A/N: I'd really like to thank skepticpotato, my Beta, for well… Beta-ing this (and any mistakes that are left are all mine). Your second pair of eyes were awesome! I don't usually use a Beta, so it was a learning experience for me. But, more than that (yes, I just used but… I could rephrase it, but, I'm not gonna in this case… Although I'm pretty sure that I'm never going to look at the word 'but' the same after this experience. :P) she wound up being my cheerleader also, and she was a great one! :)

And ditchingnarnia for being my artist. Those who do videos are amazing people, and to have to deal with my crazy amount of stuff in this story too... :) And I think that the video is perfect. (it's at AO3, under the same title as this story, just won't let me post the link here).

oOOOOo

The two dark haired women fought. Going at each other like it was the end of the world.

It looked like the end of the world. Where there had been grass and trees and buildings, stood scorched earth and rubble. The air crackled with power as the woman dressed all in black leather got blown backwards by the woman in skins. She picked up a piece of pipe and attacked again. She was pushed down repeatedly by the woman in skins, but kept getting back up. Both women used whatever was around them to try and . Their screams echoing in the emptiness.

Neither would give up, and slowly the woman in skins started winning. It took longer and longer for the woman in black to get up. Her bruises started getting bruises. Her head swam. And then she was knocked onto her back. She had lost.

The woman in skins stood over the woman in black, laughing, a triumphant gleam in her eye. Her glee was short lived and her laughter died in her throat, replaced with a single cough. The woman in black's hand had moved fast, and the woman in skins looked down, stunned. A piece of pipe stuck through her. She pulled it out and stared down at the wound. Then at the woman in black, "This isn't the end…" She disappeared in an explosion of sparks.

The woman in black lay down again, staring up at the sky, "It never is…"

oOOOOo

"Emma— Emma—" Snow called out. The dagger clattered to the ground, and Emma was nowhere to be seen.

Regina was the first to move. She scanned the pavement, shed Robin's arms, and with two steps she got to the dagger a beat before Hook did. She ran her fingers along the new name. "Damn it."

Hook held out his hand, "Give it here, Regina."

Regina shook her head, "No."

Hook reached for the dagger again anyway, "I love her, I'll—"

"No." Hook took a step towards Regina hook first. Regina didn't move, "I dare you to try it Mr. Jones."

Hook took a step forward, met Regina's gaze and didn't move again, "Give me the dagger now."

Hook's growl had carried, and their little tête-à-tête had finally gotten the attention of the others in the road. Especially Snow and David. They walked over to Regina and Hook. "Regina, you seem certain that you should keep the dagger." Regina didn't respond, "Why?"

Regina pulled her gaze away from Hook, "Three reasons. One, if I'm going to figure out how to fix this, fix Emma, I have to have possession of it. Two, I have the magic to defend it from anyone who wishes to steal it. And three, I don't trust any of you anymore." She glanced at Snow and back to David, "Especially you two at the moment."

David looked back at his wife as well, then turned to Regina and put his hand over hers. "Okay."

Hook blustered, "What— no— she's the bloody Evil Queen. She'll be able to control your daughter. Make her do anything. She could make Emma kill you, or kill the town." He paused, "Or your son."

David met Regina's eyes and didn't blink or look away, "But, you won't do that, will you?"

"I will not."

David nodded, "I believe you, and I have a condition. It never leaves your side."

Hook threw his hands up, "You're all talking about this like— like you're deciding what to wear. She was the Evil Queen! She tried to kill you, tortured you, never uttered a word that wasn't a lie."

Everyone ignored Hook.

Regina hefted the dagger in one hand, the fingers of her other hand tracing the eight new letters that adorned it. "That will be cumbersome."

"Come back to the apartment with us. I'll make you a leather sheath for it."

Regina looked up at David, surprised, "You can work leather?"

The ghost of a smile graced David's lips, "Hey, I'm not just a pretty boy king you know."

Regina stared at David for a moment before shaking her head. "Right. So— I'm going to go check on Belle and Rumpel—"

"—and then come to the loft."

Regina nodded, "Yes. We'll start with a locating spell to find Emma."

Hook frowned, "Or you could summon her with the dagger. Since that's the whole point of having the damn thing."

"I said I wouldn't use it. Summoning her, I consider that using it Hook."

Hook's face was stony, except for one of his eyes that twitched, however he didn't speak again.

David held a hand out, "Regina, I know that we have to earn back yours… and eventually Emma's trust. This is the first step in that. I believe that you're on the level."

Regina shook David's hand firmly, "I am. So, ten minutes?"

It was Snow who nodded and spoke, "Our apartment."

Hook looked between the three former rulers. He'd been totally ignored by all of them even as he'd gotten more and more angry. With a grumble, he stalked away.

Snow and David left for their apartment, leaving Robin and Regina alone in the middle of the street. "Regina" Regina turned towards Robin. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Having that dagger, everyone will want it."

Regina looked down at it, "I can feel it. Bad things will happen if I don't hold on to this dagger."

Robin didn't get to give his opinion on the matter because Henry came sprinting from Gold's shop. "Mom, Mom… where's… Mom?"

Regina caught Henry around the waist, not letting him get all the way into the road, "She's not here. We don't know where she is. I need to check on Rumpel and Belle, and then we're making a plan at Snow and David's apartment. We'll start there. Okay?"

Henry looked down at the dagger. "That's… that's Mom's name. The dagger, it has Mom's name on it."

Regina nodded, "I know."

Henry looked up at Regina, "We'll… we'll save her, right, Mom?"

Regina pulled Henry to her and closed her eyes, "We will… you should go to David and Snow's apartment. I'll be right there, okay?" She glanced at Robin, "Will you go with him?"

Robin nodded, "Of course, of course…" He gave her a half a smile, gave her a half a hug and a kiss, and slung his arm over Henry's shoulders.

Regina continued across the street and into Rumpelstiltskin's shop. Belle cradled the still unconscious Rumpelstiltskin in her arms and the Apprentice seemed to be sleeping. Belle looked up as Regina approached.

"It's not you? Who's the dark one now?" Her eyes wandered to the dagger in Regina's hand, "I'm so sorry, I didn't want his name to come off this way, not like this." She paused, "Will you kill him?"

Regina knelt down next to Rumpelstiltskin, "Like it or not he is the reason that we all have what we have, are where we are," she paused, "I know a spell, maybe, but I'll need Santa's help over there. Apparently, he likes sleeping through the hard parts."

The Apprentice groaned, "I was just inhabited by the Dark One, then had it banished from me in a matter of moments. Forgive me if I'm a bit tired... Regina."

He pushed himself up onto one arm, "What is your plan?"

Regina glanced at him, then looked back to Belle. "I will combine their hearts."

"No." The Apprentice spoke so fast that his exclamation nearly overlapped with the end of Regina's sentence.

Regina's gaze didn't waver from Belle, "It's your choice, Belle. You're the only one left. Neal is dead, Milah's dead. It's up to you. This won't be like when I took Snow's heart and split it in two. Rumpel's too far gone for that to work. I can't promise that you both will live either."

The Apprentice interrupted Regina, his eyebrows furrowing as he studied her, "You split a heart. By yourself?"

Regina still paid no attention to the Apprentice. "This will connect you in ways that I cannot predict. I know that you still love him a bit, but, this will be more than that. If you have any— any reservations at all, any doubts then we'll find another way."

Belle sat, silent, for a long time. "What happened to Emma?"

Regina went with the change of subject, "She—" Regina cleared her throat, "She's the Dark One now."

Regina showed Belle the name on the dagger.

"I'm sorry."

Regina nodded, "I'll figure it out. Belle—"

Belle blew out a breath, "When I look in his eyes, all I see is the man I love. I know he hasn't been perfect, but who of us has. I— yes. Try it."

The Apprentice lay back down, "You'll have to try it alone then."

Regina stood, slowly turned, and stopped at the Apprentice's side. She grabbed a fist full of his shirt and pulled him up. "You will help me. We're both too weak to try it alone, but, together…"

"No."

Regina leaned closer, her lips next to his ear, "I know who you are…"

The Apprentice reared backwards, "Excuse me?" He pulled Regina's hands off his shirt and rearranged it, "I sincerely doubt that you know my name… Regina."

"Oh, I do, it came to me soon after you appeared. It all fell into place." Regina raised an eyebrow, "Did you know that you have a tell? Every time you say my name, you pause. And, it's true, I may not know your name, but I have deduced who you are. So, help me, and that fact stays between us."

The Apprentice stared at Regina for a long moment, then slowly sat on the edge of the cot. "What do I need to do?"

Regina knelt next to Rumpelstiltskin again, putting the dagger under one of her legs, "I just need your power. Whatever you have left. So, if you're able to not be a spineless mouse for a moment, put your hands on my shoulders."

He groaned as he stood, and then knelt behind Regina, however after a moment Regina felt his hands on her shoulders. "Okay. Now, concentrate."

Belle picked up Rumpelstiltskin's hand and kissed it, then moved closer to Regina. Regina met her eyes, "This will hurt."

Belle nodded and winced as Regina plunged her hand into her chest. Regina hand came back out with a very brightly red colored heart in it. She plunged her other hand into Rumpelstiltskin's chest, it came out with the strangely glowing white heart. "Concentrate, Apprentice."

"I was concentrating until you opened your mouth, Evil Queen."

"Didn't pause before that one did you Apprentice?" Regina gave a half a chuckle, which caused a frown to cross Belle's face. "Regina?"

Regina shook her head, sobered, and nodded, "I don't know what exactly this will do."

She put the two hearts next to each other, then closed her eyes and pushed them together. At first, nothing happened. The hearts deformed a little, each smooshing into the other, but nothing else happened at first.

Then came what seemed like a clap of thunder and flash of lightning combined, and the two hearts were one. Regina nearly fell backwards. "Let go."

The Apprentice was stunned and unmoving. "Wh—what?"

"Let. Go. Of. Me."

He dropped his hands as if he'd been scalded. "Why?"

Regina glanced over her shoulder, "Because this part I can do on my own, and I can see you eying the dagger."

After a moment he went back to the cot, and Regina looked up at Belle, "Ready?"

Belle shook her head, "Not in the least."

Regina took the now regular looking heart in her hands and with a fierce twist, it became two halves. She shoved one of them into Rumpelstiltskin's chest and the other a bit more gently into Belle's. Then, they waited. And waited. Belle leaned down next to Rumpelstiltskin's head, whispering something or other, and Regina stood, picking up the dagger and closing her eyes.

There was a gasp for breath and Regina opened her eyes to see Rumpelstiltskin staring up at her. He was silent for a minute, gathering strength, "You've won. You've defeated Rumpelstiltskin. You hold the key to The Dark One's power and you're the strongest magic user in Storybrooke and possibly all the realms." He coughed, "You can get your happy ending and destroy everyone else's."

Regina paused, "Yes, and four years ago, I would have."

oOOOOo

A woman pulled her head back into the back room of Gold's shop and smirked. "Perfect." She had dark brown hair, and her voice had a rasp to it as if her vocal cords had been rubbed raw with sandpaper. Her eyes were dark with makeup and her cheek bones high, especially when she smiled. A smile that had no warmth, no joy to it. "This world will be perfect."

oOOOOo

Regina paused in the middle of the street. She was on her way to David and Snow's apartment, however something compelled her to stop. A circle of discoloration. That was the only clue that anything different, anything life altering, had happened on the spot.

A chill went through her and she looked down at the dagger. Her hand shook just a bit. She wasn't using the dagger, but even simply holding on to it was hard. It, or whatever magic it held within it, was screaming in her head. And the screams were even louder than when she'd held it to release the fairies. She assumed that it was an echo of the evil people who had been possessed by it. Though why it was suddenly louder she had no idea.

She'd had the noise in her head since the moment she took the dagger off the ground. She sighed and started towards Snow and David's apartment again. After one step the screaming got louder. She frowned, and stepped back. It abated a little. She stepped the way she'd come, from Gold's shop, the cacophony of sound got louder again. Her frown deepened.

She took her eyes off the dagger and instead, looked around town. She was in the middle of Main Street, nearly in the center of the town. She held the dagger up and slowly turned in a circle. The only place in those three hundred and sixty degrees where the dagger's screaming in her head had lessened even a bit was towards the woods.

Regina looked down at the dagger. "The castle…" Before she could think better of it she waved her hand and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

She appeared by the castle and the dagger went silent. Emma lay along the longest part of the playground equipment, unconscious. Regina carefully approached the newly-turned Dark One. Emma didn't move. Finally she reached up towards Emma, touching her arm, still Emma stayed unconscious.

Regina knew that the blonde couldn't hear her, but spoke anyway. "Why did you do that Emma? I was ready, finally ready. Why Emma?" Regina stared at Emma for a moment more, then closed her eyes and both of them disappeared in a poof of purple smoke.

They reappeared in Snow and David's apartment, near the bed on the main floor.

"Mom?"

Henry was the first one to his Moms' sides. He looked between Regina and Emma as Regina lowered Emma to the bed, "Is she…"

Regina shook her head, "I don't know. She was like this when I found her."

Snow put a hand on Regina's shoulder and Regina moved to one side. Snow sat on the bed and took one of her daughter's hands in her own. She spoke even though Emma wasn't conscious. "Why did you do that Emma? Why?"

"Mom…" Henry engulfed Regina in a hug. They stayed that way for a few moments. Then Henry pulled away, "Ah, David needs the Dagger so that he knows how big to make the sheath." Regina, paused, and after a second handed the dagger to Henry. "I'll be right back."

Regina watched Henry stride over to David. Then, her gaze went to the door that slammed open as Hook made his entrance. "Emma? They found you…"

He went to the bed, and Regina's gaze followed him. Emma may have been unconscious before, but no longer was. She was paying no attention to Hook though.

Regina could feel the blonde's eyes on her, not to mention the power pouring off Emma. Regina was nearly to the bed when the world suddenly got bigger.

From her place on the floor she heard Snow exclaim, "Emma… Emma Swan, you change her back Emma."

With a pop, Regina was back to full size, and back to being human. She stayed on the floor for a beat, then slowly stood and regarded Emma, "A Cobra? That's what you turned me into, right? So, you would have been the Mongoose?"

Emma shrugged and laid her head back down on the pillow. Regina stopped on the side of the bed opposite Snow and Hook, and after a beat, snapped her fingers. There was a squawk from the bed. A literal swan sat where Emma had just been. Hook dove across the bed hook first at Regina, "Turn her back. Turn her back or I'll…"

Regina took a calm step backwards out of Hook's reach and snapped her fingers again. Emma made a 'pfft' sound and a feather popped out from her mouth. "You may be more powerful now, but I've still been doing this much longer than you have Miss Swan."

Emma sat up a bit so that she could meet Regina's eyes, "I'll keep my dagger."

"No. I'll keep the Dark One's dagger."

Emma started to get up, but Snow put a hand on her daughter's chest, "Please… You look so pale Emma, just… rest?"

Emma removed her mother's hand and stood. She didn't stop until her nose was literally touching Regina's. She put a hand on Regina's chest. "If I ripped your heart out and crushed it to dust, no one would do a thing about it." Regina didn't blink, "No one could do a thing about it."

Regina didn't move. "Yes, you could kill me right now," She paused, "In front of our son."

Emma was still for a long moment, "You don't get to give any orders into that thing." Her eyes narrowed, "I hold a gun to… to Robin's head, and even if my finger gets a little itchy on the trigger, you know what you get to do? You get to stand there and do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Promise me."

Regina met Emma's eyes, though it was a little hard at such close proximity, "I promise."

Emma pushed away from Regina and sat on the edge of the bed. Snow let out the breath that she'd been holding. "You're looking for a way to take all this power away from me."

"I am."

Emma spread her arms out to each side, "Maybe it will be different because I'm the savior."

"Maybe."

Emma made a fist and let it go, "Stop it. Just, stop it."

"Stop what, Miss Swan?"

Emma practically growled under her breath, "Stop being so damn, damn…"

Regina raised an eyebrow, "…good and understanding. Someone has to be. Maybe I'm not the ideal choice. Still, someone has to be the voice of reason in this room, because you're starting to spiral. Our son and your parents have put on brave faces, but are also wondering if this really can be fixed, and Hook…" Regina glanced at Hook, "I have no idea what's going through your head Hook."

David called from the other side of the apartment, "Regina?"

Snow stood, "We'll... I'll come with you."

As Snow walked next to Regina across the apartment, Henry sat down next to Emma and took one of her hands in his own. She stared down at it for a long moment, then at her son. To his credit Henry didn't blink under the scrutiny. Then she closed her eyes.

"You would stop her. You'd use the dagger if she— if she threatened to kill someone in town?"

Regina shook her head, "No, I wouldn't. Because I just gave her my word that I wouldn't."

"Regina."

Regina shook her head, "It won't come to that snow, and we're done with this topic. David?"

He held out the newly made leather sheath, "It goes on your belt."

"I'm not going to be wearing too many dresses until this is over, am I?"

David smiled just a bit, "That depends on how many belted ones you have."

"Thank you, David."

Snow's attention was pulled away when Emma opened the door. "Emma— where are you going?"

Emma looked around, her eyes resting on Henry for just a beat longer than on everyone else. "Somewhere that's not here."

Henry spoke as Emma was nearly halfway through the doorway, "Wait, Mom. Stay with us at the mansion, please?"

The room went totally silent. Hook was the one who broke it, "Or, stay with me."

Emma shook off his hand, "No." Emma looked over her shoulder at Henry, "I— No. No to both, no to every one of you."

And then she was gone.

"Emma, wait." Hook was out the door right on Emma's heels.

Henry started to follow them too, but Regina forestalled him, "Henry. Let them be for now."

Henry was still for a moment, then nodded, "Okay. I'm gonna go home then."

Regina put a hand on his back, "I'll be there. We'll… I'll think of something warm and comforting to make for dinner."

Henry shook his head, "No, it's okay Mom. We can have something from Granny's or whatever."

"No…" She trailed off, "No. Lasagna, or maybe some Mac and Cheese from scratch. Does that sound good?"

Henry looked a little sheepish, "Uh, yeah, I mean, yes, it sorta does, but you're tired and…"

Regina pulled Henry towards her, hugging him for a moment, "It's okay. Go… I'll be there."

Snow and David let Henry leave before speaking again. It was David who did, "You need to be in control of something, that's why you're going to tire yourself out making a meal for the two of you."

Regina put a hand to her chest, and spoke with no mirth, "Who, me? Need control?"

Snow spoke, "You'll keep an eye on her. Magically, or…"

"Yes." Regina looked down at the dagger at her side, then towards the door. "Yes, I will."