Regina was shackled to a chair in the council's chambers. As the law demanded, all council members were present. They were seated at one long table that was brought into the council chambers for interrogations. Snow was in the middle of the row, Red to her right, Charming to her left, Emma was left of him, Pinocchio to the right of Red, and the dwarves filled the ends of the table.
"As you were informed," Snow said. "There is some information we need out of you."
"My vault?" Regina asked.
"No, we found your vault," Snow said. "What we want to know is if you have any more hearts stashed anywhere?"
"I don't," Regina said calmly. "They were all kept in my vault along with the hat that transports to other magical realms and the vipers that killed King Leopold."
Snow jumped up. "How dare you mention my father's name!" she exclaimed. "He was a wonderful man and you murdered him!"
Regina felt the Evil Queen facade slipping back. The protective barrier between her emotions and the world was all she had. Her time as King Leopold's wife was not a time in her life that she enjoyed thinking about. "Wonderful man? You think he was a wonderful man! He was no such thing!" Regina clenched her fists, wanting to use magic but knowing she couldn't. It was then that she caught sight of Emma. She had told her about a husband in the past, but now she was finding out that man was her grandfather.
The look in Regina's eyes was one Emma had only seen one other time. She had seen it when Snow and Charming had found them at the cabin. She could understand, looking into her eyes, why people feared her. But Emma was not afraid. She knew the woman behind those eyes.
"Regina," Emma said softly.
Hearing her name on the blonde's lips snapped her out of her glare at Snow. She looked at Emma, eyes instantly softening. Regina looked back at Snow who was still standing with her arms crossed over her chest.
"The only place you kept your hearts and your beasts was in your vault?" Snow asked, harshly.
"Yes," Regina said. "I assume you also searched my castle and got my mirror."
"We did," Charming said. "And we cannot free the gene."
"He put himself in the mirror," Regina said. "He used his own lamp to curse himself into that mirror. I don't know how to free him. Not that I would- if I were you."
"What does that mean?" Snow asked.
"He is the one that released the vipers on your father," Regina said. "He wanted to be with me, but I rejected him."
"You gave him the vipers to kill my father," Snow said.
"I may have given them to him," Regina said, "but ultimately it was his choice to release them. Contrary to what you might think I don't control the people around me. They are there because they want to be." She looked at Emma. She looked back at Snow, eyes hardening just slightly. "So, you have my vault, my hearts, and my mirror. What else do you want to know?"
"Why did your curse fail?" Emma asked.
A silence fell over the council chamber. It was the thing everyone wanted to know, but no one dared ask it. Even Regina was stunned that it was being asked, especially by Emma.
"Answer the question," Red urged.
Regina sighed. "To even cast my curse, I had to take the heart of the one who meant the most to me. That meant my father. For the sake of my happy ending I killed the only person in the world who always saw me as better than I was and always supported me. But after I killed him an emotion that I'd thought I'd buried came to the surface: regret. I regretted killing my father for my curse. The regretful feeling grew and when I cast the curse it failed." Regina paused for a moment to let her words sink in. "That's what Rumpelstiltskin tells me. But I'm not sure it failed. I ended up right where I was supposed to be." She looked at Emma. "I ended up with the savior."
Emma tore her eyes from Regina. "I'm no savior," she said quietly.
Emma was in the stables. She decided to brush down Storm. It was probably the most calming thing she could do right now without leaving the castle. Storm could feel her stress and was on his best behavior.
"Stormy, boy, what am I going to do?" Emma said.
"I don't think he's going to give you an answer," Red said as she leaned against the door to Storm's stall.
"Who should I ask then?" Emma asked.
"That's complicated," Red replied.
"Tell me about it," Emma said.
Red approached the blonde and her steed. She stroked the stallion's nose. "I believe her. I believe that she does love you and I believe that she's trying to be a better person because of her love for you."
"My mother is blinded because of her hatred for the Evil Queen," Emma said. "She can't see that Regina is trying to be a better person."
"Snow and Regina have a long history," Red said. "Your mother once spared Regina's life, even after Regina had tried to kill her. At that point, they were even. Regina had saved Snow's life and Snow returned the debt."
"So because my mother's debt is paid, she's going to follow through this time?" Emma asked. "What crimes is she being convicted of?"
"After Snow stopped Regina's first execution, she banished her," Red said. "She told her if she ever returned, Snow would follow through with the execution. That's why she's facing the firing squad tomorrow."
"But she is not the same person she was back then," Emma said.
"I know," Red replied. "I can see it. Its in her eyes when she looks at you. That same look that is in your eyes whenever anyone says her name."
"I can't let her die, Red," Emma said.
"Then that is your mission," Red replied. "Save her."
"How?" Emma asked.
Red shrugged. "I can't tell you that. But I do know that you'll figure it out."
"You're no help," Emma said.
"I can't give you the answers," Red said. "One, because I don't know the answer and two, because its your love that will save her, not my thoughts and opinions."
"What happens if I do save her?" Emma asked. "Mother and father will never have me if I am with her."
"If they don't want you, then you just have to make a home and a family without them," Red said. "But I highly doubt that they'll completely reject you. Your mother will probably be angry for a while, but she loves you, she'll get over it."
Emma ran the brush over Storm's back. She needed the rhythmic, meditative motion to calm her. There was too much going on in her head. She looked at Red. "How are you still friends with my mother?"
"What do you mean?" Red asked.
"My mother does not like your relationship with Belle," Emma said. "And she doesn't mind telling you."
"Your mother is my oldest friend," Red replied. "She saw me though so many horrible things in my life. She saw me for the good inside of me, she looked past the wolf. So I am going to look past the fact that she does not really like my relationship because deep down there is good there. And I was breaking down her walls. She had started asking how Belle was. She asked if I was bringing her to your party and didn't seem at all upset when I told her she was coming. But after finding out about you and Regina her walls came up again. She's afraid. I can see it so I try to be patient with her. But sometimes she cuts just a little too deep and that's when I have to walk away."
"We'll just have to show her that our love is just as good as the love she shares with my father," Emma said. "If she doesn't you and Belle can come run off with Regina and I."
Red laughed. "I don't think so."
"Why?" Emma asked.
"Belle and Regina have a shaky history," Red said. "Regina kidnapped her on her way to meet Rumplestiltskin. I think Regina saved her from Rumplestiltskin. But sometimes she doesn't see it the same way."
"She wasn't always a good person," Emma said. "But I know she wants to be."
Red put her hand on Emma's shoulder. "Then save her so she can be."
After brushing Storm, Emma headed back to the castle. She walked through the courtyard. Her mother and father were there with a couple of the guards preparing for Regina's execution. She tried to avoid looking at them as she past them. She was not ready to deal with this.
She could feel her anger rising at the thought of the execution. Her body tensed as she stormed into the castle. She marched right down to the dungeon. She drew her sword on the guard at the door. He was a tiny man, not much bigger than she was.
"Let me down," she said. There was no question in her voice. Her tone was hard.
He nodded nervously and allowed her into the dungeon.
Just as she passed through the doorway, she said: "I'm not here."
He nodded again. "Ye- Yes Princess Emma."
She gave him an almost condensing pat on the shoulder. "Good." She descended the stairs into the darkness of the dungeon.
Upon entering the dungeon, she resheathed her sword. Rumplestiltskin's laugh ripped through the darkness.
"Hello savior," Rumplestiltskin said.
"Emma," Regina said. "What are you doing down here?"
"I need to talk to you," Emma said approaching Regina's cell. "I'm going to get you out and we're going to run away together. If my mother can't see that you've changed then I don't want anything to do with her. I asked Red and Belle to run away with us too. But apparently you and Belle have history."
"We do," Regina said. "But I don't want to talk about that right now.
Emma nodded. She reached through the bars and took Regina's hand. "I'm going to save you, or I'm going to die trying."
Regina reached through the bars and took Emma's face between her hands. "I can't let you die for me. I can't let someone else I love die because of me. If it comes down to it and you cannot save us both, let me die."
"I can't," Emma said.
"You must," Regina said.
"Then let us both hope that my mother sees reason before it comes to that," Emma said. She leaned in and kissed Regina through the bars. "I love you."
