It's been over a year since we last updated, but this story is not forgotten. Finally my best friend and I have time to write again. We appreciate anyone still around willing to read and as always, thank you for any feedback.
We feel there might be at least three more chapters to go with this. Enjoy!
Henry peered skeptically at the boarded up entry point to the mines. It looked as flimsy as Mr. Gold suggested. He glanced around, assuring himself that he was alone - it would be very bad if someone happened to be around and reported this to his mothers! Satisfied, he moved closer to the entrance and pried at the loose boards. Making just enough room to squeeze through, Henry slipped into the mine's entrance and clicked on the flashlight.
It had been easier than he'd thought to make this trek. Henry had seen Emma after school for an update on Sheriff Graham. He wanted to know if she'd reached out to him, as planned, since his running off into the woods, pursuing a wolf by the Toll Bridge. When Emma had finally found him, Graham was wild-eyed despite exhaustion, going on and on at how he needed to find the wolf because he was leading him home. It took promising him that the two of them would come back later to look for the wolf to convince him to come back to the station.
It worked out well in his favor because Regina assisted Emma out with Graham. She called to check up on him at home, requesting he go to Dr. Hopper. Henry gave a convincing argument that if he could safely travel all the way to Boston, then he could stay home for a few hours. His relationship with Regina was good again and trust was slowly being built. He had to promise her to not turn on the stove or take a shower in case an accident occurred. Henry sighed and did so, but not before getting his mother to agree in letting him play outside.
So in a sense, him going to the mines wasn't entirely breaking his promise! It was, technically, outside!
"Okay. Follow the tracks," he whispered to himself.
His flashlight beam took in the mine cart tracks, the wooden supports every few feet that supported the tunnel that he walked through. It looked like what he'd imagine the Seven Dwarfs diamond mine would look like in the real world. Henry stopped cold, letting that comparison wash over him, a smile brightening his face.
"This is their diamond mine. She brought it over with the curse. Somehow!"
Intrigued and excited by Mr. Gold sending him here then, Henry hurried onward, wondering what he would find. The tunnel gradually descended, becoming chillier. Henry barely noticed the temperature change as he moved forward, casting his flashlight beam this way and that. The stone walls, he thought, sparkled the deeper he went into the mines. More than once, he stopped to study and touch them.
Diamond mine? Raw pixy dust! he wondered.
Given what he recalled of Dreamy aka Grumpy's story in his book, they just may be. Excited, he hurried onward...
"Hello?" Henry called out.
A flash of light, ahead, led him to think there might be someone deep in the cavern with him! He moved the beam of his flashlight and the glint he saw flashed too. Henry hurried on ahead, eager to see who or what was there.
"Oh!" he chuckled. "It's me. A mirror… What's this doing way down here?"
Henry stood before the full length mirror, studying it slowly, the beam of his flashlight playing over the frame. It looked expensive. Very expensive… the type that his mother would tell him not to touch, as if his fingerprint smudge on the mirror would ruin it. Henry started to reach toward the glass, then pulled his hand back, feeling like he should not touch it, that it might be dangerous to do so.
He took a step back, training the beam of light across the tunnel. Henry looked at the mirror again, then dropped to his knees, pulling his backpack off. Hauling his story book back out, he quickly flipped through its contents until he found the Evil Queen's story of banishing her mother to Wonderland.
Henry's eyes bugged as he studied the illustration and the description as Cora surveyed the wedding gift. "It's that mirror! What is this place?!"
Hurrying to put the book back, he threw the backpack over his shoulder and proceeded even deeper into the network of tunnels. Henry knew if there was this kind of evidence down here, he had a shot at finding something vital to helping his mothers break the curse!
As he walked on, the tunnel seemed to constrict. Henry paused more than once, stopping to study the rocks. He noticed that it no longer looked like a man-made cave with wooden beams; now, he found himself in a natural rock cavern. The air felt cool and fresh against his skin. He nodded to himself and moved on, looking for any other magical items.
"Ye have t' let me go!"
"No, we don't. Sit down, Graham," Regina said, voice firm despite how unnerved she felt at seeing him like this.
Emma came around the side of his desk, hands open and relaxed hoping that her presence would calm him some. "We said we'll help you find your wolf. And we will. But running off into the forest isn't safe, Graham."
"He was trying t' tell me something!" he insisted.
"And I believe you. But we can't go chasing after you and him," she pressed.
"I have to!"
"No, Graham. Not right now." She touched his forehead and quickly withdrew her hand. "You're burning up."
Emma reached over to clasp at his shoulder with a sigh. "You're only going to get worse if you go out like this. You're sick."
"I gotta go, Emma!"
Regina sighed, patience straining. She was used to this sort of single-minded stubbornness from her son, not from her previously docile sheriff.
"Graham, I think we should take you to the hospital. Have you checked out," she said.
"No!" he shouted, pushing away from them.
"Graham…" Emma warned, "Regina's right. If you're really sick, you're not going to last out there. We need you checked out. See if this fever is anything to worry about."
"No!" he repeated, stumbling with the force of his vehemence.
"Graham!" Regina yelped, reaching a hand out to try and steady him.
He brushed her off, however, taking an unsteady step back. "No… I have t' go and find the wolf…"
Emma side-eyed Regina, both of them acknowledging what had to be done. She quickly moved between the desk and chair, reaching out for the sheriff. "I know. And we will. After a quick trip to the E.R."
"No!" he said, sounding increasingly desperate.
Graham wobbled as he moved further away from Emma, heading toward the hallway. His hand reached for the desk's edge for balance, but he missed and crashed to the tiles with a groan.
"Graham!" Regina yelped.
"Shit! That's not what I had in mind!" She grabbed the phone on Graham's desk. "Check on him Regina. I'm calling for an ambulance."
Kneeling down beside the prone and feverish sheriff, Regina nodded. She checked his pulse; it was rapid, but steady as Emma frantically explained the situation to dispatch…
Henry held a black, expensive satchel in his free hand, caressing the silky material between his thumb and forefinger. He studied it under the flashlight's light, looking contemplative.
"This is Mom's too… or the Evil Queen's, anyway," he said to himself.
His storybook was accurate about certain details, that much was certain. The magic mirror, the pouch that had held her poisoned apple… Henry paused and did a slow circle from where he stood, half-expecting to find the poisoned apple in the dust too.
"What else is down here?"
He tucked the satchel under his arm, shining the flashlight along the ground, hopeful for more artifacts from the Enchanted Forest. He took slow, careful, steps forward, not wanting to miss a thing. Carefully he navigated rocks, his heart racing with anticipation. He slipped through a crevice, forcing the flashlight to point up and over his head so he could fit. Without the light, he missed an object next to his boot. Wood slid across the stone floor as Henry accidentally kicked it. He shifted the flashlight in search of what he'd struck.
"Come on!"
Pocketing the poisoned apple's pouch, he knelt down to study the ornate wooden box. Henry looked it over, not even needing to consult the book. He opened the lid, hoping to not finding anyone or anything inside it. Relieved it was indeed empty, Henry closed it again.
"Why is all of this down here?" he mused aloud. "And how did Mr. Gold know? Or maybe he didn't? And how does any of it help me?"
His voice echoed down the cavern. Henry shifted his backpack off, then packed the box into it. It felt important to take it with him rather than leave it behind.
The darkness remained silent as to its reasons for hoarding these important artifacts. With so many questions running through Henry's mind, he slipped on his backpack and grabbed the flashlight, shining it further down the cavern. Nothing but pitch dissolved away that gave him no further insight as to what this place was.
"Only one way to find out!" he whispered in determination.
His quick footfalls skid against the harsh stone below, disturbing small puddles of water in his wake. His quest was starting to become frustrated, spoiled by all of the items he had found! The cave was barren, its secrets locked away.
"There has to be something here…" he said with frustration.
Henry's flashlight flickered. He frowned and gave it a thump with the flat of his palm. This was not the time or place to have the battery go dead! While giving it a stern look, the flashlight flickered back to regular power. He cast the beam around the high-ceilinged cavern he found himself in, looking for answers.
Again, a glint of light flashing back at him startled the explorer. He hurried forward and found the flash was a sword, wedged into a natural outcropping of stone.
A stalagmite, came Miss Blanchard's voice.
Henry studied the sword hilt and visible blade with his flashlight. "Huh. Don't tell me Excalibur is down here! The Sword in the Stone?!"
He set down the flashlight on top of a rock cropping where he could easily position the light towards the sword. The book didn't have a picture of Excalibur so there was no way to be certain that this was the sword of legend. The fact it was down here meant it was important.
"This has to be what helps mom and Emma." He felt that truth in his bones.
Slowly, he reached for the hilt, heart hammering so loudly that it reached his ears, wondering what it would mean if he could pull it from the stone! It was cool to the touch. Henry gave an experimental tug on the hilt. Nothing. He pulled harder.
That was when a bright, eerie green eye - much larger than Henry Mills - opened and stared at him.
A puff of hot air - with a stench that made him choke - ruffled his hair and jacket. Henry turned and stared in awe and horror as the dragon pulled back and reared up to her full height. She roared and he screamed-
-BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Blanching, Regina turned away from the bedside where Graham lay, sedated and resting peacefully at last. She and Emma had just been allowed to come in and see him - "Only for a moment or two," Dr. Whale had said sternly - when the beeper went off.
The beeper that never went off.
Regina's hand was shaking as she reached into her purse. With concern for Graham abating for now, Emma turned to Regina who was visibly agitated.
She stepped closer to her and lowered her voice. "What's going on?"
Regina didn't immediately respond, unsure how to even explain this latest crisis to Emma. She withdrew the beeper from her purse and stared blankly at the phone number. Of course, it didn't actually originate from a phone. There was no one to call. Regina swallowed hard, knowing what it meant all the same.
"We have to go. Now," she replied. "There's a… problem."
That tone of urgency made Emma briefly panic in response. Regina was cool under pressure, always hiding her true emotions until that nasty bit with the apples. There the mask continued to slip, allowing a chance to see glimpses of what the mayor felt towards Emma and Henry. Seeing that control unravel about something else was unnerving.
"Alright. Talk to me." She placed a hand against Regina's back and escorted her out to the elevators. "What's the problem that's got you scared shitless?"
As they walked, Regina sought to regain her composure and work on how to best frame her answer.
"Not… everyone… who came over with the curse… did so in a… human form," she said in a low voice. "There is one who resides… elsewhere… and her confinement came with, well, shall we call it an alarm system?"
Regina held up the black beeper for a moment before dropping it back into her purse.
"She has been… dormant, for lack of a better word, and that this alarm signifies her being very much awake. Which is unheard of. And problematic."
"Stop talking in riddles, Regina, and just tell me what the hell we're up against!" Emma said quickly in a rushed tone as they finally exited the hospital. "Is it a big spider? Lizard monster? A big old balrog like in Lord of the Rings? Oh wait! A killer unicorn? That would be kinda funny."
Regina stopped and stared at her like she was speaking a foreign language… or gibberish. She shook her head before responding. "Maleficent. In dragon form. And if she's no longer dormant, than we have incomprehensible problems."
"You brought a dragon over?!" She blinked and opened the door to the Bug. "Are you serious?! What… why did you think that was a good idea?"
Matter of factly, she replied, "Because she's an extremely powerful sorceress and I needed her… contained."
"Rumpelstiltskin is the Dark One, or whatever, and you didn't contain him." Emma shot back as she got in the car. "Why didn't you contain him in a similar way?"
"He was already imprisoned in the Enchanted Forest," she said, climbing into the passenger seat. "Take us to the… no. Let's go to the mines. The clocktower is a two person job. Take the old forest road and I'll show you where the turn is. Where I had Rumple made it easy to strip him of his magic, coming here. I can't say the same is necessarily true for Maleficent."
Emma drove off as soon as the door closed. "I'm gonna pretend to understand what the hell you're talking about. So this is me nodding and leaving. But you're going explain what this means on the way..."
"...and so, we need to hike deep into the earth to find Maleficent and calm her down before she finds a way out and wreaks havoc," Regina concluded.
They stood at the entrypoint to the mines. She'd drawn her arms over her breasts, then slid a hand up to touch her own neck, looking thoughtful and vulnerable as she stared at the boarded up passageway as Emma was busy looking around for the best way to enter. She tugged on several boards but they wouldn't give.
"Where's the best way … to go…?" she asked absently as she noticed several footprints in the dirt.
She peered closer and saw the prints disappear into the mines, right through an opening big enough for a small kid.
"Uh, Regina?" Emma quickly knelt down and started to pry at the board to widen it. "You see what I see, right?"
She paled. "Youthful footprint. Please tell me it's not Henry's."
"I want to say yes. But …" She paused, crouching down to get a better look. There was an opening just big enough for someone Henry's size to get through.
Emma looked up at Regina. "If he can find me in Boston, he'd go in. But why? What could be so important in there that he'd do that? He doesn't know about your dragon friend, right?"
She shook her head, lips pressed together firmly. "He would have no idea that this place even existed, Emma. Henry would have to have been informed."
Which left only Mr. Gold, obviously. Regina frowned. Why would he want Henry to come down here? Why would he and Henry even be talking? She looked back to Emma anxiously.
"Operation Spark," she whispered. "You're right. Our son is nothing if not determined. It's Henry. It has to be. We have to get down there too."
Emma registered how Regina called Henry their son, but it wasn't a time to reflect. They needed to quickly find him before Maleficent did.
"Right." She stood up and with a grimace, started to stomp on the boards.
The wood splintered and cracked, weakening the integrity. Emma could hear it wanting to give, but it was just stubborn enough to put up a fight. She hissed in frustration before taking a few steps back. Her lips fell into a scowl and in the next second, Emma dug her heels into the ground and ran towards the barricade. She shoulder slammed it, powering through as wood snapped and broke off, leaving an entry point big enough for the two of them.
"Well, that's one way to get inside," Regina quipped, giving her an impressed look. "Come on."
Though she'd never been down here, Regina still knew where they were headed as they stepped into the mining tunnels. Her head was spinning at the fact that Henry had preceded them into the mines.
Emma's mind was more focused as she turned on the flashlight she brought. "How far do you think he got?"
An ear-splitting roar answered for her. Regina blanched over the beam of her flashlight and shook her head. Without a word in reply, she set off toward the sound of Maleficent's roar, moving as quickly as her high-heeled feet could carry her.
Emma easily caught up to her, the sparkling specs on the cave walls barely being noticed. "Shit, Regina!"
"Henry found Maleficent! I'm sure of it," she barked, her voice strained with tension and fear. "We have to hurry!"
Backpack shunted against a rock along with his jacket, Henry panted harshly as he dodged the angry dragon's stomping clawed feet and the fire she breathed down on him. He was almost spent, having sprinted and scrambled around the cavern from the moment that Maleficent had awoke.
The dragon belched fire in his direction and Henry shielded himself as best as he could against the boulder behind which he crouched. He could feel the heat envelop him and hoped none of the flames licked around the stone to catch him.
"MALEFICENT, NO!"
Henry jerked in surprise, twisting around to see his mothers standing at the mouth of the cavern!
"Moms! She's gone wild! It's not safe!" he shouted.
Maleficent roared again and Henry had to sprint further from them as she stomped the boulder with her massive clawed foot. He tumbled and collapsed, leg muscles burning.
"Henry?!" Regina shouted.
"Not happening," Emma said with a growl and went for the sword logged into the stone.
Not once did it register that the weapon was one of legend as she gripped the hilt and pulled it free with ease, unlike Henry earlier. She ran full sprint at the dragon, eyes ablaze with fury, bringing the sword out and away from her side, ready to swing it at Maleficent.
"GET AWAY FROM OUR SON!"
Jeweled, glowing eyes focused on the Queen, alone at last. Strafing as Emma charged her, she swung her mighty tail at the brunette who had trapped her in this hell for so long, her old "friend." Regina had nowhere to go, no way to avoid the impact as her tail slammed into her, knocking her against the cavern wall. Emma's eyes went wide at the sudden change in the dragon's attack.
"Regina!"
"MOM!"
Regina didn't respond, the smack to the rock wall catching her just right. She'd collapsed in a heap, unconscious.
"Stay back, Henry!" Emma yelled as she swung the sword at the nearest part of Maleficent. She was desperate to do anything to get her to let Regina go. The dragon roared, lashing out at the Queen again with her powerful tail.
"MOM!" Henry screamed, watching helplessly as Maleficent was going in for another attack.
Emma pivoted and turned the hilt in hand to bring the blade straight down onto the dragon. Suddenly a bright light enveloped the darkness of the cavern, emanating from the blade itself as it pierced through dragon scale! Maleficent howled with rage and pain, light shining between her scales as her body exploded, raining down across the cavern.
And then, the cave fell into near darkness again.
Henry gave Emma a wide-eyed look, then charged toward his mother where she lay slumped against the wall. Emma was left making a face as she was showered in dragon parts and despite the gravity of the situation, managed an Ew! as something squishy and wet smacked her right in the face.
Just behind the savior, a golden egg decorated with jeweled patterns hit the ground in a spin, bobbing back and forth. It went under the savior's radar as her son's cries focused her attention.
"Mom! Mom, wake up!" Henry shouted, cradling her head.
Regina was unresponsive and limp.
"Emma, hurry!" he cried. "Mom, wake up! You have to wake up!"
Henry's cries brought Emma back to the present and she gasped at the sight of Regina unmoving on the ground. She ran over and knelt beside them, setting the sword on the ground.
"Regina?" she cried, hands curling around her shoulders. When Regina neither moved nor made any noise, Emma gripped her harder and cried louder. "Regina?! REGINA?! Come on! You're tougher than this! Wake UP!"
Regina remained unresponsive.
"Is she even breathing?!" he asked, panicked. "I can't tell!"
Henry wiped his eyes, looking around in panic for something - anything - that could help them. If Snow White's coffin was down here, if Maleficent was down here, wasn't there some kind of magic that could help?! In his panic, Emma snapped out of her own and placed two fingers on Regina's neck to gauge a pulse.
She gasped in relief. "Thank god."
Emma twisted her neck to get a better view of the mayor's breathing and saw it was shallow and irregular. "She's still with us. But… I don't know for how long. We gotta get her outta here."
"How?" Henry exclaimed, wrenching his head back toward the long path back to the surface. "It's so far! Does your radio work down here?"
"I don't know. Let me try…" she said quickly, unhooking the radio from her belt and switched it on. "This is Deputy Swan asking for assistance. Anyone copy?"
She released the button and heard nothing but static.
"The Mayor's hurt bad and needs help. I need someone to respond, now. Anyone?!"
Her desperate pleas were met with the same white noise and no familiar voices cutting through.
Henry looked around again, and then gasped. "Wait! Emma! That egg!"
He leaped up and sprinted across the chasm to pick it up. It was heavier than he expected, but looked just like he'd imagined from his book. Cheering wordlessly, Henry ran back toward his mothers.
"It has magic inside!" he exclaimed.
"You sure, kid?" she asked, unconsciously holding Regina's hand. "This isn't the time for lucky guesses."
Quickly, he explained how Rumpelstiltskin had plucked a strand of hair from both of her parents, back in the Enchanted Forest, in order to create the strongest and rarest of all potions in his collection. He had used Charming to store it in the belly of a beast, and Henry reasoned that if the Dark One had gone to that much trouble to make sure it came over to this land, to Storybrooke, then it had to be important and worth trying.
She looked dubiously at Henry, but Regina couldn't afford any hesitation. The radio was dead down here, help wasn't coming, and Emma wasn't sure if it was safe to move Regina, let alone survive the trip back up to the surface.
"Alright, kid. You've been wanting me to believe in all of this and I … I do. To a degree. So I better hope you're right that there's a magic potion in there that can help her."
Emma glanced down at Regina and squeezed her hand before returning her attention solely on that golden egg.
"Did your book say how to open that?" she asked desperately.
"Um…!" Henry turned it over in his hands, looking for a clasp. He cried out in dismay. "It takes a key! Maybe you try! Hold it or something. You're the savior! The potion is you, the product of true love!"
She didn't hesitate and shifted on her knees, taking the egg from Henry. Emma's first thought was how impossibly smooth it felt against her hand, as if one wrong move would make the object slip out of her fingers with ease, which should be impossible because of the intricate design patterned throughout. But it was the unnatural cold that jolted through her body that caused a sharp gasp from Emma.
"What is it?" Henry exclaimed.
She set the egg down closer to Regina with a shiver.
"I … I'm not entirely sure, kid. Just felt… a sudden ... rush … of ..." Her mouth remained opened, unable to really describe what she felt. It was like nothing she had felt before.
Henry half-frowned at being called "Kid" and at her setting the egg back down. He hefted it up and handed it back to her.
Emma glared at Henry but before any scolding could be handed out, she gasped again and felt that same rush of power course through her and did not set it aside this time. What she felt was deep familiarity that reached inside her and touched her soul and without a thought, Emma grabbed the sides of it and popped it open with ease.
"Wow…" she whispered, seeing what was laying inside.
"It's the true love potion!" Henry exclaimed, shaking Emma's arm. "It's in the book! Rumpelstiltskin created the true love potion! You have to use it now! It'll help Mom!"
"So what's this? A magical cure all potion for anything you need?" she said in a rush panic, plucking the vial from inside the egg.
She was as puzzled by it as much as she was afraid that her family held that much power.
"I don't know! But true love is the strongest magic of all!" he insisted. "Hold onto it and give her a kiss, maybe? The kiss is always the big thing to make magic happen in the stories!"
Emma scrunched her nose because something about his plan didn't make sense to her. Perhaps it was because she had a unique bond with the potion itself because it was created from the love of her parents, or maybe it was because she was the savior - all of this baffling to her that she was even thinking like this - she uncorked the vial.
She thought of how Henry had shown up on her birthday, fulfilling the wish that made that night: the wish to not be alone. Now, she was the sheriff of Storybrooke with the son she gave up so he could have a better life... and the woman she loved. A woman she shouldn't love because of the curse Regina placed on the town and Emma. Their affair was based on magic and lies but somewhere along the way she had fallen in love with Regina, or the apple curse wouldn't have been broken with true love's kiss.
But there was still the curse that the town was under and would the essence of true love she was holding in her hand trigger the unraveling of Storybrooke's magical hold on its citizens? Also if it did break, then she would finally meet her parents…
"Damn," she whispered, gently bringing Regina's head up.
Henry watched anxiously, holding and patting his mother's limp hand.
Emma gazed longingly at the mayor, afraid that this was futile and that she and Henry would have to find a way to move on without her. With a steady hand, and a hammering heart, Emma held a breath as she poured a few drops of the potion passed Regina's lips.
A moment passed.
Nothing.
Henry made a guttural noise of frustration and fear, squeezing her hand again. There was no reaction from Regina.
"Try kissing her!" Henry insisted.
Emma fist the vial as her eyes watered.
"How can that possibly work?! She's not cursed!" she shouted in frustration.
"Try anyway!" he pleaded, frantic.
She heard Henry talking but it was drowned out by self-doubt despite slaying dragons and holding the essence of true love in hand. Emma Swan, orphan, foster child, runaway, bail bondwoman … and now savior? Was she really that important enough for this to work?
"I have to be," she whispered. "For Henry … for you …"
She clamped eyes shut, forcing the water pooling there to finally break free. The tears rolled down her cheek and hit Regina's as she hovered closer ...
"Please work …"
… and gently kissed her lips.
Henry held his breath as he watched them kiss. For a moment, nothing happened and his panic spiked. Then, Regina's back arched as she gasped against Emma's lips. They were the epicenter of a magical discharge that spread through the cavern and beyond.
"Emma…?!" she croaked.
"Mom!" Henry shouted gleefully.
Relief and panic filled Emma as she felt the brush of Regina's hot breath against her lips.
"Regina!" she exclaimed sharply before pulling her up into a fierce hug. "It… it worked!" Emma added, her tone full of wonder.
Stunned and confused, Regina hugged back. Then, she pulled back to look at her, then Henry, then Emma again. "What worked? Did you defeat her?"
"Yes… Maleficent's gone. But you were hurt in the fight," Emma explained. "You weren't breathing…"
She showed the potion to Regina, not ready to admit how her life was saved. She was sure Henry would fill in the rest. "I tried using this. But it didn't work …"
Regina blinked in confusion at the potion, barely even able to register Maleficent's fate… if she was truly gone. She knew her old friend and nemesis was elusive at best.
"What is… a magic potion? From where?"
"The true love potion!" Henry exclaimed. "It came from the egg inside Maleficent!"
The mayor was even more baffled. "So… what did work then?"
Emma stared Regina down. "True love's kiss."
Tears welled in the brunette's eyes, and she felt speechless. Regina could only imagine an emotional, "Emma…"
"But how?!" she blurted out in confusion, choking up. "You said that only works with curses. You weren't cursed!"
She remembered the tail lashing out at her and there being nowhere to go. Regina touched the back of her head where it had struck the cavern wall and winced. There was a painful, swollen lump there.
"I… don't know. Unless the physical contact with Maleficent was all that was needed to curse me. I don't know, dear."
"Who cares!" came Henry's cheerful voice. "You did it, Emma! You broke the curse!"
"Which means… there's a lot of people about to freak out in Storybrooke…" she said stiffly, reigning in her emotions for now because she was one of those people freaking out.
Regina managed to sit upright on her own and nodded gingerly. "You're right. We need to get back to the surface."
Beside her, Henry jumped to his feet.
She waited a moment, staring intensely at Emma, searching for the right thing to say. "I… know we have things to work out, dear. A lot to talk about and a great many more apologies to express, about so many matters. For now, thank you. For saving me. For loving me. Thank you."
Emma's control faltered just enough to where green eyes started to glisten again. She worked her lips, making sure that when she spoke, her voice would come out strong despite feeling out of control with the undeniable truth that happened. That the Evil Queen and the Savior were true love and broke the curse together.
"I couldn't let you die, Regina," was all she could say.
Anything more and she might break down. There was a town to talk off the ledge right now and Emma knew they might be out for blood against Regina, including her parents. Rightfully so too.
"Come on…!" Henry urged.
"Thank you," Regina repeated.
She'd hoped that Emma would have said more, but so much had happened. Regina had to make herself understand and be patient. She took Henry's hand as he reached out toward her and carefully stood. Nothing felt broken, but there would surely be bruises besides the one on her skull.
"Let's go take care of the town."