Here ye be, My lovelies. Thank you so much to those who continuously review each chapter, especially those who have been with me since the first story. Your continued support is awe-inspiring to me and has been an unbelievable healing balm this past year. It is for you that I so diligently post. I should give as good as I get.

Also, finally back to my normal posting schedule. YAY! Enjoy!

Songs: Bad Reputation by Joan Jett, Rather Be by Clean Bandit (for the softer moments), Shake it Off by Taylor Swift (Because… haters)


"Something's wrong with Regina," Emma whispered across the counter, glancing over her shoulder where Regina clicked towards the bathroom towards the back of Granny's diner.

"That is a broad ass statement," Ruby sniped, clearly frustrated with whatever she attempted to do on the back counter. The blue work shirt she'd begun wearing since Belle's release hung loosely on her shoulders, her already thin body losing mass from the ordeal with the venom and being impaled with an arrow.

She smacked the coffee pot, sending grounds flying everywhere. Emma winced, leaning backwards and covering her head, too surprised to do or say anything. She held the pose almost comically as Ruby leaned heavily on the counter. Emma opened her mouth to speak, but Ruby growled and grabbed a dirty plate from the back counter that she'd cleared earlier and slammed it on the floor. She drew back her fist intent on punching the fountain soda machine.

Granny yelled from the food window, "Don't even think about it, you damn fool wolf." Ruby slammed the side of her fist into the counter hard enough to rattle everything and took a deep breath.

"What the hell has gotten into you, girl?" Granny sniped, waving a metal spatula in a threatening manner. It was enough to worry Emma it might get chucked at her head.

"Nothing, Granny, I'm fine," Ruby muttered, knowing her grandmother's wolf ears heard every syllable. A glance around the diner told her that every person blatantly stared, food perched halfway inside their mouths. She rolled her eyes.

"I know it hurt to let her go, Ruby Lucas, but you're doing the right thing. She is right across the street and head over heels for you. Now calm yourself before I switch you," the elder Lucas groused, scowling with a sassy hand plopped onto her hip. Emma snickered and then held her hands up in placation when Ruby shot her a death glare.

"When did you talk to Regina about the library?" She asked, pushing the conversation into a safer vein than a Lucas-women squabble.

"Last night. I called around 8 and then came over and got the key. Why?" Ruby answered and ran a hand through her silky brown and red hair. "Belle was so excited that she slept over there last night." Ruby crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side. She'd not slept well at all, despite Regina's guards posted all over the library.

"I'm sure she's fine, Ruby," Emma offered, glancing towards Granny for the supportive nod she expected. "Knowing Belle, she probably read half the library last night and passed out in such a sublime state that she hasn't come back to reality yet." The door bell jangled, indicating the arrival of more customers.

"For fuck's sake," the wolf exclaimed, threw her hands in the air, and then winced, grabbing her shoulder. "One day, my joints won't hurt," she sniped like an old woman, turning quickly to hide the tears in her eyes. "Fucking chimera venom."

"How bad is it, still?" Emma asked, wincing at the loud popping sound that came from Ruby's neck. Feeling useless probably hurt more than the physical pain.

"I'm stronger today, but my energy levels suck. I've been taking five minute naps every hour or so since five this morning," she explained, leaning on the back counter again. "I think it's helping."

"Well, that's good," The Savior encouraged optimistically. "Just a few more days until you're back to normal, then?"

"I'm helpless, Emma. How do normal people keep people safe? I mean, I'm literally fucking useless," Ruby exclaimed, beyond caring who heard her.

Emma glared at the gawking customers as she rounded the counter quickly and wrapped her arms around her friend. They knew nothing of what Ruby sacrificed, what they all sacrificed just to keep each other alive the past few weeks. "Hey, it's okay to be afraid for her," she whispered in a low, soothing tone meant only for Ruby's ears. "You're right, Rubes. She can't heal here, she needs her own life."

"I can't keep her safe if I can't be near her," Ruby whispered right back, turning her head slightly to position her lips closer to Emma's ear, making the conversation private once more.

"Hey, know what will make you feel better?" Emma said suddenly, a mischievous grin on her cheeks. Ruby huffed a sigh and cocked her hip, skeptical. "Oh come on, let me try. Where is your sound system?" Ruby pointed on thin finger towards the end of the back counter, and Emma scurried over to it, more excitable by the second.

Ruby's snort turned into a full-belly laugh when the familiar, over-played beat came across the speakers from Emma's phone. Emma whipped about, already slipping into silly mode. She shook her hips, mouth opened wide as if surprised by her ability to do so.

"Come on, Rubes," she encouraged, grabbing the wolf by her slim waist and twisting it gently just in case Ruby's stomach still ached from the arrow. "But I keep cruisin.' Can't stop, won't stop moving. It's like I got this music in my mind saying it's gonna be alright."

Ruby laughed out right and jumped up and down like an idiot. Granny propped an elbow on the edge of the window, shaking her head, but a smile tugged at her lips. Ruby spun Emma under arm and ducked to follow the move, taller than The Savior. They bumped hips like two teenyboppers, giggling the whole time.

They yelled the chorus together, not even registering the odd stares coming from Ruby's ever-confused patrons. "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play. And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off! Shake it off!" They laughed hysterically, too ecstatic to continue singing.

"Well, well, I leave for two minutes and my whore becomes my sister's," Regina's mocking tone called from directly behind them. Emma whipped so fast she nearly knocked Ruby off balance. Regina had gone out of her way to make sure Emma hadn't felt like a whore, why call her one now, especially after yesterday? Regina acted like someone took her heart and controlled her words, but Emma knew that to be impossible. She protected her heart against that very scenario.

"What the hell is your problem? You've been fucking weird since last night," Emma demanded, retrieving her phone because no way was this moment salvageable. Apparently, public spectacles was the special for the day.

Regina responded by flinging her hand towards the two women. Ruby flew into counter, bracing her forearms over her face to protect herself from getting knocked silly. Coffee cups and napkins flew to the floor, shattering and fluttering in the quiet stillness of the diner. The wolf landed atop them, bringing reality from its slow motion replay setting.

"Regina, what the fuck?" Emma yelled, kneeling to offer the wolf a hand up. They only locked gazes, though, as Emma froze halfway to the floor.

Magic wrapped around her neck and jerked her over the counter. Sugar cylinders and salt and pepper shakers broke on the linoleum. Emma landed atop them, slipping on the tiny granules, broken glass cutting into her palms. Salt burned her wounds and eyes. With a flick of her hand and nod of her chin, Emma flew out the door of the diner, very thankful for her leather jacket as she rolled down the side walk and into the road.

Cora in Regina's skin followed at a hurried pace, wanting to end this as quickly as possible. Rumpel wanted it public and brutal and now. Emma called for her magic, too dazed to stand, but without Regina's tenderness, it felt so far away, so weak and small. Cora waved her hand, lifting her into the air and bringing her down on the hood of a car parked in front of the diner.

"Hey!" Ruby yelled, sprinting towards the unhinged sorceress. Cora raised two fingers, taking Ruby airborne and bringing her down beside Emma on the car. The windshield busted beneath them, but somehow, Emma felt better for having her best friend at her side to endure this with her.

"What the hell is her problem?" Ruby groaned. Cora/Regina raised her hand again, and Ruby fisted Emma's jacket as she rolled on top of her and then off the other side of the car just before a fireball exploded the hood. They landed hard, knocking the air from both of them with Emma on top.

"I told you something was wrong," Emma answered and flopped onto her side, panting beside her friend. She had no clue how they were getting out of this one.

They peeked over the edge of the hood simultaneously, Scooby-Doo style, and dropped back to the ground as one unit, slamming their backs into the fender as another fireball flew at their heads. Emma used the hiding time to pluck shards of glass from her palm and wipe at the salt in her eyes with the neck of her shirt.

"I'm open to ideas, wolf," Emma groused. Her entire body flinched when the car rocked again, heat blowing past their hands and legs beneath the vehicle.

"She's your mistress. How do you usually calm her and is it decent for the public eye?" Ruby sniped back, referencing Regina's voracious sexual appetite. A loud thud inspired their heads to turn inward, catching the other's eyes.

"What the hell was that?" Emma said. Ruby shrugged. Emma peeked around the front bumper and drew back immediately, expecting another fireball. None came so she took a longer glance, nearly keeling over with the sight that awaited her. She slapped the back of her hand on Ruby's shoulder lightly and stood.

Belle stood over Regina's unmoving body with a frying pan still poised above her head, ready to strike again. Emma and Ruby scrambled forward, scared for Regina's safety as much as Belle's. "She's still breathing," the new librarian assured them and dropped the drying pan to the sidewalk.

She reached for Ruby's neck, and the wolf accepted her body eagerly against her own as Emma dropped to her knees. "I came in the back a few minutes ago. You and Emma were speaking, so I waited. I'm sorry," Belle whispered into her shoulder.

"Don't be sorry," Ruby soothed her and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Hey, what the hell?" She released her lover when Emma ripped open Regina's shirt and pulled down her bra.

"It's not here!" She yelled and reached for the other breast, maybe she'd gotten the sides confused.

"Emma, now is not the time, dude," Ruby tried to joke, worried for both her sister and her friend's mental wellbeing.

"That's not The Queen," Horace said in his deep, soothing timbre, surprising everyone but Emma who ignored everything but her own thoughts. "Her commands weren't absolute," he explained.

Emma, however, continued freaking out despite what Horace already deduced. "No, it's not here! I left a hickey right there two days ago. It definitely shouldn't be gone this soon, and I know she didn't heal it. This isn't Regina," Emma explained her eccentric behavior with large hand gestures and a high pitched voice that spoke of her deep fear.

"Graham! Horace!" Emma yelled frantically.

The guards had already appeared at Ruby and Belle's shoulders, but The Savior hadn't bothered looking up. "Tie her up, keep an eye on her. See if you can get Whale to bring some sedatives over. Whatever. I don't care. This has to be Cora. No one else can use magic that efficiently."

Emma froze, blanching immediately. "Oh god, I kissed Cora. Oh for the love of… seriously?" She pushed to her feet, shuddering and gagging, holding herself with locked arms on her knees. "What the hell is wrong with that woman? I need mouthwash… and a blowtorch," Emma babbled, too shaken to think. How long had Cora been masquerading as her lover? The previous night, the second time she'd gone to the kitchen. That had to be it.

She stared at her hands, growing more disturbed by the second. They'd just been all over Cora's body. "And turpentine," Emma whined, dropping her head between her shoulders.

"Wait, Emma, focus. Where is Regina?" Ruby demanded, hugging Belle tighter, as much for her comfort as the shorter woman's. She felt as icky as Emma. Poor woman couldn't have caught a break with a catcher's mitt.

"Cora was in the isolation room. Maybe… I don't know." Emma ran her hands thru her hair and stood. Regina must have switched places there. She knew of no other location better protected or secretive than that. "Ready to run, Wolf?"

"Belle, stay with Graham and Horace, okay?" The librarian nodded and pulled her wolf down for an impassioned kissed with hands on both side of her face. Ruby squeaked in surprise, eyes wide as it ended.

"Just so you know," Belle started as she pulled back, touching her fingers to Ruby's lips now shiny from her gloss. Her eyes moved slowly to Ruby's lips and back to her eyes. "I'm leaving the inn, I'm not leaving you, Ruby Lucas. So you better damn well remember that your wolf is at half strength, and if you do anything stupid, I'll skin your hide for a new coat."

Ruby grinned broadly and kissed her again. "Yes, Ma'am," she said cheekily and took the key card Graham handed her, presumably to the isolation room Emma mentioned.

With a nod to Emma, they both took off towards the hospital, Emma leading. With Ruby's weakened body, the women were more evenly matched. They flew down the stairs once reaching the hospital to the prison beneath, but Ruby stumbled slightly when they blew past it towards the door at the end of the hallway. She swiped the card, waited for the locks to disengage.

Ruby began to question Emma's sanity when they descended so low that her breath came in short gasps from lack of oxygen in the air and exertion from their hike into hell. Two guards stood outside the door at the bottom.

"Open it up," Emma ordered Azalia, recognizing her wild hair immediately. She and the man immediately pulled their swords.

"Okay, that's weird," Emma puffed, skidding to a stop. They should have obeyed her as they obeyed Regina.

"Uh huh," Ruby agreed without stopping. She spun gracefully, slapping the sword from the man's hand with the flat of her leg. It skittered towards Emma, either by accident or on purpose. Emma was grateful in either scenario as she knelt and snatched it up in time to block Azalia's attack from her knees.

Within seconds, Ruby's guy fell to the floor, unconscious. Emma never bothered to ask if he breathed of not. The wolf's thin arms wrapped around Azalia's throat and arm, restraining her body and sword, using the last of her wolf's strength to hold the renegade guard steady. Emma propelled forward and leapt at the woman, bringing her fist down on her jaw in a rattling blow. When she didn't go limp, Emma cold-cocked her again with an elbow strike. Ruby grinned as she let the guard slide to the floor.

"Bet that felt good," she panted, clearly weakened further by the encounter. Her wolf was pretty much used up for the moment.

Emma grinned back, shaking her aching hand. "You really have no idea," she muttered. She'd wanted to do that since the night she caught her and Regina in The Queen's office. Satisfaction fading quickly, she snagged the keys from Azalia's belt. The need for them made her even more nervous. Regina never locked this door with conventional methods, only magic.

Emma sprinted inside, the long and dark corridor familiar to her now, thinking only of her love for the woman she prayed she found inside and in one piece. Her steps screeched to an abrupt halt, and Ruby slammed into her back at the end of the dark hall. "Oh god," she breathed.

"Is that?"

"Astrid," Emma whimpered. A thousand emotions swelled in her chest and exploded. Tears burned her eyes, and she raised them, moving them away from her dead friend and attempting to stave off the tears. They only distracted her in that moment. She grieved after she rescued her queen. "Regina," came the following whisper. Her lover hung limp and unconscious in the magical nexus.

Emma sprinted to the edge of the chasm, still determined to focus on helping Regina instead of her grief. "Regina!" she yelled. The woman moaned, and Emma reached for her magic, remembering how the apple floated towards her, how she'd teleported.

Ruby covered Astrid's face and chest with her blue work shirt, leaving only the thin tank top beneath, and then turned her attention on The Savior. Emma wavered, and she stood behind her, hands on her ribs to steady the shaken woman. One limb at a time, Regina dislodged from the crackling web. Emma closed her eyes, unable to think about dropping her into the abyss below. She thought of Regina's smile, her laugh, her gentle kisses across her chest when she'd commented about how much she loved her body, her tears and fear and anger.

"You have a beautiful body, Emma."

"Please, Emma, everything hurts."

"I want you."

Ruby held her breath and watched with wide, tearful eyes. Astrid was dead. Regina looked horrible with bruises on her face, blood soaked through her clothes. Someone tortured her for hours, it seemed. A harsh gasp echoed off the damp walls when cool flesh bumped Emma's hands. Green eyes flew open, and Regina's already battered body fell to the smooth stone as Emma lost her concentration. "Shit," she cursed and dropped to her knees, Ruby right behind her.

"Regina, baby, open your eyes," Emma pleaded, checking her pulse with shaking fingers, and then laid her head on her chest to listen for breath sounds. "Come on, Baby."

"Em," Regina rasped, the sound barely audible. Emma jerked upright and touched her face tenderly, mindful of the pain she probably caused. Tears dripped shamelessly onto her cheeks, but she never felt them, too relieved to feel anything else.

"Yeah, Baby, that's it. I'm here," Emma reassured the broken woman and pulled her upright to hold her trembling body against her warm chest. "I came for you," she whispered softly.

"You came for me," Regina whined, still slightly questioning if she hallucinated or not. Emma pressed a kiss to her forehead, too over come to speak. Had Regina really thought anything differently?

"I will always come for you, Regina Mills," she vowed, tipping her lover's head back slightly to meet her barely-open, bleary eyes. "Do you hear me?" Emma whispered, her voice wet and rasping with emotion. "I will always come for you. I love you."

Regina released a rumbling gasp, something between a sob and a sound of disbelief. "Emma," she whispered reverently, holding tightly to her jacket with clawed fingers. Ruby wiped at her own eyes, never having expected this day to pass. Emma actually fucking did it, she saved Regina's soul.

After a moment of silence to allow each of them to process their individual emotions, a tiny voice rumbled against her collarbone, "Rumpel has their hearts."

"What? Whose hearts?" Ruby jumped in, unable to keep her hands or mouth to herself any longer. She touched Regina's shoulder, her cheek, letting the abused woman know she wasn't alone. Her sister came home, and she intended to keep her, to love her, to never abandon her again.

"Guards," Regina croaked and raised a hand to her head, wincing with the pain speaking and crying inflicted.

"Your guards? Your personal guards?" Ruby demanded, real fear rising. Regina nodded into Emma's chest. Sheer terror surged adrenaline thru the system of wolf and savior, and their eyes met over Regina's head. Everything made sense now, and they'd played directly into Rumpel's hand, leaving everyone they loved vulnerable because they mindlessly trusted that Regina's guards were unshakable in their loyalty.

"Belle," the wolf breathed.

"Call Graham. Mason," Regina stuttered, trying desperately to communicate with her rescuers.

"Graham's heart is somewhere else?" Emma asked. Regina nodded. "What about Horace's?" Regina nodded again. Ruby damn near passed out from relief while Emma sent a quick text with only two words. Mason. Now.

Emma nodded and pulled Regina to her feet with Ruby's assistance. The Queen cried out in pain, but neither acknowledged it. They needed to move, to go, to act, to save. They both avoided glancing towards Astrid's body. There wasn't time, and a decision had already been made. Emma vowed to come back for her when this ended. They reached the top of the stairs, squinting into the sunlight, ignoring the odd stares from those milling about in the hospital. Wolf and Savior locked eyes again.

"Go, Ruby. We've got to go get Mason."