Chapter 51

Emma stood up and hesitated before the door. Her hand was on the knob and she slowly turned it. As she walked in, she heard Tink leaving the area. She knew that the Green Fairy was giving them some privacy. She gave her a quick a smile and walked into Coraline's cloister room.

She shut the door and walked over to the chair beside Coraline's cot. She looked down at her daughter. She gave her a small smile. Emma reached out and took her hand. She needed that visceral and tactile connection with her.

"Hi," Emma stated.

"Hey," Coraline answered.

"Rubes told me that you wanted to talk with me," Emma said dumbly and as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them.

"Is that the only reason that you came in here to talk to me?" Coraline asked her.

"No."

"Can you tell me why then?"

"You're my daughter," Emma replied.

"Is that the only reason?"

"No."

"Then, why are you here?"

"Because I don't want you to die!" Emma yelled out of her of own frustration with the situation.

She knew that Coraline was frustrated but it was different. She wasn't watching her own child dying with nothing to do, no hope of making it stop. She couldn't understand the pain that was griping at Emma's heart. This loss of hope for her was the worst feeling she'd ever had.

"I know that, Ma. I don't expect you to just let me die. I never did."

"Then, why do you expect me to just be okay with this so easily?" Emma asked her.

"Because you now have a reason," Coraline answered.

"Yeah and what is that'?'

"You know what might have happened had I not come back to stop it," Coraline replied.

Emma just stared at her. She wanted to live, but she couldn't. It would be like trying to argue with Regina. There would be no real point unless she could prove otherwise. And, Emma knew she couldn't. There was no way that she could prove that Coraline's sacrifice now would impact her growing up in the future. In fact based on what information that Emma had, it would only be a good thing. She also knew that Coraline was counting on that.

"But, how can you know?" Emma asked.

"I don't. Well, I don't really know, but I have a gut feeling. Don't you listen to your gut a lot, Ma?"

Emma shook her head. She was definitely her daughter. She knew what buttons to push to get the reaction that she wanted. Emma couldn't help but smile at the thought.

"What?" Coraline asked.

"You are my daughter," Emma replied laughing slightly.

"How many times have I already told you that?"

"Enough that I should have known better. I am sorry. I do trust you."

"I know, Ma. I know. You don't want to lose me and I really don't want to die. If I could find another way, knowing what I know, I would do it in a heartbeat."

"I know that, Kiddo. I do. I just don't want to lose you. I am being selfish in that regard. You're my daughter and I know what it is like to wonder about your parents," Emma started.

"My life wasn't as hard as yours, Ma. It wasn't. Ruby and Belle took good care of me. I just didn't remember who you guys were. I lost you all in one day. I became an orphan because of the darkness and I swore that I would end it. I couldn't find a way in my time, but I've found a way now. I know that this sucks. I do. I get it. But, this way I can guarantee that you never break your promise to me or to Henry. This way I get to grow up with you in my life," Coraline told her.

"I know and that is the only reason I haven't gone completely crazy about this."

"Look, you want to be mad, be mad. I am not telling you not to. I am just saying that I am not really going away. Mom is pregnant with me right now. I'll be here in u few short months and then you'll forget all about this ugly mess."

"I'll never forget this," Emma told her with strong conviction.

"Ma, you have to forget about this. You can't let this plague you. You have to let it go."

"Do you think that I am going to want to grow up knowing that I might lose you anyway? Do you think that I am going to want to know how I die? I don't. Who would?" Coraline questioned her.

Emma sat back in the chair and looked at her daughter. She watched as her eyes flashed back and forth between the dark mahogany and bright green. She could see the pain there and she knew that Coraline was fighting the Darkness inside her. She was hiding something behind her pain and Emma knew that Coraline had been holding something else back from them, especially Regina.

"You haven't told her the truth, have you?" Emma asked.

"Told who what?"

"Your mother," Emma replied.

"Told her what?" Coraline asked.

"Don't play with me, Coraline. I am your mother. I gave you those habits. Why haven't you told her the truth about this? I can see it in your face."

Coraline sat up. She knew that she couldn't keep the truth from her mothers for long. They were her mothers after all. She knew that Red would keep her secret and not tell everyone the full truth. If she did, she knew that Regina or Emma would try to do more to stop her. She'd let it go us long as she could. She just never thought that it would be Emma that caught her in the lie first. She was sure that it would be Regina and that is why she was waiting to talk to her last. She was trying to buy as much time as possible. She couldn't have Regina doing something stupid and try to stop her from trapping the Darkness for eternity.

"You can see what?"

"What is really going on, Coraline?" Emma demanded.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Ma," Coraline replied.

"Don't lie to me, Coraline."

"I am not lying. I don't know what you are talking about. Can you give me something?"

"Why aren't you telling us the truth about what is wrong with you?"

Coraline's eyes flashed green and the anger started to build. Emma could see it in her face and the contortions that her body made. She wasn't scared. She refused to show fear to her daughter. She would help her battle this, even if it did kill her in the end. But, damn it, Emma wasn't going to let her go without a light.

"I am not giving up on you, Coraline. So, you can forget that. I am never going to stop fighting for you, or Henry, or Regina. So, why don't you come clean and tell me what really going on with you?" Emma pressured her.

Coraline started seething. She couldn't help it. The Darkness inside her was too strong and her heart was honestly the only thing that the fairies had protected. The Darkness was eating at her slowly and the treatments that Tink and Blue were doing at night were merely holding it at bay.

"Get out!" Coraline yelled at her.

Tink must have heard her scream at Emma through the door. The shout had been abnormally loud. Emma thought as she watched Tink come barreling into the room. She pushed Emma out of the way and began to run her wand over Coraline. Emma watched in horror as black smoke-like tendrils started coming out of her. She was about to say something to Tink when Blue came in and shooed her out of the room. Emma wanted to protest but the look in Blue's eyes told her enough to shut up and wait for them to tell her what the hell was really going on with her daughter.

Emma was lost in thought as she ran through the Abbey. There were only two thoughts running through her mind: one, find Regina; and two, find Ruby. She came through the main doors of the Abbey at such a speed that she almost tripped over Ruby, who was still sitting on the steps watching over everyone. She grabbed Emma to keep her from falling flat on her face. While she waited for Emma to murmur some sort of thanks, she realized that Emma's hands were blazing white and her eyes were an unusual shade of electric green.

"Uh, Emma?" Ruby asked trying to get her attention.

"REGINA!" she screamed as soon as she realized that she had breath.

She didn't cure how wild she looked. Her daughter needed them and now! She looked over the crowd until she saw her dark-haired lover staring back at her. Emma didn't know how she looked and she didn't care. She knew that Regina saw her and she knew that one word would have her come running.

"CORALINE!" Emma yelled.

She got her desired outcome. Regina immediately stopped talking to Snow and Belle. She took off at run before she poofed to Emma's side on the steps of the Abbey. When the smoke cleared, she grabbed Emma's glowing hands and willed her to calm down just enough to tell her what was wrong.

"They didn't tell us everything," she stated.

"Who, Dear?"

"The damn fairies," Emma panted.

Her chest was heaving. She didn't understand why they weren't running into the building. Regina was at her side, but her brain didn't understand why they weren't at Coraline's already.

"What happened?"

"She...they...the darkness..." Emma couldn't make herself calm down to get a full thought out.

"Emma, Honey, breathe. Now, tell me what's wrong with Coraline. What happened?"

"We were just starting to talk," Emma started, but she was trying to pull Regina in the building.

"Okay, we'll go in, but keep talking. Ruby, come too. We might need your strength." Regina added.

Emma nodded and slowly let Regina lead her back into the building. Ruby nodded and followed. Snow, who had followed Regina's running, waited on the steps. Ruby whispered something in her ear. Snow shook her head in agreement and took up a sentinel's position on steps. She would wait for them there. She was just as worried as Regina and Emma were. Belle joined her, with Henry a few minutes later. A quick text to Charming sent him off for arms. Snow wasn't sure what was going on, but they wanted to be prepared for anything if Ruby's words were to be held for truth.

As they walked through the Abbey to the cloisters, Emma finally caught her breath. She had calmed somewhat since Regina agreed for them to go back inside. She knew that having Ruby there would help them if they needed to move Coraline quickly and away from the fairies.

"We were talking…"

"You've already said that, Dear," Regina stated.

"She looked at me. Her eyes were flashing colors. Brown, green, brown, green, over and over again. It was like her magic didn't know what to do. Then, she suddenly got furious with me."

"Did you say something that would have set her off?"

"No," Emma replied quickly.

"Are you sure?"

"She's my damn daughter, not some victim. Yes, I am sure. We were just talking, but she changed. She was angry. But, it was more than that," Emma slated.

"What do you mean?"

"It wasn't just anger. It was almost like...hatred. It was like she hated me in that instance."

Regina looked at her lover. Her eyes went wide. She was no longer calm. She was worried just as much as Emma was. Ruby could smell her fear rolling over her suddenly. Regina broke into a run to get to the room. Emma followed her. Ruby fazed into Red and decided that she would sit just outside the room while they did whatever they had to do. She wasn't going to let anyone disturb them.

"What the Hell is wrong with my daughter!?" Regina yelled as she broke into the room.

What she saw scared her to the core. Coraline was convulsing on the cot as Blue and Tink continued to run their wands over her. More black smoke poured from her body. Tink turned to say something to Regina, but Blue caught her looking and stopped her before she could say anything to Regina. Tink returned to pulling more smoke out of Coraline's body. Regina caught the movement. She turned back to the door and opened it forcefully.

When she saw Red, she leaned over and gave her a simple order, "Find Nova, now!"

Red was off through the cloister looking for the other fairy. Regina closed the door. She felt Emma move behind her. She didn't know if was because she was afraid of the wrath that she could feel boiling inside Regina or if she was frightened by her own emotional reaction to what they were witnessing. Regina reached out and grabbed Emma's hand. She was grounding them both as she tried to get more information on her ailing daughter.

"What is wrong with my daughter, Bug?" Regina asked.

Her voice was more even, darker. Blue whipped her head to look at the distraught woman, but she didn't stop moving her wand. There was a fear in Blue's eyes that Regina had never seen before and that scared Regina more. She then realized that Blue was speaking under her breath as she never stopped the movement with her hands.

She watched the smoke come out her daughter. It was thick and black. Regina's heart broke.

"Tell me I'm wrong," Regina begged Blue.

Blue just shook her head. She couldn't reply in any other fashion. Regina realized what they were doing. She fell into one of the chairs that had been beside the bed, but had been moved due to Emma abrupt departure earlier. Emma looked from Blue to Regina and back again. She was till at loss as to what was going on with Coraline.

"What is it?" Emma demanded her lover, fear showing in her eyes.

"Coraline is the Dark One," Regina told her.

"But, the dagger…"

"It must not be tethered to it anymore. It found a way out. When it couldn't have you, it took her."

"But, why didn't she tell us?" Emma asked them all, bewildered by what they were suggesting.

"She is our daughter," Regina answered like it explained everything.

"But, her heart...we are going to give it to Neal," Emma asked, scared for her sickly little brother.

"The fairies have protected it as best they can."

"But…"

Nova came in the room slowly. She pulled up the other chair. She knew that Blue might not like her being in there, but like Tink, Nova had come to respect Regina and her magical know-how. They also liked the fact that she didn't judge them as harshly as Blue did as head of the fairies.

"Emma, it isn't that simple," Nova told them both.

"What are they doing?" Regina asked.

"Blue and Tink have been pulling the darkness out of her slowly every night. When they get tired, two other fairies take their place until we can't pull any more out. It has been getting harder and harder to pull it out the last few days. Her time is coming to an end and I fear that Coraline might take her own life in order to protect everyone."

"But, Neal needs her heart…"

"He'll get it, Emma. Blue, Tink, all of us really, we've enchanted her heart. It was the one gift that we could give her since we couldn't be there for her as she grew. In her time, there are no fairies. It seems that we broke into factions and fought alongside both families to our demise as well. This was our way of helping her defeat the darkness and living on. Neal needs something that we cannot magically give. Coraline gave us a way to help them both with her heart."

"But, how did she know?" Emma demanded when she realized that Regina couldn't ask the question of the fairy.

"She didn't. Well, not at first, as she recovered, her thoughts changed. She has been visited by a family member from the future, her future. She's seen it and that's better than the one she grew up in, but unfortunately, she still remembers hers completely. Her brain couldn't distinguish the difference between the bitterness and the happiness. The Darkness took that opportunity to strike hard. It has seeped into her brain and torn her thoughts apart," Nova told them.

"But, why didn't we notice?" Regina asked.

"She is your daughter. Do you think that she was going to come out and tell you that she was turning into the Dark One? No, she would hide it until she couldn't. It was another reason that she wants to give her heart to Neal. For her it will be the one good thing that has come out of her new curse."

"Can we stop it?" Emma asked.

"No, there is no stopping that evil," Regina told her, before her head fell into her hand.

"Unfortunately, Emma, there is nothing we can do. We have tried to make her comfortable. The Darkness taking over is painful. We've done everything that we can. We'd hoped that we would have more time, but it looks like we are going to have move up taking her heart, now," Nova told them.

Emma hit the ground. Her heart was breaking and she didn't know how to stop it. Her daughter had become the Dark One in her place and somehow the fairies had protected her heart from the Darkness taking her heart. It might have been the only thing that had kept Coraline thinking somewhat clearly as the Darkness had been ravaging her body.

"What can we do?" Regina asked calmly.

"The only thing that I know that we can do now is give Neal her heart. I know that she had plans in motion in order to complete her transformation with Neal's heart inside her, but I am not sure what those plans were. I haven't been privy to that information. None of the fairies have. She has been most secretive in that," Nova told her.

"I might know who she told," Emma mumbled, still on the floor.

Regina turned and looked down at her lover. She could see the grief on her face and she wondered if her own mirrored that emotion. She could feel the Evil Queen beginning to come to the front. Regina was angry. Her daughter has taken on a curse so dark and so evil and she didn't both to tell them about it. She could understand why Coraline would keep it from them, but it didn't make it any easier for her. Her blood was boiling and she wanted something to hurt.

She opened the door again. She saw Red laying there. Red picked up her head. She regarded her sister. There was a silent discussion between them and Red bowed her head in shame. It was all Regina needed to see.

"We will talk about this later, Wolf Pup. Go get Snow and be quick. Once she is one the way, find Will wherever she might be and tell her to get here now."

Red looked up with her yellow eyes and stared into Regina's dark brown eyes. She saw the pain and the betrayal in Regina's eyes. She knew that they would talk later and she knew that it wasn't going to be about what Emma likes to eat for dinner. Red bowed her head again and took off for the doors.

After she fled on her newest mission, Regina turned to the door and cast a spell of protection. Emma watched as Nova finally got her off the floor and back into a chair. Then they all watched as Blue and Tink continued to work. Helpless to help their child, Emma and Regina could do nothing but cry silently as they literally tore the darkness from Coraline's body. They watched as she convulsed and contorted, but to her own credit, Coraline never cried out in pain as they worked. Regina and Emma would fight later of the possession of strength that she was showing.

Some minutes later, Snow opened the door to the room, worry evident on her face. She didn't dare try to step in recognizing the spell on the door way. She met Regina's eyes. She couldn't help but see the red ringed, tear filled orbs from where she was standing. Charming wasn't far behind her. Steadfast in his need to protect his family, he was as unsure as Snow was in that moment. They were willing to do anything for them, but they didn't know magic and they didn't think that brawn would win the day.

"Prepare your son, Snow. He is getting his new heart tonight. We don't have a moment to lose."

Snow's hazel eyes questions those of the former Evil Queen. She could see the hardness in them. She recognized the pain, but it was deeper and different than it had been with Daniel. If Snow hadn't seen the writhing body of Coraline on that cot, she would have believed that she was already dead.

"Come get me when he is ready," Regina finished giving her command and turned away.

For Snow there was nothing else that needed to be said. She knew that Regina might have forgiven her for taking Daniel from her. But, she didn't know if she could forgive her for taking Coraline. In the future, she was the reason that the Dark One reemerges and destroys the entire family. But now thanks to Coraline altering the timelines, Snow would be the reason that Neal only had half a heart. For her, it looked like she would always be the catalyst for Regina's misery. She began to think that she was the reason that Regina would never have the true happy ending. She would always be the reason that Regina was unhappy. She always had been.

Regina sat back and stared at the floor. She didn't know what to do. She was breaking and she was hurting. Emma wasn't breaking; she was broken. They needed each other and Regina wasn't sure that she could be strong enough to do what needed to be done. Her daughter was essentially letting herself die in order to destroy the Darkness and the powers of the Dark One.

Nova watched them both. She knew that there was honestly nothing that the fairies could do that they weren't already doing. It didn't make it any easier. Coraline was the daughter of Emma, who was the daughter of Snow, who was the daughter of Leopold, and as such she was a member of a protected household of the Enchanted Forest. Things like this weren't supposed to happen to them without dark forces causing it.

"Nova?" Blue asked.

She looked up at the head fairy and smiled weakly. She didn't answer, but nodded instead. Blue jerked her head to the side in a beckoning motion. Nova went over to her.

"Please take over here for me."

"Yes, Blue," Nova replied automatically.

"Regina, please come with me. We need to go prepare the other room. Emma will stay with her," Blue stated as she neared Regina.

Regina looked at her with fire in her eyes. They actually flashed violet for a moment, but Blue was not deterred. She stood there waiting on Regina to stand and follow her.

"You may be the Evil Queen, Regina, but she is your daughter," Blue stated, locking her gaze and daring Regina to say something to her.

Regina merely nodded and stood to follow the fairy. She leaned over and whispered in Emma's ear. When Emma didn't respond, Regina tried kissing but got no response. She looked at Tink and Nova and hoped that she wouldn't be gone long. They needed to be together. Regina reached up and placed her hand on her heart. She could feel the steady beat. She could feel the life moving through her and it made her ill.

"This way," Blue said as she led them away from the cloisters to another set of rooms on the other side of the Abbey.

"Where are we?" Regina asked as they entered the room.

"This is a place that I had altered as soon as magic was back."

"Why?" Regina questioned her.

"Because magic cannot escape here."

"Rumple's cell?" Regina murmured the question.

Regina looked around the room. The wood wainscoting had a medium stain and was old world looking. There was a distinctive chair rail that bordered it and thick wooden wall paper above it. There were no chairs in the room. There was nothing in it. But, Regina could feel something, like a latent fingerprint in there. There was also a building up of emotional stability. She couldn't explain what it was doing to her, but her anger and sadness were giving way to something that she dared not feel in a long time: Hope.

"It is a similar spell, yes, but it isn't the same. In here the only magic that can be performed is good magic. In this room, no evil can happen."

"Then why haven't you brought Coraline in here?" Regina demanded.

She knew that hope was a dangerous thing. But, it was nothing like the mixture of hope and love together. Those two emotions linked together could bring utter happiness or utter destruction. And, Regina realized that she was there. Blue was feeling her out. She needed to know what was going to happen if Coraline died. She needed to make sure that the Evil Queen didn't rear her ugliness and decimate the town. They all knew that Regina could level the town without even thinking about it.

"Because she wouldn't let us move her and it wouldn't matter. She would be just as trapped in here as she would in that room. The only problem with her being in here is that it wouldn't stop the Darkness. She wouldn't be able to leave and she wouldn't be able to do magic. We could move her here, but it would really only buy us some time. It wouldn't solve the problem."

"Which is?"

"She is the Dark One and Prince Neal needs a new heart," Blue answered.

Regina gasped. She should have known. The fairies were only worried about Prince Neal, Snow's new bouncing boy and heir to their throne. They didn't care about Regina and her feelings. Why should they? She was the Evil Queen after all.

"This is my punishment, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry?" Blue asked.

"This is my punishment, isn't it for being the Evil Queen? This is how you finally get your revenge on me, Blue. You are going to kill my daughter and save Snow's son."

"Have you forgotten that your daughter is the daughter of Emma, too?"

Blue looked at her, watching her body language. She hadn't brought Regina in the room to punish her. She brought her in there to feel her out. Yes, they were all worried that she would return to being the Evil Queen, but she was mostly worried about the unborn child in her womb.

"No, I can't forget that."

"Then why would you think that I would do this to punish you. In doing so, I would also be punishing Snow and Emma. Trust me when I say that hurting you or punishing you for what you did in the Enchanted Forest is a long way away from what I am thinking. If I was going to punish you, I would have already done it. I would have erased Henry's memory and returned him to the Charmings to raise on their own. He would have never know you, but I didn't and I won't do that," Blue explained.

"So because Emma is my True Love, I'm protected?" Regina inquired with a self-deprecating huff and laugh.

"No, Regina, that isn't it at all."

"Then why are you helping me?" Regina asked her.

She stared at the plainly dressed Mother Superior and head fairy. Her dark eyes were worried. Her body looked ready to unleash magic, but Regina knew that she needed a wand for an outlet. It was one thing to have magic and another to weld it. She wondered what she was thinking.

"Because a misdirected but wise fairy told me that everyone deserves our love and our help, because without it, Hope, itself, might die," Blue answered.

"Tink…"

"Yes, it was Tink. If she can forgive you, then I can as well. Besides, Snow has forgiven you. The town has come to respect you for who you've become Regina. You may have once been the Evil Queen, but here you have striven to be the one thing that you've always wanted to be."

"Yeah, and what's that?" Regina inquired, wondering what she hinting at.

"Here you are just Regina and loved. That is all that matters. We have to keep Hope alive and to do that, we have to save both Coraline and Neal. I don't plan on losing either of them."

"But, she is the Dark One."

"She is."

Regina looked at her. She got close enough to stare deeply into her dark eyes. She saw no deception, but she still couldn't read the elder fairy.

"What do you propose?" Regina asked tentatively.

"You're not going to like it," Blue answered immediately.

"I'm sure I won't, but that doesn't matter. How can we fix this? How do we save my daughter and her young uncle from this fate?"

"We switch their hearts, in here, because I want to erase Coraline from hers."

"You want to what?" Regine questioned and she stared to pacing. She wanted to smack Blue. She wanted to rip her heart out and give it to Neal instead, but she knew that was the Evil Queen talking. She was showing up because she was trying to protect Regina from being hurt.

"Let me explain and finish before you totally freak out on me," Blue told her.

"Fine," Regina replied, but she didn't stop pacing.

Blue just watched her. She knew that Regina was going to gear up for a fight. That is why she brought her into this room. In here, Regina couldn't conjure up her fireballs out of anger. It would give Blue just enough time to tell her a plan and hope that Regina was onboard with it.

"We go ahead with the plan as Coraline has devised it. But, before we place her heart in Neal, we erase it. This way it will be magically stripped of ever being Coraline's. Her memories wouldn't be tied to it. It would be like we were giving Neal a brand new heart. It will also be blank, thus allowing Neal to choose his own destiny. It will not push him in any direction."

"He wouldn't automatically be good because it is still a Charming's heart?"

"No, he still has the same ability as Emma. He can be the greatest evil or a good man. This will make the choice his because he has a whole heart. I am not saying that he is leaning one way or the other. This would be a precaution because of Coraline's condition. We would also being doing it in order to protect him from her memories. He doesn't need to know what horrors she's suffered. He needs to live his own life," Blue told her.

"I actually agree with that," Regina stated.

"I'd hoped you would."

"But, what of Neal's half a heart?" Regina asked.

"Now, this is where things will get really complicated," Blue replied.

"How so?"

"We can do the same for it and place it in Coraline. As soon as we do, it will be consumed by the Dark One's Curse. There is nothing that I can do about that. I can erase his heart, but she will still be consumed. There is no prevention for that…now."

"But, there was?"

"Just her death."

"And, if she was to die now?" Regina asked.

"Then, she'll take the Darkness to her grave. The only problem is that she has the Dark One's magic in her veins. There is no one willing to take that Curse on and there is no way to rid her of it. And, before you ask, no, you cannot give her your heart in order to accept the Curse yourself. It doesn't work that way. We've been protecting her heart so it isn't corrupted. There is nothing that destroys the Curse save for True Love."

"Then Will…"

"Cannot undo it."

"Why not?!"

"Because Regina, Coraline has accepted her fate to die as the Dark One. She has made that choice and True Love's kiss won't work. She has decided to embrace the curse. Once she's done that, she no longer sees it as a Curse," Blue told her.

"Meaning that even True Love won't end it…"

"Yes, but there is another option."

"What?"

"Your unborn daughter…" Blue told her.

"What about her?"

"Have you forgotten, Regina, that she is also Coraline? She will just live a different life. She has given herself a new lease of life. Coraline has paved a brighter path for her own future. She has done all of this because she knew that in doing so, she would save the family," Blue said.

"I know all that, Blue. What aren't you telling me about this, Bug? What is it?"

Blue looked at her. She knew that Regina was angry and sad. She also knew that she couldn't do anything to stop what was happening. She just didn't know if Regina was going to be able to accept it. That is why they were in the room.

"Why did you really bring me here?" Regina asked her.

"So you could unleash yourself without hurting anyone. You and I both know that there is nothing that we can do to save Coraline now. Her body has been ravaged by the Dark One Curse. Her heart is protected but as soon as we place Neal's heart in her, there will be no spell protecting it. She will fully succumb to the horridness and she will fully embrace the Darkness. I am giving you the option, now, to lose your cool."

"Why?" Regina asked as she fell to her knees.

"Because everyone is going to be looking to you soon, Regina. They are going to need you to step up and lead them through this time of grief. I know that it going to be hard for you. I will support you in any way that I can, Regina. I want you to know that. But, right now, you are going to have to be their savior. You are going to have to do things that you don't want to and the biggest thing is letting Coraline go so that Remy may have both you later," Blue explained.

"I don't know that I can, Blue."

"Well, you need to find a way. It isn't just you that we are worried about, Regina. We are all worried about Emma and what this might do to her fragile psyche. But, there is also the little one in your womb there. She is also my charge and you must know that we will do everything that we can in order to protect her. That includes helping Coraline give up her heart."

"How long can we delay the transfer?" Regina asked, looking up into her dark eyes.

"Maybe as late as tomorrow morning, but no later than just past lunch," Blue answered.

"That will be enough time. Please send Ruby in here when she is back. Protect Neal's room. I'll let you know in a few hours what we are going to do," Regina told her.

"Yes, majesty," Blue answered and gave her a deep bow before she turned to leave.

"I never thought I would see that from you," Regina mumbled.

"I never thought that I would see the good in you, again, Regina," Blue replied as she left.