When the smoke surrounding them disappeared the women were standing on the sidewalk in front of Emma's old house.
"Snow," Regina turned to the other brunette, "please stay out here."
Snow opened her mouth, but Regina spoke up again before any words came out. "I know you want to help, but with Emma still angry with you...it's just not a good idea. The last thing we need is for her to lose control of her emotions right now."
The former princess sighed, she knew Regina was right. "I'll stay...for now."
Knowing that was as good an answer as she would get, Regina took Mal's hand and lead her up to the front door. Before she touched the doorknob she turned to the blonde, "Ready?"
Mal nodded her head, but Regina could see something reflecting in her blue eyes, uncertainty. "What is it?"
The blonde swallowed and turned to make sure Snow could not see her face. "Regina, you need to be the one to kiss her."
"What?"
"You broke the curse before, you can do it again."
"You're right I could, but so could you, my cariƱo," she squeezed her hand. "You know that."
Mal looked down with a slight blush on her cheeks, her voice came out in a whisper, "What...what if I'm not enough? I love Emma, but...but what if my love isn't enough? If you did it we wouldn't have to worry."
"I'm not worried," Regina placed her hand on Mal's cheek. Normally, she would think the blonde's blush was cute, and would lightly tease her about it. At that moment, however, she frowned at it, "Why are you thinking like this?"
"I don't know...All those times I said I was Emma's true love, they were just words, Poppet. What if I kiss Emma and then fate decides that what I've been saying is a lie?" Mal had to fight against the tears that threatened to pour down her face.
"Screw fate," both their lips briefly twitched at the words that came out of Regina's mouth. It was something she had definitely picked up from listening to Emma. "The three of us are true loves Maleficent. We all feel it in our hearts. Now, we are going to go in there and you are going to get our Emma back."
Maleficent took a deep breath and had not felt such a drop in her confidence since before she met Regina. She really hoped the brunette was right.
Regina kissed her quickly before finally turning to the door and opening it. The two stepped into the living room, but Emma was nowhere in sight.
"Emma?" they both called at once as they stepped over Robyn's discarded toys.
"Perhaps she's not here," Mal said when they looked into the kitchen to find it too was empty.
"Maybe, but..."
A deep voice interrupted the mayor, "You need to leave."
Both Mal and Regina turned to see Emma suddenly standing at the bottom of the staircase. They frowned when they saw her. She was dressed exactly as she was when she was last the Dark One. Dark Swan had indeed returned.
"You need to leave," Emma repeated, "I don't want to hurt you."
"Emma it's okay," Regina took a couple steps forward. "We know you won't hurt us."
"Well, I don't. I ripped a child's heart out last time. What's to stop me from doing something like that again? Or worse?"
"Us." Mal stood beside Regina, neither of them showing any sign of leaving.
"You guys don't understand. It's different this time. It feels different this time like I'm less in control."
"What do you mean Kitten?"
"This," Emma used her magic to poof the dagger into her hand. On one side her name was etched in black, but as she turned it, they could see that the dagger also had Rumplestiltskin's name still engraved on the other side.
"It's unstable. It's like the darkness doesn't know where to go. I felt it as soon as it brought me here. Like it's coursing through me not knowing what to do. I'm not as tied to the dagger as I was before. I'm scared that I might not be able to control the darkness at all. I don't know, perhaps it's because Gold kept part of the magic and now it's looking for the rest of it or something."
"You mean that Gold still has some of his dark magic?" Regina asked, worried about her sister and Belle facing him.
Emma nodded as she made the dagger disappear in a puff of dark smoke, "He definitely still has some magic, but I couldn't tell you how dark it is. I think I may have gotten most of it though. So please, before I do anything I might regret, leave. I couldn't live with myself if I hurt either or you."
"You won't," Regina declared and then turned her head to Mal. "You can do this," she mouthed to her as she gently pushed on the blonde's back. After that she pulled out her phone to send a text to her sister, warning her of Gold's magic.
Mal took a breath and did her best to show confidence in her soft smile as she approached the other blonde,"Emma..." She trailed off before any more words were spoken because as she stepped towards Emma, the sheriff backed away.
"I'm sorry. I know you could break the curse Mal, but I can't trust myself to get near you. My emotions are still too unstable, just like my magic. I don't want to accidentally lash out at you. You have no idea how hard it's been to restrain myself they last hour. After all the crap that happened yesterday...I just can't trust myself right now." Emma wrapped her arms around herself as tears appeared in her eyes. Mal and Regina's hearts broke at the sight.
Of course, Snow chose that moment to walk in. Apparently, she had quickly grown tired of being left behind.
As she walked through the door her eyes landed on her daughter,"Emma. Oh my God..."
At the sound of her mother's voice, Emma's head whipped around so fast the others heard her neck crack. Her eyes instantly dried and narrowed. All the anger she had been repressing flew to the surface at the sight of the Snow White.
Before anyone could do anything to stop her, Emma raised her hand, using her magic to hoist Snow up into the air by her neck, "What the Hell are you doing here?!"
"Emma! Put her down!" Regina shouted as Mal tried to get closer to the other blonde again.
"Stay out of this, both of you!" with a wave of her free hand Emma froze her lovers where they stood. Neither was in pain, however, they also could not move.
Snow clawed uselessly at her neck, trying to stop the invisible hand from choking her. "Emma...please don't do this...I'm sorry," her voice was breaking as she struggled to breath.
"Sorry? Sorry for what? For comparing me to that damn king? For questioning my true love? For caring more about who I loved than about why I loved them?" She used her magic to bring Snow closer to her so that they were only inches apart, "Or are you sorry for telling me that Maleficent and Regina would abandon me like you did the very moment I was born?!" Emma shouted in her mother's face.
Tears were flowing down Snow's face as her daughter questioned her. Between her emotions and the force holding her up, she couldn't utter a single word and she was barely getting any air.
Emma's magic may have been more powerful than normal, but it still worked the same as all magic, by emotion. With her concentrating on her mother, her magic holding her lover's weakened to the point where Mal was able to break free using her own.
The dragon rushed to Emma's side and placed her hands on her shoulders. All her earlier insecurities were forgotten. She tried and failed to get the other blonde to turn towards her but she still kept her grip firm. "Please Emma, don't do this," she begged.
"Stay out of this Maleficent. I don't want to hurt you," the sheriff's eyes stayed focused on Snow's face.
"You don't want to hurt her either. She's your mother Emma. You may be angry with her, yet you also love her. Regina and I talked to her earlier, she truly is sorry for what she said to you. Now please, stop this while you still can."
Emma's face twitched. Mal could tell that she was beginning to get through to her. "We will never leave you no matter what, but hurting her will only make things worse for you. None of us want to see you go down this path. Please, Kitten, if you won't do it for Snow then do it for Regina and Henry and me."
As Maleficent spoke, tears began to trickle down Emma's cheeks. She remembered Regina giving her a similar speech a few years prior, and Regina had been right.
She finally turned her head to face Mal. After a moment of gazing into loving, blue eyes Emma finally brought her hand down allowing Snow to fall to the floor.
Emma released her hold on Regina as well. She had tried to free herself until she saw Mal break through the magic, she knew the blonde could handle it on her own.
The mayor went to Snow's side, making sure the younger woman was okay as she struggled to catch her breath. She, also, knew her lovers would need a moment more to talk before Mal broke the curse.
"I'm sorry," Emma spoke as she continued to cry, "I didn't mean to lose control." The weight of what she had almost done hit her as she saw Regina rubbing her mother's back. "Please don't leave me," her voice cracked as she reached for and squeezed Mal's hand.
"Never," Mal placed her palm on her lover's cheek and wiped the tears away. "It's okay Emma, we're not angry with you. You didn't do anything wrong. You stopped in time."
Emma sniffled as she hid her face in Mal's neck, the two of them wrapping their arms around each other. .
Mal made soothing sounds as she rubbed the other blonde's back with one hand while holding onto the back of her head with the other. "We'll never leave you, Emma," she whispered into her ear, "You'll never be alone again. I promise."
Emma nodded with her head still laying on the dragon's shoulder, "I love you."
"I love you too, Kitten." Mal placed a soft kiss on Emma's cheek.
Regina looked adoringly up at her lovers from her spot on the floor. She wanted to jump to her feet and join the embrace but decided to let the two of them continue to have their moment alone.
She glanced to Snow and a relieved smile appeared on her face at what she saw. Snow was looking up at her daughter and Mal as well. She was still rubbing her throat lightly to relieve the remaining pain. However, a look of understanding on her face. It was obvious that she could finally see for herself just how much the two loved each other
As Emma tears finally stopped, Mal gently pulled away. "Now," she placed her hand on Emma's face once again, "let's put Rumple's senseless plan to good use and get you back to normal Kitten."
Emma gave a short laugh as she nodded. The two leaned forward with their eyes closed and brushed their lips together. Instantly, a bright colored light surrounded them and the darkness flew out of Emma's body.
When Maleficent's eyes reopened she was beyond relieved to find that their Emma had returned. Her long blonde, beautiful hair hung down her back, her jeans, t-shirt, and leather jacket was back in place, and of course, her bright smile lit up her features.
"Thank you, Beautiful," Emma pressed her forehead against Mal's. "And for the record, I will never leave you guys either." She kissed Mal again before looking down and reaching out her hand for their brunette lover.
Regina grabbed the offered hand and stood up from the floor. "Welcome back," she whispered lovingly before giving Emma a kiss of her own before the three hugged.
Snow picked herself off the floor as well, her breathing had finally returned to normal. She stood back from the small group to give them some space.
When Emma's eyes locked with her mother's. She squeezed her lovers a little tighter before letting go and then walked over to Snow, "We should talk."
Snow nodded in agreement, though she was not sure exactly where they should start.
Mal and Regina stepped closer, "We'll go outside," Regina spoke up, "give you both some time alone."
"No don't," Snow looked at the two other women, "you should stay. You deserve to stay." She received two nods before she turned to her daughter.
"Mom, I'm sorry that I almost...you know..." Emma fidgeted with her hands, looking at them instead of her mother. "I'm still mad, but I never wanted to hurt you."
"It's okay, honey. I honestly, deserved it," she paused as she waited for Emma's eyes to meet hers before she continued. "I also deserved that punch yesterday. I'm sorry about the horrible things I said to you, I should never have done that."
"Then why did you?"
Snow sighed before explaining, "All I wanted was for you to have a normal, safe life, Emma. I thought that a normal life is what would've been better for you. But, now I see that you really do have an incredibly loving life. You truly do have two true loves," she glanced over to Mal and Regina. "I'm sorry I doubted either of you."
They both smiled and nodded, silently accepting the apology.
"I know you are still angry Emma and that you won't forgive me that easily. Hell, I haven't even forgiven myself yet, but please know that I do love you. And I promise that your father and I will never abandon you ever again."
Hearing that last sentence from her mother's mouth brought tears misting back into her eyes. Slowly, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Snow, "I love you, Mom."
"I love you too Emma."
After a moment Snow pulled away gently and kissed her daughter's cheek. "I better go. Your father and brother should be back at the apartment by now. Everything happened so fast, I didn't even think to tell him about any of this."
"Tell him I'm okay and that I love him."
"I will," she turned to leave but stopped before reaching the door and turned back to the others. "Perhaps you all would like to come family dinner on Sunday, and maybe even bring Lily with you as well?"
It had been a while since Regina and Emma had accompanied Henry to the weekly dinner. Neither of them wanted to leave Mal behind.
All three smiled at the offer, but it was Maleficent that spoke, "We'll be there."
Snow smiled and nodded before leaving the house. As the front door shut behind her the three lovers embraced once again and took turns giving each other sweet, passionate kisses.
"Now that all the excitement's over I say we all call it a day," Emma looked hopefully toward Regina, knowing Mal would be fine taking the rest of the day off.
Regina giggled with a small grin, "I think it would be safe for us to go home for the day, yes...and perhaps we can even take tomorrow off as well," she saw her lovers eyes light up. "But first we have to go check on Zelena and Belle. I don't trust Gold not to hurt one of them." She took out her phone to see if Zelena had sent her a message back after learning of Gold's magic. The mayor frowned was she saw that there was none.
"Of course Poppet," Mal then saw Emma give a confused look, "Belle and Zelena went after Gold after we learned about what he did to you. He told Belle that his magic was completely gone."
"Then let's go," with that Emma lead all of them out the door. Each hoping that Gold had not done anything rash with his dark magic back in his full control.
