SWANQUEEN. Starts immediately following the Season 4B finale. The group is frantically trying to find Emma as she fights against the darkness threatening to consume her. Regina finds she can sense the savior's intense emotions as she struggles alone. The journey to save the savior leads Regina on a path to true love that she didn't expect. Rated M for later chapters. I own nothing.

Chapter 1

The Search

"I love you"

Regina heard her say it. She told Hook she loved him just seconds before she sacrificed herself to save Regina. To say this confused Regina was an understatement, but she quickly pushed those thoughts to the side as she realized what had truly just happened. Snows sobs caught Regina's attention as she shirked out of Robin's embrace. For some reason his touch just felt wrong in the wake of Emma's sacrifice.

"Where did she go?!" Snow cried as she gripped onto Charming. Hook had fallen to his knees, staring into the place Emma had disappeared from. Henry stood nearby, struggling to hold back tears.

A loud crack of thunder followed closely by a bright flash of lightening in the distance startled them all. Suddenly a flash of fear and anger gripped onto Regina's chest, causing her to collapse in a cry of pain.

"Regina!" Robin rushed to her side and put his hands on her shoulders. "What's wrong?"

The others had surrounded her in concern as Regina threw a fist over her heart. Her breathing had picked up as the pain hadn't subsided. She realized this wasn't her emotions she was feeling. It was someone else's. Lightening crashed again sending another shock through Regina's heart, causing her to cry out again.

"Regina, what's going on?!" Snow cried.

Regina struggled to pull herself together enough to communicate. She felt her. Emma. She could sense the blonde inside her very essence, as if she could feel all of Emma's emotions. Regina pushed herself to her knees, catching her breath as the pain dulled a bit. "It's Emma."

Hook snapped his head to Regina. "What do you mean? Emma's doing this to you?"

Regina shook her head. "No. I can feel her. Her emotions," she gasped as she motioned to her chest. The lightening flashed again and Regina winced, this time more prepared for the shooting pain arcing through her body. She continued as she felt all eyes on her. "She's still here. In Storybrooke, but I don't know where. She's fighting the darkness."

Hook and Charming looked at each other in bewilderment, both clueless as to what they should do. Robin clutched onto Regina in worry as the brunette was clearly in pain.

As another crash of thunder hit especially close, Regina cried out in pain. Emma's emotions washed over her. Fear. Despair. Hopelessness. Then hope. Anger. Determination. Then back to gripping fear. Regina could feel the epic internal battle that Emma was no doubt experiencing herself as she tried to fight the darkness trying to take hold in her soul. It was too much for Regina to take, tears streaming down her face as she blacked out.

Regina woke to find herself on the couch in the Charmings apartment. Her hand flew to her forehead, a headache pounding at her temples. She looked up to see her head was in Robin's lap, the Charmings and Henry looking at her in concern.

"Are you alright, my love?" Robin cooed as he stroked Regina's hair.

The headache combined with her slight embarrassment at being stared at maybe played a part in how annoyed she was with Robin in that instance, and she slapped his hand away from her brow. She pulled herself upright and closed her eyes as the pounding in her temples intensified for a moment.

"Take it easy, Regina," Robin chided.

Regina shot him an annoyed 'don't-tell-me-what-to-do' look before turning her attention to Snow.

"Are you alright? What happened? You said you could feel Emma's emotions and then you passed out," Snow asked. Regina knew she was petrified for her daughter, but Regina could sense that Snow was concerned for her as well. Regina was surprised at how that made her feel.

"Yes, it was like...I could feel her internal battle. She's trying to not let the darkness take her. I could feel...everything," Regina looked up with terror on her face, unsure if she should be truthful with them about the pain their daughter was going through.

"Why? Why you?" Charming asked.

Regina slowly stood up and walked to the window. She sighed and rolled her neck, trying to release some tension. Regina looked over at Robin before turning her attention out the window. "I don't know. Our magic, I guess," Regina swallowed, wondering if even she herself believed that. She looked out over the town and sighed. She searched in her consciousness for signs of Emma in there. Although feeling the savior's pain was extremely unpleasant, she couldn't fight her own fear and despair of not knowing Emma's whereabouts.

"What about now? Can you sense her now?" Henry asked.

Regina shook her head sadly. "No."

Snow and Charming both dropped their heads. "What if-what if the darkness took hold?" Snow teared up, gripping onto Charming's hand.

Regina turned back toward the group. "No. If the darkness had won we'd know it."

"Well then where is she? Why could you feel her before and not now?" Robin asked.

Regina shrugged her shoulders. "Knowing Emma, she's taken herself far away from here while she fights this battle."

"To protect us," Henry stated. "To protect you, Mom."

Regina crossed her arms and lowered her eyes to the floor. She knew her face had flushed, and she couldn't help but feel guilty. Emma had sacrificed herself and was still trying to protect the brunette.

"Now that we know Regina's okay, we need to help Hook look for Emma," Charming said as he stood up.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Regina sighed.

"What? Why not? We need to help her!" Snow said quickly.

"You have no idea where to look. She could be anywhere. Everywhere. We have no idea what the dagger has done to her so far. If the darkness wins...lets just sat you don't want to be anywhere around if that happens."

"We're not gonna just give up on her. She's our daughter!" Snow stood up.

Regina put her hands up defensively. "I'm not saying we give up on her. But let me look for her. If somehow we have this...magical connection then if I get close enough I might be able to sense her."

"The dagger," Haney stated. Everyone turned to look at him curiously. "We can use the dagger to summon her!" Henry reached to the coffee table where the dagger sat. His hand was caught and he looked up to see Regina stilling his hand.

"No!" She said firmly. "If I'm right, Emma is in a life or death battle with that darkness. Using the dagger only gives strength to that darkness. We can't tip the scales in its favor. No one touches it."

Snow huffed and picked up her jacket. "Regina, do whatever you can to find Emma. But I'm not going to sit around and do nothing. I'm looking for her too."

Regina sighed in resignation, not really blaming Snow for wanting to find her daughter. She looked over at Robin who had a determined look of confusion. Regina couldn't figure out why she was so annoyed with him. He hasn't done anything wrong. They were finally together. It just felt-wrong. Emma had given up possibly everything to give Regina her happy ending, and Regina couldn't live with that. She had to find Emma. She had to.