Zelena sat inside Regina's mansion. Her body had been taken away and Zelena merely sat there with a drink in her hand, leaning back on the couch, staring at the wall. She thought about Regina's dead body and how it had been lying up there in her bedroom after she had finally gotten what she wanted – her true love.
It wasn't fair.
She used to sit and think about how her own life was unfair. She thought about how unfair it was that she had been given up, that she had been raised by a father who despised her, and then to find out about Regina – the one their mother had kept. She thought about the unfairness of it all.
Now it wasn't that her life was unfair, she was thinking about how unfair it had been to Regina.
She thought about what her mother had said about going back in time once more. But if she did this, it would be under Cora's terms and Zelena knew that it wasn't a good idea. It was the worst idea actually – but she wanted her sister back.
She and Regina were actually sisters now. They had grown up together, they had laughed and cried together, and now they were no longer together and Zelena's heart was broken.
One thing she knew for certain was that she didn't have the magic power to open the time portal. That is what made the set up for it so important, so that she didn't need to have the power that it would now require.
She needed Cora to open the portal.
But could she unleash a Cora with the knowledge of the future back into the past? Could she do this to get Regina back?
Standing up she threw glass across the room.
She knew the answer – and it was no.
Emma came out of Henry's room – he was finally asleep after crying himself to sleep. Emma had to be the strong parent for him even though she wanted to be in her own room crying herself to sleep.
She came out to find her parents there.
"How is he?" Snow asked.
"Heart broken," Emma said, taking a seat on the couch. It was the only term for it.
There was nothing else to say.
"Emma honey," Snow said sitting down beside her. "I know you spent a lot of time with Regina while you were there in that alternate time. You became close to her, didn't you?"
Emma wanted to laugh. Her parents had no idea that she had found and lost her true love. They had no idea that her heart was broken and it would never be fixed.
"Yeah mom, we were close," she said, just hoping they would go away.
"Are you sure we can trust Zelena to keep Cora confined?" David said.
"Yes," Emma said. "She isn't going to let Cora get away with killing her sister. Look, I appreciate you being here for Henry, but you guys should be getting home."
"Are you sure?" Snow asked.
Emma nodded. They left and it did nothing to change anything about the emptiness that Emma was feeling. Her mind kept dipping back to the night before – it was only the night before – kissing Regina, feeling the curse break, making love to her. Everything about it was perfect.
Then this morning, waking up with her. It felt right. It was right.
But it had been ripped away from her.
The sob almost came out but she choked it back even as the tears came down her face. She couldn't stop the next one though so she pulled the couch pillow into her lap and leaned over it, burying her face.
Vibrations tore through her body as her mind was assaulted with the visions of Regina dying. Her dead body lying there.
"It's not fair," she said, rocking back and forth, hugging the pillow to her. "It's not fair."
…
Zelena's stomach churned with revulsion as she approached her mother's cell. That youthful face staring out at her with that arrogant and knowing smile that could make her feel insignificant without trying to.
"Have you come to a decision?" Cora asked.
Zelena nodded.
"Fantastic. Let's go get your sister back," she said approaching the barrier. "And don't look so glum Zelena, I promise you that this time I will do a better job at making us a family."
"There isn't going to be a this time around," Zelena said. "Did you really think I would be so dumb as to give you an opportunity to mess with Regina and I once more? What would you do mother? Would you kill Daniel in front of her for the third time? Maybe even wait until her wedding day to do it then so it would hurt worse? Or maybe tell me that my father isn't my father from the very beginning? Make me feel like the unwanted outcast from the day I was born. I will not let you. I would die first."
Cora clapped her hands. "Bravo Zelena. Standing up to your mother is more important to you than your sister's life, is that it? Tell me, when is her funeral? When will they be burying her in this crypt for all eternity? Will you stand beside Regina's love and watch her and Henry mourn the loss knowing you could prevent it from ever happening?"
"You act like you had no hand in this happening," Zelena said. She felt the anger pouring into her and the magic at her fingertips and she forced it back down. She would not be baited by her mother. Not anymore. "Did you even feel anything when you knew she was dead? You have your heart back; did it break even a little for the loss of your daughter?"
"You can have her back, we can have her back," Cora said. "We can have the life we were meant to have. Do you know what I remember the most about when I first met you, the adult you that came to past? I remember this fire in you, this passion that your life could be changed for the better, that all of our lives could be changed for the better. You believed it and you made me believe. If it hadn't been for that passion I would brushed you aside, but I didn't. You made me feel that and I wanted it as much as you. I want my daughter back. I want Regina and you to be risen up like our family should have been. We can rule the Enchanted Forest and create a legacy that will ensure our names become immortal. Imagine it Zelena. Picture you and Regina and I being rulers, equals, and all others will bow down to us. You will never feel unloved or unwanted again."
"You still don't get it, do you? You are the one mother. You are the one who made me feel unloved and unwanted, and it turn I felt that way about myself. Regina never made me feel like that. When we were kids I never minded when my little sister wanted to tag along. I didn't roll my eyes or think go away kid. I wanted her there with me because when she looked at me it was with love. Then you took that away from us when you entombed me and took my identity. You tried to make me Regina's enemy but because of that love between us, she wanted to see me as someone who could be redeemed. When I woke in that tomb and learned what you had done, when I told Regina the truth of how we weren't full sisters, did you know it didn't matter to her. I was her sister whether we had the same father or not. That is the way I felt about her as well. But again you have taken that away from us. You took away the one person in any of the worlds that looked at me with unconditional love and for that mother I will never forgive you."
Cora shook her head dismissively. "You are the one who doesn't get it," she said. "I have tried and tried with you. I have tried to make you into a daughter I could be proud of, but I see now that it was a mistake all along. Don't worry; I won't make the same mistake this time. I gave you a chance to rule at my side, but it appears it will only be Regina and I."
"You are delusional."
"No, my dear. I am smart. That is what you don't get. I am always two steps ahead of you," Cora said standing close to the barrier. "Do you think I didn't know that I would end up somewhere like this, behind a barrier that would keep my magic at bay? Did you think I wouldn't plan for it? I plan for everything."
Zelena couldn't help but take a step back wondering if her mother could have foreseen this, planned for it. There shouldn't be a way. Her magic was bound; the barrier would prevent her from getting out. There was no way to do it except from magic from this side and she wasn't going to let her mother loose and she knew Emma wouldn't.
Forcing her heart to slow down its beating she stepped forward again. "If you could leave that prison, why wouldn't you have done it sooner? I will tell you why, it's because you can't."
"You are right I can't. Not without help. Help that I admit is a little slow in getting here, but working with the dead is actually quite hard."
"What?"
"Ah, Regina, we were just talking about you."
Zelena turned. "Regina?"
Her sister was standing there, her eyes were milky white and she had no emotion on her face. "What have you done?" she asked her mother while not taking her eyes off what she could only register as an abomination.
"The magical secrets in Oz were waiting to be uncovered. Glinda tried to stop me, lecturing me that there were reasons for things to be buried deep, but she couldn't see that what she was trying to protect was the past and the future, well the future was ahead of us," Cora said. "The death spell was only part of what I put in that ring, here is the other part. Unfortunately the spell that has reanimated your sister won't last long, but I don't need it to last long."
Zelena saw Regina raise her hand. "Regina," Zelena said. "Whatever she has done, you have to fight it."
She wanted desperately to see that love reflected in Regina's eyes, but there was nothing there. Even as she felt the magic hit her, she couldn't believe it was happening. Her back and head hit the magical barrier. As she fell to the floor, losing consciousness, she heard her mother's laugh once more.
…
"Zelena. Zelena!" Emma said shaking the red head in hopes of getting her to wake up.
When she opened her eyes, Emma didn't wait. "What happened? Where is Cora?"
She helped Zelena to her feet even though she could see that her eyes were still glassy.
"Where is Cora?" she repeated.
"Cora, she…"
Emma listened in horror as Zelena told her about what Cora had done to Regina. She didn't know it was possible to feel as much rage as she did in that moment.
"Emma calm down," Zelena said.
"What? How can you tell me what you just did and then say calm down?"
Zelena pointed at Emma's hands which were glowing with magic. "You can't control your magic that well so you need to calm down."
Emma looked down at her hands and clenched her hands into fists, seeing the light of her magic still glowing between her fingers. "Where is she? Where would she have gone?"
Zelena glanced into the empty cell. "Damn it," she said. "She has control of Regina's magic. She's going to use it and her own to open the time portal."
Emma wasted no time as she grabbed Zelena's arm and let her magic flow through her. They appeared inside the barn where Cora was standing next to the portal. "And here I thought I was going to be leaving without getting to say goodbye to you Emma," Cora said.
Emma's eyes weren't on Cora, they were on Regina who standing near her as lifeless as when Emma had last seen her body. She opened herself up to the rage once more, feeling the magic crackle at her fingertips. Directing it at Cora with little thought it unleashed in a thick stream –shooting out at her target.
Cora shielded herself with her own magic, but even as Emma's hit it, she was pushed back a little.
"Well, well, well, the Savior does have some kick to her magic," Cora said. "But let's see if you are so bold when I am not the target. Regina, destroy Emma."
Emma didn't want to take her eyes off Cora but had to as Regina sent a fireball her way. She dodged out of the way, scrambling to her left as she saw Zelena go right. Regina came walking toward her, another fireball in her hand.
"Regina, don't," Emma said. Whether Regina didn't hear her or it didn't matter, she threw the fireball, followed by another and another. Emma barely had time to tumble out of the way of the first one and then only managed to get a shield up in time for the last one.
Regina was close to her now and she too could see those eyes which were empty of all life. Instead of rage, Emma felt sorrow well up inside of her. It was Regina's eyes that spoke of her emotions more than anything else. The last time she had seen her alive, they had been filled with love and now they were nothing more than a reflective surface that showed a pale image of a life once lived.
This was still the woman she loved and as Regina rained down more fire on her, Emma knew she didn't have it in her to fight Regina with her magic. She had felt the raw power of her magic and she was sure she could destroy Regina with it if she got an opening. The heat from another fireball hitting her shield licked at that edges of her protection and felt like the hot breeze of a 90-degree day.
Regina was closer now, conjuring up another fireball. Emma dropped her shield and ran at her, tackling her and driving her into the ground. She latched onto Regina's wrists to pin her. As she did so, she didn't feel the smooth, warm skin she had spent time worshipping. No, what she held was cold, hard and grey and she almost wretched as the bile rose up in her stomach.
Emma noticed the ring was still on Regina's hand. Zelena had said Cora had used the ring as the vehicle to both kill Regina and reanimate her. She let go of the one wrist in order to pull the ring off, but as she did so Regina's magic flared once more and sent Emma flying backward. She crashed through the wall of a stall and landed against the back of the structure. She started to get up, but her left arm protested in pain. Looking down she saw the bone pinching the skin at the elbow – it was broken. Peering out of the hole her body had caused in the wall she saw Regina was now on her feet coming toward her with another fireball.
…
When Cora gave the command for Regina to destroy Emma, Zelena knew she would have to face her mother. As she came around the portal, her magic at the ready, she waited for Cora to make the first move. Growing up she was taught to go on the offensive, to not wait for the enemy to act, but to instead go at them such power that they retreated. She pushed aside that instinct now, knowing her mother would have planned for it. No, she needed to find an opening. She needed to create an opening.
"I thought you would be gone by now, creating your new future," Zelena said. "What's the matter, haven't been able to figure out how to activate it?"
"If you can do it, I am sure it can't be that complicated," Cora replied.
They were circling each other now, both waiting for the other to do something. As they made the loop Zelena knew she had to be patient even if it went against her nature.
"If you succeed in this, will you be ensuring I was never born? Will you make sure you don't naively fall for the charlatan that was my father?"
"Now why would I do that? After all Regina is going to need someone to practice her magic on, why shouldn't that be you?"
"Regina would never do that."
"The Regina you know may not be capable of it, but the Regina I am going to raise this time will be more than capable of it. I know now that my problem was being too soft on her. I let her indulge too much, which is what made her think she could have a future with that stable boy. She is going to learn from the beginning this time that she is a weapon, she is my weapon," Cora said.
"You really don't have any redeeming qualities do you? Even with your heart back you are nothing more than the monster I used to fear as a child," Zelena said going on the offensive. She didn't use her wind power however; no she sent fire at her mother. It wasn't as powerful as Regina's but it did manage to surprise Cora a little – forcing her to change her defensive tactics, which is what Zelena was hoping for.
As they were growing up they often had to spar with their mother. Try to get around her defenses, which rarely happened. But with wind power, Zelena could whip it around to multiple sides which meant Cora had to extend her shielding around her body. With fire it was more concentrated allowing her to keep her shield smaller, tighter, and more powerful.
Zelena directed a concentrated stream of fire, not a fireball, at her mother. She patterned it off of how Regina had attacked that rock in the courtyard in an effort to melt it.
Her mother condensed the shielding and Zelena saw the magic at Cora's fingertips ready to unleash upon her. That is when she dropped the fire and sent her wind power crashing into the unshielded side of her mother's defense. It picked her up and sent her flying to the opposite end of the barn.
A smile formed on her face, the satisfaction of years of beating the woman who had beat her down over the years, was making her giddy with the prospect of seeing Cora realize it was the daughter she never wanted who would prevail now. She glanced over to see how Emma was doing when she saw that Emma was no where to be seen but Regina had a fireball in her hand and was advancing to what appeared to be a broken stall. She could only assume Emma was inside the stall and perhaps incapable of fighting back.
Her eyes shot back to her mother who was starting to get up. She wouldn't have time to defeat Cora and save Emma. She knew what choice Regina would have made.
Teleporting, she appeared behind Regina, who turned at this new threat and Zelena plunged her hand into her sister's chest. Pulling out she held Regina's heart in her hand. Her breaths were deafening in her ears as she peered down at the heart. Her mind flashed back to when she held Daniel's heart in her hand. When she had held his it was bright red, glowing with life. What she held now had no life. It was a black, dead thing. Her eyes drifted up to Regina's; again wishing she could see something there, anything there.
"I love you," she said. "You're always going to be my little sister. I am a better person because of you, because you loved me. I wouldn't know what love is if it weren't you. My beautiful little sister. I love you."
She kept repeating I love you, bending her head down and seeing her tears hit Regina's heart just before she crushed it. Whatever magic reanimated her now fled her body with the destruction of her heart. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the remnants of Regina's heart flowing through her fingers.
"No!" she heard Emma scream.
…
Emma was cradling her broken arm and getting to her feet, determined she would not be killed anyway but on her feet. Still she felt like once Regina truly saw her; she wouldn't be able to kill her. She held onto that hope, and then it was like everything when slow-mo on her.
Regina was taking short strides toward her, and then she saw the green cloud of Zelena's magic as she appeared behind her sister. Regina turned, the fireball extinguishing in her hand as her body sort of jerked backward a bit. Emma was making her way through the hole in the wall when she saw that Zelena was holding some black thing in her hand. It took a second for her mind to register that it was a heart – Regina's heart. She saw Zelena's mouth moving but she couldn't hear what was being said.
And then she saw Zelena's fingers begin to tighten around the heart. In her mind it was happening at a quarter of the speed it was in reality. She could make out the muscles in Zelena's wrist as she squeezed the heart. The tiny particles that were left were dropping from Zelena's hand and Emma couldn't help but think of the first time she had went to a beach and how she was so fascinated with the texture and softness of the sand that she had picked some up and let it cascade out of hand.
As Regina's body began to drop to the ground her eyes were torn from the sight as she saw Cora send a fireball at Zelena's back.
"No!" she yelled, using her magic to erect a shield around Zelena. She was weakened but the shield held. Zelena turned to her mother and Emma rushed over to stand at her side. They made eye contact and then faced down Cora, using their combined magic. Cora raised a shield, but the magic blew through it knocking her again backward. She tried to create another barrier, but their magic destroyed that one too, forcing Cora to back up as she kept trying to stop the onslaught. Her defenses broke entirely and the magic hit her square in the chest and she was blown backward into the air. This time when she landed, she didn't get back up as she was knocked unconscious.
Zelena moved quickly over to Cora, using her magic to tie her up in case she did regain consciousness before they could get her back in her cell. Emma turned back to where Regina's body lay. She dropped to her knees next to her and reached out and brushed the hair away from her face.
She was dead once more.
Time became meaningless as she knelt there staring at Regina's body. She knew she should get up. She knew they should get Cora back to her cell. She should go to the hospital for her arm. And she should call the coroner to pick up Regina's body once more.
She didn't want to do any of those things. Even the pain in her arm was relegated to a minor inconvenience in comparison to the pain that was in her heart.
"Emma."
She heard Zelena repeating her name but she didn't react. She just wanted to be left alone for a little bit. She wanted to be able to say goodbye, maybe even kiss those lips one last time.
Zelena's hand on her shoulder wasn't even enough to rouse her from the state she was in. But the words Zelena spoke did.
"If you want to see Regina alive again, you have to get up and help me."
"What?" Emma asked.
"Get up," Zelena said more insistent this time and actually helped pull her to her feet. "I need your help, your magic to activate the portal. I don't have enough power to do it on my own, neither did my mother. It is going to take more than one person to generate the kind of power needed."
"But…"
"I am going back. She's going to live again. I'm not going to lose my sister."
"We can go back," Emma said realizing now what Zelena was talking about. "We can prevent her from putting on the ring." She actually laughed with joy. Regina was going to live.
"No," Zelena said sadly. "We aren't going back. I am. And it's not to prevent Regina from putting on that ring. It's to prevent myself from ever messing with the timeline. I need to set things right. I need to undo all of this. I can't do it without your help."
Emma thought about what Zelena was saying. If she prevented her past self from changing things then she and Regina would never end up in that alternate time. Regina would never be cursed and they would never fall in love.
She looked back at Regina's body. If Zelena did this, Regina and her would go back to being at odds again. Regina would still be mad at her for her plans to go back to New York with Henry. They would never get the chance to really know each other. They would never be in love. They wouldn't share true love's kiss.
"She will live," Zelena said knowing what Emma must be thinking. "That's really all that matters, isn't it?"
She knew Zelena was right though. All that mattered was that Regina would be alive.
She nodded in agreement, unable to verbalize it.
"Good," Zelena said. "Now what I will need you to do is just let your magic flow. I will use my magic to direct it to do what it needs to do. Do you think you can do that?"
Again she nodded.
"I know this isn't easy," Zelena said. "I do this and I lose my sister again. Yes she will be alive, but she won't know about the upbringing we had together. All she will know is that I am her sister, the Wicked Witch. But you see I will remember."
Zelena pulled out her own pendant from under her shirt. "I am not even sure why I kept it," Zelena said. "Maybe some how I knew it would all lead to this, to me having to make a decision – the right one this time. It's what Regina wanted. She and I had spoken about it. She wanted me to go back far enough to not only prevent myself from doing this, but to also find a way to convince her that I am a good person and that she needed to help me separate Gold and Neal safely. She wanted to undo all that I did wrong. And yes she knew by doing this that she would be in the same position you are in now. I split my pendant as you can see and I gave her the other half. If she was wearing it when I did this, when the time changed she would remember me, remember us being sisters, but she would also remember being in love with you. You of course wouldn't remember that."
"Was she going to do it – wear the pendant?" Emma asked.
"She was. You see the point I was going back to, it would be before all the town's memories returned. Henry wouldn't know her. You wouldn't know you were in love with her and Neal would be alive. She thought … she thought Henry should at least have a full set of parents."
"She was going to just let Henry forget her?"
"I don't know, I guess. She didn't think she could handle being around you with you not knowing you loved her once. She was talking about leaving Storybrooke, leaving with me – traveling or something, running away more likely. She knew her limitations and losing another love of her life and losing her son – well it was more than even she could handle."
"Then why wear the pendant at all?" Emma asked although she immediately felt bad for asking it. She knew why. She was going to wear it so she got to keep her sister even as she lost everything else.
Zelena didn't answer her. "Where is the other half of the pendant now?" Emma asked.
"I don't know," Zelena said.
"Regina didn't wasn't wearing it before."
Zelena held her pendant in her hand and using her magic, she searched for the other half. "It's here," she said. "Regina must have hidden it."
She walked over to a stack of hay bales and pushed one of them aside. Under it was the other half. She walked back to Emma and held it out to her.
"What is this for?"
"I am giving you the choice Regina had. You can choose to remember your love for her or you can choose to forget it."
Emma took it from her, thinking of that last time she had worn one of these. "I can't," she said. "She won't remember me, so I just can't."
Zelena nodded. She took it back from Emma and tossed it to the ground. "Ok, let's do this then."
They walked over to the portal and Zelena took Emma's hand in hers. "Just let the magic go, I will do everything else."
"How long do you think it will take before the time resets?"
"Probably about the same as before. Sorry, but you will have to deal with things here until it does."
Emma knew she meant deal with Cora and Regina's body.
"Are you ready?" Zelena asked.
"Yes."
She called up the magic, thinking not of rage or anger this time, but thinking of her love for Regina. She only had hours to hold onto that love before it was gone from her life and her memories forever. The magic flowed from her and she felt Zelena's magic grab it and take control of it. The portal in front of them began to glow – dim at first, and then slowly it was almost a blinding white before Zelena stopped.
They released their hands.
"Good luck," Emma said.
"Thank you," Zelena said. "Oh, and Emma, for what it's worth, I would have enjoyed being your sister-in-law."
She stepped into the portal and this time the whiteness did blind her, causing her to shield her eyes as Zelena disappeared.
