Still don't own OUAT or its characters.

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter Ten

When All You Hold Dear is Gone

The kingdom was in mourning.

James was inconsolable, choosing to hide alone in the highest tower, locking and barring the door, ignoring Snow's increasingly desperate calls floating up the stone staircase.

It turned out Henry was right about the wolf; as soon as the curse broke Graham returned to his human form-heart intact-grinning down at himself until his gaze fell upon Emma's lifeless body. It turned out a human scream was far worse than a wolf's mournful howl. The Huntsman who could not feel found that he now could, and he hated it. After all, what were feelings worth when the woman who had ignited them was dead?

Henry had taken to following August around-whose limbs had thankfully returned to flesh-silent and pale as a ghost, running away for hours on end when August eventually snapped at him, only to return at nightfall with red eyes, glancing away from Snow's stricken face.

And Snow…Snow's desolation turned to rage which turned to hatred which turned to restlessness, the ache of losing her daughter never far away.

Plans for a funeral were announced, Emma's body clad in a dress fit for a princess, her coffin exquisite.

It was almost a shame she would never get to lie in it.

It was midnight when Snow ran.

"It would seem I was mistaken," Regina said conversationally as she pulled clothes from her wardrobe, holding up two cloaks beside one another. "Apparently it is the Prince I have broken. They say he hides away from all whereas dear little Snow's anger rages like wildfire."

"It would not be the first mistake you have made," her mirror said sullenly, though he watched her movements with undisguised longing.

She threw the two cloaks onto her bed, and turned to the mirror.

"Come now, my love," she said in a mocking tone. "Are you not pleased for me?"

"Pleased that your plan has failed? Why yes, nothing pleases me more."
Regina scowled, turning her back on the mirror as she dressed, first in a plain black corset that laced up the front, followed by fitting black trousers, and finally black leather boots.

She glanced back at the two cloaks, one black as midnight with a black fur collar, the other deep sapphire blue velvet, trimmed with silver thread.

I have worn enough black. To wear black now would be to appear as though mourning for the lost princess.

She chose the blue cloak, slipping her arms through the sleeves, allowing them to drape almost to the floor.

It was not the most practical of riding gear, but it would show her status. She dressed like a queen to remind others that she still was queen.

It would show she didn't grieve for the princess. It would show that she was ready.

"There now. How do I look?"

"Beautiful as ever, my queen," he said dutifully.

Regina smiled sourly.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall…" She broke off, laughing coldly. "Was it worth it? All this just to be close to me?"

He said nothing, staring at her with emotionless eyes.

"Very well. Keep your secrets. I shall return soon."

She pulled back her hair, pulled on her riding gloves, pulled up her hood.

"I suppose I shall have to saddle my own horse. My guards have not yet returned to me."

She turned to leave, her cloak trailing behind her.

"Was it worth it?"

Her head whipped back to face her mirror, her face contorted into a mask of fury.

"What did you say?" she hissed, her entire body trembling.

"I said was it worth it? Killing your father, losing the Huntsman, losing Henry. Was it worth it?" he snarled, and each word was a dagger to Regina.

Her mouth opened, her words caught in her throat. She was frozen where she stood.

"I thought not," he murmured, sounding satisfied. "And now, my beautiful queen, all that you hold dear is right there in your hand."

She glanced down, her gaze falling on her clenched hand.

"All of this, for the owner of that."

Her fingers twitched, the smooth gold brushing against her skin.

"All of this because of your broken heart. What would he have to say if he knew how dark your heart has become?"

She was breathing heavily, her corset suddenly far too tight.

"Or do you even have a heart at all anymore?"

She closed her eyes, pretending she couldn't hear him; words she couldn't hear couldn't hurt her.

"What would he say if he knew you had done all of this in his name?"

She gasped raggedly, jerking back as though hit, her fingers numb as all that she held dear slipped between them, pinging against the cold stone floor and rolling to a halt beside the empty fireplace.

"He would be ashamed to see you now," he said coolly, as she did not know whether he meant in general or at that very moment, as she threw herself to the floor, scrambling to grab her ring, clenching it so tight in her fist she was sure that when she opened her hand its pattern would be engraved on her palm.

"All that you hold dear, my queen…are you proud of it?"

"No," she whispered, uncurling her fingers and staring down at her ring.

She brought it to her chest, pressing it against her skin, right over where her heart should be.

"But if she hadn't killed Daniel," she said, strength returning to her voice, "I would hold far more dear. I would have a husband, a life, maybe even children. Instead I am alone and full of hatred. I am a heartless woman because of her."

"You chose the curse. You cut out your own heart."

"My heart was ripped from my chest the minute my mother ripped Daniel's from his!" she screamed, tears falling from her cheeks. "And that is why all that I hold dear is a ring, because Snow White ripped everything away from me. And when the time comes I will rip her heart out of her chest, just as I ripped her daughter away from her."

Her mirror stared at her in horror as she rose from the floor, her cold smile in place.

"If you will forgive me, I have a meeting to attend, an old friend back in touch."

And as she left, she closed her eyes and slipped the ring onto her finger, pretending it was Daniel's fingers putting it on her.

I promise to take you as my wife and love you for all eternity, she thought, and it was his voice that filled her mind.

If her heart remained, it would have broken for a second time with the pain of losing Daniel once again filling her.

I promise you, Daniel. I promise, I promise.

Here she was, waiting alone in the forest, the river running soothingly beside her, calming her frayed nerves as all around her the mist closed in.

She was ready to snap, her sword at her hip, knife in her boot.

She almost wanted Regina to try something.

She could almost hear her voice in her ear, cold and quiet, whispering, How far you have fallen, Snow White.

She wanted her blood.

But she wanted something else even more.

She'd planned it all, directing her speech to a mirror, knowing just who would be watching and listening.

Then she had found her old green cloak which hid her so well in the forest, making her way through the shadows to the stable, saddling her favourite horse and leaving as quickly as she could, swearing the guards to complete secrecy.

And now there was no turning back.

"Snow White," a voice called out. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I want to make a deal," Snow said immediately, her head held high as she met Regina's cool gaze.

Regina raised her eyebrows as she moved closer.

"I believe you have the wrong person, my dear. I'm sure Rumplestiltskin will be willing to treat with you."

"We've made a deal before."

"A deal that you broke," Regina said reminded her in a low voice, holding Snow's intense gaze.

"I didn't break it, Charming did. I held up my end. Now I want to make another. My life, in exchange for Emma's."

Regina laughed, the sound echoing around the trees, rising over the babbling of the river as she shook her head slightly.

"I have no power over the dead. No one does."

"Magic can do anything."

"But all magic comes at a price," Regina said with a humourless smile.

"I named my price; my life."
Regina sighed, looking up exasperatedly.

"Snow White…skin white as snow, lips red as blood, hair black as ebony. What good does it all do you now?"

"I don't understand," Snow said through clenched teeth, her hands balling into fists.

"Snow White, the fairest of them all, beloved by the kingdom…what good does it do you now? How will you save all of your loyal, loving subjects now?"

"By killing you," she said shortly.

"Yet you offer your life up so willingly. I think you'll find it hard to kill me when you're entombed beneath the castle with your daughter."
Snow turned away, her breathing ragged.

"Were you ever told how it was that Emma came to be in that accident?" Regina asked.

"You told me yourself," she said unevenly, forcing herself to calm down; she needed to focus, not enter a blind rage and try to attack Regina, as she was so close to doing.

Never before had she been so volatile, so full of pain and fury.

If grief had made Charming weaker, it had only made her stronger, more willing to do what needed to be done.

She supposed it was because she had nothing left to lose.

Her daughter was gone.

"I told you I caused it. Did you never wonder why she was in the car so late at night?"

Snow frowned but remained silent, curious despite herself.

"Emma was running," Regina said with relish, laughing truly, and it would have been the most beautiful sound in the world if Snow didn't hate her so. "Your daughter was leaving you."

"You're lying," Snow said in a low voice, her nails drawing blood in her palms.

"Am I? It certainly fits Miss Swan's profile. She ran, so I ran her off the road. It was only when I saw Henry beside her that I…regretted it. So I took Henry, made sure he was safe and still unconscious, and I went home. When he woke up, I told him it must have been a dream and that he had been in his bed asleep all night. And then I got a call from Doctor Whale to tell me that Miss Swan had survived, and that Mary Margaret and David Nolan of all people were waiting for her in the corridor," Regina finished, her tone explanatory, as though explaining a vaguely interesting piece of news.

"That's not-she wouldn't…not without saying goodbye, she's cha-" Snow stuttered, but Regina cut her off.

"Wage a war against me, call your armies to you, name your battlefield; I shall meet you there myself. Don't promise what you can't fulfil; only the Saviour could defeat me, and she was a complete disaster from start to finish. You can't bring her back, you can't kill me; both of your plans ruined. I will offer you one deal, Snow White, for old times' sake, though it is far more than you deserve. I will allow you and your little prince to keep your lives. But I retake the throne and rule. I keep Henry. You lose your right as heir, as do any of your future children, and retire to some cottage far, far away. Fair enough for the fairest of them all?"

"No deal," Snow spat, returning to where her horse waited without a backward glance at Regina. "Until the battlefield, stepmother."

"Until your death, daughter."

Snow glared at her, before mounting her horse and turning away, Regina's eyes boring holes into her back.

"So it begins again," she said softly, the smallest of smiles upon her lips, before turning back the way she came and disappearing into the mist.

He cursed himself, hurrying down the stairs as soon as he saw Snow leave the courtyard, her cloak billowing out behind her.

Of course she'd visit Regina; how could he have expected anything else?

The next thing he knew, Rumplestiltskin would be at their door.

He undid the locks, removing the barricade, tearing down the empty hallway, turning the corner, before-

Smashing headfirst into someone, and throwing them both to the floor.

"Forgive me," he muttered, wincing as he rolled his shoulder. "I was distracted."

"As was I," the person murmured, sitting up beside him, and James realised with a jolt it was Gepetto's boy.

He didn't even know he was still in the castle. He wondered just what else he'd missed.

Since learning the truth of how Pinocchio came to be in Storybrooke, James' opinion of him varied depending on his mood, and right now he had never been in one so black; he had no time for the boy who had deprived his daughter of her mother.

"I must go, Snow's ran off to-"

"Have you seen her?" the boy interrupted quietly as James rose to his feet.

"Snow? Yes, that's what I was-"

"No," he said hotly. "Emma."

He staggered backwards as though hit, his breath hissing out.

"No-I…I can't. Not like that."

"She looks asleep."

"So did Snow but it didn't make it any easier."

"Snow was asleep. Emma is…gone. She's gone," the boy said heavily, tears gathering in his eyes.

"You think I don't know that? You think I don't see her laying there every time I close my eyes? I won't see her like that again. I refuse to."

"You have to say goodbye. She deserves a goodbye."

"You have no right to tell me what she deserves. She deserved her mother for the first twenty-eight years of her life. Instead she was left with a ungrateful boy who abandoned her as a baby, so do not dare lecture me on what she deserves," James snarled, his temper having finally got the better of him.

He whirled away from him, his blood pounding in his ears as he fought for control.

"I loved her, you know," the boy said conversationally, as though they were having a perfectly calm, normal talk. "As soon as I laid eyes on her in this world, I loved her. When I came to Storybrooke, and I first saw her standing there with Henry…she was so perfect, so beautiful, so…clearly born to be a princess."

"She was a princess, she always will be," James muttered, beginning to pace before him.

"I loved her as a…surrogate brother, if you will, and I said goodbye. Why could I do what her father cannot?"

James exhaled raggedly, turning away from the boy's intense stare.

"I don't know if I can. I don't think I have it in me."

"Neither did I. But I still did it."

"Did you kiss her?"

The boy looked away, his jaw tightening.

"Yes."

Fury flared within James, driving out his grief for a moment.

"Just on the forehead," the boy clarified. "I never imagined I was her true love."

"Graham is her true love," James said automatically, and he cursed Henry for making him believe so.

His chest constricted as he remembered Graham's reaction that day, how he held Emma, how he screamed, how he whispered in her ear, words none of them could hear.

Never have I seen a man so broken.

"You are her father," the boy said simply, as though James hadn't spoken at all.

"No parent should have to do this. No child should die first."

"The world is cold and uncaring. Regina is even more so."

"I can't do it," James repeated.

"Do it for her."

Four words, that was all. Never before had four words broken his heart in two.

Do it for her.

Everything he did was for her, he wanted to continue to do so for many years.

This would have to be enough.

This would be his final act as her father.

"Tell me where she is," he ordered.