I'll Follow You into the Dark
A/N: So I owe two one-shots and a rated-M chapter of ATSL right now, but this came into my head and I needed to write it. It was inspired by the song I'll Follow You Into The Dark by Deathcab for Cutie. If you don't know that song - it's great!
A huge thank you to my beta-reader Hunnyfresh for her invaluable input and advice.
Disclaimer: Obviously I do not own Once, the characters, or Death Cab for Cutie's song. Just using them for my own satisfaction – deriving no profits.
If Heaven and Hell decide, that they both are satisfied
And illuminate the "No's" on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
~ Death Cab for Cutie ~
The battle was all but finished. Storybrooke was in ruins. Good had triumphed over evil. Rumplestiltskin and Cora, having formed an alliance in the new world, had been defeated. The battle had been won with heavy casualties, but the survivors were stirring, coming out of hiding to treat the wounded and tend to the dead.
Emma stumbled through town. She catalogued her injuries as she walked and was astonished to discover that other than superficial wounds, she seemed to be fine. She was mostly unsteady at this time due to her sheer exhaustion. She came upon Ruby, sobbing over Granny's prone figure. She paused to put a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder where she knelt. Granny had been one of many casualties in this battle. Emma's heart broke for the desperate weeping of her closest friend in Storybrooke, but she knew she was unable to bring her comfort.
She passed by the dwarves, six of them huddled around Leroy on the ground. Astrid laid across his chest, desperately begging him to awaken with tears streaming down her pretty face. Emma saw her kiss him time and again, but still he did not wake.
Emma stopped, unable to continue moving as she approached a small group huddled near the well – the only reliable source of transport between the Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke. It had been Snow and Charming's decision against Regina's dire warnings to keep the portal open in order to allow their compatriots to pass between realms. In the end, though, it had cost them much. It was this portal through which Cora had passed. She had entered town covertly and apparently seduced Rumple into joining her.
Belle had been the first fatality suffered by the town. Cora had been enraged to discover Rumple's affection divided between her and the young brunette and had torn out her heart in the middle of Granny's lunch rush. With such a brazen display of hostility after so many covert movements, the town had no choice but to go to battle with the witch.
Snow and Charming had given moving speeches to the town, who happily took up arms defending the only home they'd known for nearly three decades. They had known that the risk was great, but they believed in the age-old truth that good would inevitably conquer evil.
And in the end it did. But not before it took the lives of both Emma's parents.
She took shuffling steps as the cries choked her and prevented her from breathing. She felt like screaming. She felt full of rage. She felt that there was no injustice so great as watching the two people she had spent her whole life chasing lying next to one another, their hands extended in death as though reaching for one another. Henry kneeled between their bodies, his own hands touching each of their shoulders as he wept.
The sight of her son so broken and defeated, so small and only now realizing the cruelty that can be dealt was too much for Emma. The mantle of the savior had always sat uneasily on her shoulders, but never more so than now. The people she loved in Storybrooke were gone or were hurting, and she was powerless to change it.
She turned her face away and continued walking, her feet moving without any rhyme or reason. The only thought that remained constant among the whirling vortex of her despair was that she had to find her.
She had to find Regina. She had to know that her true love had survived. She could feel her heart leading her on – she followed it blindly.
When she found herself facing the well – the place where Regina had saved her, where they had finally exchanged words that were not cloaked in desperate animosity, she felt her heart give a mighty leap. She knew what she needed to do. She thought regretfully of Henry for a moment before thinking that he would understand. If anyone could understand the love that existed between his two mothers, it was Henry.
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The contrast between the detritus and death spread around Storybrooke and the sun shining in Fairytale Land was staggering. Emma held her hand over her eyes for a moment as they adjusted to the brightness and tried to interpret where she was. Despite having spent Christmas here nearly every year since the curse broke, she was unaccustomed to the landscape in the summer months. When finally she caught sight of an apple orchard in the distance, she sighed her relief and started walking.
Her grief from Storybrooke seemed to burn away in the blazing sunlight streaming down from above. She found herself smiling the nearer she came to the farmstead. She stopped mid-field to gather flowers for her love. She knew that the wildflowers were secretly Regina's favorite despite years in both realms cultivating more extravagant tastes. She held the small bundle of daisies in her sweaty fist as she neared the farmhouse.
She knocked perfunctorily on the door but was unsurprised when there was no response. She walked on from the house toward the stables and finally saw her. She saw Regina trotting through the pasture on her horse. Her hair flew freely behind her, longer by a foot than it had been when she and Emma had met so long ago. She saw Regina smile gleefully as the horse effortlessly scaled a hedgerow moving in sync with her as though she were an extension of his body rather than a burden to be borne. This was how Emma loved seeing Regina the most. Despite years together in Storybrooke, she had never seen Regina look so free as she did here, moving in tandem with her prized stallion.
She stood against the fence watching them slow into a trot and then walk toward the stable. She walked slowly toward the stable, knowing how little Regina liked to be disturbed when she was here. She knew the pain that existed in Regina's past and the heartache she must be fleeing now as she ran to the safest place she had.
She gave a shy smile when Regina looked up from her post-ride grooming. Regina's face lit up at the sight of Emma clutching a fistful of wildflowers and she quickly dropped the curry comb as she ran over to throw her arms around Emma's neck. Emma wound slender arms around Regina's waist and pulled her close, smelling the sunlight and wind and hay upon her skin.
"I missed you."
"Oh Em…we've barely been apart."
"It doesn't feel like that."
"I know, darling. But we're together now. And we have all the time in the world."
Emma thought she had never seen Regina look so beautiful. She was barefoot and she wore a filmy white dress. She looked so peaceful and joyful here. Emma always felt she looked years younger here, before time and a broken heart had made her eyes full of sadness and worry. She seemed more alive here, somehow, than she ever did in Storybrooke.
"I cannot, however, say that I approve of you leaving our son like that."
Emma felt a moment of heartache at the memory of Henry's tears. She had always known that Regina was the better mother, but she hated to let her son down.
"I know, love. I'm sorry. I couldn't stay there, I had to find you."
"I'd guess you didn't even stop to tell him where you were going. Did you even say goodbye?"
Rather than responding, Emma hung her head and Regina sighed.
"Darling, you know that I'm not going anywhere, right?"
"I know, I just…don't know what to say to him."
"Tell him the truth."
"Which is?"
"Emma, you know what the truth is. Now stop avoiding it here with me and go take care of our son." She leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Emma's pouting lips to soften her words
Emma complied only after another long, tender kiss and a wordless promise to return soon.
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As she opened her eyes back in Storybrooke, she heard a strange high-pitched beeping and a pinch in her arm. She raised her right hand and peered down to see an IV in her aged and bony hand. She was filled with alarm. A short time ago she had walked among the burning buildings of Storybrooke. But based on the age of her hand, that had been years ago. She shook her head as she continued to struggle. She remembed being with Regina only moments before.
And then she saw him.
Henry was fast asleep in a chair in the corner, his glasses askew from his face. Despite his balding head and paunchy belly, when Emma saw his face peacefully asleep, she could not help but recall the first night she had met him. She smiled recalling the wonder and awe he had held for the world. She felt a tear trickle down her face as she looked at her boy – at the man he had grown to be.
As if he felt her gaze, the man awoke and gave a soft smile, "Hey, Ma."
When had his voice gotten so deep?
"Hey, Kid."
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When had her voice gotten so soft? Of all the signs that his Ma was slipping away, the lack of her usual boisterous laugh had disturbed him the most. He moved from the recliner in the corner where he'd been dozing to sit beside her, taking her hand between his own.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm tired, Henry."
"I know, Ma."
"Henry, I…I'm so proud of you."
He gave a tearful chuckle and rubbed his thumb across her hand just the way Regina did. Her eyes filled and she said, "You were our happy ending, Henry. You know that, right? The only thing either of us ever wanted was a family. You brought us together. All of us."
He shook his head and said, "You were the savior, Ma."
"No, Henry. Whatever my role in this story, I'd never have played it if you hadn't come and found me all those years ago. You were the true hero."
He let out a sob as he brushed the hair back from her face.
"You need to be that hero again, Henry. Take care of your family – not just your children and grandchildren, but your brother and sister."
"You know I will, Ma." He couldn't stop the tears from flooding his cheeks. He had been sitting in this room for weeks waiting for this moment, but still he was unprepared. He bit his lip in shame – his mother would have been able to handle this. She would have been strong.
"We both love you Henry, so much."
He squeezed his eyes tight, his throat too constricted with tears to speak and allowed himself a few choking, gasping sobs. "I…I love you both, too, Ma."
She put her free hand to his face, gracing the back of his other hand with her thumb. He covered her hand on his cheek with his own. After a moment, he watched her eyes drift closed as though she was going to sleep, but as her hand fell away from his cheek, he knew she was gone.
He pulled his mother from her bed and clutched her to his chest, weeping openly as he cradled her much too small body in his arms. He stayed with her, rocking and sobbing for an eternity before his tears ran out and he simply sat holding his white knight, his savior, his mother.
A hand traced comforting circles over his back and he closed his eyes, leaning into the touch.
"Oh Hen, I'm so sorry."
He gingerly laid her back down upon her bed, observing the small smile on her utterly peaceful face. Absurdly, he laughed out loud. He reached out and clutched onto Grace's hand, pulling her closer until he could feel her stable warmth against his own body, her heartbeat calming him as she drew his head to her chest.
"Don't you see, Grace? You don't need to be sorry. I miss my mom every day, but it's nothing to what my Ma felt. Mom was her one true love. And you know what they say about true love." He gave another warm chuckle, "They always find each other."
A/N: Please tell me what you think.