OPERATION SWAN

Chapter One

Henry would have had a better name.

In the moments after the dagger fell, no one moved. No one breathed. They all just stared. Seconds and minutes and hours and days seemed to pass, and no one moved.

This isn't real. That didn't just happen.

"Regina…." Snow's panicked voice came from beside her. She didn't turn to look at her, and Snow didn't have to finish the question: Regina already knew what she wanted to ask. Emma was gone and Gold was nearly dead and all things horrible and magical were completely her domain now.

Regina didn't say a word, she just stepped forward and knelt in front of the fallen dagger.

Emma Swan

It was real, after all.

She tried to sort out her thoughts. She didn't know what to do, but she knew she had to keep herself calm and put on a brave front, for the sake of everyone else around her.

What am I going to tell Henry?

She picked up the dagger. It felt heavier than the last time she held it. Much, much heavier. Heavy like the burden that Emma had just taken on for her and all she could think was how she tried so hard to drive her out of Storybrooke and out of her life and even though things were better between them now than they had ever been, Regina still couldn't understand why Emma would make this sacrifice for her. She didn't deserve it. She hoped no one else was thinking that. She was sure they were.

She held up the dagger.

"Emma Swan, I summon thee."

She vowed that this would be the one and only time she used the dagger to control Emma, in any way.

Snow and David stepped closer to her. She didn't have to turn to look, she could just sense them behind her. Hook and Robin were further back, but she was well aware that all eyes were on her. No one was breathing again. Or maybe that was just her.

Nothing was happening.

"Regina? Why isn't it working?" This time, it was David. This time, Regina turned around. This time, she let them see the fear she was sure was painted all over her face.

"I don't know," she admitted. She looked at the dagger again, cursing Rumplestiltskin for finding a way to destroy their lives again, even as he lay nearly dead.

Serves him right. Selfish bastard.

"What do we do?" Snow again. Panicked, again.

Regina looked her in the eyes. After everything, Snow deserved that much from her. She deserved Regina's honesty. She wished she had something helpful to say. Instead, "I don't know."

No one breathed.

"Let me think."

And she did think. She thought about Emma telling her she was glad she got to see her get her happy ending. All she wanted was for Regina to go into that church, and she couldn't even do that. She couldn't do that, but Emma could do this, without a second thought. Regina couldn't understand it, still.

But she couldn't go in that church, because she couldn't let Henry die. Even when she didn't know him, she knew him, and she couldn't let him die.

What am I going to tell Henry?

Everyone was staring, still. They thought she was working this out in her head. They thought she would have a solution. She never had the solution. Didn't they know she was always wrong? Always?

"I think… maybe it takes time for the Dark One curse to fully take over." She was pulling this out of her ass, and she knew it. She hoped they couldn't see that. She knew Emma would have seen right through her. "Emma's light magic… it's strong. Maybe I can't summon her, until the curse takes over."

"So where is she now?" It came from Snow or David and it didn't matter who because Regina heard the words and not the voice. She was lost in her own thoughts again. She was asking herself the same question.

Everyone was staring, still. They were looking to her for all the answers. They were searching for their leader. Emma Swan had been that. She had been the leader ever since she declared herself so on the shore of Neverland, and she had been so ever since, whether she meant to be or not. She had lead the troops to save Henry and she never once doubted it was possible. Perhaps that's where Henry got his believer heart from, because Regina knew he certainly didn't learn that from her.

Henry.

Henry knew his father had lost his father to the Dark One curse. Henry had already lost his father. She couldn't let him lose Emma.

Everyone was staring. She knew she needed to say something.

"Emma's a survivor. We all know that," she started. To her surprise, Snow and David seemed to visibly relax. "So for now, have the Sheriff's station on alert. Get everyone out, looking for her. If she's in Storybrooke, we need to find her. If she crosses the town line, well then we know she's safe there. Look for her here."

"You think she would cross the town line?" David asked.

Regina shrugged. "It's what I would do."

"What about the dagger?" Snow asked.

Regina looked down at the dagger in her hand. "I'll hold on to it, for now. It's powerful magic. When we find Emma, she can decide what we do with it."

"Regina," Robin spoke up, for the first time. "She'll be the Dark One. Is it wise to let her choose?"

"She'll still be Emma," Regina insisted. She didn't actually know if that was true. Rumple was the only Dark One she'd ever known. She didn't know how, exactly, the curse changed him. Or how long it took.

Emma, please still be Emma.

"You guys, start looking. If you find her, call me. I've got to talk to Henry." Regina turned to head back to the diner. Robin started to follow her, but Regina stopped him. "I've got to do this on my own. Please, help them look for Emma."

The clicking of her heels on the wet pavement was the only sound as Regina walked alone to the diner. She cool metal of the dagger against her palm was troubling. She couldn't think about what she was going to say to Henry. She could only think about Emma's eyes as she held that dagger up. She didn't even hesitate.

The diner had cleared out considerably now, from how busy it had been when she was there earlier. She was grateful for that. Henry was still sitting at a booth, with hot chocolate and his book. It really was his book now, more than ever. The next author. She should have known it would always be him. Operation Mongoose had been about finding the author. She had no idea the book was trying to find an author as well.

She knew he could read the look on her face, even before she sat down.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Henry's eyes fell to the dagger, almost immediately. Regina had made sure, at least, to hide Emma's inscribed name from his view.

"Henry, we need to talk."

Henry listened intently as Regina told him all she knew. She told him about the darkness, and how it had enveloped her. She told him about the dagger, and Emma's sacrifice. He didn't respond right away. He just took it all in, and mulled it over in his mind.

"She's still the savior," he said, finally.

"Henry, she's becoming the Dark One."

"No, that's not what I meant. She sacrificed herself, because she's the savior. She never wanted that title, but she can't help but live up to it."

"We're going to find her," Regina stated, not that Henry appeared worried. She was worried.

"I know, Mom. She'll be fine."

The Truest Believer. Emma wasn't the only one who always lived up to her title.

"She's a hero," Regina said, "just like you."

"And you," Henry added, though he knew his mother still didn't associate herself with that word. "And heroes always win."

"Operation Swan," Regina said, though she hadn't originally meant to say it out loud.

Henry smiled. "It's perfect. I love it."

It's perfect.

He loves it.

He would have had a better name.

Regina took Henry back to the Sheriff's station, as he wanted to help the search party. Regina made sure David knew, on no uncertain terms, that he was never to let Henry out of his sight, not that she thought he would anyway. She just needed to feel like she had some semblance of control over the situation.

She then headed to her vault where all her books of magic were stored. She needed to read, to find something, to learn something of this curse. Or of this sorcerer, Merlin, who David told her about at the station. She knew her magic books were a long shot, but no more so than the books Robin and Hook were currently poring through at the library. Regina knew they would be better off with Belle's help there, but she was currently preoccupied with her dying estranged husband, and Regina knew they had to let her be with him.

As she walked down the concrete stairs to her vault, she was acutely aware of someone else's presence, though she couldn't tell who. Someone familiar and unfamiliar all at once.

She turned the corner to see Emma, standing, waiting.

"Emma!" Regina gasped.

Emma glanced at the dagger with cold eyes. Her eyes were also familiar, and unfamiliar, all at once. "Why are you surprised? You summoned me."