Ruby slammed Regina against the tree, her hand wrapped around her throat. "Give me back my girlfriend!" Regina hissed, kicking her in the face with both feet. Both of them hit the ground and she scrambled around when Ruby grabbed her by her hair. Her nails made deep gouges in the earth and ripped massive pieces of bark off her tree as she tried desperately to fight back.

"You have become our weakness. The darkness is not weak."

"Ruby, fight it!" Regina managed to break the wolf's hold on her hair and landed a hard punch to her chin. Ruby stumbled back and Regina sent a quick message to Zelena with magic before tackling her mate to the ground.

Below in the den, Zelena was busy making biscuits, listening with a smile to the chatter of her family behind her.

"What do you mean I can't use magic at school?" Benjamin said loudly.

"Because you could hurt someone." Belle answered.

"What if one of those little pricks deserve it?" Aaron asked. Zelena smirked when she heard a smack at Belle hitting him in the back of the head.

"No fighting." Mal commanded. "For any of you."

"Yes ma'am." Shang said.

"I can't promise that." Said Marie.

Zelena turned back to kneading the biscuit dough when she noticed a message appearing in the flour. Get the kids out. Now. Top of the mountain. Ruby. "Shit." She grabbed Mal and showed her the message and the mothers leaped into action. "Time to go guys, get your bags and head out." Belle and Tink quickly got them ready to go and headed out to the magically elongated truck that would comfortably take them to town. Once the kids were safe outside the border, Zelena lead the charge to the top of the mountain. She found Regina beneath a pile of carnage. Claw marks and apples were everywhere. The great apple tree had been broken in half and Regina was crushed beneath a large piece of it. "Regina!" Mal and Lily lifted the tree and Mulan helped her drag her sister out of the wreckage. "Regina? Please don't be dead."

"Let me see." Merida leaned down to check her pulse. "She's breathing."

"That can't be possible!" They turned around to find Ruby standing behind them, her skin black as night with golden veins tracing across it. Her eyes glowed golden and her voice was unrecognizable, deep and almost baritone. "The darkness must kill the weakness to be strong. I must...kill all of you."

"Fuck you." Lily hissed. "We're getting our friend back."

"She is gone."

"Then we'll just kill you anyway." she shifted and attacked, but Ruby dodged, running to slam into Maleficent and knock her down. Zelena and Merida tried shooting her, to no avail. The Dark Wolf was much too slippery. Mulan managed to slow her down with a perfectly timed toss of her sword that she had to stop in order to avoid. That gave Mal time to grab her around her middle and used dragon strength to crush her ribs. She grabbed the wolf's maw and yanked her mouth open, breathing fire down her throat. The darkness reacted violently, exploding from Ruby's throat in a writhing mass of black tendrils stretching into the sky.

"Lily! Now!" Both mother and daughter changed into their dragon forms and set fire to the darkness. Zelena raised her hands, applying her magic as well. They maintained the steady stream of light, but it wasn't enough. They needed more magic, more light, more fire. Tink soon returned to add in her power but they were still short. Zelena didn't believe it would happen, but Regina got back to her feet, an angry scowl on her face. She raised her hands, unleashing a shockwave of white and black fire to attack the darkness. It lit up the sky and she was sure it was visible for miles around. Then everything just…exploded.

/

When Regina opened her eyes, the entire top of the mountain had been destroyed, her tree nothing than a piece of black bark. The rest of the pack was slowly picking themselves up to assess the damage. One thing that stood out to her though was her beloved, her mate, Ruby, standing in the midst of it all, looking exhausted but otherwise unscathed. Regina wasted no time in limping into her arms and kissing her lips, making sure she was real.

"Regina, did I hurt you? Your leg. I did, didn't I?" Ruby fussed. She tried to use magic to heal the queen, but her magic no longer worked like that. "Looks like I'm just a werewolf now." She looked down sadly.

Regina scowled. "When did being just a werewolf stop you? When did that ever make you weak, Miss Lucas? You are not just a werewolf. You are my mate, my dream. My everything."

Ruby smiled softly and looked around at the rest of her pack as they came to congratulate her and hug her. "I'm sorry I waited so long. We almost didn't make it."

"The fact is, we did." Zelena said. "You're safe and the darkness is gone."

There was a soft tsk tsk sound behind them. All eyes slowly turned. The Dark Wolf, wearing Ruby's skin, was standing behind them, grinning as its eyes glowed golden. It tilted its head, watching them with the most smug expression on its face. No longer Ruby, just all darkness. It was even holding the Dark One's dagger. There was no name on it any longer. "You didn't think it would that easy...did you?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Read and Review!

A/N:Short but not sweet. Let me know what you guys think. How is our beloved pack going to get out of this one...