Chapter 42

She was crouched behind some bushes and leaning against a fallen log. Tink took in her surroundings. She couldn't believe that there was a dragon in Storybrooke, but then again she could. She took in a deep breath and grabbed her cell phone. She knew that she was going to need help and she was going to need it fast.

She looked around the clearing that the dragon was in. She was studying it. This wasn't Maleficent. No, this was a magical dragon similar to the one that she had conjured for Coraline to light. It was bigger and worse looking though. There was an element to it that she knew was pure magic. This wasn't a normal born dragon. This one was conjured.

She was glad that they were on the edge of town. But, she knew that it had to be dealt with quickly. She moved from her position, making sure that she had at good grip on her cell phone, and found another spot to watch the dragon. She found another grouping of trees and hunkered down. She dialed Emma's number. The phone rang and rang. She huffed.

"Damn it, Emma. Answer your phone. Now is not the time to be slacking off," Tink said quietly.

Emma still didn't answer. So, Tink thought of Regina. She dialed her next. To her utter dismay, Regina didn't answer either. She huffed again.

"Any other time, you would both be calling me. Come on. Answer your phones," Tink mused aloud, still remaining quiet enough that the dragon couldn't hear her.

She looked to the sky and wondered who to call next. She ran through names before she landed on Coraline. She knew that she could handle the dragon and hopefully find her mothers at the same time. She looked up at the sky, praying to whatever would listen to her, that Coraline would answer her phone.

"Please...please…please..." was all Coraline heard as she answered her phone.

"Hello?"

"Thank the gods, Coraline. Do you know where your mothers are? I need them," Tink told her.

"At home, I think. Why? What's going on?" Coraline asked her.

Then she heard the distinct roar over the phone. She looked at Ruby und then at the woods. She couldn't hear the roar where they were at Granny's. Ruby was looking at her quizzically.

"Where are you?" Coraline questioned before Tink could answer.

"The woods," Tink replied.

"Where? I need more specifics. Where are you?"

"Remember that clearing near the river?"

"Yeah," Coraline answered.

"Just off it, and I'm not alone."

"I heard. I'll be there soon. Don't move," Coraline commanded her before turning to Ruby. "Find Mom and Ma. There is a dragon in the woods. I'm going out there to see what I can do."

"Coraline?"

"Don't argue with me, Red. I can handle this. Get them. Quickly. And, find Will, too," Coraline demanded before she poofed away.

Ruby shook her head und huffed. She lifted her nose and caught Regina's scent. She was always easier to truck that Emma because her scent didn't change...ever. It was always spicy and full of the scent of apples. She ran out the door of Granny's and was in Wolf form before she was on the pavement. She ran as fast as she could to the mansion at 108 Mifflin Street and she didn't stop until she was the front door.

Red hit the door with the full force of her body. She didn't care about pleasantries. There was a fucking dragon in the woods that could be headed to town at any time. It wasn't that she didn't trust Coraline to stop it. It was that she didn't trust her to not get hurt while doing it.

She ran up the stairs to Regina's room. She pawed at the door. She could smell both of them behind it, and maybe something more. There was no answer. She pawed at the door again. She waited again to see if they would answer it. Emma finally did, but she seemed tired.

She opened the door and looked down at the giant dark brown wolf. Her eyes went wide and she woke up, a little more sober than she was groggy before. Her green eyes met Red's yellow.

"What is it, Red?" she asked.

The Wolf whimpered and turned down the hall. Her snout was pointing at Coraline's room. Emma caught the direction and the slight gesture.

"Coraline is in trouble?"

The Wolf sat down and whimpered again. Emma took it as an affirmative answer. She rushed back into the room. Within three seconds, she and Regina were on the landing with Red.

"Red, where is my daughter?" Regina demanded.

Red just whimpered. She lightly nipped at Emma, trying to get her to follow her down the stairs. Emma nodded and followed her down the stairs. Regina was hot on their heels, still not getting an answer. It wasn't until Emma grabbed her gun, badge, and keys, then Regina stopped them.

"RED! Where is Coraline? What is going on? Phase back, dammit, and tell me where she is!"

Red spun on her back legs and faced Regina. She stood up on back legs and started to shift back. It was painful and slow, but she knew that Regina was not going to let them leave the house until she had some sort of answer. She felt her body knitting itself hack into shape. Once she was human, and completely naked, she stood there in front of her older half-sister, daring her to say something about her state of dress with her hazel eyes.

"Well?" Regina asked.

"She got a call from Tink."

"And?" Emma asked this time.

"It seems that there is a dragon in the woods near the Abbey. It is far enough out of town, but Tink believes it is magical in nature and not a natural hatched dragon. She tried to call you both."

They both looked at their phones. There were several missed calls from the non-conforming fairy. Emma noticed that they were back to back as well.

"We need to go," Emma said, trying her damnedest to not look at Ruby's form.

"Emma, go with Red. I'll find Will. And, for the love of all that is holy, someone call the blasted fairy and tell her we are the way. Find Blue, too," Regina told them before pooling away.

Ruby looked all Emma and then the Bug. She shook her head and begun to change buck into a Wolf. They both knew it would be faster in the long run because Red could take them straight to the spot where the dragon was. The Bug couldn't go that deep into the forest.

When Red was dune shifting, she nosed Emma's hand. Emma climbed on the back of her and held on. Red took off in a flash, nose in the air sniffing for the magic she knew wasn't Emma's, Regina's, the fairies', or Coraline's.

As they were running through town towards the woods, Emma leaned forward and stated into Red's ear, "If we keep this up, I am going to get a harness to ride you."

Red made some noise that Emma assumed that she laughing as the Wolf. What Red didn't know was that Emma was serious. If she was going to keep riding her to save the day, she was going to make a saddle or harness to keep herself on her.

As they neared the woods just out the Abbey and on the outskirts of town, Emma could feel the change in the magic in the air. She could almost taste it. Then she heard the mighty roar of the dragon. She still didn't see it, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to see it, either. Fighting Maleficent in dragon form had been enough for her to fulfill her dragon fighting quotient for life. She really didn't want to be out there, but she wasn't going to let Coraline fight it alone.

She looked around the woods. She couldn't see Tink or Coraline. She drew her gun, hoping that it would make some sort of difference, but remembered how much good it did her against the ogre in the Enchanted Forest. When she still could see Tink or Coraline, she nodded at Red. Red took off towards the left of where they were at sprint. She was glad that even in Wolf-form she and Emma could communicate with just gestures und understand catch other.

She crouched down as she heard movement just beyond where she was. She tried to slow her breathing so she would give herself or her location away. She felt heat from a fiery breath pass by her but saw no fire. She breathed out and started to crawl to a new location. She hunkered down there and over looked the field before her.

She still didn't see any sign of Coraline or Tink, but she saw the dragon. It was magnificent. Well, it would have been if wasn't trying to destroy everything. As she was trying to study it, she noticed a glittery figure to the west of it. She squinted her eyes in order to get a better look at the figure and then she felt her anger rising. She about stood up and took a shot at him.

"That mother fucking imp conjured this shit!" she hissed quietly.

It was just about then that Regina and Will appeared beside her in a cloud of purple smoke. Emma fell back into the tree she was hiding behind as she silently with her eyes chided them for scaring her and making such an entrance. Will just smiled at her as she handed her a sword and looked passed her into the field. Regina shrugged and the leaned into kiss her as Emma took the sword that Will offered.

Emma eyed the sword in her hand. She recognized it as the one that Coraline had shown them in the kitchen weeks ago. It seemed a little heavier, but it was sturdy. She looked at Regina and wondered if she had conjured it for her already.

"It was going to be gift for your birthday, but I figured you could use it now," Regina told her.

Emma gave her a smile. She knew that Regna didn't want to go back to the Enchanted Forest, but with everything that Coraline had told them, she was preparing. This was just another step for her to protect her family. It also meant that Regina was preparing for a war she wasn't sure about. Emma knew that she would fight on Snow and Charming's side this time because it would be for her family and the good of the kingdom. Emma was concerned because she didn't know how Regina was going to react to the possible constant fighting that they might encounter.

"Did you conjure this for me?" Emma asked her, rephrasing her question.

"No, she didn't. I made it. She commissioned it. I did however borrow Coraline's to make sure that I got the design right for you."

"'That's why it is so heavy," Emma mused as they continued to move around in the woods.

"It isn't heavy, Dear. You just aren't used to carrying such hardware in a situation such as this. I will have Coraline sit with me and I will put enchantments on it soon. But, for now, you will have to wield it as is. I am sure that you can remember how to do that. Right?" Regina teased her as they found a new place to stop and check out the situation at hand.

"I can," Emma replied with as much bravado as she could.

Will and Regina giggled softly as Emma's response. They knew that she could handle herself. She'd proven herself to Regina time and time again. Will knew that she could handle herself in a fist fight. She'd never personally seen her in a sword fight or a gun fight, but she knew that Emma could hold her own . She just hoped that this moment of levity didn't come back to bite them in the ass because Emma decided that she had something to prove against the blasted dragon before them.

They sat down in the small clearing and looked out across the field. They were still trying to see if Red had found Tink and/or Coraline yet. They got their answer in a way they didn't want. Regina sucked in a breath as she saw Coraline come out of a hiding spot and into the clearing with the dragon. Will reached up and covered Emma's mouth before she could scream out at her. She spent the rest of the time holding her back as all of three watched on in horror.

"Will?" Regina asked.

"I see it. I'll go, but you both stay here. Wait for Tink and Red. Whatever you do, do not come out there to help me. Do you understand?" Will asked them.

Regina shook her head "yes." Emma was still fighting her. Her eyes were wide in fear for her daughter in the clearing before them. Before Emma could bite her and go out there to help Coraline. Will threw her back into some bushes. Regina's hands were alight and she threw the fire bulls out into the clearing to distract the dragon and allow Will to rush in unseen.

Emma just sat there, held by a spell from Regina, as Will began to hulk-out again. Regina was too busy watching Will and Coraline to see that Emma had moved up next to her, sword at the ready. They were both waiting to charge, promises be damned. They weren't going to let anyone die there today.

"What are we going to do? Coraline can't take that thing on alone. Will is only going to get her killed by being out there. Can you poof her away without being there?" Emma asked.

"No, I would have to poof to her to get her out."

"We can't let them do this. There has to be something that we can do. I am not just going to sit and watch my best friend and my daughter die," Emma hissed.

"You will sit here until I figure something out. And, you don't need to worry about Will. She is immortal, remember? She will get Coraline out of there the first chance she gets. She isn't going to let anything happen to her. She loves her as much as we do, Emma. I need you to be calm in this. You need to use your head and remain calm. Rushing in there will call more damage than planning it out will," Regina told her as she stood beside a large tree just outside the clearing, studying her daughter's and Will's movements.

Across the clearing, Will wasn't doing much better from her position. She saw Coraline running back and forth to keep the dragon focused on her. She knew that Coraline was probably as skilled as Snow, deadly as Red, smart as Belle, and as magical as Regina, but it was her stubbornness like Emma's that scared her the most.

She raised her sword and charged into the fray. She wasn't going to Coraline fight this dragon, magical or not, alone. She ran straight for the dragon.

It must have seen her coming. It turned from Coraline and faced the oncoming threat from Will. Will stopped running. She pushed her left foot out in front of her and took a readied stance. She was bracing for impact and the inevitable force that was about to hit from the dragon. She felt the heat coming for the fiery breath, but she wasn't burned. She stood there just waiting for the perfect time to strike.

Coraline must have seen her. She could see the anger in her eyes and she was shooting anger back at her. Then she felt the blast as Coraline raised her hand up towards the dragon. Will suddenly felt herself being pushed away from the dragon. When she stood up again to face the dragon, she saw Coraline with a dagger in her hand.

Will's eyes went wide as she watched the dagger grow in her hand into a magnificent blade. She watched as Coraline spun it around as if she was testing its weight before she struck. In her other hand, she saw a growing fire ball. When she was ready, Coraline unleashed the fire ball before she charged the dragon head on.

The fire ball hit the dragon but did no damage. It didn't dissuade Coraline from her mission. If anything it spurned her on. She stared down the beast like it was the manifestation of everything that took away her family. She saw the beast as the beginning of her family's end and she was not going to let that happen while she was capable of stopping it. She raised the now elongated sword in her right hand and struck at the beast.

It howled in pain and she heard another howl from the woods. It distracted her and she cursed at herself for allowing it to happen. But, she had turned just in time to see Tink, hands filled with magic and Red come tearing through the tree line. It was enough time for the dragon to gain its wits and smack her with an arm to the ground.

She fell hard and the breath was knocked out of her. A single, blue-green, scaled hand came down on top of her and held her to the ground. She felt around beside her until she had the sword in her hand again. She let it shrink back down to dagger size, knowing that in this tight spot she would need the blade to react to her wants and not the size that the sword offered.

Tink and Red were racing towards the dragon. Will had joined the fray, as did Emma and Regina. But they were all stopped before they got close. It was like there was a barrier keeping them from the dragon and from Coraline. It was then that Emma remembered seeing the Imp in the forest.

She turned to Red, who for some reason seemed to know when to defer to Emma for command. Red saw the look on her face and knew that it was murderous. Will watched the interaction but she didn't understand. Red trotted to Emma, who clambered onto her back. They ran for the wood line. Emma pointing her sword as they charged the trees. Regina and Will just watched in awe, unsure of what to do.

Tink came over to where they were and stopped before Regina. There was a wildness in the Queen's dark eyes as she watched her daughter laying on the ground at the dragon's mercy. She reached out to touch Regina before Regina pulled her eyes from the scene before her to look into Tink's bewildered and magical blue eyes.

"Can we combine our magics?" Tink asked her.

"I don't know what good that will do against this beast."

"We won't know until we try," Tink told her.

"Come on, sprite. Let's see what you're made of. This might hurt, well, sting a little," Regina informed her as she turned back to face the dragon.

Tink came up behind her. Her slight height advantage gave her an easy place to put her head: Regina's shoulder. As she melded her body as close to Regina's as possible, she loosed her magic and allowed it to flow into the former Evil Queen, in hopes that their combined powers would affect the dragon in some capacity. They didn't know if fairy magic and her magic could even combine, but at the moment they didn't care. They needed to destroy the beast before it destroyed Coraline and possibly the lot of them.

Regina dug deep into her arsenal of magic. She went passed memories of pain and suffering, back all the way to Rumple's teaching, until she found the deadly spells and incantations that she wanted…that she needed in order to protect her daughter from this magical behemoth. She wasn't proud of what she knew, but she knew that knowledge was power. And, in this instance, it would mean life for her family as the fantastic beast's death. She pulled every bit of emotion that she had. She called upon her anger and her love to full this flow of energy that she was about to release upon the enchanted creature.

Tink could feel the darkness filling Regina's being. She could only hope that her presence and her mystical fairy charm would keep Regina grounded enough, long enough, for Emma to bring her back from the brink of darkness and the madness of power. She wasn't going to stop Regina. She was going to feed into astonishing power that Regina could possess and make it stronger. There was no time to wait for a real plan. Coraline was in trouble and she needed their help. She was fairy and the powers that she was given, she was to protect her, as her charge, from any misgivings that weren't seen as part of her destiny. To die in a field surrounded by forest on the outskirts of Storybrooke was not Coraline's fate. It might be Tink's, but she wasn't going to let Coraline share it. At least not while she could anything about it.

She opened herself up more to allow Regina to dig deeper into her special powers. Tink could feel their magics merging and it was intoxicating. She now began to fear not for Regina, but for herself. She knew that Blue would probably take her wings for this action, but at the moment she didn't care. She was doing her job. She was saving a life, at the risk of going dark, but still, she was upholding her duties as a fairy.

"Stop thinking!" Regina hissed at her.

"Sorry," Tink replied quietly in her ear.

"It's distracting and I need to focus," Regina said.

"Sorry," Tink said again and let her mind go blank.

Regina felt the change in the fairy. She began to pull from the fairy's power again. Her eyes if she could see them were turning a brilliant shade of lavender. The powers were mixing and her magic was becoming awe-inspiring. She could feel it thrumming through her veins, begging to be unleashed and wielded. It was the closest thing to the ecstasy she felt when making love to Emma and it felt damn good. She released a moan as she collected herself more.

She closed her eyes. She let her mind search out for Emma and Red. She needed to know where they were and that they were safe before she unleashed her own magical Hell upon the monster before her. Once she could visualize where her lover and sister were, she opened her eyes. They were now a mixture of lavender, red and yellow. The fairies magic had indeed mixed with her two sides of love and anger.

Will could help but stare at her mistress. She was a sight to behold. She could feel the pull towards her and she went with it, knowing that when Regina let loose her magic that she didn't want to be in front of it. She tucked herself behind Regina's wrath and waited for the opportunity to rush in and get Coraline away from the dragon. But the intoxication of the darkness that Regina was tapping into was unmistakable. Will had felt it before, but it was nowhere like this. Regina hadn't learned to control it like this before.

This was different. This was dark, but it was more. Will could feel the pull of Regina's love mixed in with it. Thus making the effect more potent and palpable. The sense of urgency wasn't overpowered by the seducing pull of the enchantment that Regina was working. It covered the feelings of doom, despair, and gloom that had settled in the clearing.

There was a light in the darkness that Will couldn't explain, until she'd met Emma. Emma was Regina's light and she would never let her be alone. Even yards away, Emma's brightness could be felt in Regina's overwhelming darkness. A silent beckon that kept her focused as the all-consuming madness swirled around her. Emma was her other half. Anyone with any magical knowledge could attest to that, but Will could see it.

She saw it in how the moved, how they silently communicated, and how they defined themselves around each other. They didn't deny the pull. Hell, they embraced it with open arms and enjoyed the euphoria that it gave them. This was the ultimate emotion that Regina was calling on now in the moment of need. This was the overwhelming desire that flowed in ribbons of color throughout the clearing. This…this was the magical embodiment of their love and it was the most beautiful thing that Will had ever seen.

As the intensity grew around them, Will looked out into the woods and saw Emma and Red grappling with someone. She leaned forward to Regina. She knew what she was about to do was going to break Regina's concentration but it needed to be done. She had to tell her what she had seen and what she was going to do about it.

"My Queen, do not lose heart. Your Swan had found the culprit and is fighting him. However, I will not let her take his death blow. Keep your mind focused on your daughter and I will give you back your wife. I swear this Regina. Stay with Coraline," she told her as she slowly backed away from the magically infused women.

Her light blue eyes sought out Coraline's brown in the madness. It seemed like minutes had passed but it was only mere seconds. There was too much going on for them to all see everything. Each of them was focused on a task at hand and that was all that mattered to them in that moment. Will's commitment to Regina pulled her in several directions, but when she saw Red and Emma tumbling between the trees, she knew what she needed to do.

Coraline turned in time to see Wilhelmina's eyes. She saw her own loved reflect and then a slight jerk towards the forest. Coraline couldn't see the forest or what was in it, but she knew just by Will's stance that it was some sort of threat. She turned again back to where Will had been just seconds before and saw only her mother and Tink in some sort of magical embrace. It was an awesome sight to see and it brought her back to when she was five years old. She saw the purple in her eyes and ignored everything else. It didn't matter. She wasn't going to let her mother sacrifice herself to save her.

She didn't care that this creature had her pinned to the ground. She was a mother fucking Charming. She didn't give up. She was a bloody Swan. She was a survivor. She was a powerful Mills, full of magic and sass. She was not going to let some conjured dragon best her. This was not how Princess Remy Aurora Swan, the Swan Princess, Princess Royal and Crowned Princess of the Winterlands was going to die. No, she had a kingdom to save.

The anger and the might built up in the young Swan. She pushed herself up through the claws of the dragon, digging her heels into the earth for leverage and traction. Once her shoulders cleared the creatures talons, she raised her dagger in the willing it to grow and thrust it into the appendage that was currently pinning her to ground.

The dragon pulled back in pain and Coraline rushed to her feet, stepping back gingerly from the beast. It shrieked out as it moved away from her. She didn't know how but she managed to pull the sword out of its hand as she'd pulled away. She looked at the blue-green blood that encompassed her sword and then back at the dragon. She knew that she'd pissed it off now.

In her left hand, she conjured another fire ball and lobbed it at the beast. It shrunk back from her as she continued to lob fireballs at it. When she was finally aware of the fact that her mother was completely surrounded by magics and mana, she force-pushed her and Tink back towards the tree line. This was her fight.

She could hear Regina screaming at her, but the blood pounding in her ears drowned out every sound but those of the dragon. She felt the bloodlust for the creature overtake her and she let it. This was her dragon to slay and she would slay it before them all.

Emma and Red snuck up on the Imp. He was too focused on the dragon to realize that they were coming for him. It would be his fatal mistake if Emma had anything to do with it. She couldn't believe that the imp actually had the audacity to do something this ridiculous without thinking that he would face massively severe consequences for it.

Red dropped her off on one side of him as she paced around to the other. She was waiting for Emma's sign before she attacked. Both of them thinking the same thing. Who is going to take the death blow? They knew the risks and they knew what had to be done. Neither of them were willing to admit that they were more than a little scared by this.

The daunting task hadn't been assigned yet. They had all debated it until they were blue in the face, together and behind closed doors. And, they were still no closer to an answer or a solution on how to deal with the infamous Rumpelstiltskin. Now, Red and Emma didn't care. He had to die. He had to pay for the harm that he had caused or would cause and it had to be now. There was no time to wait. They were both willing to make the sacrifice. Coraline's well-being, her life, depended on this decision.

Green eyes met yellow and it was decided. They would fight. Whoever had the clearest shot, the best chance to kill him, took it. There would be no questions. There would be no guilt over it. It would be done and they would find a way to break the Dark One's curse later. They would have the time once Rumple was dead.

In the back of her mind, Emma prepared for the onslaught of darkness that she was about to receive. Silently plotting to take the strike before Ruby…Red, she corrected herself…could. It might destroy Regina at first, but she knew that she had Will and a baby Remy to deal with. Emma would be fine. They would find a way to bring her back. If all else failed, Emma would take her own life before she did anything to hurt the people of the town, her family, or heaven forbid, her children.

The worry about the action she was about to take didn't matter. He had sealed his own fate when he unleashed the ogre on the town. Sure Will defeated it in an epic manner, but that didn't counteract the fact that it had come to begin with. Rumple simply needed to pay for all of his crimes. He couldn't repent for them because he didn't believe that he had done anything wrong with his selfish, backhanded deals and propositions. As long as he had gotten what he wanted, nothing else mattered. Now, it would. And, he was about to pay dearly for it.

Red sniffed the air. She snorted out the foul smell that Imp gave off while he was wielding magic. She'd smelled wafting off of Belle in years past and hoped that the man hadn't done anything to his wife. His torment of his own wife would be his undoing in Red's eyes. No one hurt Belle and got away with it. Those that did usually just got a lovely present on their doorstep come Wolf's Time, but Rumple had gone further. He'd hurt Belle's family, and that simply wouldn't do. He'd personally gone after Coraline, and while she wasn't technically Belle's sister, Belle didn't care. If Rumple had been a Wolf, Red would have already challenged him.

She paced back and forth, waiting for a mistake. She would aim straight for his throat. She would tear it open and let the blood fly. She accepted the darkness within, like Regina had. And, like her older, half-sister, Red had learned to use it for her own benefit and the benefit of others. She embraced the darkness of her Wolf. She became one with it. Today she hunted and Rumple was her prey.

Will came running up to them as fast as her legs would carry her. She was screaming at them the entire time, begging them to wait until later to take his head. It was enough to distract Rumple. He lost his concentration as he saw Regina's Vulcannonian Knight charging at him full speed. He stepped back and tripped over Red's body, hitting the unforgiving earth behind him.

Emma took that chance to leap over at the man on the ground. Her body hit an invisible force and floated just over, sword poised to descend straight into his black heart. She turned her head and saw as Will came in towards them both, eyes wide in shock at what she was seeing. It didn't stop her though. She kept coming.

When she reached Emma, she dragged her backwards by her ankle until Emma was standing beside her. The dastardly man before them had the gall to actually smirk. Red charged him. She missed his throat but caught part of his shoulder with the claws in her paws. She turned as soon as she landed, ready for another attack.

All three of them were ready, circling him, just waiting for the opening. His vicious smile and creepy, childlike laugh filled their ears, but they didn't stop. They knew the longer that they held him at bay, the more time that Regina, Tink and Coraline could deal with the dragon. It wasn't an ideal breakdown, but it worked. Each of them were ready and each of them had a True Love that could possibly break the curse before it fully cemented into their hearts.

Rumple for all his idiotic, carnal, and demonic glory wasn't concerned with them. It was like he knew something that they didn't. Emma watched his golden-green, gremlin eyes. There was no emotion behind them. It was like the darkness of the Dark One had finally taken him completely over in this world. She knew that she'd never seen him like this before now. However, Red and Will had and they weren't going to let him scare them with his old visage.

"Changeling!" Will yelled him.

He merely giggled at the thought. Emma rolled her eyes as she looked at him. This was not the man that she knew as Mr. Gold. No, he had fully turned into the impish creature, the demon goblin, Rumpelstiltskin that everyone else in town feared. This was the unholy Hell that he was and now, Emma understood everyone's reluctant fear of the man. She wanted to give him a healthy berth, but she knew that too much depended on his death.

It was not an easy decision for them to make. Besides the fact that whoever took the death blow became the new Dark One, there was the fact that they were committing murder. They could all try and reason that it was justified, but even to Emma it was still murder. What scared her the most about it was that she didn't care how he died or if he died, it was just the fact that he had to die. She knew that this wasn't the first choice that a "Charming" should come to, but they had tried to reason out other ways. Death was truly the only option and with it came its own brand of consequences. She hated the fact that this was basically a magical "catch 22."

Her concentration on the man was broken by a loud, sobbing scream from Regina. She turned to see the dragon dead, but also Coraline's lifeless body on the ground. In a fit of rage, Emma charged the man, who himself had been momentarily distracted by Regina's anguish. The sick smile on his face cemented his fate. She would kill him.

She hit his body full tilt and felt two other hits upon him to. When they landed it was not on the dirty, earthy floor of the clearing, but dark gray asphalt. She could see the bright safety orange spray painted line mere feet before her.

As he was pinned down, she felt over his back and secured the dagger in her left hand. Then, she was pulled off of him by a confident and sturdy hand. She heard the growl and felt Red closeness to her. Then, like a bullet hit her in the abdomen, she fell over the line holding onto Rumple. She heard her sword clang on the ground as it hit.

When she looked up into his eyes, all she saw was brown before her world went black.