Light Magic
"It's coming!" Mary Margaret said again as her hands went to cover her belly and strong pain traveled her body while she gasped for air. There was no time to drive over to the hospital and Emma used her magic to transport each of them into the hospital. They asked the nurses to attend Snow White and they rushed her to the room already waiting for her birthing.
Dr. Whale was nervous, as he needed to let Zelena know the time had come, but he couldn't do it at that moment since he had all eyes on him. Emma and David refused to leave the mother's side and so the doctor had no choice but to allow both of them to stay in the delivery room while he helped bringing another life into this world.
Emma and Regina had put up a barrier spell surrounding the nursery room with their combined magic, and hoped it would be strong enough to at least hold Zelena in place for a few minutes until they could do something definite to stop her.
"Take a deep breath and push one more time." The doctor told Mary Margaret as his hand could feel the head of the child making its way out. The pixie-haired woman continued pushing with all her might and her husband encouraged her to continue while Emma remained by the door; keeping an eye out and then in to check for any green witches coming their way.
Regina was outside to equally keep guard on the delivery room of her former nemesis. Henry had gone to hide in the utility closet per Regina's request and Ruby was guarding nearby his hideaway. Belle had gone back to the shop to pick up something she thought could be useful and decided to make her way over to Zelena's farmhouse, following her gut instinct.
"It's a boy." David said with excitement after receiving the newborn in his arms. Emma had a bright smile while looking at her mother cry with joyful tears and placing a gentle kiss over the little baby's forehead.
Dr. Whale used the special moment to go wash his hands and, while out of sight, he took the chance to communicate with Zelena through a glowing crystal ball he kept hidden in a locker. "The product has been born." He whispered into the round object.
Zelena grinned with malevolence after hearing the news from enchanted crystal earrings and turned to look at Rumplestiltskin trapped inside a blood-locked cage. "That will be enough, doll." The witch told him as she picked the gold thread he had spun from the wheel. She then waved a hand over the lot and turned it into a golden brain.
- "You were right. Spinning does clear your troubled mind, or should I say "brain"? She chuckled and drew out Pandora's box.
- "That's not necessary. I'm on your side." Rumplestiltskin said to her.
- "Without the dagger? I don't think so." She answered with a raised eyebrow.
- "I never break a deal, dearie. When we go back in time, I want you to honor your vow to let them live and then… I will choose you." He said between clenched teeth; hands turned into fists.
- "Remove the Savior's magic first and then we'll have a deal." Zelena said with bitterness.
Zelena opened the cage and extended a hand to him, which he took warily. She then pulled him close and placed something in his bare hand he had not too long ago used against his star apprentice. "Fate..." He mumbled and felt the burning sting of the symbol etching onto his skin.
"If you dare betray me, the wreathe will take care of you." She threatened him, carefully placing the enchanted medallion back inside her pocket. She had gotten it from Mulan, after the warrior traded it on exchange of Aurora's unborn child's life and told her about another True Love Product; Snow White's.
It wasn't long before Grumpy and Sneezy saw the Witch and the Dark One coming their way into the hospital with a firm step. Dwarves ran inside the building to alert the rescuing party about the imminent danger and Robin had his arch and arrow ready to attack Zelena the moment she crossed the door. But when his arrow left the bow, Rumplestiltskin stopped it in the air and looked at the archer with a scornful glare.
"It didn't work the first time. What made you think it would work now?" Rumplestiltskin remembered their first encounter, when the thief dared stealing a magic wand from his castle. He then turned the arrow around and directed it on the outlaw's direction. He released it it toward Robin Hood but Tinker Bell flew to him and placed herself in between, receiving the impact instead. Robin caught the fairy in his arms and Zelena moved past them with Rumplestiltskin by her side in direction of the nursery room.
The archer started weeping and he couldn't understand why he felt so much sorrow for this woman he had just met. His tears were falling down to land over Tinker's chest when a couple of nurses came toward them to aid the fay.
Zelena was walking down the corridor to claim Snow's child for herself and use it to complete her list of ingredients for the curse. Rumplestiltskin faced Regina outside of the nursery and his apprentice couldn't really stand a chance against her mentor. He pushed his hand inside Regina's chest to confirm his suspicions and was un-amused to find a beating heart inside her ribcage. "Keeping secrets, are we?" He whispered and Regina looked into his eyes with fear.
Rumplestiltskin knew that moment that Regina wasn't under Zelena's command when she killed Belle and the wicked witch had no idea the heart she had been playing with, wasn't her sister's. She wouldn't be able to cast the curse and Rumplestiltskin wouldn't forgive Regina for murdering Belle, and he needed the time travel portal to be opened so he could save both his son and his lover.
- "It isn't what it seems, Rumple." Regina tried to explain but her mentor interrupted.
- "And I would say I'm sorry, but I would be lying, dearie." He said as he pulled out Regina's heart and brought it to Zelena.
- "You fooled me!" Zelena yelled at Regina with rage and clutched at the heart with vengeance.
Regina fell to her knees in pain and fainted from the strong grasp on her heart. She lay unconscious on the floor and Zelena joined her magic with the Dark One's to break the barrier spell protecting the entrance to the birthing room.
Emma was focusing her strength and magic to keep up the shield but without Regina's backup, she was easily defeated and the door to the room broke open, sending Emma to crash against a wall and loose conscience.
David drew out his sword to protect his wife and baby but Rumplestiltskin waved a hand and made him paralyze with magic. Snow tried to hold on to her baby but Zelena's green smoke engulfed the newborn and brought it to her own arms.
"Thank you both for this happy day." She said to the horrified parents and started humming a lullaby to soothe the crying baby.
Zelena then turned to look at Emma regaining conscience and noticed the blonde bringing a hand into of one of her coat's inner pockets. "Don't forget to take her magic." The witch told the Dark One.
Rumplestiltskin walked closer to the blonde; he waved a hand above her head and made her body freeze; he then looked inside her coat and was elated to find the dagger. He pulled it out and lift Emma's chin up with the blade dangerously. "Thank you for bringing this back to me." He said to her and brought his lips to hers in a deathly kiss that sucked every ray of light magic out of the savior's body.
- "Was that necessary?" Zelena looked at Rumplestiltskin with jealousy.
- "You know the spell. You could have done it yourself." He responded with an annoyed tone.
- "Give me back my baby!" Snow cried out as she tried to get up from bed.
But Zelena just laughed and summoned her green smoke to vanish together with the Dark One.
Meanwhile, Tinker Bell had been taken to emergency and Dr. Whale removed the arrow from her back. It had pierced through muscle, but no organs were punctured and they managed to make the bleeding stop. But still, the fairy's vital signs continued to drop. There was nothing else they could do medically to save her and they connected her to a machine to prolong the inevitable.
"We have done all that's possible, but science can only do so much against magic." Dr. Whale told Robin. "You should call her family and let them know she has not much time left." He finished.
A nurse helped Regina come back to conscience and they told her about her fairy godmother's fatal fate. She immediately went to see Tink in the bed she now lay connected to the same machine that had once aided Henry. She told the dwarves to bring the Blue Fairy and maybe she could heal her with her wand's power.
Mother superior came some minutes later and looked down at the green fairy with sadness.
- "You have to save her!" Regina ordered.
- "I'm afraid I can't. You know that arrow is enchanted with powerful dark magic." She told her dryly.
- "So you'll just let her die?" Robin muttered at the older fairy while approaching her threateningly.
- "Not even my magic can stop the incantation from dimming her light." She said taking one of Tinker Bell's hands in hers.
- "I always believed in you, Green." Blue said to her with tears.
A loud beep came from the machine and it showed the fairy's heartbeat had stopped. Blue then went to ask a nurse for the green wand, to collect it and bring it back to the nuns convent for protection.
- "We need powerful light magic." Regina mumbled. "Born out of True Love." She looked at Robin with hope.
- "Does she have someone?" The archer asked with both hope and a hint of deception.
- "You." Regina assured him and moved aside.
It was worth a shot. He knew he felt something for the woman standing between life and death, but could she possibly feel the same way about him? Wasn't it too soon to even call it love? There was no more to loose and much to win if what his heart was telling him was true.
Robin Hood leaned down and looked at the sleeping face of the youthful fairy. She was very beautiful and he felt his heart race inside his chest. He closed the gap between his mouth and her lips with a truthful kiss that sent a wave of light over the fairy's body and the petite lady gasped for air. Blue was already making her way out when she felt the blast of magic sweep the room and she turned around to look again at her former trainee.
- "True Love's Kiss." Blue said in a whisper and looked at the man holding the girl's hands in his. "But that's not possible." She mumbled.
- "It is." Regina smirked proudly after seeing the displeased shocked look in the fairy she disliked most, and it was a mutual feeling.
- "Robin... Regina..." Tinker Bell said slowly while looking at them with confusion. "What did just happen?" She asked them weakly.
- "You found your True Love." Regina smiled warmly at her friend.
- "The man with the lion tattoo?" Tinker Bell blushed and felt confused.
- "Remember that pixie dust? It wasn't showing me my second chance. It was showing you yours." Regina answered and Blue blinked at the knowledge.
- "You'll have to choose between your wings and this man's arms." The older fay said with grief.
- "I have lived without them for longer than I've actually had them." The fairy looked at her mentor tiredly.
- "Only this time it will be worth it." The green fay turned her gaze to Robin and gently placed a hand on his cheek.
Robin Hood kissed her again and a sparkly green mist evaporated from the fay's body. Her magic was then absorbed by the green wand the Blue Fairy held in her hand and the senior fay sighed deeply.
"You know the rules, Tinker Bell. I hope you made the right choice." She half-heartedly smiled and walked away.
Regina couldn't be prouder of Tink for not running away from love and facing her fate. Destiny now lead her to live a human life with a man and a child by her side and the former fairy couldn't be happier. After living so many years in Neverland on her own, she had started yearning for a place to call home and a family to claim as her own. Now she finally had it.
- "They took the baby!" Emma ran to Regina's side.
- "What?! We must stop her. She has my heart now and it won't be long before she uses it." Regina started walking in direction of the exit, where David joined them.
- "One more thing... They took my magic, too." Emma shared with her and Regina's mouth gapped.
- "How the hell did that happen?" The brunette questioned.
- "It doesn't matter how... it just did." Emma looked away in embarrassment.
- "Rumplestiltskin. I will cut off his head." Regina felt her blood simmer inside her.
Purple smoke engulfed them and brought them to Zelena's farmhouse, where the witch had already placed each of his ingredients in the four directions. A circle of magical fire burned in a spiral toward the center, where Zelena stood with Rumplestiltskin waiting for the portal to fully open and show them the time lapse she wanted.
- "Not so fast, sis." Regina yelled and waved a hand to make the newborn disappear from the circle and re-appear in Emma's arms.
- "You're late, Regina. The portal has already opened." Zelena grinned and ordered the Dark One to keep them from entering the circle.
Rumplestiltskin waved a hand and made David fly in the air and land over a pile of straw in the stable. Meanwhile, Emma was unable to attack since she had to protect her little brother, but she had no magic and making a move could cost not only her life but the infant's as well.
Rumplestiltskin stepped out of the circle and moved in direction of Regina with a steady step. He looked at her with hate and Regina returned the scornful glare. He had dared to kiss Emma's lips to remove her magic and protect Zelena from the Savior, and the brunette just wanted to end her mentor's life right there. Regina's magic started shimmering in her hands; swirls of purple light scintillated in them, just as pitch black twirled in the Dark One's hands.
"Give me your best shot, dearie." He incited her. "With pleasure." Regina focused and shot her magic against him. He stopped purple light with black and the energy coming from their hands started to grow thicker and brighter. But whenever it looked like Regina was making an advance, Rumplestiltskin smirked and made her magic take two steps back.
The amount of magic in the stable started to create a storm outside the farmhouse. The portal continued opening wider and Zelena had the first picture of the moment she wanted to alter. It showed a young Cora in the royal garden and Zelena had decided to get rid of the gardener that planned to black-mail her mother about her secret pregnancy. "I'm sorry daddy." The witch waved her hand and turned him into a snail before Cora noticed him coming her way. "Well, not really." Zelena Chuckled as she saw Cora step on the tiny critter with her heel. "Now let's find princess Eva." She said with amusement.
Zelena was immersed in the images appearing in her window through time and didn't notice the moment Belle appeared from behind straw and threw a small bottle Emma had given her for Rumplestiltskin earlier in the shop, when the flying monkey had tried stealing the Dark One's book. An amber glow blurred the images from the reflection and the portal began to close. "Noooo! What have you done?" Zelena screamed infuriated and pushed her hands forward to create a small twister of green dust that trapped the younger woman inside and started to make it constrict her body, like a python wrapping around its prey.
- "Rumple!" Belle screamed before loosing her breath and he immediately turned around after hearing the familiar voice.
- "Belle?" He asked confusedly and Regina's magic struck him, knocking him down for a moment.
The magical impact made Rumplestiltskin have some kind of seizure and after a light shone brightly, Neal pulled out of his own father's body.
- "Neal?" Emma was perplexed and ran to his side, baby still in her arms. "Are you okay?" She asked with worry.
- "You had a baby? Is it Hook's?" Was the only thing that came to his mind that moment.
- "Seriously?" Emma's brow furrowed, just as Regina's did.
"Ahhhh!" Neal groaned in pain as his father's body started pulling him toward his. Both bodies had merged to keep him alive and as his father began to regain consciousness, so did his body and reclaimed Baelfire as part of his own now.
Zelena could feel something changing after having rid Cora from her venal father in the past. The powerless pendant she had lost in Regina's manor appeared back on her necklace but it was turning from green to white again, like it had been a long time ago.
"How can this be?" The witch looked at the gemstone and started to feel dizzy and confused. She had just started changing the past and something seemingly insignificant had already made a major change in her present. Zelena brought her hands to her temple and felt a strong headache cloud her vision. She stepped out of the figure and lost balance, but managed not to fall by leaning against a pilar.
"What's happening?" She turned to look at Regina and Emma with distress, new memories adjusting in her head.
Regina and Emma saw how the green hue on Zelena's skin started to fade away and were just as bewildered as the witch herself. David used the opportunity to recover Regina's heart and snatched it from one of the golden plates laid on the ground. He went to pick the baby from Emma's arms and gave her Regina's heart on exchange.
Emma approached Regina slowly and with as much gentleness as when she had held the baby in her arms, she now pushed the glimmering heart back inside Regina's chest. The brunette took a deep breath and felt whole again. She looked deeply into jade eyes and was leaning for her kiss when Zelena interrupted their romantic moment.
"She still didn't keep me!" Zelena yelled furiously. "But this isn't over yet." Zelena growled and with her magic she made Emma and David (baby in arms) lift from the ground and hang in the air.
With her use of dark magic, the pendant changed back again. The green tint that had almost left Zelena's skin, quickly returned and her gemstone turned pitch black this time. Whatever light had been fighting the darkness out, was now completely gone.
- "This is between you and me, sis. Leave them out of this." Regina muttered while approaching slowly. "You can have my heart, but please don't hurt them." She pleaded.
- "Please... playing hero doesn't suit you, sis. I tried to be good once but it didn't pay. THIS is who I am and who YOU are as well." Zelena told her.
- "You are wrong, Zelena." Regina replied and felt a new kind of magic crawl in her hands.
A bright white light started glowing in her hands and Regina was astounded to realize just what kind of magic her body was manifesting.
- "What are you doing?" Zelena's eyes opened wider in shock.
- "Changing." Regina told her with conviction.
Two bright blasts of light emanated from her hands and tackled the witch, making her fall and loose grasp of the hovering bodies. Regina quickly reacted and made them land gently with her magic, making sure no one was hurt, especially the newborn secured in his father's embrace. The storm outside ceased and the portal continued closing.
Rumplestiltskin ran to meet with Belle after his body re-absorbed Bae and watched with astonishment at what his apprentice of dark magic had achieved. It was definitely not something he had taught her and he knew only light magic was Zelena's weakness. Hence why the witch needed Emma's power removed by someone other than her.
"Remove her necklace." Rumplestiltskin ordered Regina. All he had was dark magic and that type of power did nothing to Zelena. She had become the most powerful sorceress in all the realms and her strength equaled the Dark One's with the now active pendant.
Regina made Zelena paralyze with her new magic and moved steadily in direction of her sister to rip the necklace from her chest. The brunette took it in her hand and watched as all of her sister's magic got sucked into the enchanted pendant. She wondered why the first time they had it in their possession it had not done that, and realized the past had changed with Zelena's first peek at the portal.
- "I don't know what you did but it backfired on you, sis." Regina told her. "You're not going anywhere." She half-heartedly chuckled.
- "Are you going to kill me now, sister? Show me your true color, Regina." Zelena challenged.
- "No. This ends now. I will give you what I was given not long ago… a second chance." Her younger sister told her.
- "You can't be serious." Rumplestiltskin turned to look at Regina incredulously.
- "I am. Light magic defeated her and good doesn't exact vengeance." She replied with sincerity.
- "My son is dying because of her!" Rumplestiltskin spit out with fury.
- "Didn't we take many lives in our own revenge? The cycle needs to break." Regina exhaled deeply.
- "No, it doesn't! I will make this witch pay." He said as he made Zelena's body drag on the ground in his direction.
- "Just kill me already!" Zelena cried out with anguish.
- "With pleasure." Rumplestiltskin answered and his hand swayed with the dagger in direction of her chest.
A ray of white-blue light hit the Dark One this time and he went flying in the air to land over a pile of straw. Belle ran to his side, she picked his head up in her lap and called for his name and was relieved to see his eyes open again. Emma's hands shimmered with after-glow from her magic's return. "She said, it ends now." The blonde muttered and Regina went to lift something from the ground. Rumplestiltskin had lost the dagger with Emma's attack and now he was at the mercy of Regina.
"I order thee, Dark One, not to kill Zelena." Regina whispered into the dagger.
She then went over to Belle and offered the weapon. "This is the only thing I can give you to make it up to you for the years lost." The brunette placed the dagger in the younger woman's hands and walked away to join Emma and David with the baby. They were impressed with Regina's character development and Emma couldn't feel prouder of her soul mate. She knew she had done the right thing by following Hook back to Storybrooke and Regina was her true happy ending along with Henry. Destiny was a curious thing.
Regina went to approach her sister, still laid on the floor, and looked inside her pockets to recover Pandora's box. "You said you would give me a second chance." Zelena's brow furrowed. "Not today." Regina grinned and her sister was powerless now when Regina waved her hand over the lock. The wicked witch was unable to escape the void sucking her into the box and so she was trapped inside the magical prison that had previously housed their mentor.
- "Wait!" Belle yelled at the charming family as they walked away. "You promised to help Baelfire, please." She reminded Regina.
- "I said maybe, but it is too late now. You saw how his body got sucked back into Rumplestiltskin's. I'm afraid my magic isn't powerful enough." Regina turned to tell her.
- "There's another way." Emma put her hand on Regina's arm and looked at Belle. "The potion I gave you." The blonde remembered Tinker Bell's gift for Rumplestiltskin.
- "The special one from the fairies?" Belle asked nervously.
- "Yes. The one Tinker Bell said was for Rumpestiltskin." Emma narrowed her eyes on her.
- "Could it be the waters of Urd?" The imp mumbled with astonishment.
- "I used it to close the portal." The blue-eyed beauty replied loosing all hope.
- "No! Everything is lost. My son..." Rumplestiltskin smacked his hands on the ground with despair.
- "We will find another way, Rumple." Belle tried to place a hand on his shoulder but he evaded her and vanished.
Regina and Emma felt bad for the younger woman but it was a thing Belle had to deal on her own, since she had chosen the Dark One as her partner. The magical couple asked her to come with them, but Belle refused politely and decided to walk her way through the now serene forest. It would help her clear her mind and soothe the pain and guilt she felt for Bae.
*A/N* This took long because I hadn't been inspired to write, sorry!
Wondering what the waters of Urd are? Look for "Yggdrasil and the Well of Urd" mithology.