Chapter 8
When Emma woke in the morning, she was reluctant to get out of bed, to leave the warmth and safety of Killian's embrace in order to go to the Evil Queen's palace. So she didn't move, wrapped herself closer to him and rested her head on his chest, smiling when she felt him start to run his hand through her hair, carefully detangling every knot that got in his way.
As optimistic as she could be with Killian beside her, she couldn't get rid of the nagging thought that if things went wrong, this could be their last morning together.
"Morning." he murmured eventually, even though Emma knew he had been awake as long as she had. "Are you ready?"
She didn't answer, just turned her head slightly to kiss his chest, his hand pausing and just holding her head to him.
She was as ready as she could be. As much as they had prepared, and planned, they were working from thirty year old drawings and David's knowledge of the palace itself, things he only knew from stories told to him by Snow White.
And Killian may have snuck into the palace before, but they had no guarantee that the same plan would work this time.
But it was all they had.
"I can't help worrying about all of this." Emma whispered, and he shifted to tilt her head up so he could bend to kiss her, his lips sliding across hers.
And then it was fast and desperate and everything, and Emma knew what they were both refusing to say, that maybe they hadn't prepared enough, that he was as aware as her that they could lose everything before the day was done.
They didn't have time to lie together afterwards, dressing each other, Killian wrapping Emma up in the swan-feather cloak, and then heading onto the deck. They joined Henry and her father at the railing, looking across the small bay to the metallic structure that was Regina's palace, Emma's nerves growing as they drew closer to the dock.
It would only be Emma, Killian and David sneaking into the palace, as the entire crew would not be particularly stealthy, and as worried as she had been that she could lose Killian, nothing terrified her more than the idea that things would go terribly wrong and Henry would be all alone.
So as the ship crossed the last few miles, Emma left her son with his grandfather and retreated downstairs to the galley. "Jukes?" she asked, the older man turning to face her when he heard her voice. "Can I ask you something? It's important."
The cook placed a lid on whatever it was he was making and gestured towards the small table. She sat down and waited for Jukes to join her, tapping her fingers anxiously against the wood. "What is it, Swan?"
"Jukes, if we don't come back," she said anxiously, watching Jukes' brow furrow at her words. "Contact Rumplestiltskin and tell him that Henry needs Baelfire. Please."
"Rumplestiltskin?" Jukes repeated, apparently confused. "I thought you wanted to take Henry away from him, that's why you were here before. But you want me to send him back?"
"It's complicated. But the Dark One will make sure that Henry is with his father." Emma explained briefly. "But today, will you-?"
"I'll make sure your son is safe until you are back with him." Jukes promised, reaching out to pat her hand. "And, like I've always said, I know Killian will make sure you are back at Henry's side. I won't need to contact the Crocodile. But, if it's what you need to hear, I promise I will."
"Thank you." she whispered, just as she felt the ship shake, the Jolly Roger having arrived at the dock. And then she nodded goodbye to him, and returned back above deck, back to her family.
Killian was supervising his crew as they secured the ship's position, and Henry seemed to be watching eagerly as they worked, trying to learn what to do, but Emma tugged her son away, pulled him into her arms. "Henry?" she murmured, smiling when she felt him hug her back. "Be good while I'm gone, alright? I love you."
"Love you too." Henry replied, his voice muffled in her shoulder.
She finally released him when she felt Killian tap her shoulder, a signal that it was time for them to leave. "Sorry to interrupt, sweetheart, but it's a couple of hours walk up to the palace so we really should leave now."
Emma nodded, adjusting the sword hanging from her belt and stepping onto the ramp leading off the ship, stopping when she saw her son hug Killian too, the pirate looking touched by her son's gesture. "I told Mullins you'd help steer the ship out of the bay." Killian said, stepping out of her son's hold to ruffle his hair. "And that has to happen so this ship isn't tied to docks, so that Regina can't find it and destroy it. You're the only one I'd trust with something so important."
And maybe Killian hadn't said anything like a goodbye, but it seemed to be enough of a farewell for Henry, who darted forward for one more hug before Killian followed Emma off the ship.
"Does Grandpa get a hug too?" Emma turned around once more when she heard David's voice, and even with all her nervous thoughts, she couldn't quell a smile when her son was wrapped up into a hug by his grandfather, something she had worried she would never see again. It seemed that even without memories of the boys' childhood, her father had fully accepted Henry again.
And she hoped they got the chance to make new memories together.
But right now, she couldn't worry about that. She couldn't dwell on everything that could go wrong when what they were about to do was so important.
And so, she took Killian's hand and they began the trek to the palace, David trailing behind them, and when she turned around, ten minutes later, she saw the Jolly Roger sailing away to safety.
After a gruelling few hours of sword-fighting with her father, Emma had retreated into the palace courtyard and sat on the ground, resting against the marble pillars of the porticoes and watching the other soldiers train.
She had abandoned archery practice with her mother after her return, preferring to spend time with her son. Besides, unlike sword-fighting, archery hadn't been particularly useful during her adventures.
"Exhausted?"
Emma glanced up when she heard the question, a smile spreading across her face when she saw Graham looking down at her. "I've been training with my father for hours. What do you think?"
Graham chuckled and then sat beside her, but even though she didn't look away from the soldiers, she could feel his gaze on her. "So, you've been back a week. Do you miss adventuring? I know that palaces are very different to everything else that's out there."
"It's not adventuring I miss." Emma answered truthfully. She would happily spend her life on grand adventures, or simply in the palace, as long as Killian and Henry were with her.
"A person then?" Graham stated, an understanding smile on his lips. "The reason you can't marry me?"
She was going to tell him everything, to take this opportunity to mention Killian to someone other than Henry. She wanted someone to know that she loved him, that she'd found him when she wasn't even looking for him, and Graham was her friend and he would listen.
But she didn't get the chance to begin talking, because her mother was hurrying across the courtyard towards them, looking utterly distraught, and Emma had no idea what could cause such an expression.
"They're gone, Emma." she breathed when she reached them, and Emma stared at her in confusion. "Our soldiers in the north. Almost all of them are dead."
"How?" Emma asked, aghast. They had been sending soldiers up to the borders for years, caught in a never ending struggle to maintain a stalemate with Regina without such tremendous casualties.
"It's Whitekeep, Emma." Snow said mournfully, and Emma gaped at her. "She's destroyed Whitekeep. Burnt it."
Whitekeep was almost as large as the town surrounding the palace, the north having become a home to many of their men, settling down and starting their own families and businesses instead of returning back south once they were recalled from duty.
And Regina had razed it to the ground.
"And there were no survivors?" Graham spoke up, looking as horrified as Snow White. "She killed the whole town?"
"Not just the soldiers were killed. There were children there, and they all burned." Snow said, stumbling over the last sentence. "And she says she'll do it again."
And then Snow hurried away, still looking as stunned as Emma felt, but with a duty to tell the horrendous news to the war council, as well as the multitude of guards who had family there.
The only thing Emma could even think of was that if she had just married Graham, if she had returned with her son and agreed to wed him, Whitekeep would still be standing. The children there would have grown up, would have lived. But she'd said no. She'd said she couldn't do it.
She had been selfish and people had died. People had burned.
"Graham?" she whispered, guilt overwhelming her, and she felt no better when he took her hand in his, his thumb brushing the back of her hand in an attempt to comfort her. "I'll do it. I'll marry you."
"But your person?"
"I can't let any more people die because of what I want." she stammered, pulling her hand from his and wishing it was Killian beside her to tell her everything would be okay.
Except if Killian was there, it might be harder to do the right thing.
"We'll do it. We'll have a big public wedding, a huge celebration so everyone knows. We'll put on a show." she said, determined, and she knew Graham was staring at her in shock. "Because it's not going to be a marriage, Graham. Henry, and the man I love, they come first. This wedding, it's to celebrate a merger. Nothing more. But we'll have peace. And we'll marry soon, before she has the chance to kill again."
The caves underneath Regina's palace were difficult to navigate, the single entrance leading to a fork in the road, each path branching off into further, smaller pathways. But Killian had found his way into the palace once before, and he seemed confident that he could lead them through the darkness without the three of them getting lost.
And he was right, the group emerging into a poorly-lit dungeon, the two cells empty. "I suppose she must have had an execution recently." Killian mumbled dryly, but as horrible as that thought was, Emma was glad that there were no guards on duty to delay them.
But she had hoped too soon. After climbing the staircase into the main palace, recognisable because of the dark, metallic hallways and ornate mirrors decorating the walls, they only made it down a few corridors before a wall of guards blocked their way, Regina herself standing before them.
She didn't even speak, clicking her fingers and watching with a smug smile as the men charged past her to engage Emma, Killian and David.
And then everything happened quickly, David storming past the men to face Regina, slicing at her and managing to take her by surprise, his sword cutting a thin line along her cheek. Killian and Emma fought the guards, Killian's moves graceful and vicious, spinning and parrying and barreling the men to the ground. Emma was less refined, unprepared for fighting such a large group, and so preferring force over skill, kicking out and thrusting her sword clumsily at each guard until they dropped to the floor.
"I have her blood!" David called, Regina having vanished in a burst of smoke, obscuring everyone's vision for a few seconds. "Take it and run, Emma. The plan Hook suggested, we can do it."
She nodded, pushing past some more guards to reach her father and then ran her thumb carefully along his blade, staining her thumb with the blood Regina had spilled when David managed to injure her.
Apparently aware of Emma and David's conversation, even in the midst of a duel with three other men, Killian yelled out the directions, David intercepting a few of the guards so Killian wasn't too outnumbered. "Get to the tower, Emma. I'll stay with your father." Killian insisted. "Be safe."
"You too." she called, already darting down the hallway away from her family.
She hated that she had to leave her father and Killian facing the guards, but seeing as they could no longer rely on stealth, Killian's plan to release Regina's prisoner and call Rumplestiltskin to aid them seemed to be the only one they had left.
Emma was well aware of Regina's blood smeared on her thumb and the sound of guards chasing after her, some of them having gotten past Killian and her father in order to follow her. She was risking enough by searching for this prisoner, and she couldn't allow herself to be caught.
She stumbled down a flight of stairs and into the nearest room, hoping there was something in there she could use to hide from the guards until they passed her, but when she turned around to scan the room for a wardrobe or closet or something like that, she saw a woman staring at her in shock. She looked older than Emma, a few grey streaks obvious in her brown hair, a permanent frown line between her eyebrows, and she was definitely not a guard.
"Who are you?" The woman asked hesitantly, holding out a knife in defense. "What are you doing in the kitchen?"
Emma glanced around, noticing the herbs and dried meat hanging from the ceiling, and realised she'd gone the wrong way. "I need to get to the prison. The tower. Wherever Regina keeps her prisoners."
"You want to stop her, don't you?" the woman asked, lowering the knife. "The Evil Queen? If you do want to stop her, I want to help."
"You want to help?" Emma repeated. "Don't you work for her?"
"She has my heart. I have to work for her."
Emma grimaced, unsure if she could trust the woman to help if Regina had such a hold over her. "And I'm supposed to trust that you're not going to lead me into a trap or betray me?"
"I'm just a kitchen maid. Her Majesty doesn't control me. She just makes it so I can't leave." The woman explained, but Emma still wasn't certain what to do. "I'm Grace."
"Grace? Well, Grace, what would be helpful would be if you could sneak me up to one of her prisoners. I don't know the prisoner's name, or if she's even still here, but she would locked in the tallest tower and no one other than Regina would usually be able to get in." Emma said quickly, realising her time would be far better spent actually getting to the tower instead of chatting. "I need to get there as soon as I can."
"I actually can help with that." Grace said, a chuckle escaping her and then Emma watched as she turned and ladled what looked like gruel into a small wooden bowl. "I bring food to the prisoners some days, so it won't even be suspicious if you go with me and you're carrying food or something Just cover that cloak with something less white and we might even be able to get up to the tower without any guards stopping us."
Emma nodded, surprised by Grace's eagerness to help, but after a moment's thought, she figured that it wasn't too unexpected for a woman to want to hurt the person who had taken her heart. And there was something about her, a familiarity that Emma couldn't explain but just made her trust Grace.
So after Grace had given her an old blue cloak and Emma had arranged it over her own, the two of them left the kitchen and Grace led her through the palace. Emma pulled the hood of the cloak over her face, wanting to hide from the mirrors as much as possible so that Regina couldn't figure out what she was up to.
Grace's plan was surprisingly effective, the two of them passing by most of the guards without receiving a second glance. This was helped by the fact that most of the guards seemed to be hurrying towards the lower floors, where Killian and David must still be fighting.
She couldn't help but think of the story Killian told her, how he'd hidden under his cloak and pretended to be delivering his food when he first snuck up to the woman's prison. He'd told her, ashamed, how he'd abandon the ruse on stairs, plunged his hook into a guard's neck and killed him.
Emma hoped that there would be less casualties this time.
Nearing the top of a long staircase, Emma felt a thrill of excitement when she saw two guards standing either side of a wooden door. Although there was no way they could release the prisoner without fighting them, their presence was final confirmation that the prisoner was there, that they could call Rumplestiltskin and he could help them.
Whoever was trapped in that room had to be important, guarded by soldiers and a blood seal.
There was no point pretending they were actually intending to simply feed the prisoner, so when Grace began to speak to the guard, stating that she was bringing her food for the day, Emma drew her sword and bashed one of the man with pommel, knocking him, unconscious, to the floor.
Emma pulled Grace aside before the remaining guard had the chance to attack her, her sword held out before the two of them to block any of the guard's furious swings of his own weapon. With Grace cowering in a corner, Emma tried to press forward and push the guard away, sweeping her sword upwards to attempt to disarm him. He stumbled back, pulling his sword in and then thrusting towards her, catching her upper thigh and making Emma fall forwards, almost losing her balance. But she didn't fall, and when his sword came down again, she ducked underneath it, passed him, and forced her elbow back, making a sharp crack as it connected with the back of his head and caused him to collapse.
The two guards down, Emma staggered to the door and pressed her thumb against the lock, Regina's blood dry on her skin. There was a moment where nothing happened, but then the air rippled and the door swung open.
For a minute, Emma didn't even step inside, instead leaning against the doorframe and pressing her hand down on the wound to her thigh, trying to stop the bleeding.
But then she remembered that she couldn't waste time, and stepped into the dark cell.
A small woman was curled up on a bed, her hair lined with grey, looking even older than Emma guessed she actually was because of how pale and ill and thin she was. "Who are you?" the woman asked, her voice quiet and hoarse. "Why are you here?"
"I'm here for you." Emma said, seeing the woman's eyes widen. "To rescue you. For Rumplestiltskin?"
"Rumple?" The woman repeated, a shaky smile spreading across her face, the reaction at odds with what Emma was expecting from her. "He sent you to get me? I thought he-"
"Sorry, but we're in a bit of a rush." Emma interrupted, and Grace crossed the room to help the woman stand, her legs clearly weak after decades trapped in a room. "I'm Emma, by the way."
"Belle."
Emma nodded in acknowledgement and then limped out of the room, starting back down the stairs. Grace and Belle followed her, Grace's arm holding Belle steady.
Their trip back through the palace, back to Killian, was slow. Emma's leg throbbed painfully with each step, the bleeding slowing but not stopping, and Belle was unsteady on her feet, relying on Grace's assistance to move.
But eventually, Emma turned the corner and saw Killian and David, surrounded by the bodies of many guards, their blades red. David had a thin scratch along his cheek and a bruise forming on his chin, but seemed otherwise unharmed. Killian's face was unmarred, but his sword arm was hanging uselessly by his side, a tear in his shirt revealing a deep piercing wound to his bicep, one he couldn't put pressure on with no left hand.
Even with such a wound, a brilliant smile spread across his face the instant he saw Emma, and he hurried across the distance between them, wrapping his hooked arm around her waist and holding her to him, Emma sagging towards him as she took all weight off her injured leg. "What happened? Who hurt you?"
"I'm fine." She insisted, even though she knew that allowing him to hold her up suggested otherwise. "What about you? Who did that to you? How did anyone do that to you?"
"I may be more skilled than any of these so-called guards, but even I can't defeat this number of men without obtaining a wound or two." He explained, and Emma felt him kiss her hair.
"Or two?" She asked, and Killian chuckled. "What else?"
"I'm sure I'm bruised somewhere. Not that it matters when your leg is bleeding like that."
"At least I can walk." Emma said, pulling out of his embrace to demonstrate that she could stand without assistance. "Can you even fight anymore?"
Killian didn't get a chance to answer, a quiet, terrified whimper sounding from behind them. Emma turned to see Grace and Belle had finally caught up, and the ex-prisoner was staring at Killian in terror. David had run over to assist them, but Belle was struggling and trying to get away.
"You said you were taking me to Rumple." She protested, nearly collapsing when she broke away from Grace, David catching her elbow and holding her up. "This man wants to kill Rumple, not bring me to him! The man in front of you, that pirate, tried to kill me when I couldn't help! But, he hasn't changed, I don't understand how can he still look the same? He must have used some evil magic so he won't age, so he can come back and ask me questions he knows I can't answer."
Killian looked horrified, unable to look at Emma or her father. David looked uncertain, whatever confidence he had in Killian appearing to vanish at Belle's words.
"I told you the truth, Belle." Emma pleaded, grateful that Belle was too weak to run from them. "Regina has my mother, and Rumplestiltskin promised he'd help if we could find you, if you were even still alive. Killian, well, he's helping me. He's changed. He's-"
"Sorry." Killian whispered, his voice hoarse. "I'm sorry. And you have no reason to believe me, but I'm here for Emma. Not to harm you."
"For Emma?" Belle asked, appearing to finally notice the lack of distance between Emma and the pirate. Wanting to demonstrate exactly what they meant to each other, Emma reached out and laced her fingers with his. "I'm sorry, but I can't imagine the man I met feeling something for anyone other than himself."
Emma felt Killian's hand flex around hers, and she wanted to protest and tell Belle that the man she had met, decades earlier, was different now. That he truly regretted what he'd done. And he may never have said those exact words to Emma, but she'd heard the loathing in his voice when he told her why he'd ventured into the Queen's palace before, what he'd done when Belle didn't have the information he was desperate for.
But before she had the opportunity, her father stated Rumplestiltskin's name three times, his voice loud and determined.
The second David finished speaking, a dark red puff of smoke appeared in the corridor, spiralling upwards and outwards until it dispersed and revealed the Dark One. And he had no opportunity to do anything, as in the moment he appeared, Belle tugged herself free from David and darted over to Rumplestiltskin, wrapping her arms around his neck with nothing more than a sound of pure happiness. Rumplestiltskin floundered for only a second and then his arms were wrapped around Belle's waist and he was holding her tightly.
But Killian didn't seem willing to watch Rumplestiltskin's reunion with Belle, and Emma watched as he clenched his jaw and looked angrily up at the ceiling. "As joyful as this reunion is, time's wasting. You made a deal, so you better do what I asked."
Rumplestiltskin raised his head and moved one arm away from Belle's waist, flourishing his hand as if casting some sort of spell, except nothing happened. "I don't break deals. The mirror I told you about will be in Regina's throne room. Get Regina there, and you can rid this land of her. You won't even have to take her life, which is what you wanted."
It was clear from the darkness in Rumplestiltskin's expression that had he not made such a deal, Regina wouldn't be living for much longer.
"A mirror?" Emma asked, unsure how that would help them. "How will that get rid of her?"
"Oh, just give her a push!" Sang the Dark One, and then Emma turned away to give Rumplestiltskin and Belle a moment without an audience.
"Killian, you never mentioned a mirror." She stated, searching the pirate's face for any sign that he knew more than he was telling them. "How does it work?"
"We don't need to know how it works. Just that it does." Killian answered, and although he wasn't looking away from her wounded leg, Emma could sense there was something he wasn't saying. "We should go now."
"But we don't even know where the throne room is." Emma said, stopping him from striding off. "Unless... Grace, could you show us the way?"
Grace nodded but Emma was more focused on Killian, surprised by the way his head had jolted up, fixing an intense stare on the kitchen maid. And then his eyes widened, and he glanced again between the older woman and Emma's wounded leg, his tongue running nervously across his lips.
"We should split up." He said slowly, and Emma could tell, again, that he was holding something back.
"But we need each other."
Killian looked uncertain, his gaze hovering over the wound on her leg with a slight frown before he grimly nodded to himself, and then he looked up into her eyes unfalteringly, his jaw clenched and a determined gleam in his eyes. "I'll go alone. I have to do this. I have to make sure everything will be alright."
"If you come with me, everything will be alright." Emma muttered, but Killian shook his head and then used his hook to pull her to him, pressing his lips against hers in a kiss that felt the same as the goodbye he had given her at the Dark One's castle a month before.
And Emma didn't know why it felt like he was leaving her when they were so close. When they had promised forever to each other.
So she tried to hold him close, wanting to stop him from whatever it was he wanted to do, whatever he was lying about, but he just brushed his lips against hers one more time and then stood back. "I know you know I'm not telling you everything." he whispered, so only Emma could hear him. "And it's because it's not important. I just want to make sure, that no matter what happens today, we won't be separated again. I think I know how I can make that happen, but I don't want to delay you in reaching your mother. So if you go ahead, I promise I will meet you in the throne room and we will fix everything together. All I want is to make sure I won't lose you, and if that means taking a short detour right now, I need to do that."
"You won't explain further?" Emma asked, reaching out to brush her hand across his injured arm. "Or take someone with you? I'm not sure you can fight with your arm like that."
"I shouldn't need to fight." He reassured. "I won't be gone too long."
"Promise?" She was still whispering, and she watched as Killian gently wrapped his hook round her wrist and raised her hand to his lips, placing a kiss just below the large ring he had given her. "You'll come back?"
"I will always come back for you, my love."
And although she wanted him to stay with her, she watched him brush by her and run down the corridor, past Grace and Belle and Rumplestiltskin. David appeared to be watching him leave, confusion written on his face.
"Where's he going, Emma?" her father asked, moving to take Killian's place next to her. "I'm pretty certain that's the wrong way."
"I don't know." she answered quietly, gesturing for Grace to start leading them through the palace. "But he'll find us. Now, we need to go and find mom."
But they only got a few steps down the hallway before halting, Snow White herself appearing before them in a puff of purple smoke. Emma heard her father stagger back, but Emma held her ground.
Snow White looked different, her face drawn and sad, eyes dim and mouth downturned, and it horrified Emma to see how she had changed, to know that she was only standing in front of them because of Regina, that the Evil Queen was hidden somewhere in her palace with her mother's heart in her hand.
"What a touching display of true love and hope and determination?" Snow snarled, bitterness evident in her tone, and it was clearly Regina speaking to them, making her words hurt even more by delivering them through Snow White herself. "But maybe it's time for you to learn that sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes, the villains win."
"You're wrong." Emma snarled, feeling her father shaking with fury behind her. "You're not going to win, no matter what you do. Even if it's not us, someone, someday, will stop you."
Snow shrugged. "As long as it's not your family. Snow White took my true love from me, and I won't stand to see the two of you take away even more." Even as she bit out every word, Snow looked apologetic, horrified at what she was being forced to say. "Fortunately for me, you two seem determined for me to have to take Snow White from you. I quite like the idea, of killing her, her last thought being that I'm doing to you what she did to me. Taking away your happiness."
"It's been almost forty years!" Emma snapped, unable to hear her mother's voice saying any more terrible things. "Move on. If you let it go, or at least realised she was only a child, maybe you could be happy. Because I know now that losing someone you love may make you turn to the darkness, but it doesn't mean you can't be happy again and find someone else."
"You're talking about your pirate. About Hook." Snow said with a cruel laugh. "Maybe you'll reconsider once you lose him. And I'll make sure you lose him. I have eyes everywhere in this palace, princess. Do you think I don't know where he is? That I can't find him and kill him before you even get a chance to say goodbye?" Emma's breath caught, terrified by the thought of Killian being found by Regina, having his life ripped from him when she wasn't there to try and save him, what it would be like to feel that she'd lost him, that he'd died alone. "Or you could give up any claim to your throne, and I'll let him live. Isn't it appealing, the idea of sailing the seas with him, with no responsibilities to return to?"
"The kingdom will never accept you." David said, sounding broken but determined. "Even if I die, and Emma leaves, they'll never love you."
That seemed to be the last straw, a ripple of pain evident on Snow's face for only a second before she collapsed to her knees, clutching at her heart, and Emma knew what was happening, horror tearing through her as her father pushed Emma aside and ran to Snow's side, Snow leaning into him and fumbling to take David's hand. And David was kissing her cheeks, kissing away tears, and murmuring that everything would be alright, even though he was crying too, his free hand pressed to his own heart as if it too was being physically crushed.
"I love you, Charming." Snow White said, forcing the words out despite the pain she was feeling. "I've loved you since the first moment I saw you."
"And I will love you until my last." David promised, sobbing and holding Snow even closer, even when she fell still and stopped breathing.
And Emma couldn't watch anymore, her own tears staining her cheeks, turning away from the scene and burying her face in her hands, hiding her tears from Grace, Belle and Rumplestiltskin, who were still there and still watching.
But instead of grief, all Emma could feel was anger, and when she forced herself to look back at her father, her mother in his arms as he wept over her, fury rushed through her.
Pushing Regina through a mirror wasn't enough anymore. The Evil Queen needed to die, and Emma would enjoy being the one to kill her.
Finally managed to update! I hope you enjoyed the chapter - just trust me that things aren't as bad as they appear! Thank you to everyone who added this to their story alerts or to their favourites, as well as everyone who reviewed (especially ChainofPaperclips, who reviewed every single chapter of this story so far over the last week!) And, as always, a huge thank you to BlackDragon733 for beta-ing for me.