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Chapter 18: Dark Touch

There was another knock, louder this time.

Neither Regina nor Emma moved for several moments until Henry finally broke the tableau by pulling on their hands, which he was still holding. "Aren't you going to open the door?" he asked. "Maybe it's grandpa or grandma."

Exactly, Emma thought, not moving an inch.

He moved as if to walk to the door but both mothers held onto him and stopped him. "Henry, wait," Emma said cautiously.

Henry shot her a curious look. "Why? What's going on?"

Emma shot Regina a look. "We just don't know who it is, Henry," Regina replied softly. "Let me go and take a look."

Emma instinctively put an arm around Henry's shoulders as she watched Regina walk over to the door without making a sound. She saw Regina listen for a moment, then turn around with a wry grin and a very obvious rolling of her eyes. "An idiot, a fairy, a handless pirate, and a Werewolf knock at a door …" she muttered under her breath. "Sounds like the start of a really bad joke."

Emma snorted and even Henry grinned. "Maybe you should open the door so we can get to the point of that particular joke," Emma commented dryly.

"If I must …" Regina pulled open the door with a flourish, causing David and Ruby to almost fall into the house. "Welcome," Regina said with a smirk, looking at David, Ruby and Tink. "Or not," she added with a glare at Hook. "What brings you to my home?"

Three of the four people on the porch looked at each other while Hook openly ogled Emma. Regina felt her hackles rise at the leering stare. What right did that pirate have to look at Emma that way? Then she remembered the constant looks and innuendos Hook had thrown at Emma in Neverland … and her thoughts went to the kiss that Emma didn't know she had seen.

"Well, I wanted to know what happened with Neal," David finally said with a shrug, pulling Regina from her thoughts.

"I was looking for Emma and David pointed me here," Tink added. She looked at Emma. "I wanted to let you know that I have what you asked me for … but it looks you don't need it anymore."

Emma smiled at her. "You never know, it might come in handy," she replied. "Why don't you come in so we can talk?"

Tink walked up to Regina with an excited air about her that made Regina smile despite the fact that she had no idea what Emma and Tink were talking about. Hook tried to follow her but Regina stopped him with a glare.

"Not you," Regina growled low in her throat as she looked Hook up and down with obvious distaste. "I don't need fleas in my home."

"Regina." There was a gentle warning in Emma's tone, but Regina could hear the slight undertone of exasperated amusement. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Regina gave Hook a look that unmistakably told him to stay where he was before following Emma into the study. Everyone stared at each slightly dumbfounded, until Henry finally shrugged. "It's better than when they were yelling at each other …"

Ruby silently agreed while straining her hearing to eavesdrop on what she assumed was going to be an interesting conversation. She didn't even feel bad about it.

In the study, Regina turned to Emma with an innocent expression on her face. "Last I heard it's my decision who's allowed in my house, isn't it?" She moved closer to Emma. "I really don't appreciate the way he looks at you."

Emma sighed. "He always looks at me like that," she muttered. "I don't even notice anymore."

"And I've never liked it," Regina declared. "I didn't like it in Neverland when he couldn't keep his eyes off you, and I surely don't like it any better now."

Emma guffawed in surprise. "Are you actually jealous?"

"Do I have a reason to be?" Regina was completely serious.

Emma pulled her into her arms with a grin. "None whatsoever," she said softly. "I'm not interested in Hook, not in Neverland, not now … especially not now."

Regina couldn't stop herself. "Why did you kiss him then?" she asked, showing a lot more vulnerability than she wanted to reveal. "If you wanted to dissuade him, that was not the way to do it." She gently bit into Emma's collarbone in retaliation.

Emma winced, and it wasn't due to the bite. "You saw that?" she asked. "Man, I really wish you hadn't."

Regina snorted. "So do I, believe me." She leaned back in Emma's arms to look into her eyes. "Why did you?"

"You're not going to let his go, are you?"

Regina shook her head.

Emma cupped Regina's face in her hands. "I kissed him because he saved my dad," she started. "Because the happiness about that needed to get out somehow." She pecked Regina's nose. "And I kissed him because I thought you would throw a fireball at me if I kissed you."

"I wouldn't have," Regina whispered.

"I'm beginning to realize that," Emma whispered back.

"I still don't want him in my house," Regina stated.

"Regina," Emma sighed. "It's just a stupid habit of his … he's with Tink now."

Regina gave Emma a disbelieving stare. "Does he know that?" She shook her head. "He still wants you, Emma, and I won't look at him making eyes at you." Emma opened her mouth to say something, but Regina stopped her with a quick shake of her head. "This is not up for discussion. The pirate stays outside, and he can be glad I don't incinerate him."

Emma didn't look too happy, but she gave Regina a grudging nod.

Outside, Ruby grinned, having heard most of the low conversation thanks to her wolf hearing. Jealous Regina is so cute, she thought. But also dangerous. She took a step away from Hook, just in case. Just then Regina and Emma reappeared.

"I'm with Regina," Ruby offered before either of the women could say anything, which earned her a stern look from Regina. Oops. Then she had an inspiration. "I just thought, you know … that we might need a lookout anyway … you know, in case … er …"

"In case Neal comes back," Emma jumped in. "That's absolutely right, Rubes." The relief in her voice was audible. "Hook, would you mind? It would really be a great help."

From the look of disdain on his face, Hook clearly knew he was being played, and not too skillfully at that. It looked like Regina had made her decision clear, and Swan went along with it, for whatever reason. He was never going to understand why Swan took her side more often than not. "I'm quite sure my sword could serve you much better inside where it belongs," he replied gruffly, going for one last try. "Sooner or later you'll come to understand that, love."

Regina rolled her eyes so hard that Emma was afraid they would fall out, but she just shook her head at Hook and refrained from commenting verbally. The others entered the mansion, glad to be out of the line of fire, and Henry quickly hugged his grandfather.

Hook settled in for his wait on the porch with a grimace on his face while Regina closed the door behind her family and the motley crew of friends.

As soon as the door was closed, Hook's face morphed into an ugly snarl. "Watch your back, Your Majesty. You might regret this one day."

o o o

Belle walked into Granny's with a purposeful gait that only faltered a little bit when she realized that Ruby wasn't anywhere to be seen. She sat down at the counter nonetheless, pushing away the slight feeling of disappointment in her chest, not ready to analyze what it might indicate.

"Hey, Belle," Granny greeted her. Then wise gray eyes mustered here. "Don't look so disappointed, I'm sure that wayward granddaughter of mine will be back soon."

Oh. Leave it to Granny to point out people's feelings, Belle thought, shaking her head a little. But there was a small smile playing around her lips. She'd always liked the feisty older woman, and for a second she wondered if Ruby would turn out like her when she got older. Wouldn't be too bad.

"I've been trying to reach her, but she doesn't answer her phone," Granny continued with a sigh. "I would like to know what she thinks she's doing …"

"I don't just come here for Ruby," Belle told Granny with a wink. "I actually wanted some of that raspberry tea that Ruby made for me the other day."

"Raspberry tea?" Granny thought for a second. "Ah yes, I think we might have some left. One second." She disappeared as she bent down behind the counter to rummage around the cabinets there.

"Did Ruby say where she was going?"

Granny grunted a little. "The sheriff station," she sighed. "She said she wanted to talk to … Oh, no … Where …? How …?" Granny's voice suddenly sounded strangled.

Belle leaned over the counter so she could see what was going on. Granny was kneeling on the floor, one hand on the door of an open cabinet. "What's wrong? If you can't find the tea it's no big—"

"My crossbow is gone," Granny whispered, sounding absolutely horrified at the thought. "And a full set of bolts."

Belle plopped back into her seat. "What? But who could have taken it? And why?"

Granny stood slowly, suddenly feeling every last one of her years in her creaking knees. "It was here when I opened the diner this morning," she thought out loud. Suddenly she stood absolutely stock-still. "Snow."

"Snow? As in Snow White?" Belle sounded as shocked as Granny looked, even as she wondered in the next second why she was surprised with everything Snow had been pulling the last few days. "Was she here this morning?"

Granny nodded numbly. "Just left a few minutes ago actually."

"Why do you think it was her?"

"Because she knows exactly where it was stashed," Granny replied with a low growl that revealed that there was still a bit of wolf left in her. "And because she sent me on a fool's errand into the back knowing exactly that it would take me a few minutes to come back."

"Was nobody else in here?"

Granny thought back. "No, the diner was empty, so she could have grabbed the crossbow, stored it in the alley outside, and then come back in here as if nothing had happened."

"Oh." There wasn't much more that Belle could think of to say. "You need to tell Ruby. If she's with Emma … well, the sheriff needs to know."

With trembling fingers Granny took the phone and speed-dialed her granddaughter's number.

o o o

Ruby felt her phone vibrate against her hip and took it out of her pocket to check who was calling. Granny again. With a sigh, she dismissed the call and focused back on the conversation going on around Regina's dining table.

"So let me get this straight," Tink was just saying. "You're telling me that Snow White has gone evil?"

Everyone around the table nodded. "And we think that …" Emma faltered.

Tink eyed her curiously. "You think what?"

"We think that Blue has a hand in this," David explained, sounding pained. He looked a little frail, and Tink thought she could see his aura fraying around the edges.

"Why would you think …?" Tink asked then stopped. "The Dark Wand?" She looked at Regina for confirmation.

Regina nodded. "Snow's heart is completely black, and that just isn't possible in such a short amount of time without outside influence."

Ruby gasped. "Don't tell me you took out her heart?"

"How did you even get that close to her in her state?" Tink asked simultaneously.

"I had their permission," Regina explained primly, pointing at Emma and David.

"And I had her body sort of frozen at the time," Emma added.

"Why didn't you just kiss her to remove the curse?" Ruby asked David. "True love's kiss should have taken care of it."

David's shoulders sagged even more. It was almost painful to see him that way, Regina thought. She had never been a big fan of Prince Charming, but this was just horrendous to look at. "Believe me, I tried," he finally croaked. "It didn't work."

Ruby turned to Tink. "Why didn't it?"

Tink and Regina shared a look. "You're right," the fairy said after a moment's thinking. "This has Blue written all over it. She must have found the Dark Wand and now she's finally going after what she's always wanted."

"Power." Regina's voice was cold and Ruby felt a small shiver race up her spine.

Tink nodded. "David's kiss didn't work because Blue probably put a spin on things."

Emma leaned forward. "What do you mean? I thought it didn't work because her heart was so black it couldn't feel love."

Tink shook her head. "With the right person it could have still worked." She paused. "The Dark Wand allows Blue a lot of control over the curses she uses," she mused. "This is magic in its darkest form. The stories that have been told of the Black Fairy's power have not been exaggerated … if anything, they have always been toned down so as not to frighten the common people too much."

"Can you share what you know about the Black Fairy and the Dark Wand?" Emma asked. "I feel like I'm totally lost."

"You're not the only one," Ruby muttered while looking at her phone again and dismissing another call from Granny.

"You can take the call outside, if it's important," Regina told her, having witnessed Ruby's constant fiddling with her phone.

"Nah, it's just Granny," the younger woman replied. "Probably calling me back to the diner. This is much more important."

"As you wish." Regina turned back to Tink. "You know more about the Black Fairy and that wand than I do …" she hinted.

"That's because the fairies like to keep such information to themselves," Tink muttered, looking uncomfortable. "It wouldn't do to let people think that fairies can be just as dark as the Dark One … if not darker."

"Okay, Tink, here's the thing," Emma said when Tink didn't continue. "Blue has cursed my mother and now she's going after Regina, and we really, really need to stop her, so you have to help us. Please?"

Regina instinctively reached out and took Emma's hand, lacing their fingers together on the table between them.

"Ha, I knew it!" Tink crowed with a huge smile at the sight. "The dust would have totally worked then."

"What are you talking about?" Regina asked.

"I'll explain later," Emma pulled them back before they could go off on a tangent. "Black magic first."

Tink looked disappointed but nodded with a resigned sigh. "According to the stories, the Black Fairy used her wand to curse and control people. In the beginning it was just for small things, not necessarily bad … but over time the wand corrupted her and turned her thoughts to much darker things. After a while, the Black Fairy and the Dark Wand became almost one soul for lack of a better word. In the end, the Black Fairy only needed to think something and the Dark Wand would make it happen, which gave her an incredible amount of power to fashion her curses the way she wanted them to be."

"So you're saying that if Blue has the Dark Wand there's nothing that she couldn't do with it?" Emma asked.

"Yes, if she's learned to wield the power than she could do whatever she set her mind to."

"But why didn't true love's kiss work?" Ruby asked, coming back to the original question. "I've always been told that it breaks any curse, even the darkest ones."

"And that remains true," Tink replied. "But as you all know it doesn't have to be romantic love, and the power of the Dark Wand would allow Blue to de—"

"Determine whose kiss would work," Regina finished for her with a gasp of realization. "Oh, that's evil."

"Hence the Dark Wand, Regina," Tink said grimly. "We just have to figure out who can break the curse."

"Knowing our luck it's someone who really hates Snow," David muttered.

All eyes turned to Regina.

"It can't be me," Regina sputtered. "It just can't."

"But it makes so much sense," Henry piped up from the doorway.

"How much have you heard, kid?" Emma asked over her shoulder, not even all that surprised that he didn't stay in his room like he had been told to.

"Er … pretty much everything?" Henry didn't even have the decency to blush or look sorry. "Not my fault you never learn to not shelter me from things."

Regina sighed. "Look, if it's me, I'm willing to try, but I don't think for a second that it would work. There's no love lost between us, everyone knows that. I certainly don't love Snow …"

"But you once did," Henry interrupted. He walked up to his mother and put a hand on her shoulder. "When you saved her and before she broke your trust, you loved her. And that's the love you have to find again."

Regina breathed out a long sigh. "Why that may have been true then," she finally said, not wanting to disappoint her son. "Those feelings are irrevocably gone. And even if they weren't, Snow certainly has no love for me."

"That's not true," David disagreed quietly from the other side of the table. "She loves you, she just doesn't remember it right now. Deep down, she has always loved you."

Emma could see that Regina needed to think about that, and not in front of all these people. "Listen, we'll give it a try, all of us. Me, Henry, Ruby, hell I'll even get Leroy to kiss her … but first we need to get her in a position where we can try."

"Well, there's the town meeting tomorrow night, isn't there?" Tink asked. "And everyone will be there, including Snow."

"I assume Blue will be there too," Regina pointed out. "So how do we get her away from Snow? How de we get our hands on the Dark Wand?"

"We have a day to come up with a plan," David replied, now looking much more like his old self, hope back in his heart. "We'll figure something out."

"We will. Good always wins."

Henry sounded so sure that Regina could only nod helplessly. There were a lot of Charmings genes in their little group, so why wouldn't they come up with something? They usually did. She turned to Emma and saw her looking back with a small smile. Regina squeezed the hand that still held hers on the table and nodded.

"How about we go to Granny's and grab a bite to eat?" Emma then asked into the sudden silence. "I don't know about you, but I could definitely eat something."

"Yay, Granny's," Henry whooped and ran off, leaving the grown-ups behind shaking their heads at the Truest Believer as they got up to follow him. Henry was already at the door.

"I need to get back anyway," Ruby said, holding up her phone. "Let's see what Granny wanted that was so desperate that she called me 12 times …" She put the phone to her ear and listened for a few seconds with a bored expression on her face before she suddenly stiffened and blanched. "Oh my God."

"What?" Regina turned around, dread pooling in her stomach. She suddenly had a very bad feeling.

"Granny says Snow stole her crossbow," Ruby stammered. "It's gone."

"Did she see where she went with it?" Emma asked.

Ruby shook her head. "But don't we know the answer to that?"

Regina heard the front door open as Henry ran out onto the porch. The feeling in her gut got worse. "Henry, stop!" she yelled and ran for the door.

o o o

Snow carefully loaded the crossbow with the three special bolts that she had dipped into the potion Blue had provided. At first she had wanted to use her own bow, but had ultimately decided on Granny's crossbow for a simple reason: it could fire three bolts at the same time, tripling her chances that at least one of them would reach its aim.

The walk to Regina's house was filled with thoughts of triumph of Good over Evil, and how much everyone would love her once she had sent Regina into an eternal sleep. There was nobody who could wake her from an eternity in that burning room because nobody loved the Evil Queen. She would finally have her peace, Emma and Henry and Neal could finally have their happy ending, and they all could finally find a way back to the Enchanted Forest under Blue's wise and benevolent guidance.

Snow smiled all the way and only stopped when she spotted Hook lounging against one of the pillars on Regina's porch. She quickly put the crossbow behind her back as Hook straightened and ambled towards her.

"Fancy seeing you here, Snow," he greeted her amiably, and with only a small leer. She just wasn't his type but she was still a walking, breathing woman.

"What are you doing here, Hook?"

"Ah see, the queen didn't fancy my presence in her house with the others and made me wait out here like a dog." He sneered back at the house.

"So Regina's not alone in there?" Snow asked carefully.

Hook shook his head. "Listen, love, you can pull that weapon out from behind your back," he said. "It's not like I can't see it anyway, and holding it like that must be uncomfortable." He watched as Snow's shoulders relaxed and she lowered her arm to the side, revealing the loaded crossbow. "Nice," Hook complemented. "Since you're here, I'm assuming you're after Regina?"

Snow eyed him suspiciously. "And what if I am?"

"Let's just say, I might be interested in being of any assistance you might need," he said with a roguish grin. "She's treated me like a leper long enough."

There was a shrewd look in Snow's eyes. "And she has Emma under a spell, which is something you don't like, right?"

"Oh, is that what it is?" Hook asked. "That would explain a few things. Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Not really," Snow replied. "Just stay out of the way of these bolts …"

Hook took a closer look at the three bolts loaded into the crossbow's unique mechanism, and saw the oily, inky black substance coating the tips. "Poison?"

"Sleeping potion," Snow corrected him. "Eternal sleep."

Behind Hook, the door to the mansion opened wide and Henry stepped onto the porch. "Perfect," Snow muttered.

Hook's eyes widened. "I thought you said you were after the queen?"

"And who is the one person she's going to protect without a single thought to her own safety?" Snow stated darkly. "This is better than I could have imagined."

Hook took one look at Snow's face and beat a hasty retreat down Mifflin Street. This had the potential to be very, very bad. If Snow hit Henry, there would be hell to pay from both Regina and Emma, and Hook didn't want to be close by when that happened.

o o o

Henry stepped onto the porch with a wide grin on his face, his back to the front yard. "Come on, guys, I'm hungry," he hollered back into the house, before turning around to run ahead.

"Hello, Henry."

"Oh hey, Grandma," he said in pure reflex when he saw Snow standing at the end of the garden path. Then he remembered what he had learned just now about his grandmother and her darkened heart. "Mom, Ma, Snow is here!" he yelled back into the mansion.

"Regina!" Snow called out loudly. "You better come out here unless you want to be responsible for what's going to happen to your son." She waited until she could see movement inside the door before raising the crossbow and pulling the trigger with a gleeful smile, aiming straight at Henry.

Henry closed his eyes, his mind calling out for his mother.

Regina heard Snow's challenge and sprinted for her son without a second thought, almost skidding the last couple of feet. "Henry, go back inside!" she yelled, but knew instinctively that it was too late when she saw Henry frozen in shock and the three bolts headed his way.

She lunged sideways to shield her son's body with her own and caught the first bolt in her right hand, while the left hand curled around the second bolt a fraction of a second later.

The third hit her square in the stomach.