Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time

AN: A big thanks to GranddaughterOfCaskettAndTivia for all her help on this! The name of Robin's baby was completely the idea of my wonderful beta. Thank you! We're getting closer to the Underworld. . . ~ XOXO MAS

The broken locks were a warning, you got inside my head

Emma dropped to her knees, pulling Killian's head up to cradle in her lap. "Killian!" She cried out his name, her fingers skimming over his pale face. "No," she shook her head, "you can't just leave me." She felt a sob tear its way out of her throat. "You promised," she whispered the end, dropping her forehead down to his. "You promised me you were a survivor."

Regina and Elsa both flew backwards as Nimue vanished, the Dark Ones disappearing from this world once again. "Oh, Emma." Elsa and Regina both moved forward simultaneously. Very carefully, Regina pulled Excalibur from Killian's chest, inwardly cringing as the blood dripped back down on his black waist coat. The blade no longer bore the intricate markings of the old sword, instead it was very plain, unadorned with anything, Emma's name no longer scrawled across it. It no longer represented the dagger of the Dark One. It seemed that Emma's plan to destroy the Darkness by killing Zelena would've worked. Instead, though, it killed Killian. "It's going to be alright, Emma," Regina assured her, kneeling on her other side. Both she and Elsa stroked Emma's back soothingly.

Emma looked up, tears running tracks down her face. "How?" She wailed. "Killian's dead," she cried out, her head dropping back down to his.

Henry dropped to his knees next to his mother and Elsa moved out of the way so the boy could curl up against her. "He died to save you. So your family wouldn't lose you. So I wouldn't lose you," Henry whispered, a shaking hand reaching out to tentatively touch where Killian's heart should be beating.

Wrapping an arm over Henry's shoulders, Emma rocked back and forth, one hand still stroking through Killian's hair, the other squeezing her boy as tightly against her side as possible. "He told me he was a survivor," she whispered. "How did I lose him? This is all my fault. If I had been stronger or better or lighter we would be together."

"We should get everyone back to the palace." Elsa leaned around Henry and Emma to whisper to Regina, "Being out here can't be good. We need to send out my men and make sure the towns are secure, then we need to come up with a plan. Plus we should check on the babies, Anna, Kristoff, Belle, Granny and Leroy."

Regina nodded. "I can handle that." Waving her hand, she whisked them all back to Killian's room, laying the pirate out on the bed. "Let's give Emma a moment, come on, Henry." She gently guided their son from the room, closing the door behind her.

The group gathered in the hallway. Even with the door shut, they could only hear a whisper of Emma's cries through the heavy wooden door. Mary Margaret asked, "What do we do now?" She cringed as her daughter cried out the name of her dead pirate again.

"He can't just be dead." David shook his head in disbelief. "That's not, I mean we don't just lose each other like that." He gripped his wife's waist tightly. "We may have to fight for each other all of the time, but we don't permanently lose each other, no matter what." His voice was determined and adamant. They'd gone through so much, through curses, through death, through hearts broken in half, through time travel and memory potions for it all to just end, for Emma and Killian to just lose their happy endings. And if Emma lost her happy ending, there was no way that he or Snow would ever be truly happy.

Regina shook her head. "Sometimes that's just how life works." The memory of Daniel dying in front of her for doing nothing more than loving her floating before her eyes.

"Regina's right," Robin agreed. "Sometimes we do lose each other." The pain of losing Marian would never lessen, no matter how much time passed.

Elsa pressed her fingers to her temples, closing her eyes and trying to focus as a headache ebbed at the corners of her mind. "There has to be another way!"

"Another way to what?" Anna and Kristoff came jogging up. "You're back, what happened? We felt something, I don't know," she looked up at Kristoff questioningly, "shift?" She suggested.

Elsa sighed and closed her eyes, launching into the story of what happened at the lake and Killian's death. Elsa watched as her sister crumpled next to her husband, her eyes watering at the news that Killian was gone from them.

"That can't be the ending," Henry interrupted sharply. "Killian can't just die."

"Well of course it isn't," Anna scoffed as she straightened, the resolve in her eyes matching Henry's. "Killian survived Gold ripping his heart out, he can survive this," she reminded them all.

"This isn't the same thing, Anna." Elsa admonished lightly. "Killian is actually dead now, it's not like he's just wandering around with someone controlling his heart. He's not in this world anymore."

"No, he's in the Underworld now," Kristoff responded. "Anna, we may have actually lost him this time. It's not possible to bring people back from the dead. It's the one thing that no magic can conquer."

"What about someone super powerful, though?" Anna suggested.

Regina shook her head. "No, there's no bringing anyone back from the dead. Believe me, I tried for years to bring Daniel back. It isn't possible. He's in the Underworld now."

"The Underworld?" No one had heard the door open and close behind them. Emma was wiping away the tears from her cheeks. "Can we get there?"

"Get to the Underworld without dying?" Robin asked skeptically. "Is that even possible? And if we get there, it's not like we can bring him back. Right? I mean that follows the thought that you can't bring people back from the dead."

"I brought the past Dark Ones back from the dead," Emma snapped. She was met with blank stares.

"Perhaps not everyone who dies goes to the Underworld then," Mary Margaret suggested. "Or maybe you're only there for a period of time. Then it's too late?"

"Oh, Kristoff, would Grandpabbie know?" Anna asked, bouncing from foot-to-foot. "He knows everything, I bet he knows a way to get to the Underworld! We should just go there and see if Killian is down there and if he is then we'll figure out how to bring him back."

"I just needed Excalibur," Emma murmured. "The lake is a portal to the Underworld. If we can find something strong enough to open it, then-"

Regina's lips curled up into a small smile. "I actually think I know something that will work." She paused. "But first, there's something else I have to do."

"What?"

"We can't leave Zelena here. We're going to have to leave Granny, Leroy and Belle behind to watch Neal and" she paused, "Robin, did you choose a name? I know we had some ideas, but-"

He nodded softly. "I did, I just can't believe I'm leaving her behind already."

"You have a name for your baby?" Mary Margaret asked.

Robin nodded. "It was something Regina suggested actually, Renata, it means born again."

"Oh that's beautiful." Anna swayed slightly. "Don't you love that name, Kristoff?"

"We're not having a baby until after we get back from the Underworld," he stated firmly. "Now, Regina, how do we get there and what do you need to do first?"

"First, I need to send my sister back home where she belongs." With a flick of her wrist, she was standing on top of the palace with Zelena. "Hey there, Sis."

Zelena let out a gasp as Regina gave her back her voice. "What are we doing up here? Where's my baby?"

"Robin's little girl is sleeping in her nursery, this, however, is where we part ways." Regina pulled Zelena's wand out of her pocket.

Zelena chuckled. "Please, you're not strong enough to use that," she scoffed.

"Oh, Zelena." Regina shook her head. "It's not about strength, it's about belief."

She raised the wand up, waving it. "Where are you sending me?" Zelena cried out, watching as the skies around them darkened in preparation for the twister about to descend around them.

"Home," Regina answered. "Home to Oz." She laughed as a twister tore through the forest, sucking Zelena up. When the calm settled over her once again, she muttered, "See ya round, Sis."

When she came back downstairs, she found everyone crowded in Killian's room. "Did you take care of Zelena?" Robin asked quietly.

She nodded, wrapping her arm around his waist. "Emma?" She drew the blonde's attention away from Killian. She was seated next to his bed, one hand over his hook and the other combing gently through his hair. Regina felt her heart break at the devastated look on Emma's face. "Let me put a preservation spell over him," she suggested softly. "It should keep him safe while we look for him."

Emma nodded, dropping her hand away from her pirate's face and sitting back. "Okay."

Her father's arms wrapped around her shoulders, drawing her into his chest. "It's going to be alright, Emma. Killian's a hero. He'll come back to us. We always find each other," he reminded her.

"This seems like a hopeless distance," Emma whispered, shifting in her chair to dig her face in her father's stomach. "And it's all my fault."

He cradled her head against him. "You weren't yourself, Emma; you were fighting something that's impossible to fight. And somehow, you still managed to do it. You did stop yourself in the end," he reminded her.

"If I'd stopped myself sooner, Killian wouldn't be dead," she wailed. "If I'd managed to hold onto the light more than I had then-"

"We'd still be fighting something," he cut in. "And crying over Killian's body won't help bring him back. What will, is going to the Underworld and figuring out how to bring him back home with us." He pulled back slightly. "Now, are you going to cry or are you going to come with me to the lake? Because I'm going in after Killian."

Emma swallowed hard and nodded. "I'm going in after Killian too." She pushed her chair back and stood. "Regina, are you ready?"

She nodded. "Granny is set up with Renata and Neal. Belle is staying here with her, so is Leroy. They're going to help guard the castle. The rest of us are all going, right?"

"Of course we're going!" Anna tugged on Kristoff's hand. "Right?"

"It's going to take all of us to bring him back," Kristoff agreed. "Let's go."

In a flash they were all at the lake, standing with the water just lapping at the tips of their shoes. "What happens now?" Robin asked in a whisper.

Wrapping her arm around Henry, Emma looked over at Regina. "Do it."

Twirling her wrist in a circular motion, Regina focused all of her energy on the lake. A moment later the boat with the reaper appeared.

OUAT

XOXO

MAS