'How long do we have before he arrives?' asked Regina as she stood up and walked towards Lily.
'I'm not sure, Neal was rambling and I couldn't really understand what he was saying,' replied Lily as she looked towards Emma worriedly. 'Emma, do you remember what he said the day he tried to take Neal through the portal with him?'
Emma nodded. 'Yeah, I remember that he said something about a prophecy, that he had to separate me and Regina because if we had a child together, that child would be his undoing.' She looked at Regina. 'He seemed to think that Zaynah had the power to break the dark one's curse, though he obviously didn't know she existed at the time.'
Regina's face twisted in to a snarl as her eyes danced dangerously. 'He will not lay a finger on our child,' she growled. 'We need to call a town meeting and I need to get rid of this fucking cuff.' She pulled up her sleeve as she inspected the piece of metal around her arm.
Emma reached out to study it as well. 'Have you seen one before?' She asked as she pulled her hand away.
'Yes, it can only be removed by the person that put it on in the first place, which was Robin,' she sighed. 'And I very much doubt he's going to agree without wanting something in return.'
'He will if we don't give him another choice,' smiled Zelena wickedly before she flicked her wrist. A few seconds later, Robin appeared in the middle of the room, surrounded by thick green smoke.
Robin coughed as the smoke cleared before he looked around the room and took in the eight other people that were watching him with various expressions ranging from murderous to disgusted. 'What am I doing here?' He looked towards Marian. 'Where is my son?' He snarled as he tried to move towards the door.
He didn't get very far though before Zelena flicked her wrist again and he was frozen in place. 'Oh no, you're not going anywhere until you remove that cuff from my sister's wrist,' she spat in his face.
Robin smirked at her. 'No, everyone is much safer if she can't use her magic. Now that she hasn't got me, there're no doubts that she'll return to being her evil self. She believed I was her happy ending. I was the only reason she changed and now that she's lost me, there's no saying what she will do,' he said confidently, with a smug smile.
Emma moved quickly and before anyone could really comprehend what was happening, she had already punched him in the jaw. 'She didn't change for you and you were never her happy ending. She changed for our son and then after that she changed for our daughter,' she bellowed before she cocked her arm back and punched him again.
'Darling, we need him alive,' chuckled Regina as she grabbed Emma's arm to stop her from hitting him again. She turned to face Robin, her lip curled in to a sneer as she eyed him with revulsion.
Robin used the back of his hand to wipe away the blood from his mouth and nose. 'Regina doesn't even have a son, and you've been fucking her for a day and you're already claiming her child? That's fucking pathetic,' he spat towards Emma.
Regina moved into his space before she gripped his chin as her nails dug harshly into his skin. 'You remember that boy that threw you into the table?' She asked as her lips curled into a dangerous smirk. 'That is my son. I raised him for ten years before I had to give him up to save this town. You see, I have been here before. In fact, I cursed everyone to live here for thirty years without the memories of their old lives. I met Emma two years ago.' She let out a throaty chuckle. 'She was destined to break my curse and defeat me but we fell in love instead, and then we broke my curse together.'
She had known deep down that she and Emma shared true love but she hadn't wanted to take that title away from Daniel. Now, though, she knew that while Daniel was her first love, Emma was definitely her true love. The pain she felt when she thought that Emma was going to leave her was excruciating, it felt like she had lost her other half and it was like nothing she had ever felt before. She wasn't aware that you could love someone as much as she loved and adored Emma Swan.
She pushed his face away from her before she turned to smile lovingly at her blonde saviour. 'She's my true love. She and our children are my happy ending. They are the reason I became a good person. They believed in me. They made me want to be better and I won't let anyone take them away from me again.'
Emma's eyes went wide, and she totally forgot about the other people in the room as she blurted out her next words. 'Omg, Gina, did we break the first curse with true love's fuck?'
Regina's mouth parted and her eyebrows knitted together. 'No Emm-.'
'What do you mean, no? We were totally fucking when the curse broke, remember you screamed, "God, fuck, yes Emma, I'm yours, I love you". And then I said, "I love you too so fucking much." Cut into Emma as she mimicked their words back to her.
Regina's face was now sporting a deep blush, and she looked mortified that Emma had just told the whole room exactly how the curse broke. She looked around to see everyone watching them with various expressions of amusement. Apart from Snow, charming and Robin. The first two who looked like they would do just about anything to unhear that very unwanted information and the latter that looked like he was going to explode with a mixture of rage and jealousy.
'Emma Swan, if you don't want to be sleeping in the guest room for the rest of your life, which won't be very long if you carry on the way you are, then you will not think, much less say anything like that again. We had true loves kiss, and that's the end of it.' She said sternly as she gave Emma her best Evil Queen glare.
Emma snorted as she moved forward and wrapped her arms around her true love. 'Oh baby, you're so adorable when you pout.' She leaned forward and kissed the pout away. She just loved this woman so much.
'Damn, that bitch has no sense of danger, I think we might be about to witness our first true loves murder,' cackled Zelena before she watched in a mixture of shock and awe as her sister, instead of killing the saviour, starting whining.
'Emmaaaa, that was my best Evil Queen glare. You're supposed to be trembling in terror and fearing for your life right now,' she huffed with a scowl.
'Oh right, sorry,' said Emma quickly, and she morphed her features to look like she was terror- stricken. 'Please my Queen, please forgive me, I promise I won't ever say we had true love's fuck again, just please let me make it up to you,' she begged as her voice shook from the obvious fear she was feeling.
'How was that?' she asked quietly as Regina bit down on her cheek to keep from giggling. Emma was also struggling not to burst into laugher while everyone else couldn't quite believe what they were seeing.
Regina lifted her chin and looked down her nose at her. 'It will do for now, and I'll look forward to how you're going to make it up to me because let me tell you, it's not going to be easy.'
'God, you two are so fucking weird,' muttered Lily as she pulled her phone from her pocket after feeling it vibrate. Neal's name flashed on the screen, signalling a text from him. She opened the message, her eyes scanning the words before she looked up and over at Emma and told her what she had read.
'Neal said that he thinks he managed to talk his dad out of doing anything to harm anyone, but that he still doesn't trust him. He's about two hours away and Bella is with them.'
Emma's face instantly hardened as she turned back to face Robin. 'If you want to live another day, then I suggest you take that fucking cuff of my fiancée's wrist right now,' she threatened.
'I can't,' admitted Robin. 'Only the fairies can its embedded with their magic and fairy dust that the dwarves mined.' He now felt stupid. He had heard about the saviour, and he knew that was who they were trying to keep Regina away from but he did not know that the saviour was Emma and he also hadn't known about the first curse.
'Well, where are they? Because we looked all over for them last night and we couldn't find them anywhere!' Exclaimed David. 'And trust me when I get my hands on Grumpy, he's going to wish he was never hatched.'
Snow shook her head in disappointment. 'I still don't understand why they would do this, or what they thought they would get out of it.'
'Isn't it obvious?' inquired Regina with a sneer. 'They wanted me docile. They still didn't trust me not to try to kill you again. They thought if I was being controlled by a man that they wouldn't have to worry about me going evil again. They were trying to protect you, in a sick sort of way.' She felt bile rise in her throat at the memories of last night.
'I doubt they knew that he would attempt to rape me though. They probably assumed that once I thought he was my soulmate and the father of my child that I would jump at the chance to marry him. What doesn't make sense though is how quick they put everything together. We were only in the Enchanted Forest a few hours before Tinkerbell appeared.'
'Well, you said that the Enchanted Forest had been destroyed when you cast the first curse but maybe it hadn't, maybe it had just been frozen in time like Storybrooke had and maybe this was their plan all along but they didn't get to go through with it because you cast the curse,' Emma summarised, thinking back to the argument Regina had with Snow when she found out another curse was coming.
Regina sighed. 'That could be a possibility, but none of that matters now. Rumple could very well be coming here to kill our daughter, so we need to get rid of this cuff,' she replied as her voice took on a panicked tone.
Emma grabbed her hand to try to soothe her. 'Regina, I won't let him hurt Zaynah and neither will anyone else, we have two people with magic and you know how powerful I am and it was only a few hours ago that Zee nearly killed me with her magic, we have two dragons, kind of, Lily hasn't changed yet but I'm sure she will if she gets angry enough and David is apparently good with a sword.' She looked towards Snow. 'I don't think woodland creatures are going to help in this situation, but I'm sure she can do something.'
Regina couldn't help the laugh that escaped her at Snow's offended expression. 'Snow and Marian are actually very skilled archers, and Mal can also use magic,' she smirked. 'But Emma you don't even know how to use your magic, only yesterday you accidentally magicked us onto your bed naked after I accidentally broke your ribs, Zelena's magic has been haywire ever since we came here, David is good with a sword, yes, but Rumple is the dark one, he could turn that sword to rubber with a flick of his wrist and he's already bested Mal once before,' she explained gently, the worry clear in her voice.
'Wow, you have so much faith in us. I'm honoured, really,' snarked Zelena as she glared at her sister. Yes, her magic had been haywire, but there was no need to point it out.
'Shut up, Zee,' snapped Mal. 'You know she's right, even with all of us together we barely stand a chance.'
'Perhaps,' said Snow, as everyone snapped their eyes at her. 'But we have something that Rumple doesn't.' She paused dramatically before she said her next words. 'We have hope.' She heard a chorus of groans, but she ignored them and powered on through. It had been months since she had given a hope speech and she was actually having withdrawals. 'And we have love and every one knows that love is the most powerful magic of all. We just have to have faith in each other... and hope, obviously.'
'I hate to say this, but Snow flake is right,' cringed Zelena with a pained expression, proving exactly how much she hated to say that. 'We need to go out there believing we will win or we really won't stand a chance.'
Everyone murmured their agreement before they settled on making a plan. Snow suggested that they all go to Granny's, since that would be the best place to find most of the townspeople. Regina agreed, stating that Alma would watch all the children while Granny stood guard with her cross bow.
Once everyone knew exactly what they were doing, they rounded up all the children and headed for the diner, but only after Regina had made Emma send Robin back to his cell as a way for her to practice her magic. The blonde had gotten it first time, much to everyone's shock. But Emma had only smiled and said:
'I've told you before I'm a quick study, and all I really have to do is just envision what I want to happen while concentrating on my magic.'
Regina had laughed at her, but then admitted that it made her feel better that Emma seemed to be a fast learner.
They had barely gotten the kids into the back room with Alma minus Kingsley and Henry who were adamant that they wanted to help which after a lot of arguing and making them promise they would keep out of the way, Emma, Regina and Lily had finally agreed before they rounded up the rest of the townspeople, when Rumple had made his appearance.
Bella as soon as she spotted her mom had come running towards her. 'Mommy,' she yelled excitedly as she launched herself into Lily, who was waiting with open arms. 'I've missed you so much mommy.'
Lily gave her daughter a kiss on the head as she hugged her tightly. 'I've missed you too, bug,' she smiled into her daughter's hair before she pulled back so she could look into her eyes. 'But right now, I need you to go into the diner with King and Hen. There's a nice lady in there that will look after you, okay?'
Bella wiggled until Lily let her down as she looked around for the other person she had missed. She spotted her after a quick search and didn't hesitate to run towards her. 'Emmy, where have you been?' She asked once she was in Emma's arms. 'You left Mr snuggletons all by himsself and he was very sad,' she said seriously.
Emma laughed before she kissed the girl on the forehead. 'I'm sorry, Bells, but I had a lot to do here. Now do as your mommy said and we'll catch up soon, I promise,' she replied as she set the girl down and motioned for Henry to take her into the diner.
Once Bella was safely tucked away. Emma turned to face Rumple, who seemed to be in a heated discussion with Neal. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could tell from Neal's face that it wasn't very good. She looked around at the other people that were standing with them in the middle of Mainstreet.
Snow and Charming were standing to the right of her and Regina. David had his sword and Snow had her cross bow. Zelena was standing in a defensive stance to Regina's left with Lily right next to her and Mal and Marian next to them. Ruby was behind them with Oriel and the rest of Regina's black knights, who were all holding various weapons, as Kingsley and Henry stood in the middle of them hidden from sight. There were a few other people scattered around, and Emma prayed it would be enough.
Neal was trying his best to get his father to just leave Storybrooke alone, but it didn't seem like Rumple was listening. 'Papa, please, you don't have to do this,' he pleaded. I thought this whole thing was to find me? And now you have there's no reason to carry on fighting.'
Rumple only giggled in return. 'You don't understand, Bae, it's either me or the child.' He twirled his hand and a second later, the fairies, the dwarves, Robin Hood and a few other people, including Cruella and Ursula, were standing beside him. He turned to Blue and gave her a sinister smile.
'Give it to me,' he demanded as he held out his hand. Blue looked from him to the mob standing ten feet away and hesitated before she reached inside her coat and pulled out his dagger.
Neal moved in front of him as soon as he recognised it. 'I won't let you harm that baby,' he said firmly. 'So, unless you're willing to harm your only child, then I suggest you put the dagger away.'
Rumple let out another giggle. 'Oh, my dear boy, I would never harm you.' Neal breathed out a sigh of relief, however it was short lived as Rumple continued. 'I will restrain you until this is over though,' he smiled creepily before he flicked his wrist and vines wrapped themselves around Neal.
'Papa!' he yelled as he struggled against the bonds. 'If you hurt my family, I will never forgive you,' he vowed as he tried desperately to free himself. It was no use though he was trapped and he would have to watch as his father caused even more destruction, only this time it involved people he loved.
Rumple ignored him as he turned to Robin. 'You find the child,' he instructed. 'And don't mess it up like you did with the Queen,' He sneered at him before he turned to the rest of the people on his side. 'You had one job, to keep the queen and the saviour separate and you couldn't even do that. I made it easy for you by sending her back to the Enchanted Forest.' He turned to the blue fairy. 'I even let you keep your memories and you still failed. You better hope you don't screw up today, now kill them,' He ordered.
Everything happened pretty fast after that as soon as Robin moved, an arrow shot straight towards him, barely missing his head. There was magic coming from every direction as Emma and Zelena fought the fairies who were using wands. Swords and pickaxes could be heard clashing against each other as David, Oriel and O'Hara took on the dwarves.
The rest of Regina's knights did their best to keep her out of the cross fire while she also wielded a sword, however they lost her when she set her sights on her old friends Cruella and Ursula, luckily Mal was right behind her and they fought them together.
Rumple didn't fight. No, he was happy to sit back and watch the carnage unfold until that damn thief returned with the child. What he didn't know, though, was that Robin was lying on the floor in the diner, groaning in pain after having been shot in the shoulder by Granny's crossbow.
'Why are you not using your magic, Regina?' taunted Ursula as she attempted to knock the sword out of her hand using one of her tentacles. Regina growled at her before lifting the sword and chopping the end of the tentacle off.
Ursula let out a hiss of pain, making Regina smile at her in satisfaction. However, her smugness was short lived when she heard a yelp and saw Kingsley high in the air with one of the sea bitch's tentacles wrapped around him as she waved him from side to side.
'HEN, LOOK OUT!' screamed Kingsley as he saw another tentacle attempt to grab his twin. Henry dodged it and then looked up and saw Kingsley in the air and his face instantly paled. There was only one thing his brother was scared of, and that was heights.
'MA, LILY, MOM!' bellowed Henry as he ran through the sea of people fighting on the street. He just managed to miss getting hit by a stay arrow as he made it to where Lily was busy punching a dwarf. 'Ursula has Kingsley,' he rushed out breathlessly as he pointed to the sky.
Lily instantly dropped the dwarf in her grasp as she saw her son dangling fifty feet in the air. She took off running towards him as rage burned through her veins at the thought of her son being hurt. She was almost there when suddenly she was flying. She tried to speak, but all she heard was a roar. 'Shit,' she thought. 'I'm a fucking dragon.'
Mal looked up at the sky and saw the massive dragon with red and black wings and smiled proudly. 'That's my girl,' she whispered before she transformed herself and flew off to help her daughter.
Kingsley watched in awe as the two humongous dragons raced towards him. He couldn't move as the tentacle around him had restricted his arms. 'Maybe,' he muttered as he saw Ursula take a swipe at his mom, who was trying to get him before another one of her tentacles wrapped around Mal's tail and flung her through the air. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard, and smirked as he felt the energy rush through his veins. He had felt the magic earlier when his Ma was dying and he had been wishing for her to be okay. Now he just had to figure out how to get free.
Henry watched from the ground as his brother struggled in Ursula's hold while his mom tried her best to fight with a sword, and Lily and Mal fought to get to him. He felt useless, and he was scared that if he didn't do something that his family was going to die. He looked around to see if he could spot his Ma. He saw her running towards his mom, dodging stray arrows and blasting the dwarves as they tried to stab her with their pickaxes. He felt the frustration rise up inside of him as he realised they were losing and if they didn't find away to beat them, his sister would be killed.
It was then that he turned and saw that Kingsley was screaming, as Ursula raised him even higher in the air and had him dangled by his legs over the docks. 'You dare use magic on me, child,' she hissed dangerously as she shook him up and down before she let go of him.
Something inside Henry snapped then, and he felt adrenalin course through his veins as his body began to change and a few seconds later, standing in his place, was a dragon with blue scales and purple wings. He didn't really have to think about it as his instincts took over and he soared through the sky towards his twin.
Emma had just made it to Regina before she heard another smaller roar and saw a dragon standing where she had last saw her son. 'Oh fuck, Gina, Henry's a freaking dragon,' she yelled, her eyes glued to the beautiful magnificent creature there was now flying through the air.
Regina looked up and watched in amazement as her little prince swooped down low and grabbed Kingsley in his claws just before he hit the water. 'He's spectacular,' she breathed as tears of pride sprung to her eyes.
Kingsley looked up at his dragon brother and grinned. 'Thanks bro, also you look really bad ass right now. I'm kind of jealous that I only inherited Ma's magic,' he said before he flicked his wrist and poofed himself onto his brother's back. 'I tried that before, but it didn't work,' he grumbled. 'All I managed to do was burn a god dammed tentacle, which just made her angry.'
Henry could hear everything that Kingsley was saying, and he attempted to laugh, but instead, he growled and let out a puff of smoke. Kingsley chuckled as he vibrated on his brother's back. 'Fly closer to the fish, Hen, and I'll blast her with my magic,' he instructed. Henry let out a small roar that assumed that meant, 'Okay.'
Henry did as his brother told him and a few minutes later, they were hovering in front of Ursula. They could see Emma cutting off her tentacles with magic, but they regrew almost straightaway. Kingsley turned his head and spotted one seconds away from striking Regina. 'Momgina, behind you,' he yelled out in panic as he thrust out his hand.
Regina whipped her head around and saw the tentacle that was about to wipe her off her feet. and brought her sword up to slice at it. 'SHIT,' bellowed Kingsley as he watched his orb of magic head straight for Regina's hand, that was holding the sword.
Regina yelped in shock and closed her eyes as a blast of magic hit her in the wrist. She fully expected her hand to be blown off, so she was quite surprised that when she opened her eyes her hand was still attached to her wrist and not at all damaged and also the cuff that had been blocking her magic was now lying on the floor in pieces. She grinned maliciously as she flexed her hands and called for her magic and seconds later, she watched them glow purple. She looked up at Kingsley and gave him a thumbs up before she turned back to Ursula who was distracted by Mal and Lily as they were still flying up around her while they shot fire at her from their mouths, and plunged her hand into Ursula's chest and ripped out her heart.
'You will never attempt to kill one of my children again,' she growled dangerously before she crushed the heart to dust with her bare hands. It was something she hadn't done in a very long time, as it was actually quite satisfying.
Emma really wished it didn't, but watching Regina kill the woman that had tried to kill her son turned her on. She walked over to Regina and pulled her closer before she captured her lips in a searing kiss. 'That was so fucking hot,' she whispered against her lips before she pulled back.
Regina let out a throaty chuckle before she slapped her on the ass. 'You can fuck me senseless later but for now I think Zee might need some help.' She pointed to her sister, who was surrounded by a group of dwarves.
David had a hold of Grumpy by his collar after he had accosted him as he was about to stick his pickaxe into Lily's leg, who was now back in human form. 'Snow is furious with you. She never wanted this,' he spat in the little man's face.
Grumpy struggled in his hold as he tried to get free. 'What, so you wanted us to just let the Evil Queen crush her heart?' He let out a humourless chuckle. 'I always knew you weren't good enough for her.'
'David knows I would have rather died than have this happen. Rumple is about to kill a child who is my granddaughter and my grandson just saved my other grandson from the same fate,' snarled Snow from where she now stood beside her husband.
Grumpy let out a hiss of pain as David twisted his fingers to get his axe. 'We didn't know that it would lead to this and don't act all innocent Snow White. Your men killed children all the time.'
Snow's face paled to the point where she literally resembled the colour of her name. 'I never authorised that. I told them that children were off limits. I- I assumed they listened,' she faltered as she realised she was now to blame for the murder of children. 'I'm going to be sick,' she gagged as her stomach turned and bile rose in her throat.
Rumple watched in disgust as the heroes eventually got the better of his villains and decided it was time to intervene and end things once and for all. Robin still hadn't come back with the child, so he had probably been killed. He looked to the side at his son, who was still struggling against the vines that were wrapped around him. 'It will all be over soon Bae, don't worry, my boy,' he said softly.
Neal looked up at his father with a snarl. 'My son was just nearly killed by a fucking fish, and you're about to murder a baby. I fucking hate you,' he barked venomously.
Rumple only giggled. 'Nothing a love potion won't fix,' he grinned evilly before he flicked his wrist and Zaynah appeared in his arms. He walked into the middle of Mainstreet and waited for everyone to notice him.
'He's got the child,' yelled Granny as she came rushing out of the diner with Robin in a head lock while blood oozed from his shoulder.
Regina and Emma instantly stopped what they were doing and ran towards Rumple, who was now grinning madly as he held the baby up in the air.
'Give me my daughter, imp,' growled magic Regina as her eyes glowed purple and crackled around her. Everyone had stopped fighting now and was all stood watching in horror as the dark one pulled Zaynah to his chest.
'No, this little brat will be my undoing and I can't let that happen, or all my hard work will be for nothing. I did everything to find my son and I will give us the life we deserve. Your mother already nearly ruined my plans once, but I won't let you do the same,' sneered Rumple as he looked towards Regina.
Regina's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to figure what he meant. 'My mother? What are you talking about?' She questioned harshly.
Rumple let out another one of his famous high-pitched giggles before he answered. 'You were never supposed to cast the curse, dearie,' he began to explain. 'Cora was the person I choose first, but then she went and fell in love with me and became a liability. I couldn't let her go through with it, since I was the person she loved most. So I left her and then she stupidly became pregnant by a man who pretend to be a prince and when Leopold chose Eva over her, she found me again. I was seriously just about to kill her, but then I felt the raw power coming from the child.' He looked at Zelena, whose eyebrows shot up into her hair line.
'You were my next choice. However, your mother found out that I wanted to use you and sent you away before I got the chance to take you away from her. I don't know where she sent you, but I couldn't find you. Such a shame, we would have made such a powerful team.' He smirked as he moved his gaze back to Regina. 'It was when I found out that she was pregnant with you that I took her heart. You were just as powerful as your sister maybe even more so and everything was going well, you believed that your mother hated you and I was sure you would eventually come to me for an escape, that was until you fell in love with that stable boy and decided to run away together and obviously, I couldn't have that happen so I had Cora kill him.'
Regina let out a gasp as she realised that her mother wasn't actually responsible for her first love's death. 'You're an evil, twisted tyrant,' she cried as she tried to lunge at him, but was held back by Emma and Zelena.
'Baby, we can't, not when he has Zaynah. Keep him talking as we think of a plan,' whispered Emma into her ear.
However, she didn't need to as Rumple clearly loved the sound of his own voice and he proceeded to tell everyone how he orchestrated everything and how he was responsible for all the bad things that had happened in their lives, how he took countless hearts and used them to make people do his bidding. How he had had a vision of Henry being the key to breaking the first curse and who his parents would be which was why he had sent Lily to this world after he made Snow send Emma through the tree, though he had no idea that Henry would be a twin.
While Rumple was jabbering on and distracted, Kingsley had snuck over to Neal. 'I heard what you said to your dad about me being your son and I want to apologise at some point, but right now I'm going to free you,' he whispered as he closed his eyes and concentrated on freeing Neal from the vines.
'It worked,' gasped Neal, as he felt the vines loosen around him before he jumped to his feet and snuck up behind his dad, who was still talking. He could see the dagger in his pocket and, for once in his life, he put his thieving skills to good use and pickpocketed his own father.
Once he had the dagger in his hand and before anyone could alert the man to his presence, he held it up and spoke clearly. 'Rumpelstiltskin, I command you to give that child back to her parents.'
Rumple's eyes went wide as his feet moved of their own accord and walked towards Emma and Regina before he handed Zaynah back to them and then turned back to his son, the betrayal and rage clear on his face.
Regina checked her daughter over before she passed her to Emma and moved towards Neal. 'Give me the dagger,' she ordered with a dangerous growl. 'It's time the Imp got his comeuppance.' She reached for the dagger, but Neal held it out of reach.
'No,' he said simply as he kept eye contact with his father, missing the betrayed expressions that his wife, son, and their families were now sporting. 'He's my father, and he done all of this to find me, so I will be the one to put it right.' He moved towards Rumple and pulled him into his embrace. 'This is for the best Papa,' he whispered brokenly before he plunged the dagger into Rumple's back.
Rumple cried out in pain as he felt the dagger pierce his heart before his eyes closed as he fell to the ground.
Neal took a step back as he looked at the lifeless form of his father. 'It's safer this way,' he murmured before he too fell to the floor sobbing.
Lily rushed over to comfort her husband while Emma ordered David and Regina's black knights to round up the remaining villains.
Everyone was just about to move when a portal opened up in the ground and four bodies came tumbling out. 'Oh, thank god we eventually made it,' said one of the people as they pulled themselves up from the ground.
The other three people with them also pulled themselves up. One of them looked around and took in the scene before they noticed Rumples' body and smirked. 'Great, you made it back to Storybrooke, and you managed to kill the dark one. I'd say this is a cause for celebration.'
Henry pushed his way to the front as he was sure he recognised one of them. 'Grace,' he yelled out as he rushed towards her before she spun around and noticed him.
'Henry,' she squealed in excitement as she ran into his arms. 'I'm so glad you're okay,' she said before she kissed him on the cheek, making him blush.
'Jefferson, Graham?' inquired Emma as she moved towards the two men that had spoken. She had been wondering what happened to them and why they hadn't come back with the second curse.
'Emma,' they said in unison. 'Boy, are we glad to see you,' laughed Jefferson as he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight.
'It took us forever to get here,' informed Graham, as he too pulled Emma into a tight hug.
It was when the fourth person, who was wearing a hooded cloak, turned around. Regina's eyes went wide and her mouth hung open. 'Mother,' she breathed as the woman smiled warmly at her. 'What are you doing here?'
Cora moved quickly until she was standing in front of her daughter. 'Regina, my darling. I'm so happy to see you,' she smiled through the tears that had gathered in her eyes. 'I wasn't sure that my curse would work, but I'm glad that you're back with your family now and that Rumple can't hurt you anymore.'
'It was you? You were the villain from the Enchanted Forest? You sent us here?' asked Regina as she stared at the woman she thought she would never see again, a woman that she had hated because she thought she killed Daniel, a woman that right now she didn't know how to react to.
'I was never a villain Regina; Rumple had my heart. I didn't actually kill anyone in the Enchanted Forest either, I just needed to make you think I did so that you would team up with hero's, I know you would need to work together at some point to help defeat Rumple. I couldn't reveal myself because I knew you would never believe me. But yes, I did send you here,' confirmed Cora as she grabbed her daughter's hands before she continued.
'Rumple came to wonderland just after you shoved me through the mirror and gave me back my heart. He then locked me in a room where I had to sit and watch your entire life. I saw everything, your time with the king, your reign as the Evil Queen, when you cast the curse, when you adopted Henry, when you fell in love with Emma and when you were ripped away from your family, I watched it all Regina and my heart broke for you.'
They were both sobbing now, but Cora composed herself so she could finish her story. 'Grace found me when she accidentally fell through Jefferson's hat. They were planning to use it to escape the curse. Luckily Jefferson had another one and him and Graham followed her. When I explained to them what had happened, they helped me back to the Enchanted Forest where I cast the curse to send you back here, hoping that Emma would find you again.' She let out a wet chuckle. 'Thank god for Henry's storybook.'
Regina let out a strangled sob of happiness as she threw herself into her mother's arms and hugged her as tight as she could. 'Thank you, mother,' she whispered before she pulled back and wiped her eyes. ' I have so many questions but I think it's time you met someone else.' She grabbed her mother's hand and moved towards Zelena, who had been watching them with a mixture of shock and curiosity.
'Zee,' said Regina as she took her sister's hand and pulled her towards them. 'This is our mother, Cora.' She turned to her mother and smiled softly. 'Mother, this is your daughter, Zelena.'