Emma assesses her chances. If they run towards Henry they will be condemning themselves to a dead-end with almost no space to fight. Their only chance is to stay in the open space of the hall and protect Henry among them three.
Owen, Tamara and the unknown man run downstairs and Emma and the others run out of time.
"Henry, run!" Emma cries. Regina and Rumpelstiltskin wait for the trio at the foot of the stairs and take an attacking position with their hands full of magic.
Henry turns his head and stares at them: "I ... I know you, right?"
Regina's heart skips a beat and Emma's breathing freezes and gets agonizingly trapped inside her chest. Their son doesn't show any intention to move and Owen's laughter resonates through the room.
"Henry?" Emma half whines, but the kid doesn't seem to recognise his own name.
"Don't exert yourself, Savior." Owen comes to a halt a step away from the floor. They are all standing, measuring each other, waiting for the first movement of the adversary. The calm before the storm.
"What have you done to him?" Regina's tone is vibrant and neutral, so imperturbable and dangerous as the Evil Queen's herself. The very same Queen who's taking control of Regina to make her the most terrifying version of this woman.
"Simply, he hasn't miss you that much... and no longer remembers you."
"You're dead." It's a sentence. At all costs. It's the sentence issued by Regina and she will make sure it's executed.
It's she who breaks the aberrant stillness. A huge fireball crosses the room and illuminates the room with a red light. But it doesn't hit its target. Owen stops it as if blowing out a candle with a kind of stun gun that dissolves it in midair. This only seems to piss off the brunette even more. The following spheres leave her hands without truce and Rumpelstiltskin joins her with a deranged scream. Since that time there are three pistols cancelling their shells and the exchange becomes a crazy mess. Henry is out of the danger zone, but hides himself under his own arms.
"Enough of this bullshit!" The order comes from Emma, who points her gun at them. Silence falls and they can hear the sound of the safety being unlocked.
Owen and Tamara back a few steps, more unconsciously than seeking security. But the stranger doesn't recoil, he just smiles.
"Do you think some lame bullets are rival for us?" They hear his voice for the first time, sharp and mocking, and notice his features. Emma's entrails writhe with actual hatred towards this man and she distinguishes in his features a cruelty that overflows his eyes. He's tall, brown, dull, but this inhumanity grants him something supernatural. "For the Shadow?" He questions, full of arrogance.
"I wouldn't mind to check."
"Go ahead, then!" He yells, delighted, and his histrionics are accompanied by an appearance over the head of them all. Through the ceiling, as if it were open, the shape of a being hovers. Vaporous and showing a deceiving, translucent appearance. Through the gloom of its body nothing but darkness can be seen. Before Emma can study the Shadow more in detail, the being swoops from above. Rumpelstiltskin covers his arms with fire up to his elbows. Regina emulates his strategy. She makes her hands burn and, simultaneously, positions herself in front of Emma.
But the rapid descent of the shadow has an announced destination. Owen and Tamara are cast aside and the being gets into the stranger, who laughs with pain when he feels it inside. He takes air with delight and opens his eyes, darkened and with pronounced grey circles. "You are not rival for us, nobody is."
"Let us take Henry and you won't have to prove it." Emma proposes mockingly, peeking behind the protective shield that Regina has become.
"Impossible... He's too valuable."
"Why?!" Regina, furious, barely contains herself and flames in her hands engorge.
"Are you kidding me, Miss Torch?" Owen spits this time, standing next to the unknown man. "Magic pollutes every drop of this poor child's blood, we can't allow for it to develop its power." He's getting encouraged, proud to be the center of attention, and keeps talking. "He's grandson of the Dark One and of the king and the queen united by true love, the Savior's son, raised by the killer and sorceress Evil Queen. This child is an aberration... at least until we cure him."
"You shall not put a single finger on him." She growls like a lioness and lunges for them until Emma pulls her shoulder, slowing her down. The brunette lets herself be stopped, but glares at the blonde with all her loaded arsenal of fury, and Emma can only swallow deeply. She tries to calm her, to ask Regina with her eyes to trust her. The Mayor's position loosens slightly, but that's enough for Emma.
"Cure him? You mean take his magic." The Savior throws the accusation by opposing the trio and standing next to the two sorcerers.
"In case you didn't realize when you saw the bracelet we gifted to Regina, we use magic to erase all traces of it. Not to give use to such a monstrosity." Tamara responds, sickened and guarded up. She's overwhelmed by the desire to confront the intruders and can't wait for the time to move against them.
"Are you sure?" Emma questions, provocative, trying to set them on edge. Something doesn't fit and she needs all the information that they might let go. She directs a brief side glance towards Regina. The brunette is still with her lip furrowed but her look is a little more pensieve. She's reflecting upon it, too.
"You just want to... distract us!" The stranger thunders, out of his wits. He jumps from the last step against them, his eyes injected with blood. Regina is the first to react, leading a massive fire ball towards his stomach.
"Demian!" Tamara's scream lasts as long as Regina's failed attack Regina. In a superhuman twist, the unknown man eludes her magic and falls a few feet away from them. He practically flies.
"Hello." He snorts, facing Regina. He stretches out his hand, grabs her neck and presses with brutality. Emma acts on instinct. She swoops down on him without thinking and delivers a kick loaded with rage against his stomach. She notice how her foot sinks deep in... and he doesn't even flinch. He just closes his hand around the Mayor's neck, before Emma can send second blow to his face. Her elbow strikes Demian's head, but he seems not to notice, and Emma suppresses a groan of pain.
Regina's gaze changes. It's not her cries, nor his fury, not even her power what shows beast has been awakened. It's that look. More bloody, inhumane and cruel than any act she could perform. "Hello." She barks, looking straight into his gray, half-dead eyes.
She takes the hand strangling her neck and creates a huge flame. The smell of burning flesh and Damian's cry make everyone cringe. The man lets her go, Regina laughs and the rest remain on standby.
"Bitch!"
"Perhaps, dear. But for you today, I am your worst nightmare." She savors her words and licks her lips. A blink after, she rips the air with a flick of her hand, and without touching Demian, five scratches adorn his chest and start to bleed. The man possessed by the Shadow closes his eyes and when he opens them, the wounds are gone.
"You will have to do better than this."
"I just started to have fun with you." She purrs, creating sharp knives from her fingers and throwing them wildly against him. Demian avoids them rising into the air. There where the blades get stuck, they ignite. She throws a second round and the man asnswers by plummeting against her, forcing her to retreat.
"Finish them!" He howls, taking advantage of the poor break he gets. Tamara and Owen don't need any more encouragement. They leap on Rumpelstiltskin and Emma, who stop paying attention to the struggle between the two forces of nature, to deal with the two humans.
Tamara charges against Emma, pushing her and stamping her against a piece of furniture. The Sheriff's weapon escapes from her grip and flies to a forgotten corner of the room. The wood creaks and Emma pants before getting Tamara off her and punching her. Tamara stirs and takes her hand toward the stun gun. The blonde holds her wrist and twists mercilessly, even when Tamara throws a blow with her other fist against her side. The brunette's hand finally gives in and when the strange device touches the ground, Emma shatters it with a kick.
"Let's fight in the old-fashioned way."
"I forgot your magic is as useless as you, Savior." She muses mockingly and assuming an attacking position. "Let's see what you're capable of."
Emma covers her sored flank and ignores the taunts. She just wants to watch her eat ground and end her once and for all. Tamara dodges Emma's right, but she eats whole her knee against her stomach. The brunette recovers quickly and Emma has to stop two strong kicks with her forearm.
Near them, Rumpelstiltskin laughs humorlessly, exchanging lashes of fire and pain with Owen. He avoids the Imp's attacks annulling them the gun and counterattacking himself with the magic downloads the device produces. All beats sent by the Dark One aim the arm holding the gun, trying to break or to amputate the limb, he doesn't care, whatever comes first. But he needs to get rid of that damn thing before it can touch him.
The last discharge passes by too close for his comfort and he's finally fed up. He takes a deep breath and exhales forcefully, transferring it to his hands. Then a light beam traverses the distance between the two men and the gun is barely able to contain it. The coup, very diminished, crashes into Owen's hip and he drops his knee to the floor painfully. Now the Dark One is happy. He tries again with a second beam, but Owen rolls away over the ground. The third, however, hits against someone's feet, Tamara's.
Emma, with a swollen lip and her hands raw, contemplates stunned as his opponent dances and moves her feet screaming in pain. She takes the chance to knee her and tear her down.
"I hope I don't importune..." The Dark One mutters, walking towards Emma and watching the couple lying on the floor.
"You're always welcome." Emma pants as Tamara's last blow of Tamara still resonates in her ribs.
"I'll take care of these two infants. Go to Henry." Rumpelstiltskin orders, creating two fireballs in separate hands and playing with them as if they were juggling balls.
Regina and Demian exchange pure black magic in increasingly creative and painful blows and Rumpelstiltskin is delighted with Owen effortly trying to sit up and Tamara rushing desperately to find any electric gun at hand. Emma looks around and runs to the corner where Henry is still crouched.
She drops messily to the floor and hugs her son, surrounding him with her arms, with the love, fear and relief accumulated inside her. It doesn't matter that he doesn't recognize her yet or that he thinks she some kind of deranged stranger. She squeezes him against her, smells his hair and kisses him on the forehead. For a split second she ignores that they are in the midst of a battle and she limits to console Henry's tremors. With the fourth or the fifth kiss, the brown haired head moves and looks for blue eyes.
"Em ... Emma? Mom?"
"Yes, Henry, it's me! We are here, everything is fine." She smiles tenderly, caressing his cheeks and trying to fight back tears.
"NO!"
Regina's voice sounds torn and Emma's heart shrinks in fear.
The Mayor hits the floor with a hard hit of her back-heel and causes a crack running from her feet to Demian. He flies over the danger but he's forced to postpone his next move when the Evil Queen takes advantage of him being in the air and decides to have fun playing skeet with him. He dogges three purple rays that crackle beside his ears when they pass by grazing him. He flies a few feet away, steps aside for precaution and recovers at a safe distance from the blood-thirsty brunette. She will eventually yield to the power of the Shadow, but for now he admits that the woman is a decent opponent, even close to his level.
"I admit you have a very powerful aura. I can't wait to taste Henry's magic and see how much of it has been impregnated with yours." He hisses gentlemanly, sizing her up and trying to forge his counterattack.
"You talk in present..." Regina's growl alerts Demian. His words, far from provoking her, have made her reflect and he goes back fearful to every word he has said. "The Shadow hasn't fed on his magic yet... It doesn't want to absorb his power, he wants to control him to possess him!" She exclaims, out of her wits. Her doubts begin to clear out. After tying the loose ends, her hatred towards that ghostly being, now hosted inside that miserable man, grows. She sends him a crooked and plaintive smile: "You are nothing, just a disposable tool that believes himself indispensable. Henry is what the Shadow wants, a body to stay in, a body with enough magic to make those who surround him pale in comparison."
"LIES!" She bellows like an animal. He lashes out against Regina with rage and without order; launches two energy balls with more strength than aim, delivers a blow of icy blizzard and tries to reach her once again flying over her head.
It's there, more than two yards above the ground, where he hears Henry. Faint and almost off, but with a clarity that sticks in his ears. "Em ... Emma? Mom?" Demian turned around in the air and looks with horror into the child's cell. The nosy Savior lays next to the child, smiling. He's beginning to recognize her.
Demian senses it even before it happens. The Shadow gets rid of him. With violence, without worrying about leaving him abandoned to his fate. And Demian, devoid of the magical essence, falls to the ground.
Regina doesn't see him collapsing. Her five senses are devoted toEmma, Henry and Shadow. To Emma's loving and protective embrace. To Henry's blue eyes shining as he recognizes his mother. And to the diabolic Shadow pouncing on them.
She doesn't think. It happens so fast that Regina doesn't think. She just acts.
The dark and eerie silhouette throws herself against Emma, willing to go through her. To devour the magical essence of the Savior. To take Henry and get rid of her.
"NO!"
Regina's hand makes a turn and she doesn't even need to utter the spell. Her magic knows instinctively what to do.
Emma doesn't have time to look at her. Before finding out why she cries, she's thrown into the air. Near her, a dark blur passes, but Emma crossing the room, flying and totally out of control, and she only manages scream.
"Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!"
When she touches the ground, she does so with a painful crash that reverberates throughout her body. She wails and forces herself to open her eyes. She finds the Mayor's frightened look and pain recedes a little. Emma imagines who has taken her away from danger and tries to smile. I'm fine, blue eyes whisper before both women turn to Henry.
He's still trapped in the cell, but he's no longer alone. The Shadow seems to have increased in size and covers the child's frame as a gloomy mantle. Under his yoke, Henry's body becomes a rag and his head falls forward like a dead weight. Regina's hands are filled with fire and impotence at the same time because any false move could hurt Henry. And getting closer than two yards to that thing is not an option or her magic would be history.
The Shadow's bright and sunken eyes aim her and squeeze her lungs. She look around for help but Rumpelstiltskin is enjoying a grim fight with Tamara and Emma is no longer on the floor but running crouched towards one the sofas to seek for shelter. Owen has escaped the Dark One's attention and runs after the blonde, armed with his electric gun. The Savior hardly prevents the attacks and looks on the floor for her weapon without much success.
Regina feels as if she were splitting in half, unable to do anything and increasingly useless. She tries to control herself, to be cold and calculating, but this battle is being conquered by fear. They were just about to win... what happened?! She looks at both sides, her hands charged but in standby, and before her the vision she least expects occurs.
Snow comes through the window like an acrobat, somersault included.
Immediately, she stands up and what she sees is clearly different from what she expected. Emma crouches and stretches her arm besides a cabinet to try and take the gun, Owen tries to shoot her, but the sofa prevents him from doing so; the Dark One shoots magic blows to a weak Tamara like an authentic western cowboy, and she barely stands the attack; there is a stranger lying unconscious on the floor and Regina, alone and in the middle of the room, stands with her hands on fire and very still.
Regina and Emma look at Snow without understanding, until Owen spoils the moment:
"If you want to keep hidden behind the sofa, your mother is an equal valid bullseye, Saviour." Owen's squawk forces Emma to look at him. Gun in hand, his arm pointing and ready to fire, the brunette has now become his target. Snow's arch rests on her shoulder and she won't have time to arm herself; she's at this madman's mercy.
"Mom..." Emma begs, squated down midway between Snow and the shooter, no time to reach either, no weapons to save the distance.
"Emma, you can do it! Magic is desire, do it!" Regina shouts firmly, with the authority of understanding the limits of her magic better than Emma herself. Surrounding the blonde, more and more energy accumulates and Regina, yards away from it, notices the swirling force generated by her panic. Rumpelstiltskin also repairs in the sudden accumulation of power and the focus turns toward ... toward the Savior.
But Owen is not intimidated by what can't be seen. And he's in no mood to wait and give Emma any advantage. He smiles, offering its most twisted and deranged gesture, and pulls the trigger.
"MOM!" Snow covers her head with her arms and Emma gives a full-throated cry, magic just one second of anger, pain and fear away of exploding. But it doesn't.
A purple cloud emerges one inch away from Snow. Regina materializes, glorious, between them.
"Don't move." The Evil Queen's appearance terrifies Owen, who pulls the trigger with a little cry. Regina raises her hand and stops the discharge... almost on time. The pain comes before consciousness and blood. The artificial magic of the gun melts there where it impacts against the barrier raised by Regina, but she fails to cover herself completely. The lightning strikes her shoulder and gets through it, and the brunette falls to her knees with a cry of pain. Snow crouches beside her, holding Regina against her, not believing what just happened.
"Thank you for making it so easy for me to avenge my father..." Owen drips hatred and joy in every gesture, word and breath, and when he lifts the gun again and aims her heart, he shows an absolute happiness and Regina closes her eyes.
"Owen, no, she didn't kill your father!" Emma, far away from the sofa she has used as a shield, looks at scene, desperate.
"What?"
"It's true, it was an accident. In the forest." She sums up, trying to speak without letting the anguish dominate her voice dominates and choke her words. "She never wanted to hurt him."
Owen stares fixedly at Emma's eyes. He bites his lips, puts down the gun and holds a whimper. Emma puts down her guard, the whining dies as a simple mocking sound and Owen's sadistic smile returns.
"I don't believe you."
He targets once more and the whole room glows with the power of a light beam. But the lightning isn't coming from the gun this time.
"Don't touch HER!" Emma's voice is born of her womb and fury that follows is reflected in her hand. The formidable lightning springs from the Savior's palm straight towards a helpless Owen.
It sweeps the man away and drags him several yards across the room. Only then she closes her hand, frightened, and puts an end to Owen's agony; the man is squirming like a rat, clutching his stomach.
"What the hell was that?" Rumpelstiltskin turns towards the three women, stupefied, and side eyes the wreck Owen is. "Was it you?" He asks, looking at Regina, who lies against Snow.
Despite the pain, the brunette feels a deep relief when she breathes and swallows hard. "No, Emma..." She mutters, looking at his battered shoulder. In a corner, Tamara flees to Owen while the Dark One focuses his interest in Emma.
"I'm impressed."
"Impressed?! They almost killed us, Gold! Could you not have stopped torturing Tamara for a second and lend us your help?" The blonde answers, out of her remains of panic still run through her body and get mixed with the adrenaline sprung by the recent events.
"If I had interfered we would have missed this wonderful intervention, dear,. Emma suppresses the urge to strangle him or to use that strange beam against him. Regina's plaintive wail while she tries to get up is the only thing she has is interested in.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you..." Snow whispers, trying to help the brunette to stabd up. Regina, uncomfortable and inexperienced in receiving acknowledgments, nods and looks away everywhere. Emma runs to them and instantly the Mayor stretches despite the pain and remains firm, shying away the blonde's attentions.
"Are you okay?" The sweetness in her question contrasts with the cry addressed towards Rumpelstiltskin seconds before. When their eyes cross, many more emotions than Emma's anguish or Regina's distant mask get mixed, but the Mayor doesn't allow for more contact than required.
"I'll live." She answers, touching the wound and trying to move the fingers. A sharp cramp invites her you to leave that arm alone for now, and she sighs, feeling sore.
"Does it hurt? Can I do something?"
"No." Her response is blunt and she notices Snow watching her, puzzled. Emma is silent now and that's enough for Regina, but she tries to hide it. "Now we must return to what's really important."
"So right..." Rumpelstiltskin croons. "Where are you, Tamara?"
"Gold!" Emma's cry sounds more frustrated than she intends. Rumpelstiltskin sanguinary obssesion gets mixed with Tamara, with the frustration she feels at being torn away from Regina. But at least she manages to stop the Imp, who stands with a fireball in his hand, but nice and still.
"No, please..." Tamara wails, holding Owen's head on her lap, the man breathing trying to soothe the pain caused by Emma's attack.
"You didn't show mercy with my son, why do you think I'll be willing to grant it to you?"
"We just obeyed orders..." She whines "We didn't know was that thing was... I thought it was the right thing."
"I get to decide what's right..." He growls, increasing the size of the flames. Tamara covers Owen with her body as best as she can and trembles.
"Gold, no. We have more important matters." Snow takes the word this time and puts a halt to the fun Rumpel has in mind. "We must not give them reason to believe that magic is evil."
"Right..." Regina corroborates, turning her back to them. "They'll have decent enough ty punishment staying trapped in this island."
Rumpelstiltskin enjoys this last statement and destroys happily the flaming ball in his hand. The three women observe the cell where Henry remains imprisoned and the Dark One joins them. His grandson is at the mercy of the Shadow, but that being is not moving away.
"Why doesn't he attack us?" Snow asks, preparing her bow.
"That would be of no use and then our fire would damage Henry." Regina offers. "And he doesn't attack us because the only way to control Henry is by staying close to him. It won't risk let him escape its yoke."
"You won't be able to defeat it... it's too powerful." Owen, from the ground, coughs a few times. Emma is not clear whether he tries to help them out or piss them off, but the image of Henry unconscious surrounded by that thing is destroying her nerves and she needs answers.
"Explain yourself."
"It has devoured everything in its territory."Tamara sighs, exhausted. "We thought it was eliminating the magic, but it was feeding on it. On each fairy, mermaid, magician or being we have hunted in this world or another."
"And you realize that just now?!" Regina barks furiously against the two inepts. In front of them, the Shadow stirs and tries to wrap his precious trophy even more tightly, threatening to strangle him. "Henry!"
"We're running out of time, what do we do?"
"I think... I think I have an idea" Rumpelstiltskin whispers, his voice barely a melancholic melody, nearly faded. After listening to Tamara, his world has turned upside down and Oracle's words have come back to him. The words that predicted his destruction at the hands of a child. Now he knows what he saw. And he is at peace with that fate. "I hope it works... but you will be left alone facing the danger, my dears."
"What are you going to do?" Regina asks, dancing between concern and confusion.
"Get ready. I'll distract this thing. When it's weak, kill it for good. Understood?"
"Rumpel ..."
"I'm just letting fate take its course." The cryptic words resonate and Rumpelstiltskin's figure disappears.
"What the...?" Emma pants "Gold!"
Face to face with the Shadow. That's where he reappears. It's a magical suicide.
"What if you fight with someone your own size?"
The Shadow utters a terrifying scream but Rumpelstiltskin is not intimidated. He stands still and smiling before the creepy creature and Henry's unconscious body. The Shadow grabs the Dark One's neck with limb akin to an arm and Rumpelstiltskin feels instantly the brutal lack of air.
"No! What the are you doing?!" Desperation oppresses Emma, and she tries to rush towards the cell. Regina's hand grab her shirt without touching her skin but manages to hold her.
"Don't stop him... I know what he's doing." The Mayor sounds ceremonious and solemn.
"Killing himself?!"
"Something like that..." Regina's calm demeanor gets on Emma's nerves. "It's on us to avoid it from happening."
"What?!" But Regina answers no more. She's lost in the fight between Gold and Shadow, even though that surrender can't be considered an even battle. Rumpelstiltskin offers no resistance and falls to his knees, giving in to pain. Everything he has been for decades, all the power he amassed and gave life to the Dark One is being ripped away from him. And it hurts, it hurts like knives slicing his soul, like flames licking his body inside.
But he can't stop smiling. The Oracle's words echo in his head and Rumpelstiltskin the crumbles them as if he were seeing her in front of him. You will be destroyed by a child... His smile grows.
The Shadow feds on this appetizing piece, a juicy morsel that exudes magic and carries an irresistibly powerful aura. When all that rush of energy begins to enter its being, the creature vibrates and receives it satisfied. But at the same time it begins to shrink on itself. Black magic. Strong, unstoppable and almost infinite; delicious but harmful as a poison.
Rumpelstiltskin, purple, gasps and tries to take a breath, but the Shadow won't let him go. He's becoming less magical, more human, more mortal. But he knows that the Shadow craves his power even if it pollutes it, and that it won't let him escape easily. He knows these symptoms profoundly, he knows the addiction the Dark One's essence ignites.
"It's going to kill him!" Snow shouts, frightened, trying to bring some sense into them. Emma remains pending on Gold and Regina, waiting for the brunette to give the order to intervene. The Mayor stares fixedly, hoping she's right on her assumptions. None of them moves.
Rumpelstiltskin's hands close desperately on the arm absorbing his magic and squeezing his windpipe and he tries to get free, unsuccessfully. There is hardly any life left in his body and much less power, but he pleads for his last magic drops and summons the remnants of their essence. With his last breath he manages to get his fingers burning shyly, and while he feels how the last vestiges of magic escape his body, the Shadow lets him loose, shrieking in pain.
He crouches on all fours, fills lungs anxiously and rubs his neck. But the Shadow wants more, it wants everything. It throws himself on him and Rumpelstiltskin crawls backwards, trying to get away as much as he can. The Shadow goes after him and pounces on him. The Imp shouts:
"NOW!"
"I am too weak to do it alone, Miss Swan." Regina whispers, getting ready for the attack. "I put the theory, you put the batteries..." She growls, looking at Emma.
"What are you…" Talking about. She doesn't get to finish the sentence. Regina grabs her hand and pulls her. Emma takes the chance to intertwine her fingers with the Mayor's and ignores the withering look she gets. She just lets herself be carried away by the brunette, intil they are a few yards away from the cell.
The Shadow observes both women and slows its attack on the human rag that Rumpelstiltskin is. The creature has left Henry behind to destroy the Dark One and now it realizes its mistake. Before it starts a desperate flight, Regina shouts, raising her hand, and a second later a painful cloud of fire hits the being's back.
The eerie sound emanating from the Shadow echoes hard and Snow has to cover her ears. Regina doesn't stop despite the squeak and Emma stands by her side, trying not to close her eyes in the face of the torrent of magic running through her body towards their hands. The Mayor mercilessly destroys the Shadow, that flies erratically around the room, but it's Emma's magic what's doing it. Both magics intermingle, act together and although Regina is weak, their essences are linked with a powerful perfection. The creature agonizes, flies over their heads, threatening and trying to escape, but Regina is relentless, and she's enjoying this too.
The Shadow tries one last strategy and plummets over them, screeching with all its might. It gather all the white magic and Rumpelstiltskin's obscenely evil power and rushes against them. Regina doesn't take her hand away, but she closes her eyes and Emma notices that she's squeezing her tigh. Emma stands firm, she look at that thing descending violently and gives Regina all the power stirring under her. A torrent overflows the woman and generates a flare the size of a person. The Shadow doesn't have time to stop and its squeak is heard throughout the whole village.
It goes through the fire and never comes out.
Regina smiles, squints and gives a soft laugh. She has no energy for anything else. Her surrounding become a little fuzzier than it should, but two things keep her feet on the ground. Henry's voice in the distance shouting "Mom!" and Emma's hand stroking hers. For that split second she forgets about the pain in her shoulder, about the barriers she has raised against Emma and about the panic and hatred that dominated her mere moments before. She looks at Emma and smiles. With so much happiness that it overflows her.
The blonde lets Regina go reluctantly when they run to Henry. The boy waits for them half standing in the cell with a smile racing theis, and when Regina's arms wrap him firmly, he returns the hug and lets himself be lifted into the air. He notices his mom crying against his neck and murmuring nonsensical things.
"Henry... honey... I've missed you so much..."
"And I missed you, Mom. But I'm fine. You see? Not even a scratch." He says, trying to sound firm and serious, but manages but increasing Regina's smile and tears. When she look into his eyes, she accepts he's finally safe, everything's fine and that very acceptance multiplies her tears of emotion. She tries to dry her cheeks and loosens her grip on Henry, who seconds after is engulfed by Emma. He lets it be, happy and smiling.
"Kid... don't do this to us again ever again." She jokes, leaning her forehead against Henry's and laughing with him.
"I promise." He hugs Emma's neck very hard and sighs, calm and happy. Their mothers would come for him, he always knew… From the blonde's shoulder he sees Snow's bright and moist eyes and Goldos soft but warm smile, and when he reaches the ground he runs towards them. They both hug the child, filling him with kisses and joking about never letting him again.
"I knew you'd come." He smiles, tucked between them. "I told you!" This time he speaks for Owen and Tamara, and even Demian, moving imperceptibly on the floor, slowly leaving the unconsciousness after the hit.
"You see? Such a know-it-all brat!" Emma whispers her words to Regina, who quietly observes Snow kissing her son on the head. The waves of happiness and emotion are slowing down to make way for calm and, when she turns towards her, Regina is again the cool tempered woman who has no interest in talking to the blonde. The bright and cheerful brown eyes close again for Emma, who only sees in them a scrupulous and cold distance.
"Yes, you were right, Miss Swan." She takes a step back and gives her back to Emma, interested only in hugging Henry a little longer. Emma, by their side, accepts the coup and looks at the floor, the place where her mood has gone. She sighs and tries to compose herself. Although something uncomfortable and painful squirms inside her, Henry is safe and she feels that, for now, she can't ask for more.
It's time to see what happened in the pitched battle outside. The rest will have to wait ... again.
To be continued…