A/N: Sorry about the delay, I've been super busy and traveling all over the place. But thank you so much for all the support! It really means a lot and makes me want to keep writing. :) Sorry this is a really short chapter, but I'll have a longer one up soon.
Emma's mind began to work in overtime. Would Gold side with Regina on this one? If he had the power to bend the laws of magic…
"You wont do it, will you, Rumple?" It was more of a statement than a question, as if Belle was certain he would never do such a thing.
Mr. Gold sighed. "No, of course not," he muttered in a low voice, training his gaze onto Emma. "And I suppose you won't either, Miss Swan?"
Emma barked a sarcastic laugh. "No way."
Mr. Gold shifted his stance. "Then Regina has a problem. And since she needs us intact…" His eyes grew somber as he gazed at Belle. "She'll hit us where it hurts the most until we agree."
Killian. Emma had an urge to find him and run, anywhere. Leave the town to deal with Regina. It was in the back of her mind, though she knew that she would never carry out that plan.
In reality, was Regina capable of that kind of evil anymore? She had sincerely changed, but after what happened with Robin Hood, Emma wasn't sure what she would do to get him back.
That thought triggered something in her memory, something Henry had told her not even an hour earlier.
"After the genie told her he couldn't kill anyone, she said 'a pity,' and then after he said he couldn't make anyone fall in love, she had said 'even more of a pity.'"
This wasn't about power. It wasn't about being in control.
It was about being loved.
"Wait a minute." Emma held a hand up to echo her statement. "Maybe she doesn't want to harm anybody. If she could make Robin Hood fall in love with her, she would be happy. She doesn't want anything else."
"I know my mom's done bad things in the past," Henry chimed in, "but she's different now. I know she's changed. She might have just gotten off track a little."
The ghost of a smile appeared on Mr. Gold's face. "It's possible that's true, but I've known Regina for much longer than you, dearie, and she's never satisfied. Are you really willing to take that chance?"
She could kill somebody.
Maid Marian.
She could make someone fall in love with her.
Robin Hood.
She could bring back the dead.
Cora.
And she could change the past.
Make it so that none of us ever existed.