Chapter 22

Emma walked alongside Nimue down the shadowy streets of Storybrooke with the intention of splitting up past the Mayor's house. As they reached the gate of the house, Nimue stopped and turned toward Emma.

"I will check in with you in two hours to see if you've found the dagger. Summon me if you've found it before then. Once we have it, we can complete the sacrifice and your destiny will be fulfilled."

"Fulfill my destiny by killing myself to save the Dark Ones. I'm sorry, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one. I'd hardly see it as fulfilling a destiny." Emma laughed coldly. "And here I thought I got out of the people saving business."

"I highly doubt that you thought that. You may be the Dark One, but you're also the Savior. It's in your inherent nature to sacrifice yourself for the greater good."

"Is it? Well, that's news to me."

"Don't be foolish, Emma Swan. You don't have to be afraid. Just listen to me and everything will be just fine."

"Like you said. I'm the Dark One. I'll listen to whomever I want to, and before I go offing myself for your cause, there are some things I want to finish." Nimue growled and rushed up onto Emma so quickly that Emma fell back against the gate.

"Foolish, ungrateful wretch! This wasn't a request!" She hissed, her face only inches from Emma's. The wrath burning in those eyes were enough to raise alarm in Emma's chest. Emma's jaw locked and she kept her eyes on Nimue's face that slowly contorted from anger back to her typical, calm expression. Nimue chuckled and took a step back.

"Emma. Let me explain this to you. I have tried to guide you and help you see reason, but you, in no way, have had a choice. You will do this our way and you will do it when we say, or it won't be just you that dies. We've had plenty of years to perfect our techniques and methods. I wouldn't cross us. You'll beg for death by the end of it. You may not want to sacrifice yourself for the Dark Ones, but you'll do it, because you won't like what happens to your family if you don't." The threat to her family created a fire within her and Emma felt the desire to step up and fight. Heartbreak or not, nobody touched them except for her. They belonged to her. She stayed quiet, though, knowing that she would have her moment. All in due time.

"Fine. I will see you in a couple of hours," she said quietly, her hands slowly releasing from the tight fists she'd held the entire time. Without another word, Emma pushed away from Nimue's grasp and turned to walk away in the direction of the cemetery. All she could hope was that she found the dagger before Nimue did.

— THE CHARMING RESIDENCE —

Regina finished putting the last plate in the dishwasher, her eyes locked on the darkness outside of the window. She felt pulled there, as though there were someone watching for her…waiting for her to find them. Was it Emma? No, surely not. It had to be just wishful thinking that Emma was standing there, waiting to be welcomed with open arms.

"Hey. You all right?" Robin's voice and the hand on her shoulder pulled her back to reality and she jumped slightly under his touch. Shrinking her shoulder away from his grip, she turned and gave him a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine. I just need some time to process what's happening." With a sigh, Robin leaned against the kitchen counter, his arms folding across his chest.

"Can I be honest with you, Regina?" He didn't wait for her to respond. "I think we need to accept that Emma just isn't Emma anymore. We know what the Darkness can create in someone, and I just…well, I just don't think holding on to the Emma we know is going to bring you happiness. I think the sooner you let go, the easier it's going to be to heal and move on."

"Excuse me? Robin, I appreciate that you're trying to help, but this just happened. I'm not going to give up without a fight. That's what you do for the people you love."

"I know! Why do you think I'm telling you this? I love you, Regina. I don't want to see you get hurt. I'm fighting for your happiness. For…well, for us." His hands reached out to rest on her shoulders to keep her from backing away. Regina's eyebrows furrowed and she shook her head in confusion.

"For us? I thought…what happened to what you'd said before?"

"I still mean what I said. I want what's best for you. I still think that I'm what's best for you, but that won't keep me from doing what I can to help you. I will fight for you with every breath in my lungs. I just hope that you'll see that, no matter what happens, nobody is going to love you the way that I do." There was this uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach with how close Robin was getting to her.

"Robin, don't." Though she tried to take a step back, his hands on her shoulders kept her from moving away from him. When he dipped his head to press his lips to hers, she'd turned her head just in time to see Henry standing at the stairs, his gaze locked onto Robin. The anger in his expression was seen all the way across the room.

"She said to stop," Henry's shaking voice matched the hands balled in fists at his sides. Robin immediately let go, surprised as he looked up to Henry's frame.

"I'm…I'm sorry…" he said, but Regina backed away from him and turned to Henry. While she was glad to be out of Robin's grasp, she didn't want Henry to be angry with him. After all, this was a complicated situation and they had to work through it. Robin's life hadn't changed when the spell was broken, so he was still processing his own heartache. Moving over to Henry, she reached for him and cupped his cheek in her hand.

"It's okay, Henry."

"It's not okay. Mom's missing and we're all just standing around doing nothing! She sacrificed herself for all of us and he's trying to talk you out of fighting for our family! If you all aren't going to look for her, then I'll do it myself," he pushed away from Regina and rushed to the door.

"Henry! Stop!" It was too late. The door was slamming behind him. A small sigh escaped her lips and she brought her hand up to her forehead, applying pressure to the bridge of her nose. What a disaster this was turning out to be.

"I'll go after him. Talk some sense into him."

"No, it's fine. I'll get hi-" Regina paused in her sentence when she felt an overwhelming sense of urgency come over her. It was her vault. Someone was there. She felt the tingling sensation shoot up her arms to her spin and sucked in a breath. All of a sudden, there was awareness and was it…hope? What if it was Emma?

"Actually, yes. If you'll get his grandparents and go find him. I have something I need to do." Her heels clicked against the floor as she hurried to the door. She didn't hear Robin's reply or contest as the door closed with a loud thud behind her. Every other noise was drowned out by the sound of her own heartbeat thudding loudly in her chest, practically threatening to explode inside of her own body. The cemetery wasn't far away and hopefully, she'd make it there before the intruder escaped.

— THE STORYBROOKE CEMETERY —

"It has to be around here somewhere," Emma growled to herself, hands pushing bottles of potions aside in search of any sight of a dagger or a box of which Regina would have hidden it in. Everything that was important to Regina was somewhere hidden in this vault. At least, that's what she'd seen in the past. Surely, Regina wasn't going to start changing her patterns now, right?

"What are you looking for?" As if on cue, Regina stood behind her with her hands in the pockets of her red peacoat. Emma froze, lips parting as she felt the breath leave her lips. Even with all of the anger and betrayal that resided in her heart, Regina still took her breath away. Setting her jaw, Emma lifted her head and straightened while facing her.

"My dagger. Where is it, Regina?"

"Oh, Miss Swan. I'm not going to tell you that." Regina smiled just a little and stepped forward, closing half of the distance between them. Emma held her hand up to stop her.

"Don't come any closer, Regina. Just tell me where the fucking dagger is. It's mine and it belongs to me."

"No. That dagger controls your heart, and your heart….belongs to me." She pressed her finger into her chest where her own heart beat.

"You gave that up the moment you ran back to your forest rat," Emma spat out, anger flashing in her eyes as she moved up to close the space between them.

"What? No I didn't. I would ne-"

"Yes you did! The moment I was taken, you were back in his arms! This entire fucking family sitting around a dinner table with him, in the place where I'm meant to stand. As if I didn't even fucking exist to you all!" The rage hadn't given her the foresight she'd hoped for, so when Regina's hands came up to Emma's face, she didn't know what to do.

"Baby, I haven't run back to anybody! The only thing we all want is to have you back with us! I let you go once so that you would find me again. I'm not letting go of you. Even if you kill me, you won't be rid of me. Don't you see that?" Emma shook her head, feeling the emotion creeping up into her chest.

"No. Let go, Regina. I can't do this.." her hands came up to grasp Regina's wrists, but she didn't pull her hands away. Not yet.

"I'm not letting go of you! Not when we've found each other again! Emma, please. We can fight this together. We can do all of it together. Please don't leave me alone again." Regina's words cracked as the tears spilled down her cheeks. The pull that she felt in her chest to take away Regina's tears was insurmountable. Emma's head fell forward, forehead resting on Regina's.

"Move on, Regina. Please. You can't save me," Emma whispered. Regina's fists slammed against her chest.

"Stop it! I'm not doing that! I will fight for you and for our family until our last breath! You're not giving up on me now!" Emma's hands caught the fists on her chest and she pushed Regina back from her.

"You don't understand. I'm not the woman you loved anymore. The darkness; it already has its hold on me. There's no going back from this." Emma turned away from her to walk back toward the potions to continue her search. She felt a pull on her body that held her in place. No level of power from the darkness would allow her to move, and she knew what that meant. Turning her head, she looked at Regina who held the dagger in front of her, holding the handle tight.

"Did you honestly think that I would keep this anywhere but with me? You leave me no choice, Emma." Regina held the dagger up, knowing that she controlled every move that Emma made while she held the dagger in her hands.

"Kiss me."

The request had Emma's body moving toward her once more, and if she were being entirely honest with herself, she wasn't sure the dagger was even needed. Emma moved into Regina's space, arms immediately around her waist as she drew her into her body. Their mouths found one another without hesitation, lips crashing against each other in a heated kiss. Regina's arms slipped around Emma's shoulders to her neck, holding her close as they shared in the first embrace since the darkness had taken over. The kiss broke abruptly.

"I love you, Regina," Emma whispered.

"I love you, Emma." A laugh of relief escaped Regina's throat as she pushed herself into another deep kiss. As the kiss lingered, Emma could feel her powers waning, slowly leaving her body. The panic of the power caused her to push back just a little, pulling away from the kiss.

"Wait, what's happening?" She asked, noticing the icy tone of her skin starting to disintegrate. Regina looked over the undoing and smiled.

"True love's kiss. It can break the curse."

"No, no, no. I can't…" Emma said, stepping out of Regina's arms. Her eyes caught sight of the dagger and she snatched it from Regina's grip before she could be stopped. As she wrapped her hand around her own dagger, the complexion of the darkness returned to Emma's form.

"Emma, we can destroy this darkness out of you. Why wouldn't you want that?"

"But would it destroy it for good? And is that what we want? What if we can find a way to work through it? Rumple and Belle did."

Regina scoffed and threw her hands up. "Yeah, and look how well that worked out for them. Face it, Swan. This is the only way we can end this. This is how you come home."

"And then what? It finds someone else? No, this isn't right. I have to free the Dark Ones."

"I'm sorry. You're going to do WHAT?"

"Nimue said to free the Dark Ones from the curse would destroy the darkness entirely." Emma started to pace, using the dagger to scrape idly across her temple.

"Well, Nimue is lying to you.. All that would do is empower the original Dark One for eternity." Pausing, Emma looked up with an expression of shock. How could she have not seen this coming? How could she have been so foolish as to think that Nimue wouldn't be lying to her in order to get the power for herself? The plan had slowly fallen into view for Emma, seeing how Nimue had manipulated the situation and allowed for Robin to play on her insecurities.

Robin. Surely, he knew what was going on. He seemed to have all of the right answers at all of the right times, didn't he? Her eyebrows furrowed in anger, clenching the handle of her dagger tight enough that she almost thought it would break. She was going to torture him until she found out the truth. That's all there was to it.

It was then that she heard two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs of the vault. Charming and Snow stopped the moment that they saw Emma and Regina standing there. They were breathing heavily, as though they had been running.

"Henry's missing. And so is Robin. We can't find them anywhere," David said, looking at Emma whose gaze had gone cold at the thought of that bastard having a hold of her son. Her jaw set tight and she felt the rage bubbling once more inside of her. This anger and rage fueled her and she couldn't help but to feel grateful that she still wielded this power inside of her. Why? Because she was going to need it for the next thing that she was about to do. She was going to call upon the darkness yet again to drive her to do something that she would have never done as the Savior. And yet now…it all made sense and there was no other way. Her words were low and filled with promise. Emma knew what she'd have to do.

"I'm going to kill him."