Thanks for the sweet reviews and follows! I've pre-written a lot of this story so will be posting lots more over the coming days!

NOTE: A "Baetylus" (also Bethel, or Betyl) is a word denoting a sacred stone, which was supposedly endowed with life.

Emma was fighting back tears. She was killing the girl, she could feel it, but she couldn't stop herself. Henry was out there and he was alone and something terrible would happen if she didn't find him. She had deserted him once before and she wasn't going to do that now. This girl knew where he was and she would get it out of her, even if it meant doing something truly awful.

She could feel Regina rush at her, telling her to stop, pleading with her not to do this. But Charming grab at her and pulled her away.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" she screamed as the girls eyes began to fade. Emma thought back to all those busts all those years ago, getting rough with people to get answers. It was horrible, but it had to be done sometimes. The girls eyes fluttered open and Emma let up slightly, letting a trickle of air slip into the her lungs.

"I'll never tell you." she whispered. And as Emma stared into her eyes she knew it was true. Whoever this girl was, she was going to let herself die rather than tell Emma the whereabouts of Snow and Henry. It was hopeless, all was lost.

All of a sudden Emma felt a billowing gust of wind as the front door was thrown open. Her mouth dropped and her heart stopped beating. It couldn't be. She blinked through her tears to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her. Her hair was longer, her clothes were different, she almost looked more like Emma than ever before. But standing there in the doorway, the screeching wind howling all around her and an arrow drawn in her bow stood Snow White.

Emma saw her mother drop the bow and arrow and rush towards her at lightening speed, but couldn't quite make out the words she yelled. It sounded as though she had yelled "Emma no!" but that didn't make sense. Emma was too stunned to move and did nothing to stop the small brunette from crashing into her, knocking her from the listless girl on the ground beneath her. The blonde's back hit the floor with Snow crashing down on top of her.

Emma looked into Snow's eyes and for the faintest second they connected. She could see Charming over her shoulder moving swiftly towards them.

"Snow!" he yelled but she didn't even look up. Instead she turned to the girl on the floor, her face distraught.

"Lucy!" Snow yelled shaking the girl. Emma didn't move, she just let panic wash over her body.

"Lucy! Lucy!" Snow yelled again, shaking Charming's hands from her shoulders as he tried to grab her. "Oh god no no no no!" Snow cried. Snow scanned her eyes around the room and focused on Regina who stood in the corner, as white as ghost. "Regina!" Snow yelled, snapping the older woman to attention. "Help me! Regina come quickly, you need to help me!" But Regina didn't move.

Snow turned back to the girl on the floor and shook her again, tears were beginning to run down her face and she seemed truly panicked. "Come on Luc," she said cupping the girls face "don't do this to us. Not now, not after everything." Snow turned back to Regina, her eyes pleading.

"REGINA!" she screamed. And suddenly Regina sprang back to life. She rushed to Snow's side and knelt beside the girl. Charming and Emma sat back in utter confusion and horror, saying nothing and watching the terrifying scene unravel. Who was this girl?

Regina hovered her hands over the young girls chest, narrowing her search along the rib cage Emma had so furiously punched just a few short moments before.

"Her rib is broken," Regina heaved out, "it's piercing her lung. She can't breathe." Snow took Regina's hand in hers and the two women looked at each other. In any other circumstance, any other time, Regina would have wrenched her hand away as though she were being bitten by a snake. But for some reason that she couldn't understand, she didn't

"Fix it Regina, fix it now" Snow said. There was no 'please' or 'try' in Snow's voice, she wasn't asking Regina to help the young girl. She was telling her too.

Emma stared back at the young girls face. The life was slowly draining from her beautiful features. Even with the blood smeared down her face and stained in her hair, the swelling dark bruise around her eye and the pale death that was starting to creep across her face, there was know taking away how breathtakingly beautiful the girl was. She wasn't yet dead, but she was close to it.

Regina softly pulled her hand back from Snow and placed it over the fractured rib. She closed her eyes and willed the magic to come. The magic to heal, to mend broken bones wasn't easy to conjure. In fact Regina had never successfully done it before. Never having wanted enough to heal another person. But deep inside of her there was a will so strong that it scared her. For whatever reason, she was willing the power within her to heal this girl.

Purple smoke seeped directly from Regina's hands into the girls body as Snow, Charming and Emma looked on in silence. Charming cleared his throat.

"Are you sure..." he began but Snow held up her hand in silence, never taking her eyes off the girl and Regina. Her eyes diverted from one to the other and then back again. Slowly Snow's mouth began to turn into the faintest of smiles.

"It's working..." she said. And sure enough, Emma could see that colour was returning to the girls face. She looked at Regina, but her eyes were still closed, she was conjuring every piece of energy she could muster into performing this healing.

Emma pulled herself to her knees, and leaned over the girl alongside her mother. Slowly and with great struggle the girls eyes finally fluttered open and she gasped for air. Regina slumped backwards, utterly exhausted having drained herself almost to the point of collapse.

"Lucy!" Snow beamed down at the girl. Lucy tried to smile, but instead winced horribly and rolled onto her side facing away from Snow and Emma and towards Regina. She coughed and gasped loudly and with pain, trying to get oxygen back into her listless body. But every breath she drew was like drawing fire. Regina had managed to repair the lung, but she couldn't repair the broken ribs altogether.

Snow stood to her feet and turned to Emma, for the first time since having burst through the door in a blaze of glory she smiled at her daughter.

"Help me get her up" she said to Emma as she crouched down to help pull Lucy from the floor. Emma hesitated but then moved swiftly to help her mother. She was trying to real her brain in. 'What the fuck just happened?' she thought to herself.

As all five of them stood, Lucy still doubling over in pain and trying to steady herself, they looked at each other. Snow smiled feebly at Charming, who looked as though he had seen a thousands ghosts all at once. She then turned to Regina and smiled, but the brunette just stared at her blankly. She turned back to Lucy, touching her arm.

"Are you okay Luc?" Snow asked tenderly. Lucy nodded, starting to steady herself.

"You know these people?" she said horsely. Snow smiled gently.

"This is my husband" she said pointing to Charming. "And this is my daughter, Emma." Lucy looked as though she were about to keel over again and scrunched her face up.

"That's your daughter?!" she said in a high pitched voice. "She's totally crazy." Emma screwed her face up.

"Hey" she said defensively, but couldn't think of anything else to say.

"We did try to ask you nicely" Charming said on Emma's behalf as Lucy put her hands on her hips and doubled over again.

"Yeah, right after you nearly split my head in two" she muttered. Lucy took a breath and stood up straight, looking towards Regina. Only now seeing her clearly for the first time. "And who are you?"

Snow inhaled sharply as the two dark haired women stared at each other. This isn't how this should happen, she thought to herself. Why does every monumental emotional moment in our lives have to come at the worst possible time?

"This is..." Snow started. She faltered for a moment and Lucy turned to her, but Regina never took her eyes off the younger girl. "This is Regina." Snow said. The look on the younger woman's face was one of utter shock, her mouth dropping open a slightly.

"Oh" she finally breathed out. Regina shook her head in confusion and was about to say something when all of a sudden she heard an all to familiar voice coming from the doorway that Snow had crashed through a few moments earlier.

"Mom?"

All five of them in the foyer turned their eyes to Henry. He stood in the front door, taking in the crazy looking state of affairs. Standing with the winds screaming and the dark magical storm skies behind him, Henry looked more like a young man then a boy.

There was glass and blood on the floor and he could tell that whatever had taken place in the foyer of his home had only recently come to a halt. But he looked up at his grandparents and mothers and smiled. Finally he took a step forward and rushed towards Regina. He hugged her with all his might, while she looked like her heart was a mere second from stopping altogether.

"Henry" she whispered in the shallowest of breathes as she pulled him in tighter. She looked up at Emma in disbelief. Their son, he was here. He was finally back. Emma moved towards them and Henry outstretched his arms, not quite letting go of Regina but pulling all three of them into an enormous hug.

"We were so worried" Emma cried out as cuddled the boys head to her stomach. "We tried everything to find you" she rasped out. He just nodded, with his eyes closed.

"I know" he said reassuringly to them both. "I know you did. But I'm okay. I'm here."

Snow pulled her eyes away from the mesmerising scene and looked at her husband for the first time. She stepped towards him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Charming grabbed her, pulling her so close she could hardly breathe. She was back. Henry was back. They were safe and they were back.

The reunion was short lived, when a gust of howling wind roared so loudly through the house that it felt as though the roof would well and truly come off. Snow turned to Lucy, the happiness on her face quickly being replaced with concern. Their eyes met and it was as if they were having a conversation without words. Suddenly Henry gasped and pulled away from his mothers, seeing the state of Lucy for the first time. He rushed to her, grabbing at her to pull her towards him.

"Lucy!" Henry cried bewilderedly. "What happened?" He looked up at the girl with overwhelming love in his eyes. Emma and Regina stared on, mystified at how Henry could be so emotionally over a girl that neither of them knew.

Snow took a step towards the two them, a different kind of concern creeping over her face that only Lucy saw. Snow knew that if Henry found out it was his moms and grandfather who were responsible for the young girls injuries, the happy moment they had all finally shared would disappear as quickly as it had arrived.

"I, ah," the girl stuttered as she looked back at Henry. She put her hands on his shoulders and leant forward, a smiling creeping across her face. "I fell." Henry screwed his face up in disbelief. Her face was smeared with blood and deep bruises were beginning to appear.

"You fell?" he stammered, not convinced.

"I was running up the stairs, trying to find the box and I slipped and fell. Whacked my head pretty good" she said still smiling. Henry looked over at his moms, a look of confusion in his face.

"I don't understand" he said. "What are you all doing here anyway?" Lucy stood straight and threw an arm across Henry's shoulders. She made eye contact with Regina and Emma briefly before looking back at Henry.

"They were helping me" she said resolutely. Suddenly Henry shrugged and smiled, turning back to Lucy.

"I told you they were heros!" He said beaming. Lucy nodded staring back at the boy.

"Yes" she said genuinely. "And you were right."

Another howling screech ricocheted throughout the house, suddenly snapping Emma to attention. She spun her head towards the door.

"Seriously" she yelled. "What the hell is that?" Emma looked back at Snow and Lucy. Lucy took a few short steps to the front door and stepped outside. Snow began to follow her, picking up her bow and arrows that she had dropped on the ground. Quickly the others trailed them outside. As they all stepped onto the garden path and looked towards the sky they could see that the lightening was getting stronger and closer. The dark clouds were turning to black. The streets were beginning to look as though it were the middle of the night even though it was still only the early afternoon. Another gust of wind blew down Miffin St and the group all turned their faces to protect themselves. Regina pulled Henry close to her forcefully.

"They're going to break through any minute" Lucy yelled to Snow, who grimaced as she nodded in agreement.

"Did you find it?" Snow yelled over the howling winds. "Did you find the box?" Lucy blinked looking back at her. The box! Between the blow to the head and her near death experience, she had forgotten all about why she had gone to the house in the first place. She nodded.

"It was upstairs!" she yelled, turning quickly back towards the house. Emma grabbed the younger girls arm, twisting her back to face her.

"You mean this?" Emma yelled holding up the small wooden box. Lucy almost smiled and reached for it, but Emma pulled it away. "Not until you tell me what's going on!" She yelled over the storm. They all huddled together as a lightening bolt burst through the sky and hit a tree near by.

"We don't have time for this!" Lucy yelled holding her hand out for Emma to give her the box.

"You said 'they're going to break though'?!" Emma yelled again over the wind. "What are they? What did you bring here with you?" Snow stepped forward.

"They're Soul Screamers Emma" she yelled, catching the look of utter fear wash across Charming and Regina's face. Emma saw it too and looked around at the circle. Clearly everyone knew what a Soul Screamer was but her.

"What the fuck is a Soul Screamer?" she yelled again as more lightening hit close by.

"They're what you would might call a Grim Reaper" Charming said, his voice booming. "Only they're have dark magic, they travel in packs and they kill you by sucking your soul out of body." Emma stared at him in disbelief. "And" he added "they can't be killed because they're not actually alive." Charming turned towards Snow.

"I thought all the Soul Screamers were destroyed, trapped within the earths core!" Snow nodded.

"They were" she yelled. "But someone found a way to get them out." She turned to Regina, there was almost sympathy in her eyes.

"Cora" Regina whispered. While Emma and Henry didn't hear the word, Lucy, Snow and Charming sure did. Another scream bellowed through the streets of Storybrooke. All five of them winced and fell to the ground, covering their ears trying the block out the horrific sound. Finally it faded and Lucy was the first to stand.

"Give me the box!" she yelled again. "I need to get it open!" Before Emma could even act, Snow snatched the box from her hand and threw it to Lucy. Emma looked at her confused.

"Open?" Emma yelled as they all stood again. "What do you mean open?!" The four of them stood on watching as Lucy furiously moved her fingers over the ivory cubes, spinning all 50 of them into a very specific position. Emma suddenly realised, the cubes weren't just pretty decoration as she had always thought. They were both the key and lock to opening it. As the thunder, lightening and howling continued to rain down on them, Lucy finally clicked the last cube into place. The she slid the box in half to reveal a hidden compartment and from there she pulled a small looking diamond the size of a chestnut. Regina gasped.

"A baetylus!" she exhaled. Lucy smiled at her and the two locked eyes properly for the first time. Lucy stepped towards her.

"You know how to use this?" the young girl yelled over the bellowing winds. She held the shimmering stone out to Regina. It wasn't so much of a question as a statement. She nodded at Regina, encouraging her to take the stone. "You can open a vortex to the earths core with this" Lucy yelled. Regina shook her head.

"I don't know how. I've never done that before" Regina said, shaking her head Snow stepped forward.

"Have you ever healed someone, bringing them back from the brink of death Regina?" Snow yelled, referring to what had happened earlier in the house. "You can do this" Snow said, more softly, reassuringly. Regina looked from Snow to the girl.

"You have magic! I can feel it coming off you like a tidal wave. Yours is..." Regina hesitated. "Yours is light magic" she finished. "It should be you." The young girls faced started to look pained, she shook her head.

"You can do this" Lucy said softly, the wind almost blowing her words away. Regina started looking angry, she stepped towards the girl again.

"You don't understand! You don't know me, my magic, it's dark... I could do it wrong. I could destroy us all." Charming stepped forward, a shaking his head as look of concern on his face.

"Regina's right. She can't be trusted with a baetylus!" he yelled. Suddenly a bolt of lightening cracked so loud above them it felt as though the world had split in two. They all looked to the sky in terror, squinting their eyes they could see what looked like black smokey tar seeping from the clouds.

"They're through" Lucy yelled. She turned back to Regina, forcing the stone into the older woman's hand. "You can do this Regina, I know you can" she said, using the older woman's name for the first time.

"Mom" Henry yelled. "You have to listen to her, don't you see..." Henry was about to yell something but Emma cut him off.

"But why can't you do it?" she screamed over the screeching winds as she looked at Lucy. Lucy looked up at the sky and then back towards the street. She began to back away from the group.

"Because I have to lead them away" she yelled. "I'm the only one strong enough. Otherwise, they'll destroy this place and kill everyone in it." Regina, Emma and Charming all looked on in terror. Snow stepped towards Lucy.

"I'll get them to the forest" she yelled. "Do you know where to go?" Lucy nodded stepping away closer towards the street, her eyes now focussed on the black tar that was starting to form shapes above them.

"Wait a minute" Emma suddenly yelled, running into the street with the girl. "Are you crazy?! You can't go after them alone!" Emma grabbed at Lucy's arm but the girl shook her head.

"No you need to stay with them. You need to keep them safe and you need to help her" she said looking to Regina so only Emma could hear. "You have magic within you too, I can feel it. She's going to need your help."

Regina watched as the two younger women conversed in the street. The world felt as though it was collapsing around them. She shook her head violently. If Cora was the source of this, and Regina had little doubt that was true, then it should be her to face the Soul Screamers. She followed Emma and Lucy into the street as Henry, Snow and Charming ran after them as well.

"Take the damn Baetylus!" Regina yelled, thrusting it back at Lucy. "You open the vortex and I'll fight the Soul Screamers." It was getting too close, they were running out of time, Snow and Lucy both began to look panicked.

"No" Lucy yelled again, more loudly and firmly this time. "You just have to trust me. This is the only way." She looked resolute, she wasn't going to budge. Why was this girl so ridiculously stubborn? Regina shook her head again.

"You don't know Cora like I do, you don't know what she's capable of!" Regina screamed. "If she sent them here, then it was to hurt me. That's all she's ever wanted!" Lucy looked at Regina, her eyes welling with sadness. But instead of stepping further away this time, she stepped towards the older woman.

"I know who she is, I know what she's capable of" Lucy said. She looked into the older woman's eyes and closed her hands over Regina's outstretched palm that held the baetylus. "I know it doesn't make sense right now" Lucy said, her words barely audible. "But I know you too and I know what you're capable of. You can do this Regina. You can open the vortex, you can save us all."

And with that the skies finally collapsed. The Soul Screamers had forced their way through the force field above and were heading towards them. Lucy looked at Snow and the two of them understood exactly what do do.

"We have to get to the forest!" Snow yelled. Emma looked to the cruiser and back to the group.

"The cruiser" she screamed grabbing Henry and Regina and pulling them across the street. The Soul Screamers where closing in on them, the noise coming from the floating black shapes deafening.

Emma, Regina and Henry scrambled into the front seat of the cruiser while Snow and Charming jumped in the back. The engine roared to life and Emma pushed it into gear but before she could drive away Regina grabbed her arm.

"Wait!" she screamed "Where is she? Where did Lucy go?" They all looked to the street but the young girl was gone. Snow clambered half of her body out of the window and stared at the sky. Where the Soul Screamers were just a few short seconds ago they now seemed to be moving in a different direction. Snow slid back into the back seat, behind Emma.

"Just go Emma! Quickly!" she yelled. Emma didn't have to be told twice, she floored the accelerator and the car sped up Mifflin St, away from the town and towards the forest boundaries. Regina glared at Snow but didn't say anything as Snow sat back in her seat. Her face was guilty, awash with knowledge that Regina clearly did not have.

"We have to get to the forest Regina and we have to get the vortex open. You just have to trust Lucy that she knows what she's doing" Snow said in answer to a question that had never been asked. Regina glared at her coldly.

"Stop telling me to trust her! I don't know her!" Regina yelled in frustration. Henry grabbed his Moms arm gently, trying to reassure her.

"But you do know her Mom" he said gently. Regina looked at him confused and slowly shook her head.

"Henry" she started to say but the boy shook his head frustrated and cut her off.

"I can see it in your eyes, you remember. You know who she is! You can feel it!"

"Henry" Snow said from the backseat. Her tone was warm, but also warning the boy to stop. "This isn't the time for this."

"Isn't the time for what?" Regina yelled back at Snow. The car tires screeched as Emma pulled tightly into the gravel road that took them off the paved roads of Storybrooke and into the forest. All five passengers lurched sideways, trying to grab a hold of something to steady them.

"Goddamn it Ms Swan! Are you trying to ensure we all die in a car wreck before the Soul Screamers even get to us?!" Regina yelled, wanting to take her growing anger out on someone.

"MOM!" Henry yelled loudly. Everyone stopped and looked at him, even Emma glancing in his direction as she tried to remain focussed on keeping the speeding vehicle on the road.

"Henry, what is it?" Regina said gently, her voice full of concern. The boy was clearly upset, and while given the current circumstances he had plenty of reason to be, there was obviously a different reason for his distress.

"You need to focus" the boy said grabbing at her Regina's hands. "Lucy needs you. We all need you. You have to get vortex open so she can draw the Soul Screamers through. She said you could do this, she knew you can, she trusts you."

Regina looked down at Henry and for once she couldn't think of anything to say. She just sat staring at him blankly. Henry squeezed her hands.

"I know you're scared. We're all scared. But together you're stronger than Cora. I believe in you. Lucy believes in you" he paused, swallowing hard. "But she needs you to believe in her too."

Regina shook her head slowly, she didn't understand.

"Why?" she said slowly as a silence fell over the car.

"Because" Henry said as the car came to a violent stop, "she's your daughter. Lucy is your daughter."