Ch.11

The castle was overflowing with visitors the following morning. Everyone in Storybrooke wanted to pay their last respects to the Savior, the Emma Swan they wished they had in their realm. Regina sat in the back of hall, doing her best not to be noticed by anyone. As she cradled Christian in her arm, she touched each pocket of her leather pants to check that her spell and potion were still there. In her Right pocket lay the spell to travel through time and dimensions, and in her left was a potion that would set a wild and magical fire all throughout the castle. Her plan was simple. Go up to Emma's body as if she was saying goodbye, then throw down the portal spell. Once she pushed Emma's body through it, she would jump in herself with Christian. As she fell she would throw the Bain of Fire potion and hope it does significant damage to everyone in the castle. The magical fire would take on a life of its own and actively seek out those that are near it. Regina had lucked out and found this in her safe in her house. It may have been one of their ways to attack the good people of Storybrooke and would explain the ashes around town.

Part of Regina felt bad for what she was about to do. She knew these people were just frightened when they wanted her and Emma dead. She knew that Dark Emma had done terrible things, and possibly deserved to die for them. She knew they felt terrible for their mistake and wanted to help her get home. She knew deep down that these were the same good people she had back home. But she didn't care.

Regina clenched her free hand into a fist, fighting that familiar bubble of evil rise in her chest. She felt her eyes wash over with magic as she attempted to breathe through her emotions. She narrowed her eyes as she watched Queen Snow walk over to Emma's body and turned to face the crowd of people. Every sat down in the rows of chairs and quieted down as they waited for their queen to speak.

"Thank you all for coming today. I understand many of you may be confused as to why we are having such an elaborate funeral for a woman who is not from this world. But, I think we all feel the same way when it comes to the savior we missed out on. Our Emma disappointed us and chose to embrace the darkness. This Emma however chose a different path, and we killed her. We made a mistake, and it cost another realm their savior. I feel, as I hope you do, that providing a royal departure is the least we can do to rectify our mistake. She died a hero, sacrificing her own life for the town."

Regina rolled her eyes. This Snow White was just as clueless as the one in her world.

"Had she not sacrificed herself, we would have made an even graver mistake and killed both her and Regina. We would have been sitting ducks thinking The Dark One was dead, while really she was plotting a way to return to us and kill us all. Emma's sacrifice saved us all, and we will honor her by having her eternal resting place be in our family crypt." Snow finished her speech with a tear in her eye.

Regina narrowed her eyes in anger. She couldn't take it any longer. Regina suddenly stood and marched to the front of the room towards Emma's body, clutching Christian close to her chest. Snow looked shocked but moved to the side as Regina approached.

"I would like to say a few words." Regina said solemnly, keeping her head down to avoid eye contact with Snow. She was sure the other woman would be able to tell how angry she was if she looked her in the eyes.

"Oh, of course." Snow said as she stepped down, giving Regina the platform.

Regina reached out to touch Emma's hand and looked at her. Her skin was a dull grey color, but other than that she looked as though she was simply sleeping. She reached down and kissed her lips one last time, in the hopes it would wake the woman, but nothing happened. As she was knelt down beside Emma's head, Christian had turned in her arms and reached out for Emma. His little fists only able to reach her golden locks. Regina watched him sadly as he looked to Emma to make a goofy face, or jump up and grab him and spin him around. She moved him so he could sit beside her on the stone table. He patted his hands on Emma's arms, wanting her to wake up.

"I'm sorry Dear, but she won't wake up." Regina said quietly to the baby. She was sure he was unable to understand her words at his age, but still, there was something about the way he got suddenly still and quiet that made her question it. His chubby little fist reached out for Emma's hand, grabbing her thumb. He held it tight, as suddenly a blast of light washed over Emma's body. Regina gasped in surprise. She looked around but no one else seemed to have noticed. She then looked to Emma face to see if anything had changed, but the blonde still laid motionless and grey. She closed her eyes in defeat; it was probably just a trick of light from the large stained glass windows.

"It's time to go my love, she isn't going to wake." Regina whispered into Christian's head as she picked him back up and turned to the room. With her back to Emma's body, she removed the spell and potion bottle from her pockets and held them in her free hand.

"I have never been good at controlling my emotions. I have a history of making bad choices. Choosing to feel anger rather than grief. I must be truthful to you all. I was planning on killing you all with this potion in my hand." Regina said as she raised the potion bottle up into the air and then quickly stowed it away in her pocket.

The crowd gasped.

Regina hung her head in shame. She was sure they would hate her now as they hated the Evil Queen. But unbeknownst to her, it was not the reveal of her plan that had the crowd gasping. For just behind her Emma's body started to stir.

"I am truly sorry. I promise I will not harm anyone. I was just angry. I was grieving for yet another loss." Regina said as she looked down, afraid to see their angry faces. Suddenly a voice behind her made her jump.

"R..Regina." The voice was barley a whisper.

Regina's eyes widened in shock, but she was too afraid to turn around to check. If she was just imagining it then the disappointment would kill her. She closed her eyes tight, but the voice spoke again, this time clearer.

"Regina?"

Regina turned around and stared down watching Emma struggle to sit up.

"You…You're alive?" Regina asked.

"Yeah…looks like it." Emma said with a cheeky grin when she finally managed to sit up straight. "What happened? The last thing I remember was this wacky version of Henry slamming my head down."

"You died, but I think Christian brought you back to life." Regina said still shocked.

The crowd behind Regina burst into applause and cheers. The King and Queen ran over and hugged Emma. The older Henry remained were he stood, keeping his head down. He was clearly still ashamed by what he had done. Regina was still in shock when the applause finally settled down after the Kind and Queen announced that the funeral will now be a celebration.

"Regina, are you okay?" Emma asked as she swung her legs over the side of the stone table so they dangled. "I'm fine, it's all good."

Regina slapped Emma hard on the side of the face.

The whole room gasped.

"What the hell Regina?" Emma asked holding her face where Regina had just hit her.

"It's all good? Do you know what I almost did? Do you realize what I almost gave to bring you back?" Regina asked angrily.

Emma looked at her confused. "I heard a little bit of your speech. You said you were going to hurt them, but I'm so proud of you for making the choice to not hurt them on your own."

"No, I'm not talking about that!" Regina yelled.

"Then what?" Emma asked.

"THIS!" Regina said throwing the scroll of the spell at Emma.

"What is this?" Emma asked.

"It's a spell. Well, more accurately a curse. I was going to curse myself in order to travel back in time to save you." Regina spat.

"Regina. What kind of curse are you talking about?" Emma asked.

"It's a curse to send someone back in time but they would lose all power they had. It was originally meant as a punishment for someone who was too powerful."

"So why didn't Dark Emma know about it and use it? It sounds easier than her plan." Emma asked.

"Do you really think The Dark One would ever give up her power? Remember, she isn't you. You chose to come back to us, and gave your power up." Regina said.

"I guess you're right. She wouldn't do that. But why are so mad at me? Are mad at me for dying?" Emma asked.

"I am not mad that you died. I am mad that you sacrificed yourself and left me alone." Regina said.

"Regina, the only thing that gave me the strength to do it was knowing that you would still be alive…for Henry's sake. We couldn't both die and leave him alone." Emma said.

"And what about him? Where you fine with making it so Christian just disappeared off the face of the earth?" Regina said as she handed the baby to Emma and stalked away needing to get out of the crowd of people now celebrating jubilantly.

Emma got up and followed her. The baby giggled and pulled at her curls as she walked.

"Regina! Wait!" Emma said as she caught up to the other woman.

"What Miss. Swan?" Regina asked as she turned sharply on her heels. Her eyebrow was raised high in annoyance.

"I had to, because it would have happened anyway! If we both died then Henry would be an orphan and Christian would disappear. But at least with you alive there was hope." Emma pleaded her case as Regina thought it over.

Regina nodded. "I guess that is true. It wouldn't have helped if we both died." She turned away quickly and took a step away from Emma to hide her face.

"Regina? Are you crying?" Emma asked as she reached out and touched the brunettes shoulder.

"OF COURSE I'M CRYING! I THOUGHT I HAD LOST MY BEST FRIEND!" Regina screamed as she turned around grabbing the surprised Emma and kissed her hard on the mouth.

It took Emma a second to realize what had happened as Regina's lips were moving on her own. When it finally registered, she closed her eyes and kissed Regina back.

"Don't ever die again, or I will kill you." Regina whispered when they had finally parted.

Christian babbled happily and played with Regina's neckless while the two woman were standing close together. Regina smiled down at him while Emma made a silly face that caused the baby to erupt in giggles.

"He brought you back. It was all him. I tried. I was going to take you back to our time to get that amulet from Dark Emma."

"Yeah, and kill this town on your way out." Emma said jokingly.

Regina rolled her eyes. "I decided not to. I should get points for that."

"You definitely get points for that." Emma said with a smile.

"So now that you're alive, and I am decidedly not going to kill everyone here, what are we going to do?" Regina asked.

"Well I don't know about you, but I could eat about a hundred burgers from Granny's right about now." Emma said rubbing her stomach.

Regina laughed. "Well the diner here burned down, and I think she passed away years ago…But I saw that Ruby was selling food out of her cottage behind the castle." Regina said.

"No Granny in the future?" Emma said sadly.

"I think she was killed in one of the battles." Regina said stoically.

"Bet she went out like a badass." Emma said with a smirk.

"Oh yes, I am sure she gave the evil versions of us a run for our money." Regina said smiling too.

"I don't like this place, I want to go home. I miss our versions of our friends and family." Emma whined.

"Me too Miss Swan." Regina said as she side hugged her, keeping her arm wrapped around her shoulders as they walked out if the castle.

After Emma had stuffed as many burgers into her face as she could, Regina suggested they go back to this world's version of her house and keep researching how to return home. Christian was sleeping peacefully in a makeshift bed Regina had concocted of pillows and blankets from around the house while Emma sat upside down on the couch skimming through a large magic book.

Regina sighed and put down her own book she was reading. "I don't think we are going to find anything in these books. I know most of them by heart, and if it's not a curse or a painful spell, then these have nothing to do with what we need."

"Well we are not doing that curse you have. That's for sure!" Emma said, still upside down.

Regina smiled at her, but her smile faded to sadness.

"What's on your mind?" Emma asked.

"Were you afraid?" Regina asked.

"When?" Emma asked confused. She sat upright so she could focus better on Regina.

"When you volunteered your life for mine." Regina whispered.

"Not for a moment. I just felt the need to protect you." Emma said plainly as if it was obvious. "Well, I guess that's not entirely true. There was a moment when I was afraid."

"When?"

"I'm not really sure when it was. Time seemed to slow down."

Regina winced.

"Don't worry, after my head hit the ground I couldn't feel anything. I also couldn't hear anything. It was so strange."

"So you couldn't hear me yelling to you?" Regina asked.

"No, what were you yelling?"

"Nothing." Regina said quickly and opened her book back up. "So what were you afraid of? You never finished."

Emma looked at her questioningly. "Oh, sorry. So like I was saying, time seemed to slow down and I looked at you and saw your face. It was then that I got afraid."

"I'm sorry, I still don't understand what you were afraid of." Regina said quietly.

"Regina. I was afraid because I thought it was going to be the last time I ever would be able to look into your eyes." Emma said as she stood and walked over to the shocked Regina. She took the book out her hands and dropped it to the ground. "I'm glad I was wrong. Did you know you have little flecks of gold that sparkle in your irises? I see them every time the light hits your eyes."

"That's what you were thinking as you were being killed?" Regina asked, stunned by Emma's answer but refusing to answer her question about the flecks of gold.

Emma stood up and walked over to Regina. She took her hands in hers and closed the space between them, placing a firm kiss on Regina's lips.

"Yeah, I guess I like you, or something." Emma said with large grin on her face.

Regina grinned back. "I guess I like you too."

They both leaned forward and kissed softly on the lips, until a looming figure in the doorframe cleared her throat and made them both jump.

"Well isn't this a cozy sight?" The figure said as they stepped inside.

Emma stepped in front of Regina in a protective stance. Regina looked over to Christian and poofed him into her arms, clutching him close.

"How the hell did you get here?" Emma asked the intruder.

The Dark Swan smiled mischievously. "Well, after you two hijacked my time travel portal I used my fairy wand to travel through a few hundred different worlds to find another magical hat, or another child of yours. Turns out both are in short supply, but I was able to get another hat." She said with a satisfying grin as she held up the Mad Hatter's hat.

"Great, now you don't need Christian anymore, you are back home. Just leave us alone now!" Emma yelled.

"Oh, if only I could. You see, when you threw that squid ink on me, a drop landed on the amulet and rendered it useless. It is nothing more than an ugly brown rock now." Dark Emma said angrily as she threw the neckless at Emma's feet.

Emma picked it up and looked at it. She wasn't lying. The stone looked nothing like it did before. The magic was gone from it.

"I'm sorry, but sometimes our actions have continuances. You were about to kill my son. I had no other choice." Emma said defensively.

"You are right Emma, our actions do have consequences, and now I am going to kill you and your little family, because you have killed mine!" Dark Emma yelled as she waved her hand and sent Emma flying through the air, into the wall leaving Regina and Christian on their own.

"STOP! Please, wait! Don't hurt him!" Regina yelled as she cupped Christian's head protectively from Dark Emma.

"And why is that?" Dark Emma asked curiously.

"Because he can bring people back from death! He did it for Emma, just hours ago! He might be able to bring back your Regina too!" Regina said quickly.

Emma slowly got up off the floor and made her way to Regina and Christian, nodding to confirm what Regina had just told Dark Emma. "It's true. Your people killed me yesterday, and then he brought me back this morning."

Dark Emma's eyes grew wide. "How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"Let's make a deal. Then we both have to follow through with our end of the bargain." Regina suggested.

"What do you have in mind for this deal?" Dark Emma asked.

"Yeah Regina, what the hell are you thinking? We can't trust her." Emma said concerned.

"I don't trust her, but I trust a deal with The Dark One. She must follow through. It's magically binding." Regina said simply. "My deal is this…you will give us that magical hat so we can get back to our time, and Christian to his. In exchange, we will bring Christian to Regina's body and have him bring her back to life."

"Deal." Dark Emma said quickly.

"Really, you don't even want to think about it for a moment?" Emma asked.

"I have waited long enough. Each passing second without her is agony." Dark Emma said stiffly.

"Fine, let's get this over with. The second she is alive, the hat is ours." Regina said firmly.

"Deal." Dark Emma said impatiently. "Now let's go." She said as she waved her arms and transported them to Regina's vault.