Season 6 chapter!
Emma walked down to Regina's vault, hoping to check in on her and her progress with the wand that Hook had brought back with him from Neverland. Even though Emma planned on breaking up their engagement, and he knew it, Hook obviously didn't want her to die.
Regina had said that she was working on a locator spell for the wand, but the first thing that Emma saw when she entered the vault was Regina surrounded by books.
"I thought you knew how to make a locator spell from memory," Emma said.
"I'm not making a locator spell," Regina said. "I'm doing some research on this." She held up the dark crystal in her hand for Emma to see.
"I thought Zelena volunteered to give up her magic to make the crystals go light again," Emma said.
"She did," Regina said. "I just asked her to wait for a bit while I did some research."
Emma walked forward, looking at some of the books in front of Regina. "Hang on, are you looking at using it like Zelena did?"
"To get back to the Enchanted Forest?" Regina asked. "Yes. That's what I'm looking at."
"Why?" Emma asked. "You're just going to leave everyone here to face the Black Fairy? You're going to leave me?"
"Of course not," Regina said, looking at Emma in surprise. "Do you honestly think that I would do that? I'm seeing if I can get everyone out with one crystal or if we're going to need more."
"We can't leave," Emma said. "The final battle has to happen."
Regina sighed. "You know as well as I do that nothing good is going to come from the final battle. Everyone is going to lose something. That's how these things work."
"But it's my destiny to fight this battle," Emma said. "Everything that I've done as the Savior has led up to this moment."
"You've done enough as the Savior," Regina snapped. "I think it might be time to think of yourself for once instead of everyone else."
"I can't just leave," Emma said. "Not without fighting her."
Regina closed the book that she was reading before looking at Emma with determination. "Then I guess I'll just have to drag you along."
A few days passed and everyone was starting to get impatient. They wanted Zelena to give up her magic and make the crystals light, but Regina refused to help until she figured out how to get everyone away with the dark crystals.
Finally, her research came through. The only problem? She needed more crystals. And the only way that she was going to get them would be by going back down into the mine.
"Are you crazy?" Emma hissed, running forward and pulling Regina away from the door to the mine. "You are not going down there."
"There's a way to get us all out," Regina insisted. "All we need is more crystals. Then Zelena giving up her magic won't be necessary because we'll all be gone and she won't have anyone to destroy."
"She's going to know the minute you enter the mines," Emma said. "She'll kill you."
"No she won't," Regina said.
"Think about what you're doing," Emma pleaded. "You can't go down there any more than Zelena could defeat her on her own. She's too powerful. The final battle needs to happen so she either is banished again or is killed. Then everyone will be free of her terror, including Gideon."
Regina looked down at the crystal in her hand. "What if I just took you?"
Emma shook her head. "I need to be here to fight this final battle. You know that."
"I do and I hate it," Regina said. She looked at the crystal some more before throwing it at the mine door. It shattered, and Regina sat heavily on the ground.
Emma joined her, intertwining their fingers together. "We'll make it through this."
"I'm not so sure," Regina said softly.
"I know," Emma said, leaning her head on Regina's shoulder. "But we'll try anyway."