"She said she's not hungry," Henry said, returning to the kitchen with Emma's dinner, untouched.
David sighed, taking the bowl of pasta and setting it on the counter. He'd moved Regina into the master bedroom because Emma slept next to her each night, so there was no point in her not being in their room. Emma barely left her except to go to work, and Henry was a competent kid, but he couldn't be expected to look after his moms without help. Regina's house was big enough anyway.
Snow wondered what Regina would say about Neal's toys scattered all over the floor of the living room and decided that she might think it was okay.
"I'll go talk to her," Snow offered. She rubbed Neal's head in his highchair and stood. David handed her the bowl of pasta.
"Get her to eat," he reminded her, kissing her cheek. "I don't know if she had lunch."
Cradling the bowl in her arm, Snow headed for the bedroom. How many times had she walked up these stairs in the last few weeks? She knocked once, waiting for Emma's customary soft acknowledgement.
"It's okay, mom," Emma said, and the weariness in her voice carried through the wood of the door. She sat up in bed next to Regina, wrapped in two blankets even though the late summer air was still warm outside. She never got warm anymore, not when she showered, or no matter how thick her sweater. Her book lay forgotten by her side and her hand trailed through Regina's hair.
"I know she's okay," she said, looking up to smile at her mother. "But I miss her."
Snow set down her past on the bedside table and rubbed Emma's knee. "We all do."
"You at least get to see her," Emma said, looking at the food before looking away.
"And she's fine. She sends her love. I know it's unorthodox, but I think it's been really good for her and Lily to have time to talk. They're so cute when I see them, Henry says that too." Snow reached across and smoothed a wrinkle on the blanket over Regina's legs.
"I know," Emma said. She looked at the pasta again and moved her hand towards the fork. "I haven't been able to keep anything down." She said, turning the fork listlessly in the pasta. It was probably cold by now, and that must have made it more unappetizing.
"I can bring you something else."
"It's okay," Emma nodded and pushed the fork aside. "I won't keep that down either. Belle thinks it's some kind of poisoning. She's-" Emma paused, shutting her eyes.
She couldn't take more painkillers without eating, but her headaches never let up. As worried as they'd all been about Regina, this was worse, and Emma wasn't getting better.
"She can't run any tests because the hospital doesn't have a doctor who understands magic, educated with a curse or otherwise," Snow finished for her. "And with the fairies gone, the hospital's very short staffed and you're not the only one responding badly to having your magic taken from you."
"How's the Cooper girl?" Emma asked, her eyes still shut.
"Better than you," Snow replied, reaching for Emma's hair. "She still eats when her mother tells her to."
"She's two," Emma argued. "I think eating means she throws it all over the room."
"How can we help? Should we curse you so you can wait this out with Regina?" Henry could wake both of them, if he needed to, and Emma's face had become so drawn.
"We need Lily," Emma insisted. One of her hands slid down Regina's arm until she held Regina's still fingers, and then she opened her eyes. "Wasn't that what Regina said?"
"Unless Lily has a true love we don't know about-" Snow let the statement fade, because Emma's eyes slipped closed again. She wouldn't eat tonight. Perhaps tomorrow, or maybe when she woke in the middle of the night as she had yesterday, they could get her to eat something. Anything.
Red too was ill, but she bore it with the strength of a wolf, so she'd been better than Emma. The Cooper girl, Susan, had days when she was too ill to leave her bed, and a boy from the year below Henry hadn't been in school for weeks. They had already began to talk at the hospital of a ward for the magical folk they were losing, a piece at a time.
Snow smoothed Emma's hair, and shifted the blankets. Emma didn't wake. She never did when she was touched, now that she was so tired. With a little effort, she slid Emma down so she lay beside Regina. In contrast with Emma, Regina's skin was healthy, bright and supple. Her breathing was regular and the slight rise of her belly reminded Snow that there was hope. There was purpose to all of this, and reason, because they would save Emma and Regina and let them raise this child together.
And Henry, who was so brave and so strong, would have his mothers back.
She kissed Regina's forehead, then Emma's cheek. Emma's skin was too cold after Regina's, as if she were already half a corpse.
"We all love you," Snow whispered. "And we will save you, whatever it takes."
She brought Emma's untouched food back down with her and put it in the fridge. David had a sleeping Neal in his arms and most of the dishes were in the dishwasher. Regina had a far superior kitchen and even though Snow could hear her fussing over her knives and how the pans were still dirty, it was nice to have her here, even in that quiet way in Snow's head.
Washing the pans gave her time to think as David and Henry started a movie in the other room. Some of the few things Blue hadn't set any rules about were the conveniences of modern non-magical life. They had the internet, and all the streaming video they could want. The terminology still made her think of films, floating down a river like moving books, but she pushed that away.
They needed Lily. Lily, who had one mother cursed with her and the other controlled by the most evil of fairies. Regina hadn't been able to wake her, so perhaps it wasn't that kind of sacrifice, parent for a child, that they needed. Lily had no romantic partner, so that wasn't the answer. There had to be an answer.
What was it? Thinking things through hadn't been her strong suit. She'd captured Regina with luck and fortitude. Defeating puzzles that seemed to have no answer was the kind of thing she'd want Regina for, or Emma, but Emma wasn't Emma. She'd been a ghost since Blue put that cuff on her arm, and now the ghost was taking over. Snow couldn't cry. This was her daughter near death and she had no tears.
She had no ideas either, just the same stubborn optimism that Regina always made fun of. She wanted that now, Regina's sarcastic jabs and her rolling her eyes. Maybe she'd be lucky and see her and Lily before Neal woke her to feed or she woke in a cold sweat because her dreams insisted Emma had stopped breathing.
Snow kissed David and Henry good night, then lingered over Neal's sleeping little face. Was it easy to be his mother because she'd always had him? Would it be easier to cry for Emma if she'd gotten to hold her longer than a moment? Snow left them and went for her coat. She needed time to think and fresh air because her chest ached.
They'd asked so much of Emma that it seemed unfair to ask her to face death again for the town, but they didn't have another way. She couldn't take off the iron shackle, couldn't free her, and couldn't get rid of Blue, so she had to ask Emma to wait. To hover between death and life until they could save her.
The idea that they couldn't squeezed her chest and wouldn't let go. The hot summer air didn't help, because that too hung heavy. She paid little attention to her feet, following the streetlights that Mal had replaced, because she found those calming. Would she be able to help Emma if they had her back? Could a dragon free her? It didn't matter, because they had no dragon and she'd been foolish to become accustomed to having a dragon on their side.
The stars watched her, cold and unforgiving beyond the roofs of Storybrooke. She couldn't look at them, because they knew she'd failed her daughter, again.
She turned a corner, moving past the back of the shops. It was so quiet now, because no one dared leave their houses.
"Not a bad night for a stroll," Ursula said, slipping out from behind the wall. She appeared just like the bricks for a moment, then became herself, as she always did.
"The stars are cold," Snow replied, looking up again.
"They always are." Ursula rolled her shoulders. "How's Emma?"
"Worse." Snow couldn't even find the strength to soften the truth. "We're losing her."
Ursula nodded, her eyes dark with sympathy. "Thought that might be the case. I can give you a potion to give her some strength, but it'll be temporary."
"Thank you." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Regina and Lily think Blue must be consolidating power, waiting for something. Fairy magic is strongest on the dark moon so it's most likely that."
Ursula fell in step beside her, and they walked together down the silent alley. "That's three nights away, not that we can mount any kind of defense, but, at last we know. Tell me more about the cuffs."
Shuddering, Snow hugged herself tighter. Nothing about Emma's shackle or any of the others was right. "They're more like shackles, heavy iron, always cold to the touch. They're more than dampeners, aren't they? Emma's been without magic before but she's never been like this, and Susan, the Cooper's daughter, she can't even stand anymore, and Ethan's started losing his hair."
"Sounds like dark iron. There are legends about it being forged in starlight and it being capable of draining magic. These shackles could be collectors." Ursula guided Snow around another, darker, corner.
The town had been so quiet that Blue didn't even set any kind of patrol, and the sheriff's night duty car would already have passed the little side street leading towards the harbor.
"You'd think having Maleficent's magic would be enough for her," Snow muttered.
Ursula's mouth curled into a half-smile. "Once you have power, it's never enough for some people."
"Not you?"
Their feet echoed as they left the pavement for the wood of the pier.
"I only wanted freedom," Ursula explained, smiling out at the sea. "The power I craved wasn't the power to dominate but to chose the course of my own life."
"No wonder you spent so much time with Regina," Snow said. Shaking her head, she followed Ursula's eyes out over the black sea. "I've spent my life trying to defeat villains and idolizing the heroes, but then I listen to you, Mal and Regina talk, and it's not like you walk around cackling with glee at your own evil when you're a villain, is it?"
Ursula smirked, just a little. "Well, Cru likes to cackle occasionally, but yes, if you want to look at it that way, Regina and I both turned to magic because our parents never gave us the chance to be who we really were. My father used me to murder hundreds of sailors, and I assume you've had the dubious pleasure of meeting Cora so you know what she did to Regina."
Snow nodded and sighed. Cora running Storybrooke would have been worse than Blue, if only just. "Is that all it takes to be a villain, bad parenting?"
"Depends on who's writing the story," Ursula shrugged, and the silence grew before she brought them back to the present by tapping the railing with her hand. "Cruella's willing to try controlling Mal, if you and Regina think that might work."
Snow nodded, Regina had thought of that. "Regina wanted me to ask how close would Cruella need to get and how long she could control Maleficent?"
"Close, and she's not sure." Getting Cruella close to an angry dragon wasn't going to be easy, and if she failed, well, it was likely Cruella and the rest of the town wouldn't live long enough to regret it.
"Then we need Lily," Ursula said, and they sighed in unison. That was a hundred times more complicated.
Studying Ursula's face, and knowing the answer just from her eyes, Snow couldn't help asking. "You don't know any more about sleeping curses than I do, do you?"
"Never used one," she answered, checking over her shoulder to make sure they were still alone. "They're more Mal's thing. I'm afraid of my list of villainous acts is actually rather short. Regina didn't have any ideas?"
A shiver ran up Snow's spine, even in the warm summer air. Being under the sleeping curse would always be part of her nightmares. "Regina focused on me, and since she was trying to keep me apart from David, our love was what broke it."
"So is that in the fine print? True love works if you're trying to keep someone away from their love and maternal love works when Henry's dying or when Zelena curses the town…" Ursula turned around and leaned on the railing. "We could guess for years and not know what kind of love will undo Blue's curse and get us Lily, and without her, it'll be us versus whatever horrible army Blue can conjure and Mal, and I've been fond of living so far…"
Footsteps echoed, coming closer, and Snow grabbed Ursula's shoulder, guiding them behind one of the warehouses. It sounded like boots, so it would be the dwarves. No one knew what had gotten into them since Blue took over, but Tink had explained the fairies had brought life to the dwarves to serve them as miners.
Now, with nothing to mine, they roamed the city, pickaxes in hand, and they were not the same men who had sheltered Snow so many years ago.
"Will they do anything to you?" Ursula whispered, started to fade into the side of the building. She disappeared, blending in like octopus, (Snow had learned that from a nature documentary but it was still weird to watch a woman do it).
"No, curfew only applies to magical beings," Snow answered in a whisper, standing and putting her hands in her pockets. The dwarves might be slaves to Blue's will, but they wouldn't stop her.
"If you need us, you know how to reach us," Ursula reminded her before she vanished entirely.
Keeping her eyes straight ahead, Snow headed down the street, back towards town, as if she'd just come to watch the stars over the sea. Sleepy and Bashful she recognized, but their eyes held no trace of the same towards her. Perhaps they weren't allowed to show it, but they looked so blank. Almost the way Mal did. A third dwarf stood with them, behind and watching, as if he were learning.
Snow stopped, because that she couldn't ignore. "Evening," she said, feigning calm.
"Ma'am," the two dwarves said. Sleepy glanced over his shoulder at the one behind. "Navy, this is Snow White."
"Navy?" she asked, keeping her tone light.
"We're all shades of Blue now, Ma'am. Don't need other names."
She found a way to nod as if that were an entirely normal thing to say, and headed past. Their pickaxes indeed bore new names, Cobalt and Arctic. She swallowed her horror and walked in silence.
Could Blue do that? Rewrite their identities as easily as she'd taken Tinkerbelle's wings? Did she have the much control over all of the Dwarves?
She had to concentrate to avoid dragging her feet as she headed through the dark town. Now that she paid attention, instead of assuming all the dwarves she saw in silhouette were the men she knew, Snow counted five new dwarves, all being escorted by the others. Had Blue found a way to harness the magic she was collecting? Was that why she needed it, to build an army?
Her mind raced, and she'd never be able to sleep, but she needed to see Regina and ask her, because Regina might know what was happening. Maybe Belle could help, if she was still up, but it was getting late enough that Snow might be on her own until she fell asleep. Why hadn't she noticed the new dwarves before? Just how new were they?
Turning towards Main Street and the familiar clock over the library, Snow stopped, because Regina's office was on the left and in the yard beyond, Lily slept.
David had been what Snow had most faith in when he'd kissed her. She'd bitten the apple for him and he'd saved her. Henry had worked so hard to have Emma believe him and her faith had woken him. What did Lily want to believe? Where was her faith?
She stood there, staring at the clock that hadn't moved until Emma came to town. She'd spoken to Lily so little, because they could barely be in the same room together and she didn't blame her, not at all, because what she'd done was wrong, no matter how she tried to justify that to herself. She'd taken Lily chance to know both of her mothers, who loved her and should have had that chance.
Snow wanted to jog, to run, but she kept her pace slow, like she'd forgotten something in the office she needed to retrieve.
Long ago, so far behind dozens of new dramas and new villains, the Blue Fairy, her friend and confidant, had given Snow and David prophecy. A Dark Curse would come, more terrible than any other, and two would escape it: a savior to bring the light, and a destroyer. She'd though the destroyer must be dark, must be evil, and she'd listened to Blue, sacrificed her daughter- and Regina's daughter- to protect her kingdom. Emma had saved them from Regina's curse. She'd thought that was the end, that the destroyer had not come to pass.
Fate couldn't be cheated that way and now Lily was here, and the kingdom was in peril and maybe it was her fault. Perhaps it was all meant to be different and Lily should have been with her mothers, so the curse would have been different. Slipping around the mayor's office in the dark, Snow arrived in the backyard, where Lily slept on beneath Regina's apple tree.
Walking up to the dragon's muzzle, Snow ran her hand over her warm scales. Lily radiated a heat that soothed her fingers, even in sleep. She hadn't touched Maleficent in this form, and Henry had talked about what dragon skin felt like, but she'd been afraid. Dragons were so big and terrifying, and David had needed to kill one. They were awful creatures, except, Lily felt so alive, so vivid.
Dew steamed in the grass around her and Snow rested both of her hands on Lily's muzzle.
"I did a terrible thing when I took you from your mother and I know I can't make it up to you, because time is precious, and I know the pain she's been in, and you." Leaning closer, she saw the beauty in Lily's scales that she'd never been near enough to Maleficent to see. The colors played in the light of the streetlights, and hints of purple danced.
"Maybe Emma was meant to bear this burden, because she's my daughter. Perhaps you should have been the one to save us before, and it's my fault, because I heard the prophecy and I feared the dark, because it took Regina and I- I love her and I couldn't face losing my own daughter that way."
Her eyes burned, then the tears came. She'd been holding them back for so much of the day that her head ached from the effort and relief made her knees shake.
"Darkness took your mother, and losing her nearly broke me, but that doesn't matter, because you should have known her, and Maleficent. You should have ran on the grass and learned to fly and had everything a little girl should have, that I wanted my daughter to have. I gave you a terrible destiny and a miserable life because I was afraid. You deserve better, from the world, from your mothers, and from me." Snow stroked her muzzle again, leaning close. "I lost my mother and wanted Regina to come take her place and because of that, Emma lost me, and you lost Mal, and now Emma's son and daughter, might spend their lives without their, and that's too much. There's too much loss and grieving."
Her tears ran down Lily's scales, making them sparkle in the moonlight.
"I have to ask for your forgiveness, because I thought you were born a monster when I was the one who caused you such pain. Forgive me for then, and now, because you'll have to face your mother, and we don't know how to beat her, we can't-"
She kissed Lily, and her scales tasted of magic. Magic flowed between them, as if released from a dam, rushing outwards in a wave of light.
Henry appeared in the corner, dressed in his pajamas, as always, and Regina went to him the moment he appeared. Hugging her tight, he nodded to Lily over her shoulder.
"Hey."
"How's Emma?" Lily asked, because she must have known that it would be the first thing Regina wanted to know.
"Tired," Henry said, and he looked down, then up again. "Belle said it's like a kind of radiation poisoning. She doesn't know how to treat it and the hospital's kind of overstretched at the moment."
"Wasn't very forward thinking of Blue to take out all of the medical staff," Regina muttered. She squeezed Henry's arm. "Emma will be okay."
He nodded, but more to calm her than because he believed it. She knew that look on his face.
"Belle says that she's the worst, but it's everyone that Blue has taken their magic from. They're all sick, Granny and Ruby are sort of okay, but it's bad, Mom."
Her stomach knotted with worry, and as if reacting, her daughter moved, nudging her. She must have made a face, because despite their worry, Lily and Henry grinned.
"How's little fish?"
Regina rolled her eyes, because Emma's nickname had stuck, and everyone used it and she had no say in how they referred to her daughter. Henry and Lily shared a look and she had to smile at them, because here were her children, together, and maybe the third just wanted to be involved.
"She hasn't gotten any bigger," Regina admitted, which made sense, because time wasn't passing, not for her, but didn't, because her pregnancy hadn't been still since it began. Now the little fish moved the same way, with the same strength, because she to was trapped, waiting to go home.
"But she's okay."
"Your mom-" Lily stopped, and blushed before she looked at Regina and corrected herself. "Our mom makes the weirdest faces when she moves."
"It's a disconcerting sensation," Regina protested, covering her surprise. Our mom. She'd looked at Henry and called her 'our mom'.
"I believe you," Lily said, still looking at Henry. "I'm just acknowledging that you make faces when you're disconcerted. We don't have a lot else to do in here, so I'm pretty aware of it."
Henry smirked, and nodded, and then Lily nodded and if they started to giggle she didn't know what she was going to do with either of them.
Henry patted her shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"We're sorry," Lily added. "It's just, we don't have a lot to be happy about, and we know little fish is okay. That's a big thing, Mom."
She stared, far too long and too quietly at Lily's dark eyes. Lily's smile started to fade and Regina grabbed her hand.
"Okay." She finally found a word.
Henry completed their circle, taking both of their hands. "We're family," he said, "all of us, and we're going to beat this too."
Lily beamed at him and Regina's eyes stung. That moment, however brief and strange in their netherworld prison, gave her hope, because they were family. This was the kind of thing they beat, together. She didn't want to let go to wipe her eyes, so her tears ran free down her cheek.
"It's okay," Henry said, his voice soft and even. "We usually win when things look like the worst."
She studied his smile, and marvelled again at how wise he'd become. She started to speak, to thank him for his optimism, then light, white and blinding, took Lily away.
Her grip faded from Regina's, as if she'd been pulled and no matter how she tightened her fingers, Lily was gone.
"What happened?" Henry demanded.
Regina brought her now-empty hand to his, catching it between both of hers. "Could Blue have found her?"
"That wasn't- that didn't seem evil." Henry started to fade, drifting away from him as he woke. "Mom?"
"I'm okay, find out what happened to Lily." She squeezed his hand one more time, then he too was gone.
Silence swallowed her whole, because now the little room held only her and dust. Wiping her tears away, she replayed Lily's disappearance. Did white light always mean good? Lily hadn't felt ripped, or torn away, as she would have been if Blue had her heart. She'd faded, like Henry did.
Lily was awake. She had to be. Regina couldn't fathom how she'd been awakened, but Lily was all right. That white light hadn't felt wrong, or hungry, but warm.
That same warmth reached out for her, enveloping her, and little fish swam, heedless of what was happening.
Light wrapped her up, pulled her away, and left her in bed. Her bed.
Henry stood over her, still in his pajamas, but Snow stood behind him, tears fresh on her face, and Lily-
"Lily," Regina whispered, reaching for Henry and her daughter and they caught her, holding her arms. "You're-"
"I'm here," Lily promised. "Turns out Snow could wake me, and I'm grateful, but I feel kind of weird."
"You get over that," Henry and Snow said in unison and David, he stood in the corner with the little prince in his arms and Emma-
Regina turned her head, looking for Emma, because she should be here too. A cold hand brushed against her cheek and she moved towards it, searching.
The Emma who smiled at her looked like death, pale and worn through so her bones seemed too sharp for her skin. All of her questions about how Snow had woken Lily faded, because Emma was weak in a way she'd never seen.
"Emma-" She let go of Henry and Lily if only to try and warm Emma's hand. "Emma, what happened?"
The iron stung against her skin, as if it was covered in ice. Flinching back, Regina stared at the cuff around Emma's wrist. She'd heard about it, but hadn't seen it, and it wasn't iron, not iron as she knew it.
She'd had that damn leather cuff on, and lost her powers, but this- this radiated hunger, a neediness that was entirely wrong.
"It's a little gift of the new order," Emma teased. Sitting up beside her, Regina reached for her, needing to hold her, but that only reminded her how fragile Emma was, how cold, how weary in her arms.
"Emma."
"I know," Emma answered, looking past Regina at the rest of her family. "We need to keep you hidden, you and Lily. The cuff's draining me, but I don't know what it'll do to you and the baby-"
Fear clamped around her heart, constricting and frigid. "How can we?"
"Blue's spies aren't very good," Snow said, with her typical optimism. "Most of the birds have been giving her misinformation. Lily made a facsimile of herself."
"A fake me, so no one knows I'm awake," Lily explained, looking sheepishly at Regina. "It was Snow's idea."
"It's a good idea," Regina said, moving her feet to get off the bed. She stroked Emma's cheek, trying not to wince because her skin felt like paper. They needed her well, they needed all of Emma to fight. "Can you do anything about this?" She said, reaching for Lily.
Lily circled the bed, still in her outfit from the fourth of July barbeque, Regina's memory supplied, however unhelpful that was. "Do what with it?"
"Off would be nice," Emma joked, leaning back against the bed.
"Without taking off your hand?"
"Could you fix it if you did?" Emma asked the question far too seriously and Regina cleared her throat.
"Could you melt the iron?"
"You want me to use dragonfire and be all precise?" Lily asked, eyes wide with alarm. "I can barely control it down to one tree, let alone a little piece of metal."
"Emma might still be immune," Regina said, then chided herself for sharing Snow's optimism. In her current state, Emma looked like a mosquito could take her out.
"Might," Emma teased, grinning at her.
"I'm sorry," Regina began, slipping off the bed to stand beside Lily. "I shouldn't."
"No," Lily stopped her. "It's okay. I- I should be able to do something about this. It's star iron, that's why it's making Emma so sick."
"Star iron?" Regina asked, looking between all the faces around her. No one seemed to know and Lily met their gaze as if she'd said something wrong.
"It's a meteor, from the stars, it's a powerful talisman in fairy magic, and I can't just-" She paused, letting her thoughts drift. "Do you have Mom's tooth?"
"Yeah," Emma said, shifted her head. "Top drawer, in a handkerchief, thought it might come in handy again."
Lily took it out, turning it in her hands. "I need a towel," she said without looking up. Someone, Snow, brought one from the bathroom, and they laid it across Emma's lap, resting her hand on it. "Your magic is tied to Emma's so if I can get it off, that should start healing her, but star iron is a conduit. Blue hasn't just been stopping Emma's magic, she's been taking it, and Emma's so strong that its absence will be noticed pretty quickly."
Turning the tooth in her hands again, Lily held it against her arm. "This might not work."
"It's okay," Regina promised. "I-"
"We-" Snow corrected for her. "We trust you."
Using the dragon tooth, Lily cut her arm, and blood, dragon's blood, welled around the tooth, glimmering red on her skin. Letting it fall onto Emma's arm, she waited until a stain of it coated Emma's wrist, between her skin and the terrible iron shackle.
Lily took a breath, and Regina touched her back, because she believed in her, and fire poured from Lily's mouth. It was not neat, or elegant, as it was with her mother, but fire made the terrible iron sizzle and crack and it stank like molten metal and Lily grabbed it, peeling it from Emma's wrist before it got through the dragon's blood and hurt her. Lily held that iron in her hands, balling it together, then sucked the fire from it, putting it out.
She dropped it like a ball and it thudded on the carpet and Emma sat there, towel wrapped around her wrist and the funny spicy scent of dragon's blood filled the air but light lived in Emma's eyes again.
David poked the ball of now useless iron with his foot. Lily stood trembling, staring at her hands and Snow and Henry both touched her, smiling.
"You did it," Emma said, managing to smile as if she meant it now. "I can feel that it's gone."
Regina kissed her, trying not to wince at the cold, but this time magic flowed between them, warming Emma and putting some color in her face. Then she left the bed and took Lily's hands.
"You did it."
"I knew it might work, somehow, it-"
"Dragon thing," Emma finished for her, still smiling. "We get it."
"Mom?"
Regina looked around, almost expecting Mal to be there because she wasn't Mom when Lily used that town. She was Mom to Henry, but not, and yet, Lily's eyes were on her.
"What is it?"
"I'm going to have to fight her," Lily said, staring at her bloody hands as if she already had Maleficent's blood on her. "You need me to fight her."
"Lily-" Regina began, and stopped. She let the silence grow and nodded. "We need you to distract Blue, keep her busy. If we can get Cruella close enough, maybe we can control Mal, send her out of the action but-"
"How am I going to do that?" Lily asked, not just Regina but Emma, Henry, Snow and David. "How can I fight her?"
Regina grabbed her, hugging her tight. "She's not herself right now. She's not your mother while Blue's controlling her."
"She'd say it's all in our blood, all of our history and we fight each other, devour each other," Lily said, hugging Regina carefully so that her hands were apart and there wasn't any blood on Regina's clothes. "And my blood knows it. I can feel it, but she's my mom and I-"
"We'll come up with a way," Henry promised, adding his optimism. "We always come up with a way."
Lily searched their faces, looking for hope. Regina held her a moment longer, then returned to the bed and Emma, because Emma's eyes were on her and that was all the hope she needed.