A/N: I know it was cruel to leave the last chapter on that kind of a cliffhanger, so to make up for it, here's the last chapter posted early :) I also had a brutal day today so I wanted to finish this off. It's been a wild ride, and I want to thank each and every one of you for being here with me.
Laurathechef was an awesome beta as usual. I claim no ownership of the show, characters, places, or settings, and any resemblances to any real people, places, or events is entirely coincidental.
I hope you enjoy!
"EMMA!"
Twin screams from Snow and Charming echoed in Regina's ears as she stared at the blonde in horror. Blood flowed from the jagged wound. The Dark One must have sawed through the tender flesh of her side, as it seemed the cut ran from her waist to her ribs. Shaking her head against the fatigue clawing blackly at the edges of her vision, she forced herself to remain conscious as she stared at the wounded woman.
Regina was paralyzed. The sight of Emma's lifeblood flowing out of her side, the idea that she was bleeding to death right in front of her, was enough to freeze her in her tracks. This wasn't just some random stabbing victim, left for dead on the mud tracks that passed for roads in the Enchanted Forest by a band of brigands. This wasn't even some random enemy soldier on the battlefield. This was her potential True Love. The amount of death she'd seen and caused in her life should have insulated her against the sight, but…
But this was Emma.
No one since Daniel awakened her heart's potential to love had burrowed so deeply into Regina's world, into her everyday existence. There was no one else that she enjoyed bantering with more, no one who she wanted standing by her side in a fight against the latest threat to Storybrooke's idyllic existence more, no one who she wanted taking care of their son more.
Emma couldn't die at the hands of a malicious wizard. That wasn't how their story was supposed to end.
Awareness of the two people in the room with her slowly made its way back into her consciousness. The sensation was similar to when she'd taken Henry to the beach one summer, how she couldn't hear him when she was submerged in the sea but upon surfacing her ears gradually cleared. Snow was shouting something at David, who was doing his best to respond.
"…Call 911!"
"I am 911!"
"Then call the hospital directly and get them to send an ambulance!"
"She might not last that long," Regina heard herself saying, interrupting the Charmings.
They stopped to stare at her. "I'm serious. Look at where the wound is. Rumple must have severed arteries connected to some of her…" Regina gulped, "…her vital organs. She might not last that long unless we do something here."
"Can't you heal her, Regina?" Snow pleaded, turning wide eyes back and forth between her daughter and former enemy.
Shaking her head, the older woman started moving towards Emma, correcting a stumble as her leaden legs refused to obey her mind's command. "The fight took too much out of me, especially on top of the prep work. Healing magic is very draining. The best I can do is start cauterizing the wounds with some of my flame. David," she gestured to the Deputy, "Call the hospital like your wife said. Tell them we need an ambulance as fast as they can get one over here or the Savior won't make it." She hated referring to Emma in that way, but it was the title that would get the most results from the average Storybrooke resident.
"Take off your jacket, Snow, and use it as a pad to stop the bleeding. Get your hands on her and put pressure on the wound," Regina instructed her former daughter-in-law, "I'm going to summon what little magic I have left to try to staunch the bleeding."
In the background she heard David's barked orders across his Sheriff's Department emergency radio, followed by a crackled acknowledgement. "Okay, we don't have a lot of time." So saying, she took a deep breath, shook the pinpricks out of her arms as best she could, and forced her magic to bow to her will once more. Very small fireballs appeared in the open palms of her spread hands. As David watched over her shoulder and Snow gasped at the sight, the fireballs turned into snakes of flame, wrapping and wreathing their way around her arms before surrounding the gushing wound. They paused briefly at the skin before a glower from Regina sent them inside Emma's body.
Snow gaped at the flames that didn't burn her as they moved along her own arms, not ready to accept the sight. When they had disappeared and Emma looked slightly less pale and clammy, the three took a collective breath.
"Okay, very slowly and carefully take your hands off the wound site. If my spell was successful, the bleeding should have stopped. She'll still need to go to the hospital how far out was the ambulance, David?"
"They said five minutes," he responded, checking his watch.
"My magic should be able to hold for at least that long," Regina murmured, squeezing her eyes shut against the spreading exhaustion. Saving Emma just might kill her.
"Oh shit," David breathed above her.
Head snapping up at the dread in his voice, Regina took in the sight of Emma's renewed bleeding. "I guess my magic was more drained than I thought," she grunted as she took her turn shoving Snow's jacket back against the bleeding. "Where the hell is that ambulance?"
"We have about two more minutes," David answered.
"No! No! Emma you are not allowed to die like this, do you hear me?" shrieked Regina, not taking her eyes off the increasingly pale blonde. "You cannot leave Henry or your parents this way! You promised you weren't going to run away again!"
Her voice gradually broke from shouted intensity to broken half-sobs. "You can't leave me this way! Not when I just figured it all out! You have to hang on, do you hear me? Whale will fix you up, I promise, and then we can get you woken up, deal with Rumpelstiltskin once and for all, and then move on with our lives. I love you damn it! You do not get to leave me like this!"
Tears were coursing down her face at the thought of finally finding someone she loved, someone she chose to love and was not chosen for her by fate, destiny, or fucking pixie dust.
When two hands landed on her shoulders, Regina jumped at the reminder than she wasn't alone. She'd just confessed her love for the daughter of her once-sworn enemy in said former enemy's presence. After all the horrors that she'd put Snow and Charming through, it was too much to expect them to take this well. She gulped, looking up at Emma's parents.
"It's about damned time," said Snow with a feeble grin.
"We were wondering if you'd ever figure it out," David chimed in.
Regina gaped.
"We've known for a while. When you wouldn't tell us who you saw in her memories, it just confirmed it."
"Wha – I mean, so…" for once Regina was a babbling idiot as all her eloquence fled. She heard the blaring siren of the ambulance gradually growing louder as it approached, cutting off any and all effort at a reply.
"Do it, Regina," Snow urged, "Kiss her and wake her up so they can treat her as any normal patient and not one under a curse."
Her jaw fell open. David gave her a weak smile mirroring his wife's. "We mean it. Wake her up, please."
Shaking her head once again, Regina turned back to the wounded woman as the front door fell open. Her energy was fading fast; never in her life had she expended as much magical energy as she had that day. From the spots starting to flicker in her vision along with her heavy limbs, she figured it wouldn't be long before she passed out, too. Now or never.
"I'm so sorry I'm doing this, Emma, but it might be the only way," she whispered, struggling to straighten up on her knees. Pounding steps and the banging of a stretcher could be heard coming up the stairs. "I'll take the slap you're going to give me when you figure out who it was that kissed you awake every time as the cost of saving your life."
Without another word, she leaned over and pressed her chapped, beaten lips to Emma's.
For the briefest of moments nothing happened. Regina's heart dropped like a rock into her stomach, sure that she had failed and all her hopes for a happy ending were once again destroyed. Then, as the door to the room burst open and David guided the paramedics in, a pulse of colored light radiated from between them, filling the room before bursting across Storybrooke in an exploding wave. Everyone in the immediate vicinity took a deep breath as the weights bearing down on them lessened.
Then it happened.
As the last of Regina's strength finally failed her, Emma's eyes shot open and she sat up in the bed much like Henry did when his own curse was broken. Their eyes connected for a fraction of a heartbeat before Regina collapsed to the floor.
The last thing she heard was Emma's scream of pain as she fell into darkness.
A/N: Thus ends Part 2. The final part of this trilogy, The Hero's Way Home, is under way. I'll begin posting that when I have it finished. I would love to hear what you thought of this chapter and the story as a whole.
Have a great weekend!
