Author's note: Completely blown away by the responses to the last ch love you all!
Chapter 25
A wave of magic flows out of Emma, much like when she blasted Cora back when she tried to take her heart. At the same time, a wave of magic courses through the land, color seemingly returning to their surroundings, startlingly similar to when Charming woke up Snow with True Love's Kiss.
For one beautiful moment, everyone is frozen. Shocked at this recent turn of events. Emma looks down at the dagger protruding from her chest as if mildly surprised. Snow hits the ground, her side colliding painfully with the bottom of the pit, her mouth in a wide open O as memories flow through her. Tamara and Greg look stunned and horrified at the scene before them. Regina feels something warm flow through her body; the return of her magic.
But then the moment is broken and all hell breaks loose.
In the blink of an eye, Regina has formed two fireballs that she immediately aims at Greg and Tamara. They try to run, of course, but are no match for Regina, who watches with a sick satisfaction as they begin to burn to death.
"Oh my God." Snow says as she gets up. "I-I remember everything. My daughter's not dead. She's right…" But horror fills her upon turning Emma, who sways on the spot before slowly collapsing. "Emma!" Snow cries as she catches her from behind, lowering her to the ground. "NO!"
Emma can only look up at her mother, unable to speak. Her eyes are already beginning to close.
"NO!" Snow slaps her hands against Emma's cheeks. "You have to keep them open. You have to stay awake, do you hear me?!" She yanks off her thin sweater and holds it against the blood gushing out of her chest but that does little to staunch the flow. Tears flow down Snow's cheeks as she watches the life slowly draining out of her daughter. She looks desperately at Regina. "Help me!"
Regina's eyes are as wide as saucers. "I-I can't." She says remorsefully. "The knife…once it's reached its victim it'll kill them."
Snow shakes her head rapidly. "No." That seems to be all she can say. "No. I refuse to believe that. No."
"I'm sorry." Regina says. "There's no stopping it."
"Why?" Snow looks down at Emma. "Why would you do that?"
In response, Emma shakily reaches up and touches her hand to her mother's cheek. "M-mom. I-I…love you." She gasps as her eyes fall close once again.
"No." Snow whispers. "Don't say it like that. You're not gonna die, Emma. You're going to be ok. I promise."
Emma's head falls to the side and her hand goes limp.
"EMMA!" Snow cries. "Wake up! Please!" She begs. But it is futile, of course. She knows that her daughter is long gone.
There is a hand on her shoulder. Regina, who looks more human and less Evil Queen that she has in years. "Come on. We should take her back." She places her other hand on Emma's shoulder and together the three of them disappear.
The first thing Snow registers as they re-materialize inside the castle is complete and utter chaos. Cries and shouts fill the air as people run around frantically around yet again. Snow briefly wonders why but that is clearly not at the forefront of her mind.
"EMMA!" David shouts as he sees them, immediately pushing past the people he was talking to and running over. He looks from Regina's stricken face to Snow's tear filled one. "What the hell happened?" He demands, taking in Emma's limp form, cradled in Snow's arms. There is a dagger sticking out from her chest. Her shirt is coated with blood and yet more is still flowing out.
"I…Tamara and Greg…steal magic…dagger…Emma!" Snow rambles, unable to speak coherently through her gasping sobs.
Suddenly, his head begins to spin as he slowly lowers himself down, his knees unable to support any weight. One hand reaches out to cup his daughter's cheek, already finding it cold. "No." He whispers. "Oh, Emma. What happened?"
It is Regina who answers, speaking over Snow's loud cries. "We were kidnapped by Tamara and Greg…"
"Wait. Tamara?" A surprised voice interrupts from the background. David looks up to see a shocked looking Neal.
Regina nods curtly.
He shakes his head in disgust. "What happened to her?" He asks. "And Greg." He adds, almost as an afterthought.
And then a smirk crosses Regina's face. "They're dead." She says with a note of triumph. "Can't say I'm sorry about that. Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, Ms. Swan and I were kidnapped by the two imbeciles. They tricked me into handing over the magic extracting dagger and were planning on using to steal our magic. Right before they were about to do so, Snow popped out and started talking, saying that they should take her magic. To give us time to run."
"But then Emma pushed me aside." Snow says hollowly. "They were about to kill me but she allowed herself to be stabbed instead."
"Wait." David holds up a hand, turning to Regina. "You said you gave them the dagger. You caused this?"
Regina is visibly affronted. "They tricked me!"
David stands up and takes a step towards Regina, his face a mask of anger and grief, but before he can lunge at her as he intended Snow speaks up again. "David, it's not her fault. If anything it was mine. I failed at a mother's most basic job, protecting her child. I should've been the one to die."
"You're both wrong." Neal interrupts. "It's my fault. If only I'd known what Tamara had been up to this wouldn't have happened." A sob rises up as he looks down at Emma's body. He turns away, shoulders already shaking.
Someone brings a table, and Emma's body is placed upon it, a sheet covering the ugly wound as Regina extracts the knife.
"Something weird happened." Snow says as she begins to smooth the sheet. "When Emma was…stabbed," She has a hard time saying it. "A wave of magic of something came out of her. And then I got my memories back. And Regina her magic." Murmurs from the crowd alert her to the fact that everyone else who'd lost their memories got them back as well.
"I believe it was because of Ms. Swan." Regina gestures at the blonde. "The knife was designed to extract magic, which it did. Under normal circumstances, someone or something is there to absorb it immediately. However, as no one did so, the magic returned to the land and out of existence. And because of Ms. Swan's act of self sacrifice, the act in itself was an act of love, which as everyone knows is the most powerful magic of all. That wave of true love released from her action returned everyone's memories."
Someone from the crowd speaks up. "So…if magic is returned to the land does that mean that we can go home?"
Regina nods. "I suppose that before the magic leached out of existence there is a possibility that the trees may have absorbed some of it."
The trees. David realizes as he looks at Snow. They now have a way back, provided that they build the vessels to do so.
"Someone build the wardrobes!" Someone cries.
"No!" Someone else shouts. "We belong here, we should rebuild and stay!"
The crowd is growing restless, and David knows it's his job to address the problem but he cannot find his voice at the moment.
Regina throws the crowd a look. "Have some respect." She snaps, instantly silencing them. "Their daughter just died."
Snow smiles gratefully at her former enemy; though it is a crass statement, it is still a nice gesture.
People begin to approach, offering their respects to their fallen savior. It is after the crowds disappear that Snow and David finally say their last goodbyes.
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart." Snow whispers as she smoothes down her daughter's hair. In real life Emma would've never stood for the use of pet names, yet Snow likes to imagine that little Emma would've liked them. "We had so much little time together. You grew up so alone, the way nobody should. And even though we placed you in that wardrobe to save you it did nothing but curse you to a life full of pain. And we can never that make that up." Tears begin to fall as she mourns the daughter she barely knows. The daughter she will never speak to again.
"You brought light into our lives." David murmurs as he places an arm around Snow. "You saved us. And for that we will owe you forever. Even though we barely knew each other you have touched our lives. You will always be our baby."
She bends down and presses her lips against Emma's forehead. Next to her, David does the same.
"I love you Emma." Both of them say simultaneously.
Then something happens. A wave of something, maybe magic, passes through the room.
And Emma's eyes fly open.
Author's note: Ummm whattt...so is she dead or what?
