With all my strength I grip the rope and swing through cold air, hitting the side of the stalk with a thud. It hurts but ultimately it's a better position, because now my weight is being supported by the still-climbing vines. I start digging in my fingers and pulling myself towards Belle, tied far above me. I can feel the edges of skin around my dried-out scabs tear with the effort, but I ignore it.
"Belle!-" I shout. I can hear commotion below me. "Belle?!"
The beanstalk abruptly stops growing. Mr. Gold must have seen my attempted hijack. Above me the moon, its rays undiluted, falls upon me with full force.
"No." I say aloud. I have to get to her. Untie her. Carry her down to the ground. Get her home and away from this madness. Or failing that, cling the stalk beside her and defend her wherever we go. But the moon is so strong up here, the purple tornado of magic whirling so close beside me. The world turns sepia and I feel the bones in my hands start to jump and tremble. "No! NO!" I can hear my voice turning into a howl. I can feel my teeth stirring and elongating in my gums, the palms of my hands itching and twisting, my fingers vanishing. Not now, not now- I'm sorry Belle, I'm so sorry-
Ten feet from the ground the world turns to color again, and I realize I've shifted in and out of being a wolf just before falling to my death. Ten feet, to be precise. I try to get my barings, taking in the scene below me. I'm hovering in midair, trapped in a bubble of purple magic that's saved my life. It's Regina, below me, who's keeping me alive, her face twisted in pain, her hands shaking with effort. Magic is draining from her faster than before and surrounding me in this cocoon of protection, and I can hear Mr. Gold chuckle at her effort.
"Well, dearies, I don't have to lift a finger here." He says confidently. "I'll just wait for your magic to run out and her to fall. Two little birds with one stone. " Regina, ignoring him, totters on her feet, her eyes momentarily flickering- I drop, three feet of free fall, but then she puts her arms back out and I find myself once again in a protecting bubble.
Snow is looking up at me, horrified, her hands knotted together. "Please Gold, you don't have to let her die. Set her down and we can continue with the plan." She looks to the Blue Fairy, who is watching with almost professional interest. "There must be something you can do- throw your fairy dust or something. She's a good person!"
"You want a fairy to use the sacred fairy dust to save a werewolf and an evil witch?" I hear Blue Fairy say, her voice distorted in my little purple bubble. "That's not really in keeping with my duties."
Regina runs to Emma's side and clasps her arms around her, as if to hold her, to protect her. Suddenly Regina's purple lightning turns pure gold. She stands straighter, her face relaxing, and looks at Emma appreciatively, her eyes wide, laughing with surprise and joy.
"You're magic." Regina says.
"No, we are." Emma whispers. They intertwine fingers and Regina brings me down, effortlessly, to ground level in a moment that feels not unlike riding an invisible elevator. Mr. Gold is shaking his head.
"Impossible."
Regina flicks her hand and Belle, still unconscious, is down on the ground beside. I clasp her in my arms before she falls, catch her up in my arms like a sleeping child, tears falling down my face.
"NO!" Mr. Gold shrieks. He stares up at the column of purple magic beside him- there's so little left, but he puts out a hand and absorbs it. Snow runs at him, getting between me and the little, sour-faced man whose shaking with rage.
"You said you'd use the last of the magic here to get Emma and Henry on the beanstalks. You promised me. That was our deal, Gold! Do you want your dagger back or not?!" she shouts, and he pauses for a moment and wheels on her, furious.
"Open your eyes." He snaps at Snow, bits of white froth in the corners of his mouth. "Your daughter will always find a way to go back to Regina, that's been her fate since the day she was born. What the two of them have is the one form of magic I can't defeat-" he waves a hand dismissively toward Regina and Emma, who are proudly standing with their hands clasped, a sheen of golden light glistening around them. "What magic I have left is for me and what I want."
"Then you don't get your dagger." Snow says feebly.
"I'm sure I'll get that dagger back from you one way or another, Snow." Mr. Gold says contemptuously, and stands before me, a vein popping form his forehead. "But first, to deal with her." Purple magic fog is whirling around each hand. I want to run but I'm too weak. My bleeding arms and legs are already trembling just trying to hold myself and Belle up. I find myself on my knees, shaking my head. "Please don't." I manage. He waves one hand and Belle flies out of my arms and lands in a heap a few feet away.
He towers over me, and I can't get up but at least I can meet his eyes as he kills me.
"She won't even remember you existed." He promises, and raises a hand to strike.
A glint of silver in the moonlight catches my eye. Snow's removed a dagger from her coat and without a trace of emotion on her face she stabs it directly into Mr. Gold's back. Emma shrieks and Mr. Gold falls to his knees. He turns on one arm, wheeling to face Snow, his eyes wide, his jaw falling open, and manages one last bitter laugh. "Thank you, Your Majesty." He sputters. "You don't realize what a gift that truly was."
Snow stands over him, the bloody dagger still in her hand. With a cry she lets it fall, as it lays sparkling in the grass I can see carved dark letters on the blade shifting to read: Snow White. James runs to her but she takes a step away. Already I can see a scaly glisten creeping over her fair skin. "Don't, James." Her eyes are filling with tears.
"Snow, I'm so sorry." I weep, looking from Rumple's graying form to Snow's small figure, which already seems to breathe shadows. Her eyes are going black.
"I'm the Dark One now." She whispers. "I'm the Dark One…" Regina gulps and looks as though she wants to flee.
"Maybe there doesn't have to BE a Dark One." Emma says, catching Regina's hand. "Mom…" she says softly, and extends a hand. "Maybe this is the way to end the darkness." She looks at Regina, and Regina begrudgingly offers her own hand as well, inviting Snow into a circle of three. Snow's skin gleams like silver in the moonlight and she shies away from them, like a magnet pulses away from another magnet with the same charge.
"I can't." she croaks, her voice thinner, reedier. She's transforming right before my eyes but I can still see a spark of goodness that's not extinguished. Like the last glint before the sun sets and warm and light turns into night.
"Yes you can." I whisper, standing on shaking legs. "Snow, as long as I've known you you've wanted this- a mother who loves you. A daughter to love. It's all in front of you. Before the darkness fully takes over, I'm begging you Snow. Hold on to it. Hold on to the love inside you and it will chase the darkness away."
Snow looks at me, and then at Emma, and her face softens. As though she's walking through fire she walks to Regina and Emma and takes both of their hands.
The pulse throws me back onto the ground. I look up and see pure golden energy shooting outwards from the women, who hold onto each other's hands as tight as they can.