HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN! So I decided to do something special for you since this is technically your first birthday that I've been friends with you so, with a lot of help from some friends, we wrote you a bunch of mini fics to one shots to ficlets on a whole range of your favorite Once characters. Have an absolutely fantastic, amazing, awesome, hilarious magical birthday you lovely lady. You absolutely deserve it you Emma Swan you ;) Hope you like them!

19. Emma has to choose to save Neal or Charming. The only problem is both their lives are hanging in the balance, she's running out of time and she can only save one.

Written by: Lisa

She was going to kill Regina.

She knew it.

The spell was entwined around Charming and Neal, choking the life out of them both. They were suspended above the ground, far out of her reach.

"You've lost this round, Miss Swan," Regina announced imperiously, drunk on the power, "Give up. You know they're both going to die anyway."

Snow was out cold behind her: Emma had put herself between her mother and her greatest enemy.

"Stop! Just stop this, Regina! Please!" Her voice was barely audible over the roar of the magic. It was akin to something alive, roaring and seething with rage, wounded. Charming let out a choked noise.

Emma heard a sharp crack, and saw Neal spasm.

Her mind was stuck on an endless loop of oh God, oh God, oh God-

Then she felt the warmth well up inside her, seeping through her insides and out onto her skin, like a protective coat of armor.

Magic.

Emma panicked. She didn't know how to direct it, how to use it to hurt. Nobody had taught her, nobody had guided her. She was at the mercy of the pending explosion, and anybody could get caught in the crossfire.

"So!" Regina called out pleasantly, "Who will it be? Your father," she said, the magic coiling tighter around Charming's limp frame, "Or your beloved?" Neal let out a low gurgle.

Their eyes were glazing over, their looks pleading.

But not for themselves.

Save him, their looks said, you need him more.

Emma wanted to cry.

I need you both equally, she wanted to scream back, God, I need you both so, so much.

The magic was building, the warmth turning into unbearable heat.

Regina's smile faltered.

Emma closed her eyes, picked one face to hold in her mind's eye, and was consumed by self-hatred.

She knew she could only save one.

Either way, knew a part of her would die.

Which one was more expendable? Neither.

But still, she chose.

The pulse of magic erupted, and everything was consumed with white.

Regina screamed.

I love you, Emma thought before she lost consciousness.