Disclaimer : I don't own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters, just borrowing them for personal experiments and inspiration-feeding.

A/N : This is the first time I've ever posted a fic, even though I've been writing for some time now. I don't pretend I'm an 'author', I just wanted to share this with you. I hope you'll like it! Feedback - whether positive or negative - is greatly appreciated, it's the only way I can improve myself. Well, that, and writing again and again of course. Frankly I'd love to know what you've thought about it! If you have any questions or comments, you can review or PM me =)

This fanfiction is a Secret Santa gift to the amazing swanqueenidiot on Tumblr.

Regina took Emma's hand.

"I can't preserve your memories, but I can give you new ones, good ones… You'll always have been with Henry. You'll be both happy..." Regina looked in Emma's eyes and felt her heart tightening when she saw the tears running down the blonde's cheeks.

She didn't want Emma to leave and she didn't want to lose Henry.

He was the person she cherished the most in this world and she would give anything not to be forced to let him go.

But magic always comes with a price, and Henry was the price to pay to send them all back where they belonged. It wouldn't work if he stayed with her.

It was truly the hardest thing she would ever have to do. Letting him go…

Since she didn't have a choice, she wanted to at least give them both the best life she could. They deserved to remember never being forced apart. They deserved a happy ending of some sort, even if it didn't really feel like one.

Emma would take good care of him, because the blonde loved their son as much as she did.

"But it won't be true," Emma argued, having trouble getting the words out of her mouth. "It'll be nothing but a lie."

She didn't want to separate Henry from his family. She didn't want to lose her parents now. Not again, it was too soon. They'd barely had the time to get to know one another. They had been waiting for so long before finally being reunited. But they had finally found one another. They always did, it ran in the family.

And now, what? She was just supposed to leave and forget everything? Forget that her parents hadn't abandoned her? Forget those precious years when she'd had people to actually care about? And how was she supposed to take Henry away from his mom?

She herself might be Henry's birth mother, but she certainly wasn't his mom.

Breaking the curse was about to tear apart yet another family instead of bringing back all the happy endings. Talk about side effects.

Leaving had never been so heartbreaking before. She couldn't just give up, not without trying.

"Are you absolutely certain there is no other way?" Emma asked with a trembling voice. "There has to be something we can do…"

She locked eyes with Regina and saw only despair. Emma knew that if there was anything the brunette could do to fix all this, she would. There was simply no way out.

Henry, standing between his two moms, remained silent. His overwhelming emotions prevented him from voicing a single word.

He had to say goodbye, but not as in a "see-you-soon" kind of good-bye. He wouldn't even remember his own mom. The former Evil Queen, sure, but his mom nonetheless.

The one who had tucked him into bed for ten years, who soothed him when he woke up in the middle of a nightmare late at night. The one who watched him all night long, sat in a chair by his bed when he was sick and always made sure he hadn't forgotten about his homework.

He was thankful to Emma for doing her best to find a solution, but he already knew in his heart they had no other choice but to leave the town and everyone they loved. They had to just leave them all behind.

Not willing to waste any more of the precious time he had left, he turned to Regina, circling her waist, hugging her as close as he could. He buried his face against his mom's chest as they held each other for a while.

She returned the hug, her gaze never leaving Emma.

She was a little appeased by the reassuring look on her face. It was a look that said everything Emma couldn't say out loud. She understood Regina's worries and she wanted to tell her it would be ok. Everything would be ok. She would never let anything happen to Henry, no matter what she did or didn't remember. She wanted to tell Regina that she could be trusted.

Regina didn't exactly have a say in this, but she believed her. She was good at reading people and what she saw in the depths of Emma's intent gaze was her determination to make things right.

Feeling a bit less insecure, Regina loosened her grip on her son and eventually let go of him. Henry looked up at her and simply said "I love you, mom".

She couldn't stop her own tears from falling now. He would forget, but she wouldn't. She would never stop wondering where he was or what he was doing, praying for him to be all right.

"I love you too Henry. So very much," she answered, a small smile gracing her lips as she leaned closer to kiss his forehead.

Then Emma took Henry's left hand, his right never leaving Regina's. Together, they walked over to Emma's yellow bug. Once Emma and Henry were both in the car, Regina took the curse out of her coat's pocket and as she crushed it, a purple glow surrounded her hands.

They didn't have much time left now. Pan's green curse was getting closer and closer by the minute. Regina raised her hands, purple mist escaping her palms to meet with green mist high above their heads, as she nodded at Emma so that the blonde would start the car.

When the car was slowly set in motion and before it could cross the town line, Henry brushed his hand against Regina's arm in one last silent goodbye.

As he did, a wave of purple mist washed over the scenery, engulfing everything in its wake, hiding from sight both the little crowd standing inside the limits of the town line and the car on the other side.

Once the mist had dissipated in the air, Storybrooke's former inhabitants were able to take a look at their surroundings.

Everyone in presence released a breath no one had been aware of holding.

They were finally back home.

The woods around them weren't Storybrooke's. They were in the Enchanted Forest, back to their old land.

Both crushed at the idea of having lost her daughter once more and relieved to finally be home, Mary-Margaret turned towards David to seek comfort in him.

She immediately noticed that something was off. He seemed lost, looking everywhere around him as if he was searching for something, his brows slightly furrowed.

"What's going on?" Mary-Margaret asked, worry tainting her voice.

"David, is everything all right? What's wrong?"

He finally looked down to her.

"Regina's not here with us," he said in a confused tone. "Where is she?"

So...?