A/N: Thank you so much for the amazing reviews on the last chapter! Because so many of you commented, I sacrificed my day off to finish this up for you! I hope you like it because I stood up some friends to do it haha. Please let me know what you think! xx
"REGINA!" Emma's voice was filled with a terrified panic as she saw the brunette fall to the floor. She left David to deal with Blue as she rushed to her friend's aid.
She was quickly at Regina's side, shaking her gently, and then a little more forcefully as she called her name again.
"Regina! No..." Emma's voice broke as she took the other woman's face into her hands. "Please... Regina!"
The queen remained unresponsive and alarmingly still.
"Regina," Emma sobbed as she pulled the brunette into her lap, cradling her in her arms. "Please wake up."
David felt his stomach sink as he glanced towards his daughter and Regina, and then shifted his gaze towards his unconscious wife. He could only assume that Blue was responsible for what had happened to Snow as well, and that rid him of any remaining sympathy he might have had for the fairy. Satisfied that she was sufficiently restrained, he hurried across the room to where Snow was and pulled her gently into his arms. To his relief, she stirred a little at his touch and even gave a soft moan. As he continued to try to gently wake her up, his eyes raised towards Emma, and he was saddened to find that so far she had not been as successful with Regina.
Footsteps could be heard approaching the room, and David raised his eyes to see Ruby and Kathryn returning.
"What happened?" Ruby exclaimed as the two women stared in shock at a distraught Emma crying over Regina, and at David cradling his slowly stirring wife as she regained her awareness.
"Ask her," David said angrily, nodding towards Blue as he cupped Snow's cheek in his palm.
"Charming..." Snow mumbled groggily even though her eyes remained shut.
"Don't worry, I'm here Snow." He said softly to her.
"What happened to Regina?" Emma asked Blue furiously. "What happened when she touched the wand?!"
"I have no idea, but it looks like Her Majesty got what she deserved." Blue responded nastily.
"No," David's tone was firm, "you must have some idea. It's your wand after all. Just tell us what you know so we can help her." He looked back down to check on his wife but she still hadn't opened her eyes.
"And why would I want to help her?" Blue replied coolly.
"Because if she dies today I swear to god you're going down for first-degree murder!" Emma threatened, her tone betraying her emotions.
"Dear this is Storybrooke," Blue replied in an amused voice. "Have you forgotten about the little curse on the town line? And need I remind you that it is the queen herself whom we have to thank for that; I'm afraid no one is going to prison."
"It doesn't mean we can't keep you locked up here in town for the rest of your life." Ruby responded, taking in the situation before her from where she was currently kneeling beside David to make sure Snow was alright.
"Tell me how to wake her up!" Emma demanded, blinking back angry tears. She was letting her emotions get the better of her but she couldn't help it. She found she didn't care who was watching.
"I don't even know what it is that's happened to her, how could I possibly know how to wake her?" Blue responded. "Whatever happened here, she brought this on herself."
"Ugh just get her out of here!" Emma shouted in frustration. A tear rolled down her cheek and she quickly brushed it away. She couldn't believe Regina had made it so far and survived so much, only to have something like this happen just after being rescued. It wasn't fair.
Kathryn, who had gone to sit beside Emma, had tears in her eyes as she was taking in the site of Regina for the first time that day. The brunette was covered in bruises and some dried blood, and there were still-damp tearstains on Regina's face.
"We'll find a way to wake her up." Kathryn said softly as she rubbed Emma's back in a comforting gesture. She then stood up to join the others.
She touched Ruby's arm, "come on," she whispered. Ruby nodded in response, and with one last look at Snow she followed Kathryn.
The two women went to the handcuffed Blue Fairy and lifted her by her upper arms.
"We'll take her to the station. Call us if you need anything." Ruby said softly to David and Emma. With that, she and Kathryn escorted an ill-tempered Blue out of the room.
"Regina," Emma begged in a broken voice as she ran the back of her fingers gently over the brunette's cheek. "Can you hear me? Please wake up, please..."
Snow made a sleepy noise from David's arms as her eyelashes slowly began to flutter.
"Snow?" David asked hopefully.
"What... what happened?" She whispered, blinking in confusion as she looked up into her husband's eyes. She remained still for another half-second until she heard the sound of her daughter's crying. She took in a deep breath as the memory of what had happened came flooding back. "What did Blue do? Is Regina okay? Is she–?"
David shook his head, the relief at his wife's safety still evident in his eyes. "I'm so glad you're okay. Snow, I was so–"
"David!" Snow snapped at him to get him to focus. She reached up for him and pulled herself into a sitting position with his help. "What happened after I was attacked?"
He looked over at Emma and Regina. "We're not too sure... I managed to stop Mother Superior, I knocked the wand out of her hand and Regina picked it up. I'm pretty sure all she did was touch it." He shook his head, at a loss for what to say. "I think maybe the wand was cursed or something. Or maybe because it is made of light magic it attacked Regina to protect itself from hers..."
"No that can't be it, I know Gold has used fairy wands before and his magic is as dark as it gets." Snow replied thoughtfully.
"Then maybe Blue did do something to it after all."
Snow had a heartbroken expression as she kept her eyes on Emma, who was barely paying attention to anything but Regina. The blonde was beside herself and Snow could tell she was panicking, which was not good.
"David come on," Snow whispered, and the two of them got up to join Emma.
"She's not waking up," Emma's voice shook as she cradled Regina's limp, unconscious form. "I don't know what to do." Her eyes raised to meet those of her parents, desperate for their help.
David and Snow observed Regina, trying to decipher what it was that had happened to her. Magic was Regina's speciality, not theirs, but they did have a lot more experience with it than their daughter had.
"Don't try to force her." Snow advised, placing a gentle hand on Regina's forehead. "If this is a sleeping spell then it could be dangerous to pull her out of it too early. We should wait to see if she wakes up naturally."
"If?" Emma asked in frightened disbelief. "And how long would that be?!"
"My best guess would be a few hours from now." Snow replied gently.
"A FEW HOURS?!"
"Emma I don't know what else to tell you... If I knew what caused this it would be different."
"What if it's not a sleeping spell? What if it's a spell that will kill her if she's under too long? What if it's a sleeping curse?! Then we have absolutely no way of waking her up!"
"That's not true..." David said. "If that's what this is we can undo it."
"How?!" Emma's voice rose emotionally.
"Emma you broke the curse with true love's kiss." He reminded her. "You kissed Henry that day at the elementary school right?"
"Right, yeah but that was different he– Oh… Henry!" Emma breathed.
"If this is a sleeping curse then Henry could wake her up." David continued.
"But we don't even know for sure that's what this is!" Emma countered, still panicking.
"I don't think this is a sleeping curse David..." Snow said with a troubled look in her eyes. "A good fairy's wand would never cast such a dark spell, and despite all the horrible things Blue has been doing since the curse broke, her wand is still made of pure light magic."
"Then what the hell is it doing hurting Regina?" Emma snapped.
"I don't know sweetheart..." Snow replied sadly. "But we'll figure it out, I promise."
"Regina might not have time for that!"
"Emma's right." David said. "Maybe we should focus on getting Regina to Boston for now. She'll still be able to heal if we can just get her there."
"No!" Emma hurriedly said. "If magic did this then magic might be the only way to undo it! We can't take her out of Storybrooke until she's woken up from this."
Snow shook her head, at a loss for what to say.
"Unless..." Emma began.
"Unless what?" David asked.
"Doctor Montgomery told me it was a possibility that Regina might fall into a coma if she waited too long to start dialysis. She said that it could happen if the toxins inside her built up too much... do you think that's what this could be?"
"I don't know... it seems way too big of a coincidence for that. It was something to do with the wand, it has to be." David said.
Emma nodded, she knew he was right, she just wanted whatever this was to be reversible.
"Listen..." Snow said softly, rubbing her daughter's arm comfortingly. "Going through the endless possibilities is not going to wake her up faster. Let's get Regina home, we'll have Henry try true love's kiss. Right now it's the only thing we have that's even close to a plan so we might as well give it a shot. Does that sound okay?"
"But you said it's not a sleeping curse." Emma responded tiredly, not taking her eyes off of Regina.
"I know I did... but like I said it's the only plan we have right now. We'll keep brainstorming. Don't worry Emma, I promise we won't give up on her."
"Okay..." Emma sighed in defeat. She looked back down at Regina and found her heart aching at the sight of her friend this way.
Emma adjusted her hold on Regina, removing one of her arms from around the brunette to slip it under her legs instead so she could carry her more easily. She was about to lift her up when Regina suddenly moaned. The sound had been so quiet that Emma was almost sure she had imagined it.
"What is it?" Snow asked, her brow furrowing in concern as she saw her daughter's hesitation.
"I don't know... I thought I just–" And then Emma heard it again.
Emma gasped, her heartbeat immediately sped up as she was overwhelmed with a sudden flood of relief and strangely, also a feeling of dread. "Regina?! Regina it's me! It's Emma, can you hear me? Come on Regina wake up."
Regina gave another quiet moan, tossing ever so slightly as she did.
"Regina please wake up."
Emma heard a very quiet, distraught whimper, and she sank back to the floor to wrap both arms around her friend once more.
"Is she waking up?" David asked, leaning forwards to see.
"I don't know..." Emma leaned closer to the other woman, trying to decipher what Regina had said.
Regina soon spoke again, still very quiet, but this time a little more clearly even though she was still not fully awake.
Emma's blood ran cold as she realized what Regina had mumbled, she hoped with every fibre of her being that she had heard wrong.
Snow saw the color draining from Emma's face and immediately grew concerned.
"Emma, honey, what is it?" Snow asked with wide eyes.
"I–" Emma's voice broke.
She wrapped her arms more fully around Regina, pulling the woman higher into her arms. Emma rested her hand on the back of Regina's head, holding the brunette closely against her chest to try to convey to her that she was safe.
"Emma what did she say?"
Emma just shook her head, she couldn't repeat it.
"Emma!" Her parents pressed.
And then Emma heard it again, the barely audible, and very heartbreaking words.
"No," Emma's voice broke as she buried her face in Regina's hair. "Regina please..."
"Please..."
xXxXxXxXxXx
A/N: Thank you for reading, please don't forget to review. Take care xx