'Emma Swan'
Trembling fingers run lightly across the intricate letters that are engraved into the blade of the dagger, her body heaves and shakes in the aftermath of what has just taken place. She aches, her body runs rampant with pain that is reminiscent of those hellish and seemingly endless moments she had spent strapped down and tortured by Greg. The darkness had tried to take her, but Emma...
Somewhere behind her she hears Snow's sobs, hears David try his best to soothe her with a wavering voice. She couldn't care less about the pirate.
"Regina, darling..."
A hand gently comes to rest on her shoulder and she immediately shrugs it off. Eyes still focused on the dagger that she holds, fingers curled around it so tightly that the metal digs into the flesh of her palm, but she pays it no mind. It is nothing compared to the pain she feels within her very soul.
"Regina, we should go...I must retrieve Roland."
Her hand curls even tighter around the blade and she hisses, whirling to face the voice from her spot on the ground.
"Well you may go and retrieve him! Leave us, leave me..." She pays no attention to his reaction, returning to gazing at the dagger. Leave me...She left...She left me...
"Darling, you can't mean that. Here let me help..." He reaches down to help her up and without a second thought to her instincts her hand flies out, palm facing outward as she calls upon her magic to fling him backward and knock him off of his feet a fair distance away from her. A soft gasp punctures the endless sobs behind her but she pays it no mind as she pulls herself up to her feet, head held high as she glares the man down across from her. He had never truly seen the Evil Queen at her prime. But now he sees her at her worst, lost in her agony.
"I am not your darling.." She sneers, hand flourishing in a motion to call forth a fireball. She balances it in her palm and stares at it for a moment, barely noticing the smearing of crimson over her skin. A smirk forms on her lips and as the man attempts to speak to her again she growls, facing him once more as the fire she conjured glows more brightly. She thinks she can see fear in his eyes. Good. It's what she wants now.
"Enough, I don't want to hear you speak another word. I want you to leave." A soft murmur of her name from behind her makes her hand twitch, she ignores it. It doesn't matter. "Go fetch your son, go live your life with your fellow unwashed miscreants. Leave me be. All of you..." She's likely being unreasonably selfish; Snow and David have lost E-They've lost her too. But she isn't thinking. The only thing running through her mind right now is the memory of a teary-eyed Saviour sacrificing herself to keep a promise she had made what seems like an eternity ago and it hurts. It hurts more than the physical pain wracking her body right now.
She turns to face the Charmings, sees that soul crushing agony in their eyes that she is sure is reflected in her own, and she sees Snow's recognition. Of her pain. Of her feelings. Of everything. And it's too much for her to bear.
"Regina..."
With another flourish of her hand she disappears, dagger still in hand as she finds herself within the secure confines of her vault. It's there, now that she is alone with her sorrow that she finally gives in to her pain, as her knees give way and she crumbles to the floor with loud and heart wrenching sobs. Tears run unending down her face as she wraps her arms around her midsection, uncaring of the cold and hard floor as she mourns for a stubborn, hard-headed idiot to whom she had unknowingly given her heart.
Emma isn't dead...
It's a while later, possibly minutes or even hours. She doesn't know. But what she does know is that logic is returning to her in small pieces. And that logic reminds her that Emma is not dead, she can't be. Her name is engraved clearly on the blade that she still clings to like some sort of life line. Her blood has dried, embedded into some of the delicate lettering and she tries to wipe it away with an even bloodier hand. It's useless. Just like her attempts to keep the Saviour from going dark had been.
But she isn't dead...She's The Dark One...
"And The Dark One can be summoned..." The words come out in a shaky, cracked voice as she blinks, more tears rolling their way down delicate cheekbones. Her eyes throb, her whole body still twinges with the remnants of the Darkness' power but she slowly scrambles to her knees and raises the dagger.
"Em-Dark One...I summon thee!" She calls out, trying her best to muster as much strength into her voice as she can as she stutters over the name. She can't bring herself to say it. Not now. The name brings forth such feelings within her, memories of golden hair and tentative smiles and goofy attempts at humour whilst sharing lunch together in her office. She cannot stand those feelings. But she also cannot stand what she feels now after what happened tonight. She needs her. She had told her that hadn't she? Before they went on that trip-road trip she had called it- to New York. To find Maleficent's child and to save Robin...She realises now after she had lay there on the ground thinking, that it wasn't real love that held drove her to save him, but the promise of a happy ending due to some fairy dust and a tattoo.
"Dark One!" She calls again, gripping the handle of the dagger more firmly as she tries so hard not to break again. She hopes that her call will be answered. But she also doesn't. She doesn't know what she would say or do if she appears, but she knows she has to try. For herself. For her friend. For the person who had stood by her for so long, and had done so much for her...
She loses her patience after moments left waiting in the silence, her free hand flicks outward and she sends some of her belongings crashing into the wall in her newly found anger. She yells wordlessly in her frustration as she does it again and again, the room falling to pieces around her as she unleashes her sorrow and pain.
"Please! Em..Emma!" She's sobbing again, begging in a manner that she has never allowed herself to do since she became the Evil Queen. Since she became strong. "Emma, please I need you!" Her magic is forgotten now as she picks up one of the empty bottles she has somehow not yet destroyed and launches it against the wall. Moments pass and she is still alone, her last fragments of strength fail and she collapses once again. Her knees meet shards of broken glass now instead of concrete floor but she does not care. Everything already hurts. Her body. Her soul. Her heart...
An idea comes to mind and she acts without thinking, embedding her free hand into her chest and swiftly yanking her heart out. The only sounds in the room are her broken breaths and the beating of her heart as she holds it in her hand in front of her. She balances it next to the dagger in her other hand and stares. Her heart is lighter than it once was, thanks to Henry. Thanks to Emma...Her hand squeezes instinctively and she gasps. It hurts. But maybe she deserves the pain. She ruins everything. So many people's lives...The Charming's, Emma's, even her own...
Her hand squeezes again, tighter this time and she groans, lower lip trembling for a moment before she bites down onto it. "Please..." It's a whisper now, she no longer knows what it is she's asking for, but she keeps squeezing...Hears a slight crack.
"Enough, Regina." The voice comes from the shadows behind her, and before she can even take a full breath she is there...Emma. She has a hand on Regina's, the one grasping her heart. "I'm here. Stop this now." Her voice is low, it would be almost soothing if it weren't for the fact that she is still squeezing at her own heart. But Regina does something she so rarely has had to do for such a long time. She obeys. Her grip loosens and she hands her heart over to Emma, sighing as she feels the other woman's fingertips brush against hers. She looks up into emerald eyes that used to hold so much light, but now...She gasps, her now free hand coming to rest on Emma's. The blonde woman's light, the happiness that used to sparkle in her eyes so often before they had let Cruella and the sea bitch into Storybrooke is now gone. Buried. She tries to speak, but the blonde moves then, motioning for her to lean back slightly so that she can return her heart. Regina shakes her head, tightens her grip on Emma's hand.
"Keep it." It's a broken plea, she leans forward to rest her forehead against the other woman's and the corner of her lips twitch infinitesimally as green eyes widen in shock.
"I can't, Regina...You need it. Don't you want your happiness? With Robin Hood?" Before Emma even finishes her sentence Regina is shaking her head again.
"I thought he was part of my happy ending...But..." She hesitates, knowing she will sound ungrateful for what she has to say now in the aftermath of the sacrifice Emma has just made for her. She closes her eyes and sighs, leaning more into Emma and her body relaxes ever so slightly as an arm wraps around her in a gentle embrace. It's not quite a hug, but Emma is holding her. In more ways than one, she notes as the blonde still cradles her heart so carefully in her hand. She breathes deep before opening her eyes once more.
"I realised that I was wrong. That you...You and Henry are what I've been searching for all this time. My happy ending." Those soulful eyes fill with tears as Emma gasps, but she has to continue. She needs to. "You keep my heart, Emma Swan, because it's yours. I think it has been for a long time." The last few words are whispers, and her body begins to shake in Emma's hold.
A moment passes and Emma still hasn't said anything, but her eyes travel from Regina's to her heart and back again so rapidly that it would almost be comical if it had been a different scenario that they were in. Regina waits. Her heartbeat beats at a faster pace in Emma's grip. But she can be patient for Emma, after everything the other woman has done for her it is the least that she can do.
"Holding someone's heart means you have total control over them, you can make them do your bidding without hesitation." Regina leans back to look at the blonde slowly, unsure of where she is going with this. "And you hold the dagger...My dagger. So you also have control over me as well. Tell me, Regina. Do you want to control me?" Emma stares at her, and Regina inhales and flinches as if she's been dealt an actual physical blow.
"Of course not! You're my...Emma. You're Emma; daughter to two of the most insufferable people I've ever known, equally as insufferable yourself at times but.." Emma visibly withers with her words. "But! You're the most loyal, kind and wonderful woman I've ever known. I would not ever want to control you" She finishes and lowers the dagger to the floor before releasing it gently. Her hand cramps after maintaining such an unyielding grip for so long, she flexes it and tries her best not to grimace. She isn't sure that she's successful if the sudden narrowing of Emma's eyes is anything to go by. "Emma..."
Her soft murmur is interrupted as the blonde leans in closely, so much so that she instantly remembers that day at the mine when they had been desperately trying to rescue Henry and Archie. So much has happened since then. They've been through so much together. Honestly she regrets all the wrongs she has done against Emma, but she couldn't ever regret this moment in the other woman's arms.
"And I don't want control over you, Regina." As she speaks the blonde slowly and carefully eases the heart back into Regina's chest, supporting her more firmly around her back as she does so before leaning back and removing her hand. "There's only one thing I want, one thing I've always wanted from the moment I met you. But I'm afraid to ask for it."
"Emma, please...What do you want?" Emma's words are barely out into the open air between them before Regina replies, and she knows that the old her would have laughed and mocked such behaviour. Seen it as weak and pathetic. But she is no longer that woman. And she is desperate to know what this selfless creature in front of her craves so that she can finally give something back in return for all that has been done for her. There is nothing but silence between them for a few moments before green harden with decisiveness and she readies herself.
"You. I want you." The words are barely audible but she manages to hear them, and she feels so much at once that she is incapable of forming words. Her only response is to immediately press her lips to the blonde's, wrapping her arms around the other woman's neck as they embrace with a warmth and passion that they know deep within their souls can only mean one thing;
Love.