A/N: Dun dun dun. Please review :)


An expression of shock alights the women's faces, although each inwardly asks of herself why she is quite so surprised. They have seen the terrible actions of the Sea Witch, and it stands simply to reason that she would thwart their strive for safety once again.

"Regina, move!"

The blonde cries shrilly, before sending out a blast of power that barely skims her target in her panic. Regardless, it is enough to send the Sea Queen staggering back a few paces, and it allows the three of them to fall into the room after her.

Unnoticed by any of them is the fact that the first quick-running rivulets of water also join the fray.

"Why, you insolent little bitch! How dare you treat royalty in such a way?!"

Ursula hisses, but her expression reads more of hunger than of rage, and her meaty fist is clasped firmly around the tarnished hilt of a trident which the blonde places distractedly in her mind along with a few broken lines of 'under the sea'.

"Royalty- at least any deserving of that title- wouldn't treat their subjects in such a way..."

Regina purrs from her place towards the Witch's dining table; the three of them having spread out to flank the woman responsible for the chaos endured beneath the waves.

"Ha! Rich words coming from one whose mother sought to rule the way she did!"

"And look what became of her!"

"Look what became of her? No, no, my dear one, look what became of you! If my darling Cora could see her idiot spawn now; fighting alongside the Fair Wretch and her little whore! Fighting for that little, worthless, piece of- Argh! She would be turning in her grave!"

"Perhaps... But my father might finally be at peace."

The brunette challenges with a defiant raising of her jaw. To her left, the Sheriff offers a small smile, before calling out to the Witch herself.

"Let us through. You've seen what I can do, and your people have felt it too. I don't have to finish the job, but I promise you this; I am more than capable."

She wonders if the surprise she feels as she hears these words fall from her own tongue is apparent on her face, but she doesn't suppose it really matters, as Ursula has long since thrown back her head to emit a bray of wild, unnerving laughter.

"Oh, my sweet, misguided babe... How truly foolish you are! Look down, pet! See how swiftly that water rises! The dome is being lifted as we speak, and soon there will be no cunning little escape available... You and your kind will simply drown... Not that I plan on letting any of you live quite that long."

"... What about your kingdom?"

Snow asks from beside the bed, her brow furrowed as her gaze flickers down to where dark waves ripple around her shins.

"We will pick up the pieces... It is a nuisance, I will admit, but one we will turn a blind eye to when the water runs red with your blood... The dome can be reestablished."

"... By what? By magic? By you?"

Emma inquires with a toss of her hair.

"Correct, precious. I have powers you could only dream of..."

"... Then it's too bad you won't be around to lend a hand, Your Majesty... Because you're not leaving this room alive..."

"Why, you little s-"

"- And without your little dome in place, I'd guess there would be very little order and control over who might be leaving and entering this cesspool kingdom of yours... Those... Those c-creatures you've been entertaining as guests... I'll bet diplomatic meetings of royals or whatever is one thing... But I'm willing to wager most of what I have that those things would eat your sorry kind for breakfast if you were all simply tossed in together in one hot mess of water..."

She speaks without knowledge- the words simply falling defiantly from her tongue- but, when she catches a small glimmer of fear glittering in the Witch's hooded eyes, she suddenly understands that she's not just correct in her thinking, but that she's called to attention a situation Ursula has negated to even fathom.

"... Big words, little bitch, but I'll have you begging and screaming before the waters can engulf the sound..."

The Sea Queen hisses, before raising the trident up over her head.

The power it emanates exists as a shock of cobalt; crackling out towards her prey. Throwing her hands out in front of her, the blonde sends such evil backfiring schizophrenically to eat deep, smoking gouges out of the walls and furniture.

"Bitch!"

Ursula dips the prongs and tries once more, and this time Emma tries to focus the rebound towards the Witch herself.

She is almost successful, before a white bolt of pain shoots up her leg and she loses her focus with a cry of surprise. Running her hand down the back of her knee distractedly, her fingers come away red; blood blossoming out into the water.

"What the-"

"Emma, look out!"

The Fair Queen cries, jumping up onto the safety of the bed- although it won't provide such relief for long- in order to escape the revolting body of the eel that heads in her direction with its pin-needle teeth gnashing. The water becomes choppy as the Witch stirs its depths with the trident to better aid her new breed of wrath, and the Fair Queen watches as the riled up minion slips back over itself in a most horrific manner to go after the Sheriff once more. Wrenching one of the magenta shrouds from the bed's canopy down with a ripping sound lost in the chaos that fills the room, she throws it over the body of the eel and lands on top of it; trying to hold the writhing mess at bay while searching frantically for something to finish the job. Spying a bottle beside the Witch's bed, she supposes she could smash it and use its shards- perhaps... It's a long shot... but- before the silver flash of a blade plunges smartly between her hands to skewer the thrashing monster through and through.

Heartbeat racing, she looks up to catch the brunette's blackened gaze as Regina twists her sword for good measure before wrenching it free.

"No!"

Ursula's scream is terrible; filled with a horrific anguish that sends a shudder down each of their spines.

"My baby!"

Snow gags as the Witch ceases her deadly duel with the blonde- blasting the younger woman with a grief-stricken surge of power that sends the latter falling down beneath the waves- as she lunges over to cradle the sodden mess of flesh and fabric to her bosom. Letting out a low bellow of despair, the Sea Queen's eyes flash a cruel magenta as fat-pocked limbs begin to ripple and pulsate alarmingly until black-bellied tentacles spill from the Witch's body and whip up the waters into a frothing frenzy.

"You will pay for this!"

A horrifying shriek, and Snow ducks just a little too late as one of those dreadful tentacles slide over her and throw her painfully against the wall.

"Hey!"

Emma yells; trying to gather her wits about her as she staggers through the waist-deep water towards this new, terrifying version of the poisonous old woman. Her magic is hindered by her mind's struggle to take in this further horror, and the power she blasts towards the thing bearing down on her mother is weak and obsolete.

Laughing mercilessly, Ursula sends two, terrible, suckered tentacles out towards the blonde and wraps them around the younger woman's wrists; pulling her down and holding her- thrashing- beneath the water in an iron grip.

"No!"

Regina tries once more to stop the Witch with her own magic- more out of instinct than anything else- but her attempts remain useless. Clenching her teeth as she surveys the wild torrent of bubbles flowing towards the surface above the Sheriff, she staggers backwards and lets out a low gasp as her foot knocks against something hard and unyielding. Peering down through the murky depths, her eyes widen as she recognises the brassy gleam winking back up at her, and she looks frantically back towards Ursula to confirm her disbelief.

But it is true.

In her anguish, the Sea Queen had relinquished her weapon in favour of her true form, and Regina is willing to bet that such things have long since escaped her mind.

Watching as Snow battles uselessly against the slippery taunts of the Witch- Ursula laughing and goading as the pale woman beats her fists and screams at her to let the blonde breathe- the Mayor submerges herself beneath the icy depths and pulls up the comforting weight of the trident, before once more cresting the surface.

She moves stealthily forward, but in the end, things don't quite go to plan.

They rarely do.

Not that in this case it's necessarily a bad thing.

She is about three feet away from the hateful beast of a woman, when Ursula lets out a piercing scream and the water flashes a blinding white. Charred lips stretch open to reveal yellowed tombstone teeth, and the Witch pulls back her offending tentacles which carry a similar collection of open burns; flailing as the blonde forces her back with a frenzied blast of power as she gulps for breath.

Seizing her moment; Regina tightens her grip on the trident and lunges forwards, throwing all of her weight into the movement.

The weapon's journey through flesh is slick and gruesome; Ursula emitting a final shriek- wet with the blood flowing freely into her lungs- as the reddened tips of the blades emerge through her chest. There is a look of understanding- of terrible knowing that the deities' fears have indeed come to pass- within her blackened eyes as she casts each of them with a disbelieving stare, and then she is gone. Sinking down limply to become almost entirely submerged beneath the waves; the hilt of the trident jutting out of the water at a peculiar angle.

"... Holy shit."

"Oh my lord..."

"And then some..."