Another one from Season 5! Enjoy :) Oh, and leave prompts. I'm running out of ideas.
Emma stood still, staring down at the ember. Was her inner darkness right? Was the reason that she was staring at the ember instead of lighting it because she couldn't let go of her darkness?
"Need a light?" Regina asked, walking up next to her.
Emma jumped at Regina's sudden appearance. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know that whatever you're trying isn't working," Regina said. "If you were able to succeed, you would have already."
"You don't think that I can do this?" Emma asked, her gaze hardening.
Regina shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I meant that the darkness is winning. Which it is, isn't it?"
"It's not," Emma argued, turning her gaze back to the ember.
Regina sighed before stepping closer to Emma. "Feels good, doesn't it? To have power that no one can match. To be able to do whatever you want."
"Yes," Emma said quietly. "It does."
"Why'd you do it?" Regina asked. "I've been thinking about it for days, but I still don't understand."
"Do what?" Emma asked, feigning innocence.
"Don't play that game with me," Regina said. "You can lie to anyone else, but not me. You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"You were close to your happy ending," Emma said, shrugging. "I didn't want it ripped away from you so shortly after you had gotten it and life was good for you again."
Silence stretched between the two women before Regina sighed. "You want to tell me the real reason now?"
"That was the real reason," Emma said, her expression guarded. Too guarded for Regina's liking.
"Please don't make me do something that I'm going to regret," Regina said. "Just tell me the truth."
"Is the Evil Queen threatening the Dark One?" Emma asked. "That's a new one."
Regina winced at the use of her formal title. "It wasn't a threat. And I threatened Gold a thousand times when he was the Dark One."
"Then what was it?" Emma asked.
"A plea for the truth," Regina said. "I just want the truth. Why did you sacrifice yourself to the darkness for me?"
"I already told you," Emma said. "You had your happy ending at last, and I wanted you to keep it."
Regina narrowed her eyes at Emma. She still wasn't telling the truth. Sighing, Regina reached forward and picked up the dagger.
Seeing the dagger in Regina's hand, Emma froze. "What are you doing?"
"Getting my answer," Regina said. "We both know that you're holding back, and the best way to battle the darkness is to not give in by letting others help you. So I'm killing two birds with one stone. I get my answer, and you get some darkness help."
"I don't need your help," Emma said. "Now put down my dagger."
"So it's not 'the' dagger anymore?" Regina asked. "Now you're claiming it?"
Emma went to say something but snapped her mouth shut. When had she started claiming the dagger?
"The truth," Regina said, holding the dagger up in front of her. "Dark One, I command you to tell me why you sacrificed yourself to the darkness to save me."
Emma winced, struggling to keep her mouth shut and not let the truth come out. Curse Regina for using the dagger on her.
"You're resisting the dagger," Regina said in surprise. "That's a new one."
Emma gritted her teeth, her face turning red as she held her breath. If she even let herself breathe out, she would most likely speak.
"Don't you dare make yourself pass out," Regina said, reaching out to grab Emma's arm. "Let out your breath. I'll even set down the dagger so that you don't have to answer my question; just stop hurting yourself."
Emma let out the breath she was holding, gasping in air. "Love is sacrifice," she gasped out.
"What?" Regina asked.
"Love is sacrifice," Emma repeated. She winced at how the words were coming out of her without her consent. "That's why I sacrificed myself to the darkness."
"You love me?" Regina asked.
"Would you put down the dagger please?" Emma said through gritted teeth.
"Oh! Sorry," Regina said, quickly setting down the dagger. Emma quickly grabbed it, Excalibur, and the ember before walking quickly off into the forest.
Regina was about to follow her before deciding against it. Better to leave Emma to her thoughts at the moment. She would corner her later.
Emma sat outside of the diner, weaving together another dream catcher. Rumple had made straw into gold, now Emma made string into beautiful dream catchers.
"Still no luck with the ember?" Regina asked, sitting next to her.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Emma asked. "It's getting really late."
"Shouldn't you?" Regina countered. "You're the one that this quest is all about. As the most important person, you should get some rest."
"I don't sleep anymore," Emma mumbled. "The dream catchers are what occupies my time."
"I see," Regina said.
They sat together for several minutes in silence before Emma sighed and set down the dream catcher. "I'm assuming that you would like to talk about what happened earlier?"
Regina nodded. "But you don't have to if you don't want to. I shouldn't have used the dagger on you. That was wrong of me."
"And yet necessary," Emma said. "My answer was honest though. Love is sacrifice, and that's why I sacrificed myself for you."
"To which I asked if you loved me, and you ran off into the woods," Regina said. "Do I get an answer to that question?"
Emma looked down at her hands. "I feel like I'm slowly losing what love even feels like. I don't know if I love you. Or if I'm capable of loving anymore. But what I do know is in that moment; I couldn't let the darkness consume you. I just couldn't."
"That's a start," Regina said, smiling. "Just because you can't feel love now, doesn't mean that you won't be able to forever. You won't be the Dark One that long."
"How do you know?" Emma asked.
Regina smiled before taking her hand. "Because I won't let that happen."
"What about Robin? Or Hook?" Emma asked. "We're both dating someone."
Regina sighed as the smile melted from her face. "I don't know what's going to happen with them. I know that Robin loves me, and I love him, but something isn't complete. I'm sure that sounds ridiculous."
"No, it doesn't," Emma said quietly. She squeezed Regina's hand gently. "That's how I feel with Hook."
"So what do we do?" Regina asked.
"I don't know about you, but I think that getting rid of the darkness is a pretty good first step," Emma said.
Regina chuckled. "Sounds like a good plan to me."
Just so no one gets mad, I actually don't mind OQ or CS. I loved Robin and how happy that he made Regina. And I love Hook and how happy he makes Emma. I just ship SQ more than those other two.
Also as a side note: I updated my bio if anyone wants to learn more about me. I realized that the old one kind of sucked :D