Okay, enough with these 'setting the scene' chapters. Let's get some story happening shall we!
"Y..your what? Regina what is going on? What's wrong with you?"
With great difficulty, Regina rolled onto her back and locked eyes with the Saviour. She looked terrible. Her skin was pale and covered in a sheen of sweat. The heavy streaks of purple under her eyes painted the picture of an entirely sleepless night. How long has she been like this? Emma wondered.
"Death, my dear. I'm dying. Now please don't make me repeat everything – I'm in rather a great deal of pain."
As she spoke Emma noticed that Regina's bottom lip was littered with bite marks, as if she'd been clamping down on it to hold back screams. Which in all likelihood, the blonde realised, she had.
She softened her voice before speaking again, taking on the tone of a visitor in a hospital. "Regina, I don't understand. Why do you think you're dying?"
"I don't think, Miss Swan, I know. One of the unfortunate side effects of a death curse is, I'm afraid, death. I know that magic is new to you but hopefully this concept is not beyond your comprehension."
Only Regina Mills could snark from her deathbed. Each word out of her mouth seemed to be dragged from some place painful but she persevered, unwilling to let a little thing like agony stand in the way of a good put down.
"The spell you put over the well to stop your mother coming through? That's what's doing this to you?"
Emma felt like an idiot. She should have considered the possibility that removing that spell would have had side effects on Regina as soon as Henry told her about it. Like Rumplestiltskin was so fond of reminding everyone – all magic comes with a price.
As with everything that had happened since the curse broke, Emma felt like she was in an absurd play, one where everyone had learned their lines except her. Each new development was a kick to the senses and she was struggling to keep up.
"Yes, it is. Now if you'll excuse me this whole experience was perfectly noble until you showed up. I won't have you turning my final scenes into a farce."
"Okay, Regina enough! I get that you're in pain and I get that I'm a magical moron but how about you lay off the insults and start explaining some of this shit to me. Because if you think I'm going to just leave you here to die then you haven't really read the Saviour job description recently."
Regina drew in a large breath. Even taking in air looked like a struggle. She shut her eyes as she concentrated on inhaling and exhaling, gathering all her strength for the conversation to come.
"The death curse," she began slowly, "In order to remove it from the well I had to draw it into my own body. Which it is now attacking."
Emma nodded, absorbing the information as best she could.
"So...so it's kind of like a cancer then?" she asked uncertainly.
Regina wanted to give a sharp and wounding response but she swallowed it, if only for the sake of shortening this exchange with the blonde haired blight on her life.
"Kind of." she conceded.
"Okay, well then we just need the magical version of chemo right? What would that be?"
"Your guess would be as good as mine. As far as I know, no one has ever survived a death curse."
Her matter of fact resignation was starting to frustrate Emma. This was the woman who had threatened her with grievous bodily harm upon her entry into Henry's life. Where was that fire now, when she really needed it? Where was her fight?
Then she put the pieces together.
"You knew this was going to happen didn't you? When you took the curse off you knew that it was going to kill you?"
Regina's silence spoke volumes.
"Then why did you do it?" whispered Emma bewilderingly.
Brown eyes, glossed over and yet still piercing, met green.
"Because Henry asked me to."
Emma could feel her frustration rising again. "Jesus Christ Regina! Why didn't you just explain what would happen to him. He wouldn't have asked if he'd known it was going to kill you!"
Regina furrowed her brow, as though in confusion. Her eyes searched every inch of Emma's face for signs of mockery or jest. She found none.
"You can't really believe that?" Regina asked slowly, as though marvelling that anyone could be so naive.
Emma shook her head in disbelief. Did Regina actually think that Henry would knowingly sacrifice her in order to save his birth mother?
"Look, there are obviously some issues here that need to be addressed. How about we do that after we've saved your life."
"And how do you propose we do tha..." Regina cut off mid sentence as a sharp and penetrating pain flared through her. She curled in on herself again, drawing her knees up to her chest. She gasped for air as the hurt pulled at her insides.
Emma rushed over to the side of the bed, gesturing helplessly. She didn't know what to do. Any kind of comfort she tried to show could just end up hurting Regina more. She needed back up.
"Regina, hold on okay. I'm going to get help."
"No...please," Regina sounded terrified, her fear overwhelming her desire to look strong and in control. There was no room left in her battered body for embarrassment. "I don't want to be alone again."
Conflicting emotions wrestled for supremacy inside Emma. She couldn't do this on her own, wouldn't know where to start. But she couldn't leave, not after a plea like that.
"It's all right I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here. I'm just going call Mary Margaret and David okay?"
Regina nodded, relieved that she wouldn't have to go back into the hole of solitude she'd been dwelling in the entire night. Only one plaguing thought remained to trouble her.
"But don't...don't tell Henry about this."
"Regina he has a right to know!"
"Don't! I don't want him to ...to see me like this."
Emma couldn't understand the brunette's request. If she were in pain Henry would be the first person she'd want by her side. He was certainly much better at this bedside comfort thing than she was. But seeing the strain Regina was under, she didn't want to question her. Better to keep her happy and calm - save her strength for more important things. Like kicking this curses ass.
"Okay, fine. Henry gets the PG version. Understood."
Relief flooded Regina's face for the briefest of moments before it was twisted into another mask of torture. Her entire body was shaking now and she was giving off a faint green glow.
She was running out of time.
Emma pulled out her cellphone and called the Charming's apartment. Each ring it gave filled her with anxiety.
Come on, pick up! she thought desperately.
Finally she heard the click of the set being taken off the receiver.
"Hello, Charming Swan Mills residence."
"Henry," Emma breathed hurriedly "Is Mary Margaret there?"
"Oh hey! Did you visit my Mom yet? Did you give her my message?"
"Ah not yet buddy. I actually really need to speak to Mary Margaret, can you pass the phone over to her please kid."
Henry gave an exasperated sigh.
"Don't forget to tell her when you see her! That was the deal remember?"
"Yes Henry, I remember. Now can you please give the phone to Mary Margaret."
Emma was desperately trying to keep the panic out of her voice. Henry was a smart kid and if he sensed that something was up he wasn't going to let it go. He was like both of his mother's in that respect.
"Okay, okay, I'm passing it over. Jeez, nice to talk to you too."
She heard him call out for "Grandma" and the shuffle of feet as took her the phone. Another minute later and Mary Margaret's voice came down the line.
"Emma?"
"Mary Margaret, is Henry still in the room?"
"Yes...why?"
"Okay, just listen. I need you to make sure that everything you say is calm and sort of neutral. He can't know what's going on."
"All riiight."
Emma could already hear Henry in the background. "What's going on, why didn't she want to talk to me?"
"Regina's in a bad way. That curse she removed from the well - it's inside her now and...well let's just say I don't think she has much time."
There was a weighted pause from the other end of the phone. Emma knew that Regina was still a sore spot for Mary Margaret but she was praying that her famously good and forgiving heart would win out in this situation. She needed all the help she could get and a fired up Snow White could be surprisingly badass.
"What do you need me to do?"
Emma wanted to kiss the phone.
"Find out anything you can about death curses and how to stop them. As much as I don't like it you're probably going to have to go to Gold. He might be the only one who can help us."
"I understand."
"I don't want you going on your own though. I know David's not exactly Regina's biggest fan but do you think you can convince him to tag along?"
Mary Margaret's next words were obviously said through a smile. "Leave your father to me, I'm sure I can think of something to get him on board."
Images of the two in bed together came flooding back and it was all Emma could do to keep from choking back an incredibly juvenile 'Ewww'.
"Thanks. Oh and don't tell Henry anything! Regina doesn't want him to know."
"That might be a little difficult Em. He's a curious kid." She said the words affectionately but Emma could tell she was genuinely concerned about whether or not she could keep this from him.
As if on cue his voice popped up again. "Who's a curious kid? Are you guys talking about me?"
"I know. Just... do the best you can. Hopefully we'll get this sorted out soon and we can tell him about it once it's all blown over and Regina's safe."
"Hopefully." Even the ever optimistic Mary Margaret couldn't keep the sorrowful scepticism from her voice. "What are you going to do?"
Emma took in another deep breath. Any more of these and she'd probably burst from over oxygenation.
"I'm going to stay here and keep an eye on Regina. She shouldn't be alone right now."
The unspoken knowledge that Regina had spent so much time alone already sat heavy between them.
"Good luck," said Mary Margaret quietly "I'll call as soon as I know anything. I love you."
"I love you too." Emma responded mechanically but hoped that her mother wouldn't notice. How many weird but wonderful encounters was it going to take before she got used to all of this?
When she heard the dial tone in her ear she returned the cellphone to her coat pocket and turned her attention back to Regina, who was watching her through a haze of bloodshot veins.
"Well...?" Her voice was cracking again, her control slipping.
"The Charming's are on the case."
"How comforting," Regina said dryly. "And Henry?"
"Is none the wiser," Emma assured. "That reminds me, he made me promise to pass on a message for you."
"Mmmm...?"
"He said he's glad that you had faith in him. And that he'll see you soon."
Tears welled up in Regina's eyes, ones clearly of love and not of pain. Emma knew that their relationship was strained at the moment but it was obvious to her how much Regina and Henry cared about each other. There had to be a way for them to all get what they needed without anyone getting hurt.
"And guess what, Regina? In order for him to see you soon – you actually have to be alive. You don't want to make a liar out of our kid now do you?"
"Our kid?" Regina's question was heartbreakingly hopeful.
"Hell yeah, our kid! I have no intentions of doing this by myself. He's going to be a teenager soon and you know what that means don't you? Puberty and girls and pimples and peer pressure. You really going to leave all that in my hands?"
A small, gasping laugh issued from Regina. It was immediately followed by a racking cough that left her lips spotted with blood. As another spasm took hold of her body she let out a keening and prolonged cry. It was almost animalistic.
Frightened, Emma reached out and grabbed one of Regina's hands – not caring whether she was overstepping any boundaries. She squeezed lightly, trying to reassure the sick woman but not wanting to hurt her.
"Regina! You're going to be okay. I promise."
They both knew that the words were hollow. Neither of them could say if Regina was going to be okay. But the sentiment was heartfelt and appreciated.
Not trusting her voice, Regina decided to let her actions speak. With all the strength she could muster, she squeezed back.