Chapter One

It's time to run
Take us away from here
Protect us from further harm
Resistance

Resistance - Imagine Dragons

-0-

"Regina, we have to…"

A terrible roar erupted from the skies above 108 Mifflin Street, the ground began to tilt and shake with such violence that the once sturdy house began to shift dangerously. The picture frames that had been lovingly placed all over the ground floor of the house and all the way up the stairs, fell from the walls, shattering against the floor. Light fixtures, game consoles, breakfast dishes all crashed down against the trembling ground. The heavy oak table in the dining room slid across the floor, colliding heavily against the door frame.

A lone figure fell to her knees, her pale hands reaching out for anything sturdy to grab, but it was useless. As the expensive chandelier that hung in their hallway came smashing down, the shards of glass quickly spreading across the floor she cried out. Reaching up she covered her head with her arms and closed her eyes, willing it to be over. Then as if a prayer had been answered, the tremors did stop, almost as abruptly as they had begun.

Breathing heavily, the beautiful blonde looked up cautiously, her wide green eyes assessing the damage that had been caused in only a matter of seconds. Swallowing away the lump in her throat as she took in the ruins of their beautiful home, Emma Swan pushed herself up off her knees and stumbled to the bottom of the stairs, leaning heavily against the banister as she looked up.

"Regina? Regina, please we have to go there's not much…time!" she called out, fighting back the tears in her eyes as she made to move up the stairs, only as she did, the stunning brunette she'd long since fallen in love with came hurrying down the stairs with two back packs in her arms. "We have to go!"

"I know…I know…I just, she can't sleep without Mr Gordo." Regina said, hurrying as fast as her injured leg would allow her. Emma reached out taking the back packs and then Regina's hand, quickly tugging her towards the front door before stumbling to a stop, causing Regina to bump into her back. "Emma…?"

Emma crouched down, her hand slipping away from Regina as she reached for one of the smashed photo frames. Carefully she lifted it up and smiled softly, her heart squeezing painfully in her chest as she gazed down at her favourite photo of her little family. It had been a candid photo, shot by her Dad at hers and Regina's wedding, 2 years ago

Inside the broken frame Emma had come up behind Regina, one hand slipping around the second bride's waist and Regina had inclined her head to the side to meet Emma in a sweet, tender kiss whilst the blonde held her then 12 year old son close making him laugh as he struggled to get away from his overly affectionate Mom's and then there was their beautiful 2 year old daughter Charlotte, laughing happily and clapping her hands together as she looked at Henry.

The love radiating from that one little picture was overwhelming and Emma felt her heart give another painful squeeze. "Emma…Sweetheart…we have to go, we're almost out of time," Regina was now the one urging her wife forward frantically as she cast a worried look outside. Emma looked up and nodded her head, making quick work of sliding the photograph out of the frame and into one of the rucksacks before grabbing Regina's hand and allowing her to hurry them both outside and to the bug.

As their hands simultaneously latched onto the handles of the doors, there was an ear shattering crack of thunder and as they cast their eyes upwards they saw the unmistakable sight of the Dark Curse rushing towards them. "Get in…Get in the car!" screamed Emma, not needing to tell Regina twice as they both dived into the yellow bug. The ground began to tremble again, a huge crack in the ground charged towards the house and began to split it into two. Regina closed her eyes to hide from the destruction of her home, as they car sped away and forced down a calming breath, her heart hammering in her chest as she and Emma both took in the sight of their town.

Everywhere you looked there were people running through the streets screaming, all trying to outrun the Dark Curse, even though it would be all in vain. Regina and Emma had a plan though, they, along with Henry and Charlotte were the only ones that had ever been allowed to leave Storybrooke, so it was with heavy hearts they were going to do just that today. They had wanted to go home, to the Enchanted Forest with the rest of their family but both women knew their children would have to stay here and so there was no option. They weren't going to leave their children; they could start over somewhere else when they crossed that town line.

Regina reached out a hand for Emma's, to try and comfort her, sensing and feeling the other woman's pain as though it were her own. Emma had already said a goodbye to her parents but she was struggling. "They'll be alive…" Emma assured herself. As painful as this was, her parents would be in the Enchanted Forest and she, Regina and their children would remain here. Even though it broke her heart to know she'd never see them again, Emma was forcing herself to take comfort in the fact that they would be alive and together.

"There they are," Regina said suddenly, breaking the tense silence in the bug after a few minutes and sure enough, both Mary Margaret and David were stood side by side, with Henry next to his Grandmother and Charlotte hiding her face in her Grandfathers jacket. Emma nodded, glancing once in the rear view mirror before they skidded to a stop.

The couple hurried forward after climbing out the car and as Emma moved to embrace her parents, Henry hurried to Regina and held her tight. "Mom…we were worried." He told her, glancing past the brunette towards the green fog surging towards them. Regina cupped his face and forced his eyes back onto her and away from the destruction.

"Everything is going be okay my little prince, I promise you…"

A cruel and sickening cackle interrupted the moment they were all sharing and every person spun around where they stood to find its source. Sure enough there, stood in the middle of the road with an evil smirk on her face was Zelena, beside her stood a weary looking, bound Mr Gold. His eyes were haunted, distant as though he were somewhere else entirely. Twirling the Dark One's dagger in her hand Zelena looked between them all and pouted, "What, no hugs? I just came to see you Regina…rumour has it you and that tramp you call a wife are going to try and run…"

"You think you can stop us…"Emma started, moving forward and raising her hands towards the Wicked Witch, Regina though held out her hand and touched her wife's arm, her eyes firmly on her 'half-sister'. Something in her eyes was ringing alarm bells.

"You're too late Zelena. They're going, you failed." Mary Margaret called out, laying a protective arm across Charlotte. Zelena laughed again and looked to Mr Gold whose face contorted into something akin to sorrow, regret, even pain .

"You really think I would have made it that simple. You naïve idiots. No one's leaving, there's a shield around this entire town. Neither one of you are leaving, you're going back to the Enchanted Forest…" she said happily, glancing once over her shoulder towards the cloud creeping closer.

Emma's eyes widened as she looked towards the town line, hurrying towards it she pressed her hands out and was immediately met with a solid, invisible wall. Dread uncoiled in her stomach as she looked back to Regina, who was slowly coming to the realization of what Zelena had planned. Her hand tightened around Henry's as she looked towards the red-head.

"Blondie and the Charming's haven't got it yet, but you do, don't you sis?" Zelena cackled cruelly. "You understand what this is all about…" she prodded gleefully, her face then contorting into something twisted and angry. "You took the life that was supposed to be mine! So now I take your happy ending….your children," she chuckled, before waving a hand and disappearing into a cloud of green smoke along with Mr Gold.

"Regina…Regina…what did she mean?" Emma asked, taking Charlotte from her Father and holding her daughter close. Regina cried quietly and pulled Henry in and held him tightly, leaning in to rest her cheek against the top of his head as Emma moved closer. "Baby…?" Regina looked up into the eyes of her true love, to the daughter who had in turn been created by the pure magic of their true love and let out a small sob.

"We can't leave, w..w..we'll be transported back to the Enchanted Forest with everyone else but Henry and Charlotte…they'll…" Regina trailed off unable to formulate the words. How were they supposed to say goodbye to their children, how were they supposed to leave them here, to be alone in this cruel world. Emma shook her head, tears spilling over her cheeks, her heart breaking as she finally grasped what this all meant.

"No…no…"a painful sob was ripped from her throat as Regina pulled her into a hug, all of them holding each other close as the reality of what was happening hit them all. Behind them Mary Margaret and David were holding onto each other, watching the heart-breaking scene, crying. How long they stood like that, none of them knew but when thunder began to erupt right above them and Charlotte started to cry out of fright, Mary Margaret gasped and squeezed her husband tighter.

"It's here…the curse…" she sobbed burying her face into David's chest. Emma looked up, eyeing the cloud before looking down and her beautiful daughter as did Regina. Both Mom's leaned in and pressed a kiss on either side of her blonde head, whispering words of love into her ear, before she was reluctantly passed to Henry whose eyes were wide with terror and disbelief that this was real and happening.

"Henry, little prince…honey, you have to take care of Charlotte okay…" Regina started, smoothing a hand over his cheek. Henry cried quietly and shook his head as he held onto his little sister,

"Mom's, no…" he started, but another hand on his other cheek stopped his protests. Emma knelt down and looked up at her handsome son, her entire world shattering down right before her eyes.

"Henry, you can do this. You're both going to be okay…we are coming back, I promise we are going to find a way to be a family again. You told me once you believed in me, well right now I need you to believe in us, believe that we will be together again…promise me you'll do that." She urged him, watching his eyes dart between both his Moms's as the cloud began to encircle them all. Charlotte's cries grew louder as she reached out for her Mom, scared and wanting one of them to hide her from the horrible sights she was witnessing. "Henry promise me…"

"I promise! I promise I'll believe…" Henry cried out as his parents began to disappear. "Mom's I promise!" he yelled into the blackness once it had consumed them all. His hold on his sister tightened as he let out a pained cry. The blackness around him roared loudly, cracks of thunder almost deafening him as he willed it to be over, Charlotte's cries had become muted, the only signs she was there were the little hands gripping the back of his hair.

When the blackness finally faded away, Henry found himself still stood in the road. There was complete silence and blue skies. "Mom's?" he said quietly, as he took a step forward. Slowly the fourteen year old boy looked around, everything inside him radiating shock when he finally accepted that he and Charlotte were now alone in the road. Everyone had gone, even the car. The leaving Storybrooke sign was gone; there was just nothing but trees and road.

"Hen-wy…?"Henry turned his watery eyes to his little sister, tears staining her rosy cheeks as she sniffled, her bottom lip trembling. "Mommy?" she asked, her little voice catching as she rubbed her eyes. Henry rubbed his hand over her back in the way he'd seen his Mother's do, time and time again to calm her down. Right now he felt like it was all he could do, he was struggling to understand what had happened, since it had all happened so abruptly. One minute they were leaving town as a family, the next it was him and Charlotte, alone in a big world and he felt lost.

Charlotte observed her big brother quietly, her little body still flinching every so often as she calmed down from all of the crying. Henry was crying and her Moms were gone, at only four years old she understood quite clearly that something bad had happened, had changed forever. Knowing it was what was needed, her little arms encircled her brother's neck again and she tucked herself comfortably against his chest, lightly patting his back.

"…believe in us, believe that we will be a family again…"

Henry squeezed his eyes shut, letting himself give over to the small comfort Charlotte offered before steeling himself against the varying emotions coursing through him and opening his eyes. Clearing his throat he looked at Charlotte and forced what he hoped was a reassuring smile onto his face. "It's gonna be okay Charley-bear, Mom and Mommy will be back for us…we'll be okay, I promise."

-0-

First ever fanfic, but decided it was time to brave it and put it out there.

Once Upon A Time is perhaps my favorite show on television. Since I discovered Regina and Emma I've loved them, they are my OTP, I adore the idea of them together with a little family of their own. I guess this is where this little story came from. I hope you guys like it so far, next chapter I think we'll be facing a considerable time jump, between when the family is parted to when they are finally reunited...

Hopefully you guys will review and let me know whether it's worth continuing or not...

Peace out