***Regina's Dream***

The mist was thicker than usual. It was colder. Regina looked around trying to find Emma, but could see nothing but the light purple smoke.
"Emma?!" Regina cried out. Regina waited, chest heaving. She thought she heard Emma's voice in the distance and moved towards it. "Emma? Where are you?!"

"Regina!" It was faint, but Regina moved toward the sound of Emma's voice, calling for her. "Regina! I'm here!"

Regina followed the sound of Emma's voice until finally the mist cleared a bit, allowing Regina to finally see Emma. She was pulling on a heavy metal chain that was hooked to a stake in the ground. Regina's eyes widened as she saw Emma clawing at the metal cuff around her wrist that tethered her to the stake.

"Emma!" Regina ran up and instinctually wrapped her arms around the blonde in a tight embrace.

Emma was so relieved that she welcomed the embrace without protest, and squeezed around Regina's waist as her face was tickled by warm chocolate locks. "Regina! Oh, thank God!"

Regina pulled back, leaving her hands gripping into Emma's forearms. "What's going on?! What's happened to you?"

Emma's eyes were wide as she shook her head and motioned to the chain. "I don't know. The darkness, I think it's getting stronger. I've been fighting it, but it's just too strong. I've been trying to reach out, to connect with you! But I-I'm starting to lose control. It's like someone else is in the drivers seat of my own life!"

Regina nodded and squeezed Emma's arms. "I know. I'm doing all I can, I promise you," Regina's face fell as she shook her head. "Why, Emma? Why would you sacrifice yourself like that?!"

Emma swallowed and half smiled. "I told you why. It was time you finally caught a break."

Regina scoffed quietly before stiffening her face. "I swear to you, I will help you get out of this. I just-I'm not sure how yet."

"What about Gold? What did he say?"

Regina shook her head. "Not much, and what he did say didn't make any sense. He said that somehow True Love was the key."

Emma looked off into the distance in thought. Regina watched her and squeezed her arms again, drawing the blonde's attention back to her. "Emma. I need to know some things. Dark Emma has been telling me things, and I don't know what to believe. But if Gold is right, and True Love is the answer, then I need to know the truth."

Emma looked at Regina and swallowed. "Okay," Emma squeaked out.

Regina pursed her lips and looked Emma in the eyes. "Do you love Hook?" When Emma didn't answer Regina looked at her with pleading eyes. "Emma, please! She said that you don't really love him, that you were just trying to do what was expected of you. I need the truth. Do you love him? Is there any chance that he is your True Love?"

Regina waited as Emma took several deep breaths. Emma looked bewildered as she finally shook her head. "No. I don't love him. I just-thought that I should. That I was supposed to. I-" tears filled up Emma's eyes. "I just didn't want to let anyone down."

Regina's heart broke for this woman. This woman who was so noble and so good, that she would suffer internally like this just to make other people happy. It wasn't fair. If Regina had anything to say about it, she would never let Emma feel this way ever again. She sighed and took Emma into another tight embrace. She put a hand on the back of Emma's head and stroked her hair. "It's alright. It'll be alright."

Regina pulled back and looked Emma in the eyes. She gripped Emma's shoulders and looked at her intently. "Emma. You don't have a responsibility to make anyone happy except yourself, do you understand me?"

Emma's eyes wept as she squeezed her hands around Regina's wrists. She looked down, not ready to listen to this kind of advice. She WAS responsible for other people's happiness. She was the Savior. She had to look out for everyone before herself.

Suddenly a cackling sounded all around them, the ground beginning to rumble. The voice surrounded them both and Regina clung to Emma's arms.

"Oh, how sweet!" Dark Emma's voice boomed around them as the mist swirled rapidly, both women's hair blowing around them like in a hurricane. "I'm afraid you can't win, Regina. No True Love, no Savior!"

Suddenly the stake that was holding Emma pulled from the ground and flew through the air, chain going taut. Emma's arm was pulled out, causing her to grunt in pain. She clung to Regina in an effort to not get pulled into the swirling mist.

Regina's eyes flew wide as she grabbed onto Emma, trying to keep her from flying away. "Emma! No!"

The women held fast to each other, but the pull was getting greater. Both women knew it was futile. Emma was going to get whisked away. Emma looked into Regina's eyes, inches away from her own. "It's no use. Let me go, Regina!" she insisted.

Regina looked pleadingly into Emma's eyes before steeling her face. "No. I'm not going to do that. I will help you, Emma. I promise!" Both women's breath was heavy as they looked into each others eyes. Regina could barely hold on any longer as Emma was getting pulled from her grasp. She glanced down at Emma's lips, debating for a moment about whether what she was about to do was wise. Before she could change her mind she leaned in and captured Emma's lips in her own as the winds churned and whistled around them.

Regina felt Emma's lips moving against hers and for a moment she had hope. For a moment it felt like this was exactly what was meant to be, and that everything was going to be just fine. The softness of Emma's lips on hers was almost enough to make her forget the ridiculous predicament they were in. Then just as quickly as the moment began, Emma was pulled from Regina's embrace and sent plummeting through the mist and away from Regina.

Regina thrust her arms out as she watched Emma tumble through the air and disappeared into the mist. Regina screamed her name as Dark Emma's laughter surrounded her again.

XXXXXXX

Regina called Snow first thing in the morning. After her dream, she was pretty sure that Dark Emma probably had complete control now, and that meant that things could start getting ugly. She also called Hook and asked him to meet them at Granny's. She knew the truth about Emma's feelings toward him now, but he was still a specific target of the dark one. As Regina pulled open the door of the diner, she wondered exactly how she was going to explain all this without revealing all the naughty little details. She took a deep breath and slid into the booth with the Charmings and Hook.

The group looked at her expectantly. "Well?" Snow asked. "Have you come up with something?"

Charming looked on, hopeful. "I sure hope so. These pranks are getting out of control. Last night I had to bring bolt cutters to cut Ruby out of a metal dog kennel."

Regina paused, knowing this was going to be tough to explain. "Well, maybe. Emma...came to see me."

"What? When?" Hook asked.

"Last night. And the night before."

"What?" Snow whined. "Why didn't you say something?!"

Regina shifted uncomfortably. "Because, I had to figure out exactly what was going on with her and whether or not I could believe the things she was telling me."

"What do you mean? What was she saying?" David asked, brows furrowed.

Regina cleared her throat. "Well, Emma, our Emma, was fighting against the dark one. The Dark One told me that she was playing all these immature pranks because the Savior wasn't letting her do anything worse. I asked her to let me talk to the Savior and she refused. Somehow...our Emma was able to communicate with me through my dreams."

Hook sat up straighter in his chair. "What did she say?"

Regina felt her face flush and paused as she tried to figure out exactly what to tell them. "Nothing at first. I think, she was at first just trying to figure out how to connect with me. But, last night I was able to talk with her. It was clear that the dark one was starting to win."

"What do you mean?" Hook asked.

Regina intertwined her fingers and rested her forearms on the table. "She was chained up. I only got to talk to her for a moment before she was pulled away. After she came to me the first time I went back to talk to Gold. I wanted to know how much of his behavior was attributed to the dagger, and how much of it was simply because he's a bastard."

"You think that because Emma is a hero that she can beat this?"

Regina shrugged her shoulders. "It crossed my mind. Gold seemed to think it was possible, but said somehow...True Love was the solution."

Hook looked at all the faces turned towards him and his face reddened. "Right. Well, what would you have me do, then?"

Regina bit her bottom lip. Snow noticed and asked her what was wrong. "Hook...Emma said..."

Hook furrowed his eyebrows. "Emma said what?"

Regina paused, looking at all three curious gazes and tried to figure out how to put this. Sure, she didn't like Hook, but she had no desire to smash his heart into pieces in the middle of Granny's Diner. "She...Emma is confused. She has been trying so hard to fit the bill of the Savior, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. She's felt tremendous pressure to be a hero, it's taken it's roll on her. She has put herself and her wants and needs on the back burner for so long, she just-she's not sure what she wants."

"Oh just tell them, already, highness. What do you care?" The voice startled them all, looking over to see the dark one lounging in the corner booth with her legs propped up on the seat.

"Emma!" Snow and Charming cried as all four people scrambled from the booth. They stood across the diner from Emma, who had frightened every other patron out the door. Regina watched as they took in the sight of the transformed Emma, knowing it was quite a shock. Emma just glared at them all, elbow on the table as she played with a fork. She looked at Regina and smirked. "Leaving a few things out, aren't we?"

Regina glared at her and shook her head. "Don't do this."

Emma swung her legs down and stood up from the booth smiling. "Don't do what? Since when are you keen on sparing people's feelings?" She looked over at Hook as she took a few steps forward. "What she was trying so desperately NOT to tell you my dear pirate, is that Emma doesn't love you." Hook took a step backward as if the words had shoved him. She let out a single chuckle. "She only said that to try and fit into this pretty little perfect family. She put on this front, doing everything she thought was expected of her. True Love. Isn't that what she was supposed to find? A man to love and protect her?" She looked at Snow. "Isn't that what you expected of her?"

Snow shook her head slightly. "We just want her to be happy. No matter what that means for Emma."

The dark one threw back her head and laughed heartily. She looked back at Snow with a smirk. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. The truth can be quite...prickly. Isn't that right, Regina?"

Regina scowled and shook her head. The dark one was going to destroy Emma's life. She knew full well that Emma would never want her innermost desires and secrets revealed so publicly. The dark one was determined to humiliate both Emma and Regina in front of people she knew would be completely shocked to know the truth of who Emma was. This wasn't fair. Regina fumed. She felt the group looking at her and gritted her teeth. "Stop it. Don't do this to her."

Emma laughed and raised an eyebrow. "You said the pirate was the issue. I'm taking care of it."

Regina's nostrils flared. "I told you to leave him alone. I told you not to mess with Emma's life!"

Emma's posture straightened as she grew angry. "And I told YOU, that it's my life now. I will do as I please. Your precious Savior has no hold on me any more. So now I can start to have some REAL fun!"

With two swift steps, the dark one walked up to Hook and grabbed him around the throat. Before anyone could even step forward to stop her, they both disappeared into a poof of black smoke. Emma and Hook were gone.