Chapter 11

How could she have not seen this coming? It was so foolish of her to think that she could once again open her heart to another person and everything work out in her favor. She was the Evil Queen and the only emotions she drew out of people were fear and anger. They hated her or were afraid of her...or both. Only an idiot would think that the look in Emma's eyes could have been love. Surrounded by purple smoke, Regina was thankful for the cover to help hide the tears that she was fighting so hard to keep from spilling. It wasn't worth it, right? Emma was only using her to help her parents. The Charmings. How could she not have seen this coming?

The back of her hand wiped away the tears threatening to spill against the corners of her eyes just as the purple smoke faded away from her. Before her, there was the door that they were walking to get to. Why hadn't they just poofed to the door the first time? Regina wanted to spend more time with Emma. How foolish was she to think that she could have lived in that moment even moments longer. It was her destiny to have her heart broken. Her mother signed that contract the moment she crushed Daniel's heart right in front of her. All Regina could do at this point was move forward with her plan to get rid of the happy endings. If anything, this just confirmed that she would never find her own happiness.

What was keeping her from running to that door? Leave Emma behind and close the portal. She stepped forward to the door and reached for the handle, but she couldn't turn it. Why should she care? Let Emma find her own way home, if she could. There wouldn't be a home for her to return to, if Regina's plan went through. With her jaw clenched tight, Regina finally pushed herself to turn the knob of the door in front of her.

"Regina, wait!" Emma's voice echoed against the trees surrounding them as she ran at full speed toward Regina. The desperation in her voice was so thick that it caught Regina off guard. Her dark eyes turned and caught sight of Emma running so hard that she finally just collapsed on the ground before her. Regina turned toward Emma and stared down at her as she tried to catch her breath.

"I should enjoy the sight of you groveling in front of me, Miss Swan." Regina attempted to throw sarcasm between them to keep Emma from seeing just how hurt she was at Emma's betrayal. There was something inside of her that wanted closure. She wanted the truth, and she wouldn't accept anything less.

"Please…l-let me…explain…" Emma said with panting breath, green eyes finally lifting to look at Regina. Regina's arms folded across her chest and she stared down at her.

"Explain, then. I'm listening. And don't you dare lie to me," Regina warned with a voice that seemed to waver for only a brief moment. Emma finally leaned back with her hands on her thighs that burned from all of the running. Her moment's hesitation only made Regina angrier, whose eyebrows arched with impatience.

"Well?"

"Give me a second! I can't just poof across a mountain, Regina!" Emma snapped. Regina scoffed and shook her head, starting to turn toward the door when Emma pushed herself up and grabbed Regina's arm gently to hold her back.

"Wait, wait. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I just…don't know how to explain all of this. It all sounds so crazy." Emma touched her own brow just a little, a small habit that Regina noticed she seemed to do whenever she was struggling with her own emotions.

"Try me," Regina replied, her voice flat as her hurt was starting to show across her face.

"I am Snow and Charming's daughter. I should have told you, but I was afraid if I told you, you would never trust me."

"You got that right." Regina laughed sarcastically, and Emma's eyes narrowed just a little.

"Can I finish?" There was a brief silence between them and Regina let out a small sigh, hand dismissively waving in front of her to make Emma continue.

"Your curse worked, Regina. You sent everyone to Storybrooke. Our son, Henry. He came to find me to help bring back all of the happy endings. We were enemies and fought, but in the end, we realized that there was one thing we had in common: Henry. We both loved him and wanted to make him happy. You…you were good. Your sister, Zelena, came and tried to destroy you. They…killed you, Regina. I came back in time to save you by destroying her before she had the chance to hurt you in the future. I thought I came back because Henry loved you. It's only been these past couple of days that I realized I came back because…I do too…" the words poured out of her and Emma didn't know how to stop them. She shouldn't have told her all of this and yet, here she was disclosing every secret she'd felt.

"You…love me?" Regina asked quietly, her eyes softening once more, in the same way Emma always remembered they would when Regina's walls would start to crumble.

"I do, which is why I have to destroy Zelena. I have to stop her now to save you. You have to trust me, Regina. I want to help you enact that curse so that we can be a family again." Emma reached out to take Regina's hand, squeezing it gently. Regina's heart pounded in her chest as she looked at their hands, entwined at their sides. Could she trust her? Should she trust her? The look in Emma's eyes when she professed her love could only be truth. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew when Emma was being honest. Right now, she was.

"How unbelievably touching," Zelena's voice dripped with disgust as she appeared before them. Both Emma and Regina turned rapidly to face her, Emma drawing her sword without hesitation. The blade pointed directly toward Zelena, which only brought a cackle from the witch.

"Do you honestly think you can defeat me? Oh, Emma. I gave you far more credit. Looks like you really are too much like your father Really, Sis. I'll give you some family advice. You can do far better." Zelena laughed once more and rested her hands on her waist. Gripping her sword tighter, Emma lunged forward with the sword, swinging the blade toward Zelena only to find her body dissipating into a puff of green smoke. To her left, Zelena reappeared once more.

"The only way to defeat her is to use light magic!" Emma growled as she stepped beside Regina. Regina's eyebrows furrowed as she looked over toward Emma.

"You got any of that laying around? I'm called the Evil Queen for a reason," she retorted as her gaze returned to Zelena standing before them. That was when it hit Emma. What had been keeping Regina from harnessing her light magic this time around, when it came so easily to her the first time? The first time she defeated Zelena, it was through love. Love of Henry. Regina needed to feel love once more in order to destroy her. Reaching her hand up, she rested her hand gently on Regina's shoulder.

"Regina, I know you can do it. I believe in you," she whispered softly, her green eyes locking onto Regina's. Her head slowly turned to match Emma's gaze, and there was that look once more. She had that look of total vulnerability in her eyes.

"You..do?"

"Of course. I love you," Emma replied before she leaned in to press her lips against Regina's for a gentle kiss. She felt that warmth wash over her at the touch of of their lips and couldn't help but to smile as she pulled away. It was then that she saw a flash of green out of the corner of her eye before a piercing pain hit her side. Emma's eyes dropped down to see a dagger lodged into her side with Zelena standing before her with a wicked smile on her lips.

"Oopsie," Zelena said with a girlish giggle. Regina's eyes turned to straight rage as she faced Zelena once more.

"Too bad you won't live to regret that," Regina growled as her hand came forward, lit with power as she slammed her fist against Zelena's chest to send her flying back. Zelena fell against a nearby tree with her eyes wide as she froze in her place. The light that came from Regina was not her typical purple, but rather white.

"What? It…it can't be…" Zelena started to shake as the white light began to take over her once more. "Not again!"she shouted as the light overtook her entire body until she withered away into nothingness before them, leaving only a trail of green dust.

"Regina. You..d-did it.." Emma said softly as she pulled the dagger slowly from her side and let it fall to the ground. The moment she did, the pain rushed to her head and she dropped down to her knees as blood began to trickle out of the wound.

"Emma!" Regina immediately dropped down beside her. Her hand started down toward Emma's side to examine the damage. At her touch, Emma winced slightly.

"Careful. That still s-stings.." She said with a small smile tugging on her lips, green eyes lifting up to Regina's face. A look of determination took over Regina's expression as her hand hovered over the bleeding injury. With her jaw clenched, she waved her hand over the wound slowly with her focus locked solely upon conjuring up magic needed to heal her. Fingers trembled slightly as she watched the white light emit from her palm once more, warmth cascading over Emma's side as the cut slowly began to heal. As the pain started to subside, Emma could feel her body relaxing once more.

"Thank you," she whispered with relief as she started to sit up. The blood that remained was only the stain on the shirt she wore and Regina couldn't help but to fight back the tears that threatened to fall. Immediately, Emma reached up to brush the single tear that fell, wiping it away before it streamed down her cheek.

"Regina, are you okay? Why are you crying?"

"For a moment, I thought I'd lost you."

"You didn't though. You saved me." Regina pulled away just slightly and shook her head.

"What if I couldn't have? What if I had failed?"

"You didn't. And you never will, as long as we're together." Emma leaned back in to brush a kiss against Regina's lips. Regina's hands came up to cradle Emma's face between her palms, fingers caressing against her cheeks as the kiss slowly broke. Her eyes opened to meet Emma's green ones and she smiled softly as their foreheads touched.

"Emma...I love you too," she whispered against her lips as a smile creeped up at the corners, causing her face to illuminate with happiness as slowly pulled back. Emma's grin widened across her face.

"Then let's get back to your castle and enact that curse before anything else happens. Then, we can be a family again," Emma replied as she pushed herself up. Her hand reached out for Regina's, who couldn't help but to blush at the thought of finding some sort of happiness. Could that actually be in her future? Despite everything her mother did to stop her from finding love and giving up on what Tink claimed to be her true love, could she still even have that chance? Biting her bottom lip, she slowly reached out to take Emma's hand in return.

"Do you promise?" She asked, hesitant to put her trust in anyone other than herself, but with hopeful green eyes staring back at her…how could she not? Emma seemed so sure of herself and of Regina that it would be impossible to doubt her.

"I promise. Let's go home," she whispered as she brought that hand up to her lips for a gentle kiss before pulling her away to lead her toward that portal before them. Her free hand moved to push the door open, revealing the gateway that placed them back into the Enchanted Forest. No falling through space and time; no leaping into a great abyss hoping that they find their home at the end of the darkness. It was a simple step right into their realm once more.

"Home," Regina said softly as her eyes stared out into the distance to see the castle that awaited her arrival once more. They set out to find light magic and destroy the Wicked Witch. Mission accomplished, she thought as they began their slow walk back toward the castle, hand in hand.

–-

Meanwhile...deep within the dungeon walls…

Rumplestiltskin smirked through the shadows of his cell, feeling the presence of the Evil Queen once more. There was something different this time around. He could feel the change in the air and it presented to him….opportunity. Poor little Emma, come to rescue Regina from a terrible fate only to find herself in a much more dangerous predicament.

"It won't be long now," he added as his gaze shifted to the shadows beside him, as if there were someone else there with him. Was he talking to someone else? Or did he have help that nobody knew about? The trick with Rumplestiltskin was that he always had a plan up his sleeve. This time, he could have not planned this one better himself. All he has to do at this point was sit back and watch the show as it all crumpled around him, with little to no effort on his part. This Savior was indeed a terrible one at that. The thought alone brought great amusement to him. Oh, if only they knew what lie ahead!

"Changing the past will only bring more consequences, dearie," he muttered to himself before a wicked little cackle escaped his lips. His fingers wiggled against each other as he stared down the long corridor of shadows that only teased a little bit of light from the candles on the pathway. The darkness never bothered him; he relished in it. Right now, he was exactly where he wanted to be: front and center for the demise of the Savior at the hands of her now beloved queen.