"There isn't anything here, but an empty room!" James growled as he looked to Rumpelstiltskin, leaning against the doorway, fiddling with the vial and giggling to himself.
" You asked to be taken to the Hall of Hearts..." Rumple grinned, gesturing to the dusty, deserted stone room deep within Regina's castle grounds. "Here it is, Dearie."
Turning on Rumple, Snow reached for the vial, finding herself snatching at nothing but air as the imp appeared in the middle of the room. "Ah, ah, ah, a deal's a deal, Dearie! I brought you to the Hall, I get the vial. You're on your own now!" Rumple grinned wickedly as he disappeared in a cloud of deep red smoke.
"FUCK!" James roared, his fists slamming into the stone wall, sending a cloud of dust rebounding back into his face.
Sprinting through the stone corridors Anariel burst through the Armory doors, almost crashing into the White Knight who had been inches away from being greeted with the swinging door to the face. "Regina...is gone." The brunette managed, pacing the room despite her attempts to catch her breath.
Having been preparing her armor, Emma spun to look at Anariel, watching as she collected her bow, quiver, and other various weapons. "What do you mean she's gone? Both Rocinante and Phasma are getting new shoes and..."
"Emma, she left not by horse, but by magic." Anariel interrupted as she tucked a dagger into her boot and continued scanning the table for what she wanted. "No one is sure of how long she has been gone. For all we know she may have left the moment her chamber doors slammed shut hours ago."
Groaning, Emma ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "We've got to get to her before she finds them."
"Assuming it isn't already too late..." Anariel added as she and Emma raced toward the stables.
The glass vase shattered as a bolt of electricity shot through it, sending shards soaring over the White Queen. "James! James get up!" Snow shrieked, bringing her arms up over her face as she ran towards the unconscious man.
"He can't help you." Regina growled, her eyes darkened as she followed Snow's movements through the library.
Grabbing James' sword which earlier was magically torn from his hand, Snow stood, pointing it at the Evil Queen who laughed dryly. "You can't win against us unless you use magic." Snow taunted, looking at Regina. "At least if I die today I won't be a coward like you!"
Smirking, the brunette made a sword appear in her hands and ran her hand along the blade. "You forget that I learned to wield a sword long before magic." Regina reminded her, watching the woman's confidence falter slightly.
"Go, Phasma!" Emma called, spurring her steed even faster through the woods with Anariel on her mare Ithilian, at her side.
The pair tore through the trees toward the White Kingdom, veering off toward an unguarded path Emma had used many times to sneak out of the palace as a child.
"How long until we reach the castle grounds?" Anariel called over the stomping of their horses hooves into the ground.
Keeping her eyes forward, Emma shook her head as the continued on. "Not long."
"You should have just left well enough alone, Snow." Regina growled, her sword clanging loudly against that of the White Queen.
Snow struggled to keep her balance as she was walked backward around the disheveled library, blocking each of Regina's blows. "There was nothing we could have left alone, Regina. You kidnapped our daughter and turned her against us with your black magic!" She shouted, stumbling backward into a now half empty bookshelf.
Taking advantage of her fall, Regina quickly pressed the tip of her sword to the woman's throat, a bead of blood forming at the contact point and dripping off the blade. A wicked grin formed across the brunette a lips as she steadied her hand, relishing the moment. "I've done nothing to harm Emma, in fact I've given her more than you could ever possibly have imagined," Regina growled, locking her eyes to Snows terrified gaze. "It was her decision to stay with me and your decision to fight for no reason," she continued her lip curling in disgust at the woman's whimper. "And now, I'm finally done." She finished moving to press the blade into the woman's throat, when she felt herself being shoved across the room as James rammed full bodied into her.
Pinning the Queen to the ground, a shard of glass held tight in one hand as he growled, face bloodied and clothes torn from Regina's attack on him earlier, James met the woman's glare. "You'll suffer for what you've done." He snarled, slamming the glass shard down just as the library doors burst open.
"NO!" Emma shouted, a ball of blue light flashing from her hands as James flew back off Regina and onto the floor, laughing, despite being knocked into an overturned table.
Anariel sped past Emma, sliding down onto the floor beside Regina who lay there, her breath ragged as the glass shard stuck half out from her midsection. "No, no no no, Regina, stay with me please." She begged as Emma rounded on James who stood with the help of Snow who'd run to his aid.
Still laughing, James looked to Emma as the blonde shoved him holding a ball of fire in her left hand as both he and Snow went down again.
"Go ahead, kill your parents. You're just as bad as she... Was." James taunted, nodding toward Regina who was half covered by Anariel attempting to keep her awake.
"If she dies. So do you." The blonde snarled the fireball disappearing, looking between the both of them before returning to Regina and Anariel, kneeling by them a hand on either of their arms before the trio disappeared in a mass of white smoke.
"It's not working... Anariel why is it not working?!" Emma panicked.
Having had them appear back at Regina's castle, the brunette laying on her bed, Emma attempted to heal the wound to little avail.
Regina lay still, each small staggered breath taking more out of her than the last as she fought to keep focused and awake. "Em-Emma..." The brunette managed, using much of her strength to move Emma's hands from her blood soaked midsection. "...stop." She breathed, wincing as she dropped her hand to the bed.
Hushing her Queen, Emma shook her head. "No, we're going to heal you, Regina. I-I just need it to... I just.. Just need to try harder." She pressed, her voice cracking slightly as she returned her hands, bathing the brunettes wound in a healing blue light once more.
"You are my closest and dearest friend, Regina. I cannot bear to lose you again." Anariel admitted, kneeling by the side of the bed her hands both around Regina's left.
Parting her lips to speak, tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked between the two most important people in her life, Regina's reply was cut short by a body jolting cough, causing her to cry out in pain as her partly healed wound split open once more. Falling to the bed, her breath ragged as blood coated her lips, Regina's vision swam in and out of focus despite Emma's efforts to heal her again.
"No, Regina, my love stay with me, please." Emma begged, tears streaming down her cheeks as she returned her hands to the woman's midsection. "Please..."
"I-..." Regina breathed through another burning cough. "...'m s-sor... Sorry..." She whispered before the room around her blacked completely, the final sounds reaching her ears, the pleading protests of both her warrior and her friend.
"Beren, I'm trusting you to let no one who is not authorized into this room." Emma said sternly, despite the fact that her very soul ached to the core, her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were stained with tear tracks.
"You have my word, Princess." The large man nodded solemnly, taking his position in front of Regina's bedchamber door where she lay inside.
Nodding, the blonde looked toward Anariel who turned and led the way down the halls toward Regina's private study. Closing the door behind the Princess, Anariel put the small shards of glass they'd managed to oversee in Regina's wound onto the potions table set in the corner of the room. "I need time." The brunette noted, looking around at the different vials and shelved ingredients. "Something had to have been placed on this glass to prevent her wound from healing..." She thought aloud, wiping the trace amounts of Regina's blood from her hands as she looked around the room for supplies she needed.
"I'm going back." Emma said after a few moments of silence, her voice hoarse as she leaned against Regina's desk, her eyes on the floor in front of her. "Despite what happened, they will not survive this visit."
Anariel shook her head, and turned to look at the broken warrior. "They'll be waiting for your return. It's a suicide mission if you return now." She said, walking over to the blonde as she looked up. "You and I will take the White Kingdom by storm, I can promise you that. But not tonight. Tonight we need to find what our Queen was poisoned with."
The urge to argue with the woman disappeared as she listened to her point. "Before the week is out we will storm the White Kingdom. I will have my revenge and I will end them once and for all." Emma replied.
"As you wish, Princess." Anariel nodded, "Regina trusted you not only with her life but her heart and because of that I will fight alongside you." She vowed before turning back to the shelves and starting to pick out select ingredients.
Emma sat in Regina's large desk chair, fingertips running over the ends of the arm rests where her Queen had frequently rested her hands, as her mind wandered back to the day's events. "How could I have let that happen?" The blonde thought to herself, resting her head back and closing her eyes. "If only we had left just a minute sooner..." She thought.
"James we need to leave." Snow begged for the hundredth time.
The White King grinned at his wife and shook his head. "It's been three days since we finally ended Regina with no sign of attack." He noted, sitting back in his throne, a smug grin still across his face. "Whatever spell Regina had on Emma is probably broken now and she's merely trying to come up with a suitable apology for what she'd said and done to us."
Snow chewed her lip and looked unconvinced at her husband. "But what if the poison didn't actually work and Regina's alive?" The brunette countered. "Shouldn't we be ready for that possibility?"
"My darling Snow there is no possible way the poison wasn't effective." James assured her, reaching over and squeezing her hand.
"There's also no possible way your heart hasn't blackened after that little stunt, Dearie."
Both the White King and Queens heads shot up at the eerie giggle of the Dark One who stood just across the room, arms folded and smirking at the pair.
"What are you doing here, Rumpelstiltskin?" James asked, standing while holding a hand behind him to keep Snow in her seat.
"Just curious as to find out if this rumour is true?" He asked, continuing before the man could answer. "Have you managed to kill Regina?"
"She's dead." Snow replied, standing and stepping beside her husband.
"I pierced her with a shard of glass I coated in poison I found in her vault." James added, smirking at the memory.
Rumple looked between the two of them, grinning, "And what, may I ask... was the type of poison you used?" He asked curiously, having slithered closer to the pair.
Smug look faltering slightly, James frowned but waved his hand dismissively. "What does it matter? She's dead. We've no reason to worry about anything anymore except regaining our daughter's trust."
Giggling as he jumped back, Rumple shook his head and sighed. "So what you're telling me... Is that you used an unknown vial that was left behind in an abandoned vault... against the owner of said vault?" He asked cackling at the dumbstruck look on their faces.
"So she isn't dead?" Snow asked, frowning.
Shrugging, the imp grinned.
"Then why come here and hassle us for information?" James pressed, taking a step forward.
"It's always a shame to find out your once feared and faithful apprentice has potentially met their demise." The Dark One noted. "Even after they'd gone soft." He sighed, disappearing in a mass of red smoke before either Snow or James could press him for more information.
Running her hands down her face, Snow looked to James before sitting back down in her seat. "I think we've made a terrible mistake..."
Anariel spent countless hours researching, and testing different combinations of potions, herbs, elixirs, and anything she could get her hands on to figure out what was used against Regina. "Emma!" She yelled, after having bolted to the study doors and ripping them open.
Racing out of Regina's bed chamber where she'd spent the last few days exhausting herself by using her magic to keep her Queen breathing comfortably, Emma burst into the hall looking around frantically. Not seeing Anariel she ran down the hall, almost crashing into the woman as she emerged from the study doors holding a stone mortar and pestle. "What happened?! Did you figure it out?!"
"I think so, Princess. This should heal the wound and remove any other poison that may be lingering." She replied, quickly leading the way down the hall to the Queens chamber. Walking in, Anariel set down the mortar on the bedside table, her chest tightening at the sight of her friend.
Regina lay in her bed, her skin pale and cold feeling. Pulling over the stool Emma had placed beside the queens bed, Anariel knelt one knee on it and hovered over her friend, slowly moving back the blanket covering her and gently shifting one side of the robe Emma had changed Regina in to for comfort and easy access to her wound. Taking the mortar from the table and dipping her hand into it, Anariel let the paste slide from her cupped palm onto Regina's wound, watching as it turned to liquid the second it came in contact with her skin.
The two jumped as Regina tensed suddenly, the paste turned liquid having fully absorbed into her wound, causing the Queen to scream in pain. Emma immediately went to move toward Regina but was held back by Anariel.
Struggling against the woman's hold, Emma growled and continued fighting. "LET ME GO!"
"You cannot touch her, Emma." Anariel managed, holding the White Knight back with her arms around her middle. "It's working. It's healing her, I promise, just wait."
Breathing heavily, Emma stopped fighting Anariel's grip, her eyes still on her queen. "How do you know? How can it be healing her if it's causing that much pain?" She asked through clenched teeth.
"Because the potion used against Regina was the same Cora used on me seven years ago." She replied. "And this antidote was given to me by Cora herself who wanted me alive to suffer in a cell while she began blackening Regina's heart after having her think I had died." Anariel continued, letting go of Emma. "I just had to figure out the right combination of ingredients. But this," she gestured to Regina whos screams had stopped and she returned to laying still, though breathing heavily. "...this is the same that happened to me when I awoke."
Emma looked between the two, having calmed down. "I'm sorry..." The blonde said quietly, her eyes on Regina. "Is it safe to touch her now?"
"Not until her wound has fully rid itself of any leftover poison and healed." Anariel answered, "It may take some time."
Emma nodded, "Then I will wait here."
"No, you need food and rest. You've slept less than I in the past few days." She began, cutting short the blondes protest. "I promise I will get you if anything should change."
Knowing there would be no use in arguing, Emma nodded again and broke her gaze from her Queen and looked to Anariel. "I trust you." She said before leaving the room.
Snow looked over to James as they rode in their carriage through the woods toward Regina's palace. "We're almost there… are you sure about this?"
"I'm sure. We defeated their leader, they've no reason to attack us if we pull up to the gates and take what's rightfully ours." He said airily, taking his wife's hand and squeezing affectionately.
"We could just leave this castle and forget its existence?" Snow suggested, looking out the window as the sky darkened with each passing minute.
James thought about it for a minute, then shook his head. "No, no we need to see if Regina's spell on Emma and even our captured knights has broken. I for one would like to have Beren back in our ranks, he was one of our best soldiers."
Nodding at the explanation, Snow sat back, still looking out of the window. "That is true. I do miss him, though not as much as our Emma. I'll be glad to finally be done and have her back home where she belongs."