CHAPTER ONE

Ding Dong, the Wicked Witch has been...caught. Now, that just didn't have the right tone to it, now did it? There was something about keeping Zelena alive that didn't sit well with Emma. She was responsible for Neil's death and, if given the chance, would have easily killed Henry as well to get the revenge that she wanted. Emma knew that Regina loved Henry just as much as she did and at first wanted to question why she opted to keep Zelena alive. Why keep her alive to put anyone else at risk? Wasn't it obvious? Zelena was the only family that Regina had left. Evil or not, she had to at least give her sister the chance to redeem herself. Where would they be now if Regina had been killed after her antics had been stopped? Could it be that the evil queen herself was beginning to believe in second chances? Second chances or not, Emma wasn't willing to put Henry into any more harm's way. They were happy in New York. They could be happy again. More importantly, Henry would be safe. With Zelena captured and under watchful eye, Emma didn't see the reason to stay in Storybrooke any longer. She did what she was supposed to do. Could anybody blame her for planning to give Henry a normal life?

All right, Emma. Go in here. Celebrate, and then get the hell out. She agreed in silence as she sat in her yellow Volkswagen Beetle staring at herself through the rearview mirror above. A loud sigh escaped her lips as she pushed the door open to get out of the car. Her hands brushed over the jeans that she wore with her usual white tank top and red jacket. Flipping her hair out of the collar of her jacket, she made her way toward the front door. Already, she could see the people inside gathered in celebration over their well-deserved win over evil. This time, unlike all of the other times before, they were gathered around a dark-headed beauty who laughed and smiled right along with them this time around. Emma stared quietly outside in the dark at Regina who had her arms wrapped tightly around Henry. She was so happy to have him back in her life. It had to have been the hardest thing that she could've done, giving Henry up for his own happiness. Would she be willing to do it again? This truly was the best thing for Henry. If only anyone had been able to see how happy he was in New York. Even still, Emma couldn't help but to feel the guilt building inside of her at the sight of Regina and Henry holding so tightly to one another. Making her way into the diner, she smiled to the crowd as they turned toward her.

"Emma! We were wondering when you were going to get here! Where have you been?" Snow asked, stepping up to wrap her arms around Emma's shoulder for a hug.

"Sorry. I was...getting ready," she said with a small, hesitant laugh. To be the person who could tell when someone was lying or not and to stand there lying to an entire group of people, Emma felt like the biggest hypocrite ever. None of them would take the news of their departure well. How was she going to tell them that she'd been packing and preparing to head back to New York? The only one who had any idea that she was planning to leave was Hook, and she intended on keeping it that way.

"Like mother, like daughter," David teased, playfully nudging Snow while bouncing their newborn in his arms carefully. Despite Zelena's powers having been taken, nobody wanted to let their guard down just yet. Emma smiled just a little at them before her gaze traveled back over to Regina and Henry. They were so happy and there was a warmth in Regina's eyes that returned when she got her heart back earlier that day. It was hard not to feel the guilt creeping into her own heart when looking her and Henry in the face.

"Mom. I was going to stay with Mom tonight, if that's okay with you?" he asked, his smile spreading entirely across his face. How was Emma going to say no when he looked so unbelievably happy? Her hand reached out to him to ruffle his hair, eyes lifting to Regina's gaze for a moment. She didn't want to insult Regina by playing more of Henry's mother when it was Regina who had raised him from birth.

"Yeah, buddy. That's fine. I need to talk to you tomorrow though, okay? I'll pick you up after breakfast."

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked, and Reginna interjected herself into the conversation as well.

"Emma, is everything okay?" she asked, and immediately, Emma regretted everything having spoken about it at all. Good job, Emma. Good damn job. Immediately, she started trying to avoid the subject.

"Oh yeah, everything is fine. We can talk about it later. Don't worry about it," Emma replied, a forced smile on her lips when a familiar voice came out over the group and created knots in her stomach. Not in a good way. No, no. She knew that he was going to spill her news before she was ready.

"She wants to take you back to New York, Henry." Hook's voice echoed in the diner from the front door and was met with silence from everyone in the room. Their smiles dropped instantly while being replaced with looks of shock and hurt. Out of all of the expressions, there were two faces that stuck out to her and created a pain forming in her chest: Henry and Regina. The look in their eyes displayed the confusion, devastation and betrayal that Emma hadn't quite been ready to confront. Immediately, Emma opened her mouth to speak but Regina's hand came up to stop her.

"I just got him back, Emma. You're not going to take him away from me," Regina said, her voice low and filled with a growing rage. It wasn't the words or even the tone in Regina's voice that pained her. It was her eyes that merely asked one question. Why? Henry piped in while holding on to Regina. Clearly, Emma was alone in this attempt.

"Yeah, Mom. We're home. I don't want to go back to New York."

"Look. I don't want to do this here, okay? We can talk about it later, but we don't need to have this conversation in front of everyone in the middle of Granny's," Emma started, but she wasn't getting out of this one. Based on the looks of everyone staring at her, she wasn't going to win the Best Savior Award anytime soon. Please, someone or something interrupt this awful moment, she thought, right when a loud explosion was heard on the other side of town.

"Not exactly what I had in mind," she muttered to herself as everyone's eyes stared out the window at the large light coming from an area near the pier. That's when the realization hit her. Everyone in town was at Granny's...minus one.

"Where's Gold?" Regina asked, taking the question right out of Emma's mouth. Emma turned and looked back at Regina for a moment when the connection hit both of them. They said nothing and instead, began to run toward the pier area. Nothing good was going to come out of this. That eery feeling of what's to come rushed into the pit of Emma's stomach as she ran to her car and threw the driver's side door open to climb in. As she closed the door behind her, she felt the passenger side door close as well with Henry in the back and Regina sitting in the front seat with her. She met Regina's gaze which held no warmth whatsoever.

"Regina…"

"Drive, Miss Swan. We'll discuss everything later," she said coldly. Ouch. They had just gotten on a first name basis and it was back to Miss Swan. That surprisingly hurt more than she had initially intended, but she couldn't deal with that right now. She had a town to protect. Emma's jaw clenched just a little as she drove off toward the pier, ignoring her racing heart and hurt feelings as she focused on what lies ahead for them.

The tires screeched to a halt as she saw Zelena's spell from earlier recharged and creating the portal before them. Green smoke formed at the front of the portal as Zelena resurfaced, her arrogant smirk written in stone across her face.

"I must say, you had me captured for a few hours. That was slightly more than I had anticipated. Too bad you all are too stupid to actually stop my curse from happening. The spell has already begun." Zelena laughed as the portal opened behind her, forming a large opening on the ground for her to step into. Regina was the first to step forward, hands in the air to use her light magic against a woman she so easily defeated before.

"I don't think so, Zelena. You're not going anywhe-" Regina's words were interrupted by the sound of her own gasp as her body fell forward a few steps, revealing an arrow that had been lodged into her back.

"Mom!"

"Regina!" Henry and Emma ran to Regina's side to catch her from falling entirely, coming from Robin Hood as he stood on the other end of the pier with his bow in hand. A smirk formed on his lips as he lowered it just as Regina turned her head to look at him.

"I told you, Regina. I never miss." Robin lowered his bow before looking toward Zelena who seemed all the happier at her fallen sister. Emma and Henry slowly lowered Regina down to the ground, tears already starting to form. There was no way that she was going to survive. Blood already began to form on her back, coating Emma's hands as Henry began to sob.

"No! Mom!" he sobbed against her as everyone began to circle around them as protection from Robin and Zelena. Regina's hand came up to touch Henry's face gently, her eyes on him.

"H-Henry...I love y..you.." she whispered with a smile before turning to grab hold of Emma's hand, squeezing it as much as she could.

"Save...our son.." were the last words to leave Regina's lips as the life in her body escaped her. Emma's tears poured over her cheeks as she held Regina in her arms as Henry cried over her lifelfess body. The sound of slow clapping echoed over the pier as Zelena clapped her hands a few times before rolling her eyes.

"What a beautiful moment. My sister dying to save the ones she loved. Betrayed by the man told to be her "one true love". How pathetic," she said as she moved back toward the portal.

"I'd offer my condolences by in a few minutes, none of you will even exist. Take comfort in that." Zelena waved half heartedly with a giggle as she stepped into the portal and disappeared.

"No!" Emma cried out as she let go of Regina's body to try and stop her, but it was too late. Zelena was gone. David turned with his sword unsheathed and pointed at Robin Hood.

"You were supposed to be on our side. We trusted you!" he growled as he advanced onto Robin.

"Well, who's fault is that? You trust so easily that you never look to see who it is that you're trusting. Your wife allowed Zelena to be her midwife just because she said she was one! No matter. Zelena and I have a deal. She'll kill your precious queen and none of this will even exist in a few minutes. Then, I'll be reunited with my wife before Regina had the chance to kill her, and everything right will be restored in the world."

"Oh you'll be reunited with your wife, all right. Reunited in death," a voice came from the darkness just as a bolt of lightning shot out from the shadows into Robin's chest, knocking his body to the ground before he dissipated into ashes before everyone's eyes. Out of the shadows stepped Rumplestiltskin, moving slowly toward Emma before he reached out to grab her by the arm.

"Emma. You have to stop Zelena. You're the only one who can do it now," he said as he stepped before her. She shook her head, still trying to wrap her head around everything that was happening.

"No, I can't. I don't have my powers anymore. I can't do this, Gold. I don't even know how I'd stop her." Rumple's hand lifted to stop her from talking.

"You can do it, dearie. You're the Savior. Stop her from killing Regina, get your powers back, and set all of this back into motion or we won't have a future. Henry will have never been born." The mention of Henry caused Emma's jaw to lock as her eyes honed in on the man in front of her. Without another word, she turned and started toward the portal.

"Wait!" David and Snow called out to her, moving up to her before she left the portal. Snow wrapped her arms around Emma once more, hugging her daughter one last time.

"We love you so much and we are so proud of you," she whispered in Emma's ear before pulling back as David held up his sword.

"Take this with you. I think you'll need it," he said, attaching the belt and sword to her waist before they stepped back, watching as Emma moved to jump into the portal. As she pushed off to jump, she felt a hand grab her own.

"Emma, no!" Hook shouted, falling to the ground as he held her up, refusing to let go.

"I can't let you go! We can find another way!" he tightened his grip on her hand as she attempted to break free of his grasp.

"Hook, let go! I have to do this!" Emma met his gaze and she could tell that he knew. This was the only chance they all had, whether he liked it or not. A small curse word muttered from his lips and he shouted back as he pushed himself forward.

"Then I'm going with you!" he said as the two of them fell into the portal. Her eyes closed as she felt the feeling of the drop hit her in the pit of her stomach, mingling with the anxiety of the task at hand. This wasn't going to be an easy road. Hell, she didn't even know what she was going to have to do to restore the balance...but she would figure it out. She had no other options. She had a broken-hearted son and a town full of people relying on her to save them. In that moment, Emma realized that there was no escaping who she was. Running back to New York would not change her past, nor would it change her future. Regina didn't hesitate to step forward to protect the town and paid the price for her life. Her last words were spoken entirely out of love. Emma couldn't have felt the sting of her own selfishness as when she'd watched Regina take her last breath. There was no way that she could allow Regina and Neil both die in vain. The portal opened just as the two of them hit the ground in the middle of the forest. With a newfound determination overtaking the guilt in her heart, Emma knew what she had to do. She was going to grab hold of her destiny and complete her mission. Fear and uncertainty be damned. There was too much at stake to be afraid. She had a town to save.