"I killed Graham."
There it was.
Her last secret, now out in the open.
Regina felt panic rising in her chest and all the voices in her head were screaming at once. She couldn't make sense of what they were saying but it must be their panic she was feeling. She forced herself to keep her eyes open and to look at Emma for her reaction, while the darkness raged around her and both she and Merlin were fighting to keep standing. Emma was stunned and Regina waited for her to become angry. The Savior would turn on her now and she was ready. Her eyes found Henry then. Her sweet child who had had such high hopes that she would become a hero after all. Henry's eyes had gone wide with shock and Regina remembered vividly how he had reacted when they had all thought she'd killed Archie. Disappointing him was the hardest thing she'd ever done and while she had been innocent of that murder, she was guilty of Graham's. He would never forgive her.
"He had a heart attack!" Emma said loudly.
Regina looked at the blonde again and shook her head.
"No. That's just what it looked like under the curse. I had his heart in my vault. I was consumed with anger and jealousy and … I did what I told him I'd do if he ever left me. I … crushed it."
Robin had stepped forward and approached Emma. He didn't know who the women were talking about but he did gather that this was a final secret that Regina needed to deal with. He could see her struggling and the darkness was still trying to cling to her; to convince her she needed to hold on to the power to protect herself from everyone else. And then Hook stepped forward as well, standing on Emma's other side.
"Let it go, love," he told her urgently. "You can deal with this later. First this standoff needs to end."
They could see that tears were now streaming down Regina's cheeks. She was focused on Henry, who was also on the verge of crying and then she looked at Merlin, ignoring the panicked screeches of the Dark Ones inside her head.
"Just kill me," she said, her voice thick with emotion but strong nonetheless. "I'll pay the price."
She closed her eyes then, spread her arms, dropped to her knees and tilted her head back.
"No!" Robin whispered and they all realized that Regina had just given up.
Before anyone could do anything to stop her, the darkness that had been firmly attached to her chest until that moment, snapped loose and wrapped itself around Excalibur. Merlin held the sword high as the rest of the blackness followed and was finally absorbed completely by Excalibur. Regina crumpled to the ground and lay motionless just outside the ring around the vault.
Merlin let out a triumphant battle cry and in one fluent motion, he plunged the sword into the center of the lid of the vault. The ground shook when both the sword and all the dark magic inside it were absorbed and an agonizing wail seemed to emanate from beneath the ground. After a few moments, they saw the hilt of the sword disintegrate in Merlin's hands. The Sorcerer then placed both palms on the lid of the vault and used his light magic on it until the entire lid glowed white. All the markings disappeared and the surface became completely smooth and when Merlin gave the lid one final push, it vanished as if it had never been there.
The vault was gone and so was all the darkness. A deathly silence enveloped them; even the animals in the forest seemed to be holding their breaths for a long moment.
When Merlin rose to his feet, the others all gasped. The Sorcerer looked at least thirty years older than he had before. He gave them a lopsided smile and explained,
"I had to use a lot of my own magic to do this. But it was worth it."
Then, all eyes turned to Regina. She was still lying on the ground and Robin had rushed to her side, kneeling next to her.
"Regina," he said, turning her on her back towards him by her shoulders. "Regina, are you alright?"
There was no response and for a moment, Robin feared she was dead. He looked up at Merlin, his eyes filled with panic. The Sorcerer crouched down next to Regina and put a hand on her forehead.
"The extraction knocked her out but she is alive," he told them.
"Is she … in a coma like Rumple?" Belle asked, having come closer.
"It's too soon to tell," Merlin admitted. "This is new for me too."
"But she … she told you to kill her!" Robin said with horror in his voice. "Why would she say that!"
"She must have thought death was the only way she could be free of the darkness. As it turns out, her willingness to sacrifice herself was what defeated the darkness once and for all."
Robin looked down at the woman he loved again and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"You did it, my love," he whispered. "Now please come back to me."
There was no reaction from Regina and Merlin put a hand on the other man's shoulder.
"Give it time, Robin. She's been through hell and needs to rest now."
His eyes found Emma and Henry then. Henry had rushed to Emma's side and was clinging to her, crying. He wasn't sure if he was crying over Graham or his mother at this point. Maybe it was both. He still couldn't always fathom that everything he'd ever read and believed about the Evil Queen was actually true, and that despite how much she had changed, Regina was still that woman who had done all those horrible things. They had spent a lot of time with Graham in Storybrooke when he was little and he thought Regina had cared for Graham in her own way. Henry had blamed her when Graham died but part of him had wanted to be convinced by Emma that the sheriff had really just had a heart attack. And now they all knew the truth. He glanced up at Emma and saw that she was struggling too. She was holding him tightly while Hook had his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
Emma wasn't sure what to feel right now. No matter how much time had passed, she still couldn't wrap her head around things sometimes. Sure, they had been to Neverland and she had magic herself. She had fought the Ice Queen and right now, they were in the Enchanted Forest and Merlin had just dealt with a ton of dark magic. Yet even now, part of her still couldn't reconcile all the fairytale characters from the books she had grown up with, with the actual people around her.
Aside from her short stint in the past, she had never met the actual Evil Queen. She had just gotten to know Regina Mills, and while Regina was one complicated woman with a pretty troubled past, in the end they had bonded over their love for Henry. Emma had even come to admire the other woman for making a genuine effort to change and rise above her evil past. But to learn now that she had murdered someone in cold blood just a few years ago … she didn't know what to do with that.
Graham had been right in the end. He had begun to remember his past as the Huntsman who had been hired by the Queen to cut out Snow White's heart. Emma tried to repeat that information in her head using the names of the people she had gotten to know. Graham had been hired by Regina to cut out Mary Margaret's heart. When she put it like that, it was too horrific to comprehend.
She looked at Robin, who was tending to the unconscious Regina lovingly, laying her down underneath a tree and covering her with his cloak to keep her warm. He had been chased by Regina's Black Guard himself in the past, yet he was capable of loving her anyway. And she knew Regina loved him back equally deeply.
Emma looked down at her son. Their son, the child that had brought them together in more ways than one. In the end, all that mattered was how he was doing. It was all that had ever mattered. She brought up her hand and began wiping off Henry's tears.
"Are you okay?" she asked him softly.
Henry sniffled and shrugged.
"I guess so. She … she did it."
Emma looked at Regina's motionless form again.
"Yeah. She did. But at what cost?"
"What do you mean?" Henry asked, and Hook decided to give mother and son a moment alone.
"Well, she defeated the darkness by giving up her last secret, but did she lose you when she did that?"
Henry had to think about that question and her heart broke a little for him. His faith in Regina was what had kept her alive for a long time, until the rest of them had begun to see the good in her as well. She would hate for him to lose his faith now, and she realized that that meant that Regina's confession wasn't going to make her turn against her after all. All that mattered was that Henry would be okay. And he would be okay if his faith didn't waver that good could always overcome evil.
"Was she really ready to die? For us, I mean? To save us from the darkness?"
Emma bit her lip and forced a smile although she felt like crying a little when she saw the light return to Henry's eyes.
"Looks like it, kid," she confirmed.
"Then good won. Everything bad she did in the past … she's never going back now."
She couldn't argue with him there. And she knew what that meant even before Henry put it into words.
"So we can't turn our backs on her now."
Her young son's wisdom brought her to tears at last and she hugged him close. She hadn't known she needed him to keep his beliefs as badly as this until now. He may have been born in a world without magic but he was still a better child of the Enchanted Forest than she was. Good always won in fairytales and while villains always lost, the real-life versions of the characters were a lot more human than the ones on paper were. And these were the humans she was dealing with. Her parents, Snow White and Prince Charming. The old love of her life, Baelfire, son of Rumplestiltskin and Henry's father. The new love of her life, Captain Hook. And the Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother - now redeemed.
The others had gathered around Merlin, asking him what would be next, and Emma nudged Henry to come with her and listen as well. Merlin explained to them that they would have to wait for Regina to wake up before they could return to Storybrooke.
"Right. Because she has to open the portal," Emma said.
But Merlin shook his head and then Robin realized something.
"She can't now, can she?" he asked the Sorcerer. "Because she no longer has dark magic."
"Exactly," Merlin confirmed.
"So who opens the portal now? You?" Emma asked him.
"I only have light magic myself so I can't either."
"Then that leaves …"
"You!" Henry said with a smile. "You used the dreamcatcher. You have used dark magic as well."
"The boy is correct," Merlin said. "The reason I would like to wait until Regina regains consciousness is simply because I wish to speak with her before we part ways."
"You can come with us if you want," Grumpy said, a glimmer of excitement having returned to his eyes.
This was turning out to be a great adventure after all. Regina had made history here and he'd had a front-row seat. It would be a great tale to tell his friends and his brothers once they got back.
Merlin smiled at Grumpy and then put a hand on Lancelot's shoulder.
"Our work here isn't done," he said, and Lancelot nodded before adding,
"We still have Arthur to deal with. Now that Excalibur is no more, the King may go completely mad. Camelot needs a strong leader."
"You?" Hook asked Lancelot, but the former Knight smiled and told him,
"I was thinking about Queen Guinevere, actually. Once she is free from the Sands of Avalon."
"Ah yes. Nothing like a strong woman ruling the lands," Hook agreed, earning him an amused grin from Emma.
"Speaking of which," Robin interjected, and they all glanced in Regina's direction. "While I agree she needs rest, I'd like some assurance that she's actually going to wake up at some point. I've never seen her like this. She seems barely alive."
"Kind of like Rumple back in Storybrooke," Belle agreed.
"Can't you do something magical to wake her up?" Happy asked the Sorcerer.
Merlin explained that it would not be wise to use magic on Regina now, since so much of it had just flown through her.
"All magic comes with a price," Belle mumbled and Merlin nodded.
"Indeed. And while Regina didn't have to pay for it with her life, the decision to give up the darkness still took its toll on her body - as making it dissolve did on mine."
"Lucky for you she didn't age thirty years, mate," Hook said to Robin with a grin and the group chuckled, because what else could they do while they waited?
They ate the last of the rations they had taken along with them from the farmhouse and decided to get some rest. It was still rather early in the evening but they were all tired from their trek and all that had happened. Henry didn't want to sleep at first, determined to keep watch over his mother but when Robin suggested he lay down next to her he finally agreed to close his eyes for a little while. He took Regina's hand between his hands and fell asleep within minutes.
Robin watched the pair, sitting on Regina's other side and he sighed. Henry had saved Regina from her evil past. He had been the only one she had been willing to change for and Robin couldn't bear the thought of him losing her now. He wished he could make her wake up with true love's kiss but it hadn't worked so far. She was simply too drained, quite literally. He'd seen the masses of darkness come out of her and he admired her even more than he had thought possible, that she'd been capable of containing all of that in her small body.
Regina wasn't tall or muscular but she carried herself with an inner strength and determination that he thought was immensely attractive. He would never think of her as frail in any way, yet her small, slender body had endured much and he wished he could just carry her out of here and protect her from any further harm. He smiled when he thought about how she hated being fawned over. It only made him love her more and it made him want to cherish her more. Perhaps she would let him take care of her from time to time now.
He wondered if all her own magic had truly been sucked out along with the Dark Ones and how she would react if it had. He had felt ill at ease at times when she used magic in front of him, but still, he had accepted it as part of her. He wondered if she would be less confident without it, or if she would be able to adapt easily. He wished she would wake up so he could find out and so they could find their way together in this new reality.
But for now, all they could do was wait, like Merlin had said. The Sorcerer had walked away from the group and was sitting alone, his back turned to them. He seemed to be meditating, which was probably his equivalent of sleeping. Robin finally lay down as well and closed his eyes. Just for a minute, he told himself. Just like Henry.
A/N: I know this chapter is a bit shorter than the others but I've been stuck in the next scene for a few days so I decided to publish what I have so far so you wouldn't have to wait any longer. Do let me know what you think!