A/N: Hello all! This is my first time writing a fanfiction and publishing it. I have all the chapters planned out, so this is a story I definitely plan to complete. Suggestions and critiques are welcome, but don't be a jerk about it.

Regina's POV

Tonight was not supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be a nice, relaxing, night. Just one night where nothing bad happened, was that so hard to ask? Of course it is. How could she, the former Evil Queen, ask for something so simple and expect it to happen? Good things just do not happen to her, or her family.

Regina and Robin were walking down the street, it was their first date night after finally getting back together, when they came upon the Charmings, Emma, and Hook. There was a frantic energy hanging in the air. When she asked Emma what was happening, she was not expecting the pirate to respond, "The darkness, it's no longer tethered to the crocodile."

Of course, of course something like this had to happen, "Where the hell is it?" Regina demanded. It was best to just get this new mess over with. Nobody responded, and so she was left with little else to do but stand there. 'Is it just sitting around, waiting to make its next move?' She hoped, at least then they would have time to formulate a plan. The others were spinning around slowly, looking for any sign of the darkness, eventually though Emma came to a realization, "It hasn't gone anywhere. It's… surrounding us."

Regina now joined into the frantic search, spinning around to make sure nothing evaded her notice. It was all for naught in the end. Out of the shadows of the night, the darkness came and surrounded her. It pushed her this way and that way, suffocating her with its thickness. She fought to get out of the way, to stop the darkness from seeping into her pores with familiar promises of power. All she could see was black, and all she could hear was the wind whipping around her violently. She would not end like this, she would not become a slave to the darkness once again! She had her family to think of! She had come too far for it to end like this! Regina fought against the pull, but it was not her own power that stopped the onslaught.

The darkness began to clear away, its pull lessened; she was eventually able to see who was saving her: Emma Swan. By the time Regina realized what Emma was doing, there was nothing she could do to stop it. The darkness was getting pulled into the dagger Emma held, and then into her. Emma was taking on the darkness.

"No!" Regina cried out, "There has to be another way!" Emma looked at her desperately, something akin to love in her eyes while pain twisted her face, "There isn't," Emma shook her head sadly, "You've worked too hard to have your happiness destroyed." It was then the darkness completely overtook her, and blocked out Regina's view of her.

'Nonono no. Please, no, Emma! ' Regina's thoughts went haywire. Time slowed down into an uninterrupted moment of anguish. She stumbled forward slightly, wanting to pull Emma out but unable to get close enough.

Eventually the swarm of darkness went inside Emma completely. She stood for a moment, eyes closed and breathing ragged, before collapsing heavily to the ground. Regina rushed forward, along with the Charmings. Snow pulled Emma against her chest, cradling her. Regina took in the sight of Emma's moving chest and sighed with relief, at least she was still alive.

'How could she be so stupid?' Regina thought without much spite, 'How could she throw herself into danger for me?' The actions filled her heart with warmth and cold, love and fear. She didn't know how to quite handle this act of care.

Regina was swiftly pulled from her thoughts when her hand brushed against the dagger. Without much thought she picked it up and studied it. It was still the same sharp, curvy, blade; but instead of Rumplestiskin's name it held Emma's. 'Oh god.' When Regina finally worked up enough courage, she looked at Emma's face. The changes were already taking place. Emma's hair was a sickly white, and her skin held a slight sparkle to it, much like Rumple's did back in the Enchanted Forest.

Regina's trance was broken when David shook her, "Regina what do we do? Emma's… Emma's…" He was unable to speak past his worry, his want to deny what had truly happened.

She just shook her head sadly. There was not much anyone could do at the moment. Taking a steadying breath, Regina stood up and looked at David, "Take her to my house. I can watch over her there and make sure… make sure she will survive this." David gave her a nod, and picked Emma up from Snow's grasp.

Regina looked back down to the dagger. Things would not be the same, and it is all because of the stupid dagger. Robin walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, attempting to show some support. She did not feel as comforted by the gesture as she would have liked. 'Emma is the one who is in need of comfort! Not me.' Stepping away, Regina looked around quickly.

Hook stepped forward, frustration taking over, "Shouldn't we, I don't know, take her to a damn hospital or something? Or at least somewhere we can protect her? It's not like you know how to deal with this any better!"

Regina glared at him, forcing back the desire to throw him against a building, "The hospital is woefully unprepared to take care of a new dark one! I can set up barriers, and I am so much stronger than you will ever be! There is no place safer than my house! You would do well to remember that, pirate."

Both looked ready to fight, so David stepped in, "Hey! We are taking Emma to Regina's, and that's final!" He looked at Hook, "She knows magic, if nothing else, and that is what we need right now; what Emma needs right now."

Hook twitched angrily, but nodded. Regina looked at him victoriously before turning her attention to the Charmings and Robin, "Let's go," She said, and used her magic to transport them back to the mansion.

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Emma was quickly settled into one of Regina's guest bedrooms. After much debate, it was agreed that a magic-dampening cuff should be put on Emma. No one knew how she would be when she woke up; if she was herself then they would probably take the cuff off, if not, well then there would be greater problems than the cuff. Snow sat at the head of the bed, and softly stroked Emma's now-white hair.

"We have to find a way to save her, and fast," Snow's eyes watered as she spoke, "Killian, did the apprentice say anything that might help?" Regina turned away from her former nemesis and towards the pirate.

"Aye, but he wasn't very specific, he did say finding where the darkness originated would help. That, and finding the sorcerer," Killian offered.

Regina mulled over Hook's words. There was little known about the history of the Dark Ones. Just that they have existed for quite a while in the Enchanted Forest. Hell, there was barely any history about Rumplestiskin's closest predecessor, much less the first few.

With a nod, Regina looked at the room's other inhabitants, "We will have to talk with Rumplestiltskin, he knows the most about the Dark Ones. If he doesn't give us much we can start looking through my books and any of his we can get. This will not be easy, but for Emma we can do it." God, she was starting to sound like the Charmings.

Robin stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Regina's shoulders, "How about me and David go talk to the dark— Gold. We can try and get some information from him, and if Belle is there our work may go quickly." Regina nodded, leaning into his hug despite the spike of guilt going through her

Emma's words, 'You've worked too hard to have your happiness destroyed," kept playing through Regina's mind, making her heart clench more and more. This isn't what I wanted Emma.

"You do that Robin, I will stay here and set up a stasis spell around Emma, to keep her from getting dehydrated and malnourished." Regina started making a mental list of some items she would need for the spell while David and Robin walked out of the room.

"I'll go get the lad," Killian offered, "He's still with the apprentice, and doesn't know what happened yet." Regina nodded her head before adding reluctantly, "Would you be willing to take him out for dinner? I don't think he's eaten yet, and it might help him process easier." Killian gave a quick 'aye' before leaving as well.

Sighing, Regina watched Snow for a few moments. She was still stroking Emma's hair, but was now whispering softly to her daughter. Most of Snow's words were too soft for Regina to hear, but she did manage to catch the tail end of her whispered assurances, "Good always wins, and this is no exception."

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There were many things Regina was good at, one of them was her ability to find obscure knowledge; it would seem however, that the mysteries of the Dark Ones are not included in this ability. It had been weeks since Emma became the Dark One, and she still hadn't woken up, two weeks and 5 days to be exact. Regina could only guess at why.

In that time they had only figured out three things: there was virtually no literature on Dark One history that contained what they need to know; Rumplestiskin did not know much about previous Dark Ones, just that they had been like him in character and actions (i.e. evil and cruel); and the sorcerer was little more than a fairy tale, with a variety of conflicting stories, as far a literature was concerned. So, they were stuck.

Regina was pulled from her spiralling thoughts by a loud grunt and the sound of a book being thrown into a wall. After a deep sigh, she looked toward the source.

"David, pray tell, why would you throw away one of my very old, very fragile, books when they could hold the answer to our urgent problem?" It took everything in her power not to start yelling at him. David looked at her, chest heaving in frustration, before pointing at the offending book,

"We're not getting anywhere! These books are basically useless, and we're wasting our time reading them! We need to look somewhere else!" While not yelling, he was still being much too loud for Regina's liking.

"Well I'm sorry, Shepard, that we are not making much progress!" Regina retaliated, "It's hardly the fault of the book though! As I said before, they are old and fragile! Or is that too hard for your farm-boy brain to comprehend?"

Both adults were on the verge of brawling from the frustration and stress. Regina knew that she was, perhaps, overreacting, since she could fix the book with magic, but right now she was itching for a fight, and David had provided her a reason to start one. The third occupant in the room, Robin, decided now would be a good time to step in and stop a fight before it broke out. "Regina, dear," He blocked her view of David and put a hand on her shoulder, "Why don't we go take a walk? De stress and regroup, that way we can come back and look through the books with refreshed minds." Robin looked her in the eye, trying to help calm her down.

Taking a deep breath, Regina considered his offer. Throwing David into a wall like he did her book sounded therapeutic, but would likely only make things worse. Keeping a scathing glare on her face, Regina nodded, "Yes, a break is just what we need. Perhaps once David calms down he will refrain from damaging any more of my important books." With that she turned around and walked out of her vault.

The air was fresh, the sky blue and the grass green. It was almost perfect. Regina took a deep breath and waited for Robin to join her. Looking down at her watch, she noticed it was about an hour before Henry got out of school, 'I should go pick him up today. Spend some quality time with him.' The last few weeks had been hectic, and while they had had some time together, it was filled with discussion about Dark Ones and the sorcerer (Henry had a few ideas on what fairytale character they could be.) She felt that both of them needed a break.

When Robin joined her outside they both agreed to go pick up some food, and then go on a picnic with Henry. Of course, they went to Granny's, and picked up some comfort food. Regina would prefer them to eat more healthily, but it had been awhile since she or Henry had treated themselves to takeout, so she relented.

Henry was ecstatic. They went to a park and just talked about life, school, and comic books. Sometimes the conversation would lull when Emma came up, but they were able to pick it back up well enough.

"Batman could totally win against Superman, mom! He may not have the strength, but he's smart, so any plan he makes would win!" Henry adamantly said.

Regina countered kindly, "Well, that may be true, but if we're talking about a head-to-head battle, then Batman would surely lose. In the heat of the moment, it's hard to come up with master plans. Plus, it's not like Superman is a complete idiot, so he could possibly see right through any plans Batman might make."

Henry considered it for a moment before shaking his head, "I still think Batman stands a chance against Superman, even if it'll be harder for him to win." Regina gave a soft sigh, and shook her head with a smile, "Whatever you say Henry." It was at that moment her phone began to ring. Sighing heavily Regina pulled it out and answered curtly, "Yes? What is it?"

Snow answered, "Regina! She's awake! Emma's awake!" Her voice was both excited and worried. Regina felt like time stopped for a moment. This is what they had all been waiting for. This was the moment where they found out if Emma would still be herself, or if she was completely corrupted by the darkness. Releasing a shaky breath, Regina looked to Henry, who had started conversing with Robin, "How… how is she? Is she alright?" Snow waited a few beats before answering softly, "I'm… I'm not sure. She hasn't said a word yet, but she also hasn't tried killing us… That's good, right?"

Regina held back a growl at Snow's unending naivety, but answered, "It's something. I'll start heading back to the house, Robin, Henry, and I will be there in a few minutes."

Putting her phone away she got the attention of the boys, "Henry, Robin, it would appear that Emma is now awake." Henry shot up, "We have to go see her, now!" Regina stood up as well and put a hand on Henry's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Henry, that's what we are going to do. But I need you to promise me something first."

"What?" He asked skeptically.

"That you will listen to anything I tell you to do, especially if it is to leave quickly."

Henry shook his head and whined, "But mom!" Regina gave his shoulder a firm, but gentle, squeeze, "No Henry. We do not know how Emma is going to react. She took on a very powerful, very evil, curse, it could cause her to act in a way she normally wouldn't."

Henry scowled and looked away for a few moments, and Regina waited with baited breathe. Finally, he looked her in the eyes and nodded, "I will, I trust you. I just want to see Ma, I've been so worried." Regina's heart swelled with happiness as she nodded, "Me too Henry, me too." Looking at Robin, she held her hand out, which he took easily. A moment later a purple cloud of magic surrounded the three and they were transported into the living room of Regina's manor. Immediately Henry took off toward the guest bedroom that held Emma, Regina hot on his tail. While he dashed through the door, Regina stopped and surveyed the scene. Snow and David sat on the opposite side of the room, next to the bed, they looked unharmed if not worried; the window was open and letting in the soft breeze from outside; and on the bed sat Emma. Emma, with her sickly white hair and slightly sparkling skin, was staring out the window with a blank look on her face as Henry practically tackled her with a hug.

Emma, who Regina had greatly missed the past 2 weeks and 5 days.