A/N: I think you are going to hate me by the end of this chapter. As I said before, someone is going to die, now you finally find out who that is.

I really tried my best to make this chapter perfect and I know it's not remotely as wonderful as other stories I'm following but I hope you will enjoy it anyway.

And thank you to my wonderful freakmate Jacky, who beta'd this chapter for me. She's the best and I don't know what I'd do without her constant encouragement and kind words.

Enjoy! x

Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time, just the plot of this story.

Chapter 14

Regina lay curled up in bed. She just wanted Robin to get home soon but he had forgotten his cellphone at home and it would be another hour until he would pick up Roland from kindergarten and head back home.

She couldn't get past the horror of her discovery, her mind kept thinking about the consequences, were she to succeed. Henry would've never been born and maybe she wouldn't have been either.

The moment her phone rang she picked up without even looking at the screen, hoping it was Robin calling from work.

"Hello?"

"Regina, something happened."

"Emma?"

"Henry's gone! Zelena took him…"

She couldn't breathe properly, as if the air had been knocked out of her lungs "What? How?"

"We were supposed to meet at Granny's for lunch. When he didn't show up I started looking for him and Archie told me he had seen Henry walking away from school with me. It must've been her."

It was just too much to take in.

"Find Robin and tell him I'm going to Zelena's hideout. I will meet you there. Emma?" Her battery died and she only hoped Emma had heard her. There was no time to waste.

Regina wondered for a second if using magic was safe. She had no time to dwell on it, though. She had to save her son. She took a deep breath and raised her hands, disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke.

She appeared outside of Zelena's house and had to lean against the nearest wall for a moment. She felt a little dizzy but she expected that. Magic required energy and, right now, Regina didn't have a lot. She went straight to the storm cellar where Zelena had been keeping Rumplestiltskin but, to her surprise, he wasn't there. She looked around in the dark room and was about to get out when the cellar door closed suddenly by itself. She tried to open it but to no avail, it was locked and she was trapped.

There was a noise, like the creaking of a door, and Regina turned, ready to summon a fireball, but it wasn't necessary, because there was a faint light coming from behind the door that had just opened. There was no way out, so Regina stepped slowly towards it, hoping it would lead her to Henry. She walked through a narrow hallway, trying not to make any noise.

She let go of the breath she didn't know she had been holding when she reached another room and saw her son standing on the opposite side of it, apparently unharmed, except for the chains that bound him to the wall. He looked up at her and his eyes lit up "Mom?"

He remembered.

But how?

Regina choked back the tears that threatened to fall and ran to him, looking for possible injuries. She was glad she found none "Henry, are you hurt?"

She used magic to free him, which made her head spin a little and she held onto him to steady herself.

"Mom, are you okay?" having his memories back he only then realized that he was going to have a sibling, but his mother didn't look too well and it concerned him.

"I'm fine. You remember… how?"

"She gave me the memory potion right after chaining me down here. She said she's your sister but…"

"I'm going to tell you everything later, right now we have to get out of here"

Regina turned, heading towards the door. It required much less energy to break the lock on the cellar door than to poof them both out of that place.

A cloud of green smoke made her stop and take a step back, her arms instinctively stretched behind her to shield her son.

"You sure weren't planning on leaving so soon, right sis?" the woman was really starting to get on her nerves, so Regina gathered all the energy she had to create a fireball, but she wasn't fast enough. Zelena used her magic to take it in her hands and redirected it towards Henry and Regina, who conjured up a protection spell just in time. She was too weak to fight her sister.

"What the hell do you want from us?" Regina growled menacingly, refusing to show any weakness to the woman, even if she felt utterly helpless without her magic.

"I already told you, Regina. I want to take everything away from you. You didn't deserve the life you got, you don't even appreciate what you have, you never have. It should've been my life!" Zelena was screaming at Regina but her expression changed rapidly. She smirked wickedly, giving Regina a look that sent shivers running down her spine.

"I will destroy you, Regina, and to do that I need your heart."

"What makes you think that I'm going to give it to you?"

"Oh, I know you will. Because if you don't…" with a snap of her fingers, Henry materialized in front of Zelena and her hands immediately found his neck "…I'll kill your precious son."

Regina's eyes widened as she watched Henry struggle to breathe. She couldn't let him die.

"Let him go" Regina pushed her hand slowly into her own chest and took out her heart.

"Mom, don't…" Henry tried to speak but Zelena only tightened her grip on his neck.

"Let him go, Zelena. This is between you and me!"

Regina held her heart out towards her sister and it only took Zelena a second to make it fly into her now free hands.

"Say your goodbyes" she said, pushing Henry towards Regina as she examined the dark, battered heart she had wanted to get her hands on for so long.

He immediately wrapped his arms around her middle and Regina welcomed him into her embrace. Hot tears were streaming down her face and he couldn't help but let out some of his own when she pulled away to look into his eyes.

"Mom, why did you do that? I don't want to lose you."

"I'd do anything to protect you, even if it means sacrificing my life for yours. I'm your mother, Henry. You're the one thing I got right and I love you, with all my heart"

The moment her lips touched his forehead, a wave of energy swept outwards, throwing them all a little off balance.

The past year flashed before her eyes.

Robin saving her from the flying monkey and not letting her use the sleeping curse. Their first kiss, sneaking out of the castle with him in the middle of the night, Robin's proposal, the countless nights they had spent talking and making love to each other and finding out she was pregnant.

As the memories returned to her, Regina was also reminded of how much she had missed her son, how long she had been looking for a way to get back to him, longing to hold him into her arms once more.

She held him, refusing to let him go again, as if her own life depended on it "Henry! It's okay, everything is going to be okay, honey, I swear"

"Oh, Regina… you shouldn't make promises you can't keep" Zelena said, giving her one of her wicked and twisted smiles.

In that moment, Regina noticed what the witch was holding; a bright red heart with a soft, golden glow. A heart she knew all too well. His heart.

Her eyes widened as they flashed down to the boy who still had his arms wrapped tightly around her. She held him tighter against her body, wishing that was enough to protect him.

"How did you take it?"

Her sister let out a creepy laugh "Oh, Regina, don't tell me you actually believed that stupid spell would keep me from ripping his heart out! You left this poor boy so alone while you were all busy trying to find me that it was child's play for me to undo the spell and take his heart out before wiping his memory clean."

"Kill me but don't hurt my son, I beg of you!" As much as Regina hated begging, it was the only option she had left.

Zelena didn't even try to stifle the laugh that escaped her lips.

"You actually thought I was going to kill you? I said I wanted to take everything away from you Regina, not kill you, otherwise you would've been long dead by now. Your heart is just an ingredient, like your baby. You see, I'm going to change the past. You will have never been born and I will get the life I deserved"

Rumplestiltskin had always told her that no one had ever succeeded in changing the past, but Zelena sounded so sure of herself that Regina knew better than to contradict the woman and blow her last chance at saving Henry.

"Then why are you doing all of this? You don't need to make Henry suffer, take it out on me, not him, please!"

"Well, no one said I couldn't have a little fun before casting the spell. And it's not to make Henry suffer, it's to make you suffer. They say nothing's worse than the loss of a child. Let's find out, shall we?" a sick smile played on her lips as she squeezed Henry's heart a little and he fell to the floor due to the agonizing pain. Regina fell to her knees and took him in her arms, her hands shaking as she cradled him.

Her mind flashed back to the night Daniel had died by her mother's hand. The woman had crushed his heart in front of her and now the story was repeating itself and she could do nothing but watch.

"Stop, please stop, you're killing him!"

"Come on sis, you ripped out so many hearts, it shouldn't ever bother you to watch one more turn to ashes before your eyes. You should at least appreciate the irony"

Zelena waved her hand to force Regina to look at the heart as she crushed it and the ashes fell to the floor. She released her and Regina's eyes traveled down to Henry's face and his limp body.

"No, no, no… Henry come back to me… Don't leave me, please…"

She shook him quietly as she started wailing. She didn't have her heart inside of her but it sure felt as if it was breaking. It felt as if her soul was being torn apart.

More tears fell from her eyes, landing on his face as she kissed the top of his head and held him as close as she could to her own body. Her little prince was gone.

A/N: I put my heart and soul into this chapter so please remember to review, even if you didn't like it. I'd really like to know what you all think about it.

You might also want to check the story summary, which I have changed. There's a clue as to what might happen later on!

x