Fall Part 2

5 days earlier…

"Regina, slow down!" Robin manages to get a hand around her bicep before she rounds another corner. She shakes him off, turns on him with a fire in her eyes that gives the thief pause.

"She has my son, Robin," Regina says louder than necessary. "Do not ask me to do anything but get him back."

"We're going to get him back, but you're not running into this without a plan. It's a trap and you know it." Robin returns his hands to her shoulders, slides them to her wrists and back up. When she's as calm as he knows she will be until Henry is back with her he asks "Do you really think she'd hurt Henry? As you've said over and over, she is you. At your worst would you have hurt your son?" He means to calm her, but it seems her fear only grows.

"She's me without me," Regina jabs at her chest, "I have no idea what she'll do. But I'm not willing to find out. This ends now." She's shaking, terrified of the possibility of a life without Henry in it, terrified of what she knows she has to do to keep him safe. To keep them all safe. Robin knows. She can see it in his eyes, in the sadness and frustration she sees playing in them. She steps into his space, lets him pull her into his arms and presses her cheek to his. She takes precious, selfish seconds to breathe him in, to run her fingers through hair at his collar, to feel his lips press to hers one last time. "I'm sorry," she says through tears that fall unashamedly. Forcing herself back, Regina wraps herself up in her magic, leaving Robin alone in her kitchen.

…

"My mom is going to kill you," Henry says, fully confident as he sits on the couch in his mother's office watching the Evil Queen pace back and forth over the marbled floor.

"I am your mother," she spits at him, annoyed by his constant denial of that fact.

"Not so much." Henry grabs an apple from the coffee table, tossing over his head again and again. "My real mother will be here soon, both of them probably, and you'll regret it." He's bolstering, but he's a Mills; portraying confidence when none exists is second nature. While he knows that both Emma and Regina will be here before long, he has no idea what will transpire when they arrive. So he concentrates on the apple leaving and returning to his and tries to look as disinterested in the queen's presence as possible.

"Both of them," the queen scoffs, snatching the apple from the air and tossing it over her shoulder. "Do you know what you did to me when you ran off to find the precious Savior? The woman who threw you away? I should have been done with you then, you ungrateful little brat. I took care of you. I raised you. I made you strong and kept you from turning into a pathetic unCharming. I…"

"…will get the hell away from son." Regina appears with a swirl of smoke inches from queen, sending her magic flying out towards her other half before she has time to react. Regina winces as the queen slams into the wall, but it doesn't slow her down. She keeps firing spell after spell as the queen tries and fails to rise from the ground. "Henry, get out of here!" she yells over the destruction she's causing to her office.

"Not without you. I can help." He's so brave, her little boy who is nearly a man.

"Henry, please. You can help by getting to safety." Regina can already feel herself weakening. Every blow to the queen is a blow to herself and she knows she won't be able to sustain them for much longer. But Henry's not leaving, if anything he's getting closer and closer. "I love you," she tells him when he comes to stand at her side. "Always remember that." She drops her hands from the spells, cups her son's face, and kisses his forehead. The last bit of her energy she has is used to send him to safety.

It's the break that the queen needs. She sends Regina flying into the mirror over her desk and laughs as she crashes against the chair on her way down. Chains appear at the flick of her wrist, dragging her 'good' self's body into the chair and securing her there. "Did you really think I would hurt him, dear?" the queen asks, grabbing Regina's chin and forcing her to look into her own eyes. "I was saving him from becoming as weak and pathetic as you." She shoves her back, the chair bounces off the wall, Regina's head as well.

"He's better than either of us will ever be." Regina concentrates on the chains until they vanish. She rises from the chair and stalks back to an unimpressed looking queen.

"You can't hurt me, Regina. You can't contain me; you can't control me. Why do you keep fighting it? Aren't you tired?" The queen stalks around her, heavy skirts brushing against Regina's legs.

"Exhausted," Regina admits. "But I'll never stop."

"Too much to live for?" the queen laughs in her face as she plunges her hand into Regina's chest and pulls out her heart. "Well would you look at that," the queen muses as she turns Regina's heart in her hands, inspecting the light that outshines the dark. "I wonder how long that will last." She brings the organ to her own chest, but never has a chance to push it in.

…

Robin had asked himself over and over if he would ever truly be able to harm any part of Regina. He'd fallen in love with her when she was whole, was mesmerized by her light, was intrigued by her darkness. It was a mixture that made her uniquely her. But this separation has brought out her absolute worst of her, the parts that she hides from him, that she works tirelessly to suppress. Has brought them out into a living, breathing, monster that shares nothing with the woman he loves but a face.

When he finally tracks her down, entering her office to see that monster poised to steal a heart that belongs to him, he doesn't hesitate as he releases an arrow into the chest of the queen.