated through her being and quickly became something more akin to love and warmth. She shook it off and blamed it on the drink.
Emma thought about what the Rumpelstiltskin in her head had been whispering to her ever since she rose out of the chamber of the Dark One.
"You will always lose the ones you love the most."
Emma put the bottle down, went to the corner of the room that she had been spending most nights in and let herself fall to the floor with her knees at her chest and her head resting on her arms. She missed being able to feel tired at the end of the day and the comfortable way her pillows and blanket would mold to her aching body.
She missed Henry.
She missed Regina.
She wanted to go home.
Regina left the dagger on her bedside table with the most powerful protection spells she could muster but she took Emma's heart and held it in her hand, letting her eyes close and the deep and slow beat lull her into sleep.
In the corner of her room Emma began to feel the beginnings of a warmth surround her but it was far away; she knew that it was there but she couldn't really touch it.
The night had been long and had offered no reprieve whatsoever. The Dark One stood form her corner and began to work through her plan. It was time for her to let the town of Storybrooke know that she was home.
She had grown unaccustomed to the bright sunlight of the morning and had to shield her eyes when she stepped outside for the first time in weeks. People were walking by her home but no one took much notice of her at first. Just as she was about to take her first step down towards the town her phone began to ring and she was going to let it ring until she looked down and saw the caller ID.
Regina.
Emma answered with a soft hello.
"Emma. I need to see you, to speak with you."
"It's not a good time Regina."
"Well you left your heart on my pillow so I'm thinking you're going to be able to make the time Swan."
Emma couldn't help but smile at the way Regina spoke to her; as though nothing had changed at all and they were back to the way they had always been. And she especially allowed herself to enjoy the way her name sounded coming out of Regina's mouth even if she couldn't really be sure of feeling anything real.
In less than a second after the brunette made her demands she felt Emma at her side in her office. She was immediately stunned. Never did she think that Emma would basically rush over simply because she had demanded it; she was still in her pajamas after all.
But Regina turned around to fully face Emma as refined and as regal as anyone ever had been in their pajamas.
"That was fast."
Emma took a step closer towards the brunette, so close that Regina wondered if maybe she would have to take a step back. But she held firm and waited for Emma to respond.
"You sounded desperate."
"Don't flatter yourself dear."
"Don't lie to yourself…dear."
Regina couldn't help but allow the hint of a playfully cheeky smile escape out of the side of her mouth. Emma saw it straight away and took it as her answer and also as her queue to take the conversation back to where it was meant to be.
"So why am I here Regina?"
"You left your heart and the dagger with me Emma."
"Yes, I did."
"Why?"
"For safe keeping."
"Wouldn't your parents be better suited for something like that, a job of that magnitude?"
"Definitely not."
"So then why me?"
"I saved you, now you have to save me. And if you can't save me, do what no one else will willingly do."
"Emma."
"I'm not finished."
Regina let out a frustrated breath but let the blonde continue.
"You're the only one who will get past their feelings and do what is necessary. Destroy me."
"What exactly is your plan?"
"To save my family."
"I don't believe that's all you've set out to do."
"You don't need to worry yourself with the rest Regina."
"Well it's too late for that now, consider me worried Emma."
"All you need to know is that I am going to fix all of this and get rid of the darkness."
Before Regina could even respond Emma had removed herself from the room in a puff of grey smoke.
Regina wasn't going to let this one go so easily. She went into her bedroom and grabbed the dagger.
"Dark One I summon the."
There was no movement.
"Damn it Emma get back here."
The Dark One appeared and despite Regina's use of the dagger she seemed calm, almost as though she had expected nothing less.
"We are not done here."
"That is not up to you Regina."
"Yes it is. Whatever your plan is, innocent or not, will end up affecting my…our son and that means that I need to know what is going on and what you're planning to do. I will not allow for my son to lose more people that he loves, especially his mother."
"Regina…"
"Come on Emma, after everything that we have been through together are you really going to shut me out now? It took us such a long time to get to this place. We share a son Emma."
"I know. I know all of that. But I said that I wanted to protect my family. And that is what I am doing."
"No. You are not protecting them by keeping them in the dark like this."
"You don't consider yourself a member of that group?"
"Well I…"
"We share a son and a family. You belong with us."
"Then just tell me Emma. There's nothing you can't come back from if you just tell me."
"All you need to know is that I am going to get rid of the Darkness for good. And when I am finished everyone will be able to lead the lives that they have been dreaming of ever since they were stolen from them. Like I said, everyone has a unique miracle in their lives, you were mine; now its time for me to pay back the good that I have received. I will save you and Henry and rid the world of Darkness."
"Emma please…"
"Look after our son."
And with those words The Dark One left the room and Regina was left feeling empty and helpless. She needed a moment to compose herself, to group her thoughts and come up with some kind of plan that would allow her to try and figure out what Emma was doing and how she might be able to save her."
Regina gave herself a fresh set of clothes and quickly did up her hair and her makeup. She wore a grey dress with black stockings and glossy black stilettos that could kill. She grabbed her black coat from its hanger and was out the door in a flash.
In an instant she was inside Gold's shop and failing to see him at the front she stormed into the back with menace in her eyes.
"Gold!"
"Regina, what a pleasant surprise."
He came out of the very back of the shop, an area of the building that basically no one had ever entered into.
"Emma has a plan and I need to know what it is."
"Well perhaps you need new prescription lenses so that you could see that I am in fact not the immaculately blonde Miss Swan who your questions probably should be directed at."
"I don't have time for your quips old man. You were a Dark One; you know how she's feeling. Now tell me if it's possible to make it all stop."
"Of course it is dearie, you can always accomplish your goals with a little magic; its just the steepness of the price that changes."
"Okay so tell me what she will be planning."
"Not so fast there oh regal one, I may not be the Dark One anymore but that doesn't mean that I have lost my penchant for deal making."
"Name it."
"Well well, aren't we aggressive in the face of losing our beloved Emma Swan."
"Losing? What the hell do you mean?"
"Ah we haven't yet made a deal. I want something from you. When all of this is over, your success or not, I want something of yours."
"Fine, deal. Now speak Gold."
"Very well. The Darkness can be destroyed yes, but only if it is all put into a single conduit that is then itself destroyed. With the blade of Excalibur which comes out of the joining of the blade with the dagger, which I assume Emma is in possession of or we would still all be in Camelot, don't worry she will remind you of that soon enough, the Darkness can be gotten rid of. But be very wary Your Majesty, the price of this and everything after will be severely steep and perhaps not even worth the reward."
Regina left without a word. She needed to find Emma and talk her out of this insane idea. She knew what she was planning. She would channel the darkness inside of her and use Excalibur to destroy it all, along with herself. The only comfort Regina had was that she was in possession of the dagger and so it wasn't possible for Emma to create the blade that would kill her.
Coming out of Gold's shop Regina poofed onto Emma's porch and slammed her fist into the door multiple times. She screamed out the blonde's name but was silenced when her phone began to ring with the ringtone that she had assigned to Henry. She picked up and did her best to keep the tremor out of her voice.
"Henry, hi honey."
"Mom where are you?"
"I just stepped out for some groceries. Is everything alright?"
"Well yeah, you're just always here when I wake up."
She had to hold back the tears that were fighting against her eyelids and stay strong for her son while she tried to save his mother.
"Oh Henry sweety I'm sorry. I'll be home really soon. I love you."
"I love you too, mom."
And with that he hung up the phone and Regina let her head fall onto Emma's front door while her heartbeat began to settle. Just as she was about to beat down Emma's door she heard screaming coming from somewhere near the centre of town and it turned her head. In an instant she was there and it didn't take long for her to figure out what all the fuss was about. Emma was in the centre of the people of Storybrooke being berated and yelled at as the Dark One. She was standing her ground but she was allowing the abuse to continue. David and Mary Margaret were on the outside trying to make everyone see reason but their battle was futile. This would be up to Regina. She walked into the crowd and remained still while everyone else moved around her trying to get the optimal vantage point to yell at Emma. Regina saw her face and it was like when she was first being pulled into the Darkness, she was still fighting, it was still swimming around inside her without being able to cement itself like it had so easily with previous Dark Ones.
But almost in an instant her face changed and became almost sinister. Regina knew that Emma had very powerful magic coursing through her but she had never denied her ability to be able to control it. Then the blonde's hand went up as though ready to cast something painful upon the people of Storybrooke. She was ready to hurt them right up until the point that she looked up and saw Regina.
The Dark One was being pushed to an edge. She could feel the presence of such Darkness inside of her as had been created through every Dark One and it was all rising to the surface. With the anger and dismissal of the whole town and with only three people who believed in her after she had gone through trial after trial with Storybrooke standing firmly behind her, Emma was beginning to allow the Darkness to enter her mind. It was beginning to learn her pain and it began swimming its way into the broken recesses of her mind.
"Use your powers Emma."
"You're so strong Dark One. Show them all."
"Their belief in you was never as strong as the hate they have for you now. Make them know how much you hate them for it. For what they made you put yourself through."
"This town took too many of your loves from you, it has taken your life."
"Fulfil your role dearie and let the magic out that's rushing through your blood."
The voices became louder and louder inside of her as the screaming became louder and more violent outside of her mind. She wanted to rid herself of the Darkness. It was a heavy weight that sat on her shoulders and with every step and every breath she took it felt like she was being buried beneath her own life. She could feel her mind being engulfed in all of the pain that each Dark One had suffered. She felt the loss of the deepest love, the loss of children. It made her think of Henry and it made her think of Regina. These were the most intense feelings she had been subjected to since she tore her heart out. She could feel all of this for real and if Regina had been at home she would have felt the vibrations of Emma's heart grow deeper and fewer than ever before as the blackness began to look more like the empty night sky rather than the promising shine of a pearl that might be made white again.
The beating had roused Henry from his video game and sent him running towards his mother's room. It only took him moments to find the heart in his mother's room. Regina's protection spell would keep everyone out except for Emma and Henry. He picked the heart up and almost dropped it when he felt it beat. He took the heart and put it in his backpack. Henry left the house and went out on his own to try and figure out why his mother's heart had become so dark.
Emma was still struggling to hold the Darkness at bay on the edge of her psyche. She fights the urge but slowly her right hand begins to come up and outwards forming the beginnings of a powerful force. Small sparks of electricity began to jump around her palms and Regina pushed herself through the crowd closer to Emma. Regina began to notice darkness seeping in towards Emma; black darkness was leeching out of the people of Storybrooke with their words of hate and was being absorbed into Emma. Shots of electricity were continuing to ring out and they became stronger and kept moving closer and closer until some of the townspeople began to flinch and back away from Emma; all except Regina. Emma wrapped her arms around herself and her face contorted into an expression of pain. Regina was inching closer trying to come up with some kind of plan for when she finally reached the blonde.
The voices in Emma's head were growing louder and louder. They were screaming into her mind telling her to kill those that she loved, to remove the hearts of her family and watch as they shrivelled up and crumbled in her hands. She was trying to fight it. Each time she disobeyed a stabbing of pain would rip through her and she would feel as though she was being torn in two, ripped to pieces.
Kill them Emma. They don't love you. They never could. You are not the saviour anymore. You are the Dark One. You embody evil. Kill them Emma. Look at how they hate you. Kill them all.
Those words rang out in her head over and over again from every Dark One that had ever existed.
Regina could see the struggle that was going on inside of Emma and she wanted nothing more than to be able to reach out and heal all of it. She continued to step closer to the blonde, hoping that she would be enough to help Emma get through this.
The Darkness was coming so close to the surface, Emma could feel every fibre of her being and she was on fire. Her nerves were sending all kinds of shots of pain through her body and the pain in her head was becoming unbearable. Before she lost total control of herself she brought the blade of Excalibur into her hand with one swish of her fingers in a cloud of smoke and she watched as Regina's eyes widened in shock. Emma stood as tall as she could and enjoyed some moments of silence at the townspeople were both in shock and in fear of what she was about to do with the blade. Soon everyone had backed away and it was just Emma, the blade, all of the darkness inside and around her and Regina. It looked exactly the same as it had the night Emma had sacrificed herself. It had all come full circle, back to being about the two of them again, both of them locked in a battle between the dark and the light; expect this time Regina could be certain of the outcome, it was just she had no idea how to save the woman who was once again risking her life for the good of those around her despite the dark fighting against her.
Emma was doing her best to remain strong. The Dark Ones that were living inside her had now learned of her plan because she could was no longer strong enough to keep her mind closed off from them. They were fighting against her now with even more ferocity than they had used to fight with her. The voices whispered messages to Emma telling her that if she had wanted to end it by now then she would, if she was really committed to destroying the darkness then she would raise that sword and follow through with her grand plan. Her muscles were growing weak and the blade was growing increasingly heavy. She took both hands and wrapped her fingers tightly around the hilt, beginning to lift it slowly. Just as the blade was coming above Emma's head she heard the most familiar voice ring out across the crowd.
"MOM!"
It was Henry and she knew that he would try to stop her and that he would be able to be even more convincing than his other mother. She saw Regina turn around towards him and nod to Charming who was already running forwards trying to catch him. Just before her son was about to come crashing through the crowd and towards the swirling dark mass that was surrounding his mother, Regina managed to grab him and pull his flailing limbs towards her.
"Henry! Henry! Listen to me! I will save her. Okay? I'm gonna save her."
The little boy saw determination in his mother's eyes like never before and despite everything that they've been through he found that he had never trusted her like he did in this moment.
She embraced him for a moment and David came over to take him away.
Regina turned back to Emma and she could see the effect that their son had on the blonde. So Regina took a step forward and kept getting closer to Emma until she could touch the darkness if only she reached out her hand. The blonde only watched with the blade poised high in the air. She noticed that the closer Regina came, the more the dark voices were becoming quelled inside of her mind.
"Emma I know what you're doing. And I know that you know that if you had told me then I never would have let you and you would have felt trapped forever. But I need you to know that you don't need to do this. Not this way."
"You're wrong Regina. This is how this has to be." The brunette could barely hear Emma's voice.
"Emma this is how the darkness will win. You are the saviour and without you, no matter how much darkness you destroy here and now, there will always be more but there won't be anyone to fight it. It will be a hard life Emma; you will always be fighting in the dark. But I can promise you a family who loves you. Please don't leave us."
Regina continued to inch forward with every word, hoping that Emma could stave off the darkness long enough so that she might be able to grab her. Her words would not leave the blonde's mind and so instead of having darkness run freely through her mind she had Regina and it began to quell some of her emotions and let her think. With every word and feeling recognised and let out by Emma, the heart in Henry's bag would light up just that little bit more.
And despite having her family looking up at her with worry on their faces and having her son fighting to save her and having Regina stand as close as possible to her darkness and not even flinch in fear, Emma raised Excalibur as high as she could and brought it down towards herself in a stream of lighting and smoke.
The whole town backed away and gasped in unison. Everyone was silent as the gentle wind that flowed through Storybrooke began to wisp away the grey and purple smoke that had gathered. Small sparks of electricity still danced over the road and weakly snapped out of existence.
Both Regina and Emma had disappeared with not even their shadows remaining on the road like the burn marks and flecks of smoke that lingered.
"My moms…" Henry opened up his bag and pulled out the black mass that was inside. The people around him figured out what it was immediately and so gathered around closer to him; some with apology, some with curiosity but most with sadness at the thought that the woman who had given so much was now in a place that no one could understand, all except one.
David gripped Henry tighter and Snow pulled the boy into her so that she might shield him from the cruel world that had taken so much from him all over again. She didn't want to say anything that might get his hopes up or fill him with a false sense of expectation, but she could feel her daughter, she knew that she was alive.
Emma and Regina fell out of the cloud of grey and purple smoke and ended up on their backs on either side of the entrance to The Dark One's home and Excalibur came bouncing out behind them. The brunette immediately came to her senses and began to try and stand up but she was too dizzy for her legs to even begin holding her up. She looked over at Emma and didn't say a word.
She knew that Emma might become angered at what she had decided to do. She had never planned on letting Emma hurt herself and so she had to come up with some kind of split second plan that would save the blonde. As the blade was coming down from its place in the air the darkness began to seep back into Emma, she had begun to force it back inside her so that it might be destroyed and so Regina decided to take that opportunity to run towards the blonde, jump through the lightning, smoke and darkness, and wrap her arms around Emma and send them both somewhere safe. She had done her best to bring everything with them, the darkness included.
The blonde was in and out of consciousness. She could barely move and it took all of her strength just to bring her arms underneath her and to push herself onto her back. She let out a long breath and winced at the pain in her lungs, her muscles and her bones.
"Emma…"
"Regina. Rumple and the Dark Ones keep telling me I don't want to let go of the darkness, that I'm not ready; that I don't love my family enough to let it go, to fight it; that I took the easy road, killing myself instead of fighting. I don't know why he says I'm not ready. They want me to kill everyone." Emma kept pacing as though if she stopped she might begin to burn. All of her movements were quick and reactive. She was not her usual calm self. Everything had come all at once and there was not enough room in her mind for herself.
"Are you ready?"
"Gina."
"Hey, no one knows the lure of darkness better than I do. You can lie to your parents, you can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me." Regina said this last line with a look of privilege on her face, as thought she now knew just how much Emma was worth to her, after everything that they had been through together, Regina felt such privilege at having the opportunity to fall in love with this woman, even if it would forever stay from afar.
"I don't know."
"It feels good doesn't it? Indulging every impulse, wielding great power, doing whatever you want."
Emma let out a small 'yes, yes it does' that convinced Regina that she was not embracing the darkness and that it would never be her intention; that the darkness weighed heavily on Emma, that it was more of a curse than a gift as others had viewed it.
"Is that wrong," Emma asked.
"Of course it is. But it's also human. Look I know you Emma, it took a long time but I really know you and you're not as weak as I once was so if you're clinging to the darkness then you have good reason and its beyond temptation so what is it?"
"I don't know."
"There's a difference between not knowing something and not wanting to admit it. And those walls you put up, Emma, its time they come down."
Out of her coat Regina pulled out Excalibur and pointed the blade towards Emma.
"What are you doing?"
"Helping you beat the walls. As your friend, I command you, Dark One, tell me why are you so afraid to give up the darkness."
"Because if I let it go I won't be able to protect my family."
"It's another wall Emma. Now, the truth."
"It is. Regina please, stop trying to save me." There was a pleading in Emma's eyes; she desperately needed to protect Regina against herself and all of the things that she had the potential to destroy.
"No its not. You just have to be brave enough to knock down all those walls you're hiding behind. The dagger can make you look but you, you have to choose to see; now come on." As much pleading as Emma's eyes held, Regina's began to hold more and she stepped closer and her words became softer and more intimate.
"Come on Emma, see. Tell me what you're really afraid of."
Emma took a step back and she began to hear all of the Dark One's in her head whispering her own doubts and uncertainties back to her. They filled her head with them and were convincing her that there was no where for her to run, that she had been running her whole life and it had brought her nothing, that she was nothing and that without the Darkness that was all she would ever be. But then Henry's voice began to push its way through the mass of black. When he began to call her 'mom' and all of the times that he had said 'I love you'. Emma fought to let Henry in; she fought to push the darkness away from and out of her mind. Regina kept stepping closer as she saw Emma's face begin to change and reveal pain. The brunette knew that she had an internal battle to win but she wasn't going to let her feel alone for one moment of it. She reached out, grabbed Emma's hand and a shaft of white light burst forth from their entwined fingers.
Then everything went silent and Emma's face relaxed a little and she allowed her eyes to open. The battle had settled but it was far from over and her face still showed Regina all of the pain that she had been hiding for the past weeks.
"I'm afraid…"
"You can tell me Emma, I'm not going anywhere."
"I'm afraid that…" and here Emma remembered the first time that she had met Regina outside the mayor's mansion. She had run out and embraced their son and looked up at Emma unguarded. She quickly righted herself, however, and all of her walls were back up again, but in that instant Emma had been let in and that was the first time she said to herself that she was going fall in love with this woman. Emma realised that her story had always been about her coming to Storybrooke and meeting Regina.
"I'm afraid that you won't love me back."
Emma closed her eyes as the words left her mouth, not sure if she would be able to survive what was coming next; the voices being proved right. The darkness was swimming inside of her, she needed to fight against it to let herself feel the truth. Emma looked into Regina's eyes with a deep pleading when her face contorted into pain and her knees began to struggle with the task of holding her up. They reached out for each other as the blonde began to fall forwards towards Regina and the brunette managed to catch her and hold on just in time. She guided them both to the floor and gathered Emma into her lap. She held her head in one arm and had her body in between her legs. Emma curled herself in towards Regina. Before Rumple could enter her mind soft lips were melting with her own and the light scent of apples was running through her nose. Her hands came up and around Regina's neck of their own accord as the brunette's came to rest on Emma's face. They parted after a moment but their hands remained steady.
"What happened?"
"What do you mean Emma?"
"We kissed, there wasn't any true love's kiss magic. I thought if it happened it would be like it was for Belle and Rumple, that your kiss would cure me of the Darkness. It was just never in my plans, I never thought we would…"
Emma's head fell against Regina in a tired defeat. The brunette had never seen the blonde look so small.
"Emma I don't need magic to tell me what I already feel. You are my true love and you don't need magic. You are already perfect exactly as you are in this moment. You are the only one who can withhold the Darkness inside and still remain the pure person who was created out of the truest love that has ever existed. Well, maybe the truest. I think we could give them a good run for their money. This is gonna be a long road Emma, and it will be hard the whole way. Your real fight with the Darkness begins now and it is more important than ever. But you will have me and you will have Henry for all time right beside you. You can be the most powerful sorcerer to have ever lived but you have to fight and I know that you can."
The blonde turned her head up towards Regina and couldn't help but smile. When Regina spoke like that to her she could take it as nothing but truth.
"Gina, I love you."
"And I love you, Emma. Always and forever."
As the words left their mouths and began to fill the space between them Emma felt a ripping pain travel through her body. She gripped her stomach and waited for it to pass while Regina cupped her head and tried to figure out what was wrong. Then she heard Rumple's voice and he was screaming. The voices were coming back despite Regina's presence and Emma was feeling every measure of pain that every Dark One had ever felt but it was worse than when they had showed her before. It was acute in every nerve of her body. And the Dark Ones began to yell in unison.
"Even when you love someone you have to say no, this is mine, you cant take it away from me. And if they don't listen, if they try to stop you from being you, then you have no choice, you have to kill them. Because we are one and the same now, all Dark Ones, and we must destroy the threat to us, we must destroy the Light. Finish the job! They all want you to use the sword to destroy us, to destroy US!"
Despite the noise and the pain, Emma heard the very faint words of Regina breaking through the dark.
"You can fight this Emma. I am not going anywhere. I love you."
But then very quickly the darkness came raging in again.
"Don't listen to her! She doesn't understand what we all do Emma; she doesn't understand the power. If you don't kill them all now, you will go back to being powerless. The power to protect yourself and your loved ones! Kill them! Don't go back to being nothing!"
Then silence. Emma felt Regina's soft rocking motions and the whisper of her name over and over again as the woman that she loved watched her muscles twitch, her eyes turn red, her fingers clench, small cuts open up on her body from the power that was coursing through her and the tears that were streaming down her face. She thought of their son and she was given a new kind of power.
"I AM NOT NOTHING, I WAS NEVER NOTHING. THE POWER YOU HAVE I DON'T NEED."
A screeching sound filled the house and every window shattered, leaving the two women sitting in a sea of glass that began to float into the air as pure dark magic surged through everything. Dark storm clouds covered Storybrooke in a grey haze and heavy rain began to fall. Thunder echoed loudly through every wall of every building in the town and shook the people to their core. Regina kept Emma in her lap as a storm began to rage on and watched, mesmerised, as darkness began to leak out of the blonde. Out of the small cuts on her skin, out of her eyes, her mouth, her ears, the darkness was seeping onto the floor. Her skin grew even paler and her muscles lost their strength. It only took a minute and everything began to settle down. The glass came to rest on the floor, the darkness began to dissipate and the rain outside became steadier. Storybrooke remained covered by clouds but the air became more relaxed; Emma had fought the darkness and she had won, it had seeped back into the world and its evil concentration would be diluted instead of concentrated and strong.
When Regina dared to lift her head up she could do nothing except look into Emma's face; her eyes were closed, face clammy and her brow was knit tightly. The brunette gently moved some hair out of Emma's face and almost immediately lost the joyful feeling that she had almost let come to pass. Emma wasn't breathing, she wasn't moving at all and when Regina placed her hand on Emma's chest she knew exactly what had happened.
Emma had lost the battle in order to win the war. Regina's eyes filled with tears and her body became weak.
Just as the brunette was about to scream into the void of Emma's broken home, their son and then Emma's parent's burst through the door.
"Emma!"
"Mom!"
Regina could only just lift her head to look up at them and hope that she would not have to speak, that they would simply understand and leave her to be with Emma.
Henry slowly moved forward, despite his grandmother's hand on his shoulder trying to hold him back. He carried the black mass that was his mother's heart forwards hoping that somehow it might help. He moved slow and went to kneel in front of him mothers. Tears were streaming down Regina's face and Henry struggled to breath when he saw how broken his mother was. He had never even imagined that something so powerful and deep would transpire between his mothers.
Regina looked up at her son when he was in front of her on his knees with Emma's heart in his hands and almost died herself when the presence of her son brought her no reprieve from her pain. She looked away and back at Emma. She cupped the blonde's head and brought it to the crook of her neck while she rocked them both back and forth.
"Mom please try." Henry said it softly and with grief in his voice. His whole body trembled as he waited.
It took all of Regina's strength to even hear her son's words but just the small hope that she might be able to bring her Emma back spurred her on. She put her hand out and gently scooped the small black mass from Henry's hands. The first thing she noticed was that the deep beat was gone and every little piece of light that had broken through was now gone and it was even darker than the first time that she had held it.
Regina took a deep breath and willed her hands to stop shaking. Emma was positioned on her lap so that her chest was open and her head back. The brunette ran her fingers over the small part of Emma's chest that was exposed and was shocked by how cold the blonde had become. She transferred the heart to her right hand, took another breath and gently but firmly moved to plunge it back into Emma's chest.
There was a general tense energy amongst Emma's family as Regina moved the heart through the air. And then a deep sadness as it crumbled away to dust the moment that it touched her porcelain white skin.
At first the brunette was in shock and couldn't do anything but stare with wide eyes at the way Emma's heart was now being blown through the air by the most gentle breeze. There was a slight handprint on the blonde's chest from where her palm had made contact and it was the only sign that Regina had tried to save Emma. But the signs that showed how Emma had saved everyone around her were the tears that were now falling from their faces and the tear-jerking scream that emanated from the pit of Regina's stomach. She held Emma tight to her and screamed. Henry wanted to console his mother but the screams terrified him and he wondered if perhaps she would hate him because not only could he not bring back his mother but had he not selfishly brought her to Storybrooke in the first place then Regina might have been spared this pain.
"Get out." Regina's voice was flat and sounded almost as though the Evil Queen was talking again.
Henry stood and backed over to where his grandparents were standing. David could see the pain on Regina's face and squeezed Henry's shoulder while leading him out of the house. The young boy struggled for a moment but then relented.
Snow stayed for only a moment more than David and Henry before she too decided that it might be best to leave Regina with her daughter.
Her daughter was dead. Her beautiful Emma had fought against the purest evil to save the world and all of the people in Storybrooke, her friends, her family and the woman that she loved. Snow was keeping her grief at bay, she knew that to break down in front of Regina in this moment would do no good for anyone. When she was alone she would hold Emma's baby blanket to her nose and she would cry the tears that were burning her eyes as she walked down the porch steps. She was stopped in her tracks when Regina Mills' scream exploded into the sky and expanded until it felt heavy on the air.
David hugged Henry to him when the boy tensed at the sound of his mother's voice on the air.
Time felt like it had stopped. No one could feel the breath entering or exiting their body, everyone forgot their pain, their hunger, their loss and all of the anger that they had been harbouring. Regina's scream into a ceaseless void made everyone stop and brought to the attention of every person in the small town what had happened and the sacrifice that had been made. When Regina's voice reverberated through the glass of Mr Gold's shop a small smile crept onto his lips and he felt a slight giddiness in the prospect of his latest deal coming to an end.
After some moments, Snow was at the bottom of the stairs and quickened her pace so that she might catch up to David and Henry because she needed the embrace of her husband, she needed the embrace of the father of her child who had once again saved them all.
Her hand went out towards him as he reached for her and she rested her head on his chest. And that was when she heard it. the beating of her true love's heart.
Before they were settled in their embrace Snow had ripped herself away from David and was running as fast as her legs could carry her back towards her daughter.
Regina's sobs could be heard from the end of Emma's drive way and they sent a pang of grief into Snow but she knew that she needed to fight Regina to get her to try and save Emma.
Snow cam crashing into the house and received an icy death stare from the brunette that reminded her of the looks she had been subject to as a child who could not keep a secret.
"I told you to get out."
"You can save her Regina. You can save Emma and you can save your family."
"No I can't. She's gone."
Snow moved forward and dared to place her hand over Regina's beating heart. She smiled a knowing smile and hoped that that would be all that the brunette would need.
Regina understood immediately and scolded herself for not thinking of it but she dared not hope that it might work.
"You can save her Regina."
The brunette looked down at the small blonde woman in her arms who was now growing pale and cold and thought of all of the times that Emma had looked into her eyes and simply said 'trust me'. Although she would never admit it to anyone but Emma, she had trusted her every time and in this moment those words reverberated through her and somehow set her core alight. It ignited a fire inside her that burned with the last ounces of strength that she possessed. She removed Emma from her lap and gently placed her on the floor. Regina closed her eyes as her elegant fingers plunged deep into her own chest and brought out her beating heart.
"I can't do it. It won't work."
"What do you mean Regina?"
"My heart isn't pure, it isn't good like hers was. It's not as dark as the Dark One's heart but it will never be as good and as light as Emma's has always been. If I put this into her chest, she will not wake up, I just know it."
"Regina I know you love my daughter. I can see it. Love like that only comes around maybe once in a life if you are very lucky. Now I know my daughter and I know that she is so in love with you she doesn't even know what to do with herself. You have saved her from the darkness before, just like she did for you, now save her from it again. If Emma is going to wake up with anyone's heart inside of her then it should be from the woman that she loves and has loved with all of the strength and beating of her own heart. Only you can save her Regina. You did it for me and Charming so now do it for yourself."
Regina breathed deeply and kneeled over Emma. She looked at her heart in her hands and heard Emma's voice in her head again; 'trust me'.
The brunette gently guided her heart into Emma's body and left her hand resting on the blonde's chest as she waited. She waited for what seemed like eternity.
By now Charming had woken up.
Snow looked on with even more panic than she had before. And that was when she saw the look in Regina's eyes that she had hoped to never see. Regina was out of options, she had no other plan and now she didn't even have her heart. Without Emma to light her way Regina would be plunged into a darkness unlike anything that she had ever been faced with before and this time Snow wondered if even her son would be able to save her from it.
With her last ounce of strength Regina leaned forward slowly and cupped Emma's face. Snow stood and left the room once again in order to give the women their privacy. She stood just outside the door, still holding onto that last tiny string of hope that Regina would save her daughter.
The brunette rested her forehead against Emma's and whispered soft words that she hoped would guide her to some kind of happiness. She told Emma that everything would be fine, that she had saved everyone and was the greatest saviour that Storybrooke could have hoped for; that she would take care of their son and make sure that he had every opportunity and adventure that Emma would have given him and above all that she would tell their story. Regina would tell the world their story.
And with one final movement she leant her lips gently onto Emma's and kissed the love of her life. She spoke 'I love you' onto Emma's lips and allowed her tears to fall once more as their lips stayed together.
Magic burst forth from them.
True love's kiss.
Regina stopped breathing when she felt the magic course through her, she couldn't move when she saw Emma's eyes fluttering open and didn't even notice as Henry, David and Snow came charging back into the room.
"Emma?"
The blonde was groggy but she would have recognised that sultry voice anywhere.
"Regina."
Without any warning Emma was lifted off of the floor by the woman who loved her and brought into a tight and warm embrace. Henry couldn't help but entangle himself between his mothers and Snow and David were happy just to watch as the small family came together ever so nicely.
After a week Emma was out of bed and very much on her way to falling into her old self again. Regina had explained to her everything that had happened after she had died and all she could do was clutch at her chest with the knowledge that Regina's heart beat inside of her. When Emma had calmed down from the revelation that her true love's heart beat inside her very body, Regina took her hand and brought it to her own chest. And to her disbelief Emma felt a very distinct beat that perfectly matched her own.
"Emma my heart is yours. It always has been and it always will be."
After much discussion, it had been decided that if it was okay with Henry that Emma would move into the Mayor's mansion and that they would work to become the family that Henry so desperately craved and deserved. When they had asked him over the phone while he was staying with his grandparents he had almost screamed in excitement and had exclaimed that hardly any kid gets to watch their parents fall in love.
Emma and Regina were over the moon; until Rumple had showed up on the eighth day at the mayor's front door.
"Hello dearie."
"Rumple."
Regina had prepared Emma for this potential visit when she had explained that she had made a deal with Rumple. At first Emma had been angry that Regina would risk herself and Henry like that but when Regina stood and locked her lips onto Emma's with tears in her eyes, Emma had accepted that she would have to become accustomed to just how much love Regina had for her and also how much she had for Regina. And so when Rumple came to the door Emma stayed behind Regina with magic at he fingertips but all of her faith in the woman that she loved.
"I believe I have a deal to collect on your majesty."
"It would seem so."
"I'll be brief. I don't want anything grand. I only came for the heart of the saviour."
"The heart of the saviour?"
"Yes."
"That is not mine to give old man." Emma intertwined her fingers with Regina's after these words.
"Ah yes but you see my deal rests on a rather specific technicality ladies. You see, I know how this works; you fall in love and true love's kiss and everything that comes with that. But! I also know that with a love like this, you pledge your heart eternally. Which, my dear regal overlord, means that in fact it is yours to give and you will be giving it to me."
A cheeky smile danced over Regina's lips. Rumple noticed immediately and grew slightly worried.
"Gold I am afraid that your deal has unfortunately become moot. Seeing as you obviously didn't put as much thought as you should have and that I am not as predictable as I once was, you have successfully made a deal for nothing."
After a few moments realisation came to the old man's face and all he could do was nod towards the two women in front of him coming to understand all that must have transpired and he respectfully backed out of Regina's home.
Regina turned around in Emma's arms and relished in the feeling of just how perfectly she came to fit there.
Emma kissed her forehead and then slowly moved down to her lips. Their kiss was passionate and made the Queen's knees grow weak. She smiled into Emma's lips and eagerly followed as she was led upstairs and towards what was now their bedroom and for the first time in Regina's life, she felt safe and so much more than content in the walls of her home and in the arms of her true love.
The End.