Chapter Fifty: A Great Loss

The front door of Gold's shop flew open from the enormous fireball unleashed by the combined forces of Regina and Cora. The two women stormed in afterward, and they were greeted by the sight of the Doctor, who stood before them, armed only with his sonic screwdriver – which did not pose enough as a threat to them. The people behind him, however, brandished swords, an alien handgun, and a revolver. Jack, David, Emma, River, and Neal were all prepared for a battle, whilst the Doctor had hoped for negotiation.

"So this is the all-powerful 'Doctor' I've heard so much about." Cora said upon eyeing the Time Lord. "From all of the stories about you, I expected to meet a warrior – but you're not even armed."

The Doctor's eyes darted from Cora over to Regina. She looked very unhinged, due to all the memories of his long, ancient life in her mind. "Regina, I know the mental torture you're going through. I can sense it in you at this very moment. I can help you, if you and your mother turn away now and leave Rumplestiltskin alone."

"That's not going to happen!" Regina snapped.

"You're going to cure my daughter of the spell you placed on her…or you will die also, Doctor." Cora threatened.

"Killing me won't do you a lick of good." The Doctor pointed out.

Cora nodded, considering his logic. "You're right. I suppose that I'll just make you suffer into doing what we wish."

Regina conjured a fireball in her hand that she hurled in the Doctor's direction. David immediately stepped and blocked the attack with his sword. Before he could have made another move, Regina used her magic to send both him and the Doctor out through the front door, closing it shut subsequently. Regina and Cora then proceeded in unleashing their wrath on Jack, Neal, River, and Emma.

River fired a laser blast from her alien handgun, but Cora deflected the blast with ease. She conjured the handgun out of River's grasp, bringing it into her own hands to stare in amusement over it. "This weapon is not even of this world." She then looked to River and asked, "You're not from here, are you?"

"You're about to find out!" River bellowed before charging her away towards Cora, only to have been flicked away by her magic. Her body smacked hard against a shelf full of valuables that shattered from the impact. River was knocked out cold from the attack, leaving Jack, Neal, and Emma the only ones to fend off against Cora and her daughter.

Jack opened fire on Cora, but she teleported in a puff of purple smoke before any of the bullets could have connected. In the haste of her teleportation, she dropped Gold's dagger, leaving it vulnerable on the floor. Harkness could not detect where Cora ended up within the shop until she appeared directly in front of him. He attempted to take another shot at her; unfortunately, she knocked the revolver out of his hands. Before Jack could have even saw it coming, Cora had her hand deep within his chest. He gasped from the discomforting sensation of her ice-cold hand buried under his flesh and grasping his heart. When her hand came back out, Jack's heart was there in it, glowing bright red.

During Jack and Cora's confrontation, Emma and Neal had been thrown off course by Regina, who summoned many wicked spells to subdue them. After being knocked away from her, Neal realized that his father's dagger was out of Cora's possession. With Emma being choked by Regina and Jack at Cora's mercy, Neal acted fast. "Hey!" He shouted, garnering Regina and Cora's attention. "Lost something?" He gestured to the dagger, which Cora seemed surprised to discover that she had dropped.

With Regina distracted by Neal, Emma found the opportunity in taking her by surprise, grabbing an antique knife lying nearby on the counter and holding it at Regina's neck while pinning down her arms. Cora discovered her daughter's life in danger and suddenly realized that she was left to make a choice: the dagger or Regina.

Neal grinned, seeing that he had the witch right where he wanted her. "What's it gonna be?"

"Mother!" Regina cried.

"Choose wisely." Neal warned Cora.

Cora looked back and forth between her endangered daughter and the dagger. She then gazed upon Jack's heart, gripped slightly in her hand, and she smiled. "I would rather go with the third choice." Cora squeezed hard on the heart, and Jack screamed in pain. She saw her action distract Emma and Neal long enough for her to summon the dagger back into her other hand. Within seconds, Jack's heart crumpled to dust that she scattered to the floor.

Angered from Cora's actions, Emma hurled Regina at her, causing both women to collapse over a glass counter. While Cora and Regina were down, Emma and Neal rushed to Jack, who had slumped to the floor – surprisingly still alive yet very weak. "No, don't worry about me," he told them. "Fall back to Gold."

"We can't leave you here." Emma refused.

"Yeah, not with them." Neal added, nodding to Cora and Regina, who started getting up from behind the counter.

"What can they do to me? I can't die, remember?" Jack said with a confident smile.

Emma and Neal accepted his reasoning with a nod and then headed to the backroom. On their way in, Emma drew an invisible line at the doorway, creating another force field to block Cora and Regina's way in. The two women realized this as they got to their feet. "Help me take out Rumplestiltskin," Cora requested of her daughter, "and then we'll go back…" She stopped as soon as she felt unbalanced – an unsettling sensation coming upon her chest.

Seeing how traumatized her mother was, Regina grew heavily concerned. "Mother, what is it?"

"My…My heart," she said, breathing heavily. "It's with my things in your vault. Someone's there."

"Mother…"

"Go. GO!"

Regina was immediately out the back door of the shop on her mother's request. Cora's hand went to her chest; there was a feeling of uncertainty in her that her daughter would succeed in reaching the vault before the intruder could have gotten away with her heart. She wanted to regret ever removing it from her body so long ago, when she had to set aside love for obtaining the power she deserved to have. It was the reason she was prepared to kill Rumplestiltskin, the only man she truly ever loved and taught her all that she knew about dark magic. Without her love for him, the task would be quick and simple.

"You really think you're going to win, don't you?"

Cora heard Jack's weakening voice and was amazed to see him still functioning without a heart beating in his chest. "Yes, I do."

Jack lightly chuckled. "Well, I've got news for you. There's a saying in these parts: 'Good Always Wins.' And, lady, you're everything but good."

Cora smirked. "Bold words coming from a dying man."

Harkness laughed and coughed. "You think a little magic is gonna put me out?"

"That 'little' magic is what's keeping you alive long enough to watch your own body deteriorate, Captain." She glanced towards his body and smiled. "You see? It's already started."

Jack frowned and followed her gaze, seeing what she saw: the flesh from his right hand was thinning until it had turned completely skeletal. He felt the rest of his body doing the same, from his feet to his face. It had gotten harder and harder for him to breathe as his remaining organs dried out, feeling as if they were turning to ash. Jack Harkness, once the "immortal captain," was dying for good this time.

"It appears whatever magic that made you what you were has been overpowered by my magic, Captain. Good doesn't always win."

She left Jack to continue deteriorating and focused on getting through Emma's force field, reaching out and using her powerful magic to tear through it.