A/N: I am sorry for the delay in this story. I know that it has been two weeks since I published anything for it. I was sick and I apologize. I can only hope that the next few chapters will make up for it. There is a little bit left to explore and I hope that you are happy with the way that this story plays out. Again, I apologize for the delay. I will try to post the next chapter early, but it just depends on how quickly I get it finished. ~JET

Chapter 48

Will hit the floor. She didn't know what to say. She felt herself breaking. She knew that Regina was pregnant. That meant that Coraline would still be born. They still had a chance to be together, but she would have to wait. Her heart hurt and her brain wasn't fairing much better.

She didn't know what to do. She wanted to help Coraline, but she didn't want to either. Coraline wanted her to help remove her heart. That wasn't something that Will thought she could do. She didn't know if she could be around while Coraline grew up again.

"I can't do this," Will told them as she remained on the floor.

Regina watched her. This is why she was afraid of letting Will and Coraline be together. She knew that if something happened to Coraline that Will's heart would break. This was worse. Will was devastated. And, Regina had done enough research and heard enough from Belle to know that this devastation could be disastrous for Wilhelmina. She not only wanted to protect her living daughter and her unborn daughter, but she wanted to protect Will, too.

"I can't believe that she asked me to do it," Will mused out loud.

"She asked you to do what?" Regina asked her.

"She wants me to be the one that takes her heart and gives it to Neal. I can't do that. I can't."

"She isn't dead yet, Will. You need to talk to her. You need to tell her how you feel about this. Explain it to her," Regina told her taking another step towards her.

"I can't. I have to leave. I can't be here right now," Will replied as she willed her body not to break as her heart continued to do so.

"Where will you go?" Emma asked.

"I don't know."

"Will, don't leave town. We need you here. I need you here. Coraline needs you here," Regina told her as she closed the distance between them, hoping that she could break through to her friend, her knight, and her daughter's lover.

"No, Regina, she doesn't. She knew that this would destroy me and she went through with it anyway. She knew that she was going to die. She had to. Didn't she?" Will asked as they watched her face go through a variety of emotions.

"She didn't, Will. I know that much. She didn't know that she was coming here to die. Nothing in her past, our future, told her that. She didn't even know who you were. You were just a friend of mine from Boston. She didn't know who you were to Regina and what that meant for our family. She brought you to us. She restored you and mended your relationship with Regina. She is saving us all a little at a time, but now, she believes that in order to save us all completely from the bleak future that she knows that she has to save Neal. I am sure that she didn't come to that realization lightly. She has been working towards this goal for months, Will. She never lied to us. She told us what she could and what was relevant in order for us to help her."

"She never told us that she was going to die!" Will countered.

"Because she didn't know," Regina added; the pain in her voice evident.

"How could she not?"

"She has changed her timeline. She doesn't know exactly what happens, but she knows that Neal is now the catalyst that causes our destruction. She is still trying to prevent that and if giving her heart to him is the only way that she can, she will," Regina answered.

"I don't like this anymore than you do, Will. I really don't. I can't stand here and tell you that I happy about losing my daughter, so I won't. I am really pissed that I am going to lose my daughter in there, Will. I am pissed. But, I also know that I am not really losing her," Emma told her as she wrapped her arms around Regina's torso, laying her hands protectively over her belly and slightly rubbing. "Because I know that she is in here, growing strong and powerful and in about seven months, I will get to hold her. That scares me to death, too."

"Emma…"

"No, Will, don't. Don't try to tell me that this is going to hurt you more than me. She is my daughter. She is my blood and it is my job to protect her and keep her alive. It is my duty to die before she does, but I don't get that. I am going to have to watch her die in order to save my brother from whatever his fate could have been. And, in saving him, she saves us all. Do you think that I want her to have that sort of responsibility? Cause, I don't. I have that sort of responsibility because I am the Saviour. I didn't want her to have that, either. No one needs that. No one needs that kind of pressure. Trust me, I know.

"Look at me, Will. Look into my eyes when I tell you this. I would die for her if I could. That doesn't seem to be my fate right now. Have you forgotten that I do die in her future? I left the confines and safety of our castle in order to defend us. I died that day. You weren't there, Will. I led men to their deaths and I will do it again if I think that it will save us. I would gladly die for her. Regina would do the same. So don't stand there and think that we don't know how you feel. I won't stand for it. So either you man up and be there for all of us or, run away and hurt her more deeply than our deaths do in the future. That is your choice," Emma told her and left the room, overcome with so much emotion that she couldn't stay there anymore.

Regina watched her go. She knew that Emma was hurting because she was hurting too. She didn't know how she was supposed to live with the knowledge that her own daughter had come back to the past just to sacrifice herself for her uncle and that in that sacrifice she would save them all from the coming darkness that they call the Blackness.

She caught herself absent-mindedly rubbing her stomach. It had only been a few days, but she realized since she knew for real that she was pregnant she had been doing it more. She looked up at the blue-eyed knight before her and gave her a weak smile.

"Will?"

"Yes, my Queen…" she replied weakly.

"I know that you don't want to do this. I do. I don't know what I would do if that was Emma in there offering her heart to save Neal's life. I know that I would go insane and probably turn back into the Evil Queen to assuage my guilt and heartache. I would try not to, but I know that it could happen. You don't have that hanging over you. I do. I understand that it may destroy you that she isn't going to be with us, but she is. Coraline might die, but Remy will be here. Your True Love will still be around."

"I don't know that I can do that, Regina."

"Can't do what? Watch her grow up? Be there for her from the beginning? What is it that you can't do? Because I'm confused," Regina told her.

"Regina…"

"No, Will, tell me what you are having problems with," she demanded.

Regina sat down and waited. She knew that needed to push Will to get the answer she needed even if it wasn't the answer she wanted. Will had run away from her because of her emotions before and she needed to make sure that Will didn't make the same mistake again.

"She wants me to kill her…"

"She isn't asking you to kill her. She knows that she is still going to live. She is asking you to help us stop the future that she had to grow up and live in. She is asking you to protect me by saving Neal from death. Is that something that you are capable of doing?" Regina asked her.

"Don't ask me to do that," Will pleaded.

"I am not asking you to do that, Will. Coraline is. If I have to, I'll order you."

"You wouldn't…"

"You are still under contract to me, Wilhelmina. I will do whatever it takes for Remy to have a childhood that isn't rife with war. If that means that I have to watch my daughter die as an adult, so that she can have that, I will. Emma understands Coraline on a level that I don't. I'll admit that and that is another reason that I will do whatever it takes to ensure that she has a loving future. Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, your Majesty," Will replied.

"Good. Now, I am going to find Emma and talk with her. You need to go talk to Coraline. Spend these last moments with her in love and let her know that you love her. Don't let her die thinking that you are angry with her. She asked you to do it because she loves you, Will. Be with her. I'll get Red and Snow. I need to talk to with them as well. We'll come back tomorrow. Spend this time with her now," Regina told her.

"Yes, Majesty. Can I have a few minutes before I go back? I just need to compose myself."

"Yes, Will. Take your time. I'll get Red and Snow. I'll check on you before we leave."

She watched as Will just nodded. She knew that this was going to tear all of them apart inside, but she couldn't see any other way. The one person that she could ask for help was the one that had betrayed them all in this. He was the one that started the events that would cause the coming Blackness. Regina could only hope that protecting Neal now would stop the possibility of their bleak future. Their world was being torn apart and turned upside down, again. Regina just shook her head. It was just another day in Storybrooke.

She entered Coraline's room and sat down. Snow was sitting next to her. She had just finished wiping her brow when Regina came in. As soon as Red noticed that her sister was there, she left Snow's side and lay down beside Regina's chair. Regina met Snow's hazel eyes. She saw the questions, but she wasn't sure that she anymore answers than she had before. She reached down and petted Red while she kept her gaze focused on Snow.

They needed each other now. They knew that. They had come closer together in the last few years than they had ever been, but it had been the last twenty-four hours that brought them together. Regina knew that this might drive a slightly larger wedge between Emma and her mother, but she also knew that she would do anything in her power to stop that from happening.

"Emma left," Snow said.

"I know."

"She's mad at me," Snow replied more of statement than a question.

"Probably, but it isn't really your fault. She is thinking through things. Coraline's position reminds her a lot of herself and she promised herself that her children would never know what it was like to not have a family. She doesn't want Coraline to suffer in the future, but she has come to love her now. She doesn't want to watch her die, Snow."

"I don't know a mother that ever wants to watch their child die, Regina."

"I know I don't, but I also know that she is the key to guaranteeing her future."

"She told me that she is known as the 'Survivor'."

"From what I understand, yes, she is."

"She won't survive this, Regina. You know that. If they take her heart and give it to Neal, she won't survive. She can't, can she?"

"No, Snow, she won't. She will be taking on Neal's fate. She could survive without her heart because there is magic here, Snow. This isn't the same thing. She will be taking his fate willingly because she knows what would happen if she didn't," Regina told her.

"Which is?"

"They would be tied together for life. Anything that he felt, she would feel. She wouldn't have any control over her own emotions. She would be at his mercy. She would be a shell of a person and Neal would be the only thing keeping her alive. It wouldn't be the same as when I controlled hearts. It won't be the same as you and Charming. She will be willingly giving up her life force for him. I wish it would just be as simple as her giving him her heart and living on, like when I removed my heart and tried to bury in the Enchanted Forest."

"Is there no other way?"

"Not that I have found. I've looked. The only other person that could help is…"

"Was Rumple and I wouldn't go to him for this. I owed him too much for Emma. I would not corrupt what little bit of life Neal had by making a deal with him," Snow answered.

"That's good, because I think that he is dead. He couldn't help us anyway. Besides all that, I wouldn't let you do that, Snow. I wouldn't let you make a deal to save Neal," Regina told her.

"I don't think that I would tell you if I did," Snow replied.

"You wouldn't have to; I would just know."

Snow looked at her former step-mother and soon to be daughter-in-law. She knew that it was the truth. Regina had done her damnedest to keep anyone from making deals with Rumple after she learned that Rumple had manipulated her into casting the curse in the first place. There had been an invisible war raged between the two for years because of that, but in times of need they still came together to fight for the common good of the town, more or less. Regina knew she couldn't trust him but she also knew that he was Henry's grandfather. A fact alone that kept the imp alive longer than was necessary.

"Would you have destroyed him earlier if you had known?" Snow asked her.

Red perked up. She was absent-mindedly listening but even she wanted to know the answer. Could Regina have killed him if she'd known what his curse would have entailed before she cast it? Would she take it all back?

"No, I wouldn't. I would have waited until we were here without magic and I would have just killed him. I wouldn't have made him suffer. I would have just ended him."

"Why didn't you?" Snow asked her.

"Because I was afraid of Emma and I didn't know it yet. I was afraid of the curse breaking and I was so wrapped up in wanting my revenge on you while getting my happy ending that I couldn't see past the consequences of my actions. I didn't understand the full ramifications of casting the curse. I couldn't until I had cast it and lost everything I knew to gain something I didn't know I wanted at the time. It took me eighteen years to understand what I had done on his behest and then I couldn't undo it. And, all that did was give me Henry. I had to wait for Emma, but I was still so passionate about my revenge and my need to punish you, just someone and see them suffer because of Daniel's death that I didn't realize what I was doing to myself. Henry filled the hole in my heart and taught me to love again, but at the same time he was slowly destroying me."

"But like a phoenix you rose from your own ashes, Regina….why else do you think that Coraline is called the Survivor? She is the perfect embodiment of both of you. She overcame her upbringing and the prophecy of her destiny. She fought to protect her family at all costs. She uses magic to help her achieve these goals. She doesn't apologize for her antics and her approach in solving a problem she is facing. She goes at it head on and uses the most powerful means necessary in order for her to get the outcome that she wants. She is your daughter."

"That she is," Regina stated with a slight smirk on her face. "She truly is my Phoenix."

"Can you let her do this?" Snow asked her, watching Regina's eyes.

"It isn't a matter if I can, Snow. It is a matter of will I allow her to do it. I don't see where I really have a choice in the matter. She sees this as the only way in which she can stop her past from becoming our future. It isn't something that I want to do, nor is it something that I am taking lightly," Regina told as she turned to look down at Coraline's sleeping face.

"Do you think she knew this would be the outcome?" Snow questioned.

"No, I don't. If she did, she wouldn't have come. Who willing goes to their death like this?"

"Many in myths," Snow countered.

"But, this isn't a myth, Snow. This is our flesh and blood. This is your granddaughter. She is willing to give up her life force in order for Neal to live. How do I tell her no? How do I convince that there must be some other way to stop this? Snow…I can't. I have looked. I don't understand it any more than she does, but she seems to know that this is the only way to do it."

"Have you asked her why?"

"Why what?" Regina quipped.

"Why she thinks that," Snow stated.

"No, I honestly haven't had time to process it all," she answered as she rubbed her hand over her face willing herself to not get a migraine from all of this.

"I will owe you again for this," Snow mused.

"How so?"

"I am the reason that Daniel died. I am the reason that your mother is dead. I will be the reason that Coraline dies. Once again, I find myself being the cause of your misery."

"You didn't kill Daniel, Snow. It took me a long time to realize that. I was angry…Hell, I was livid with you for not being able to keep a secret. But it was my mother that killed him. She is the one that took his life. As far as my mother's death, I already told you that living with that regret is penance enough. I tried to kill her on several occasions. Saving Neal isn't going to hinder us any. It is only going to help us ensure that we don't have to fight the Blackness."

"How can you be so sure, Regina?"

"Because I know that Coraline will still be born."

"I understand that, but how can you know that the Blackness won't still come?" Snow asked.

Regina sat back and rubbed Red a little harder. She hadn't actually thought about that. She had been so worried about Emma and Coraline that she hadn't asked. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know.

"I don't," Regina told her.

"Then how can you just do this without knowing?" Snow asked worried about their final outcome and how they would all react.

"Because I know," Coraline told them, starting to sit up in the bed.

Regina and Snow immediately turned their attention to the girl. Red perked up and leaned forward to put her head on Coraline's cot. She looked over at Regina and gave her a small smile. Coraline didn't know how long they had been there, but she knew it had been long enough for them to discuss her choice.

"Are you going to stop me?" Coraline questioned Regina directly.

"No, Darling, I won't."

"And, you?" she asked turning to look at Snow.

"No, I can't."

"Will Emma?" Coraline inquired.

"I don't know," Regina answered matter-of-factly.

"What about Will?"

"I've told her that I would order her to do it if I had to," Regina told her.

"How did she take that?"

"Not well, as I knew she wouldn't. But, she understands, I think. I am not sure that we all are happy with this decision, but we know that it seems to be the only way that we can do this and get the outcome that we all want. I won't tell you that we want to do it, Coraline. I can't, but I know that you will live on," Regina told her.

"I am sorry," Coraline told her.

"Don't apologize for this. You are doing what we have been doing since your mother broke my curse. We have been battling to have some sort of normal life, but we wouldn't change that. It has brought us closer together. I can't regret what we've been through, because it has made us stronger. Are there things that I wish we didn't have to fight? Yes, but without them, your mother and I might have never realized what we mean to each other. We love each other and we do what we do to protect that. You are just following in our footsteps. Do I like that? No, but I also know that it doesn't matter what I tell you because you aren't going to change your mind."

Coraline looked at her mother. She could see the sadness in her mahogany eyes. There was an understanding and a lot of pain reflected between the two. She knew that she needed to make amends and speak with each of them individually. She turned from Regina to Snow.

"I need to talk to everyone alone."

"I understand," Regina told her.

"I'll go. I'll make sure that everyone is okay. Do you think that we should get dinner together?" Snow asked them both, hoping for a positive answer.

"I shouldn't leave the Abbey. I don't know how much longer I can continue to battle the darkness that is inside me. Don't, Mom. It isn't your fault. You couldn't have known and neither could I. Rumple was a troubled man."

"What about dinner, then, Coraline?" Regina asked her.

"Bring something here. Then I can talk to everyone. Just remember I love you. This is my choice. You need to take care of each other. We are a family and we must stay together. That is how we will continue to defeat the darkness," Coraline told them.

Regina took her hand and squeezed it. Red nuzzled Coraline's side with her snout. Snow stood up and walked towards the door to the small cloister room. Red nosed her again and Coraline pet her head. Once Coraline stopped, Red turned and followed Snow out of the room leaving Coraline and Regina alone.

"What do you need me to tell you, Mom?"

"I don't know," Regina told her. The vein in her forehead popped as she looked into her daughter's chocolate eyes. She held Coraline's hand. She knew that she was passing her magic through the connection, similarly to way she had with Emma, and she knew that Coraline could feel it. She could only hope that it would be enough to help Coraline hold on a little longer. Regina was not ready to let her go. It didn't matter that she was pregnant. It was still her daughter lying in the bed, hurting and fighting, but still willing to give up her heart to save her young uncle.

"I need to know why you know that this is the best way. Can you tell me that? We've done research for months and now you know that giving Neal your heart is the way to stop everything. How? Can you tell me? Can you make me understand?" Regina asked her.

"I am not sure that you are ready to hear it."

"I know that Neal only has a half a heart. I know that he is the key. It makes sense to me. I can understand how Snow would go to the Dark One's liar in order to get the power that she needs in order to try to save him. She fails of course and causes the Blackness to ravage the land. But, how did you come by the information without talking to Snow. How did you find out when I just put everything together?"

"I was told."

"By?" Regina asked.

"I don't think that I should tell you, but I know that you aren't going to take that as an answer. You need to know and I understand that. I appreciate it. But, before I tell you everything that I know now, I need you to promise me something," Coraline told her.

"Anything that you need, darling," Regina answered.

"I need you to keep Will in your vault, in that room that you don't think I know about."

"How? You know what, don't answer that. Why would I need to do that?" Regina questioned.

"Because I want you to allow Red to dispose of my body."

Regina just stared at her. She tried to figure out what Coraline was getting at. Her daughter seemed to be one step ahead of them from the time she got to Storybrooke. She wondered how long Coraline actually knew how to stop the Blackness. Has she just been working with them in order to lead them to the inevitable outcome? Or had she been working by the seat of her pants, too? Did her sensibility come from Regina or Emma in that respect?

"Don't think about it too much, Mom. I just need you to agree to keep her there so that what needs to be done can be done without her interference. She will fight you both on what I am going to ask you to do and I know that Ma might help her. I need to know that she won't be a problem. Can you do that?"

"I could order her."

"So could Red, but neither of you will in your grief."

"Our grief?" Regina inquired.

"We both know that I am going to die to do this. You can't tell me that you aren't going to grieve my death. I know that you are pregnant and I am in there right now growing strong. That doesn't mean that you aren't going to be stricken because I will be gone. You know that. You are human and have strong emotions, no matter how much you try to hide them."

"I do."

"That is why I need you to do this. I know that you are the only one with enough compulsion to do as I ask. Emma is too emotional. She won't agree with you, but if you stay the course she will. She is going to need you to stay strong. So is Will. Snow and Red are going to be best to help you with this. I know that this isn't something that you want. I don't either, Mom, but there really is no other way. We both know that there is no way for me to go back to my timeline. It doesn't exist anymore. We've done too much now. And, I wouldn't know what to do if we did find a way to send me back to whatever future may be awaiting me there. I can't go back with this darkness inside me. It would just unleash itself on the future. We need to stop it, now!"

"I agree. I understand. What else do you need of me?"

"I know that I am making Will do the transfer, but after that she needs be immobilized."

"For three days?" Regina questioned.

"Yes, and this is why. After three days, you will have to go to Neal and take his heart, leaving mine behind. You will come back to me, but I will not be at the cloisters. Red will have my body by then. She will tell you where to take it. You will reinsert his heart into me and I will take his fate. I will surrender my life for his and I will officially die."

"Three days?"

"My body won't survive the transfer and we both know it."

"But, three days?" Regina questioned.

"I will need that time in order to prepare for what else has to be done. Please don't ask me to explain. I won't. You don't need to know."

"You mean you don't want me to know," Regina replied.

"Well…yes, there is that, but I also don't want you to see it. It won't be pleasant. I know that this isn't how I wanted things to go. I wish that I could have spent more time with you both. I wanted to know you both better. I wanted to be a family, but I know that everything that I have done these last few months has been to make sure that happens," Coraline explained.

"How do you know, Coraline? Give me something. I need to know. I need to understand why we are going to do this your way. I will do as you ask, but tell me how you know," Regina begged her explain her reasoning.

"There is so much that I still don't understand, Mom. How can I explain it? I was told by someone from your new future. Isn't that enough? You're still wondering who they are, and I get that. You're wondering why I trust them. I get that, too. But, I guess you'll just have to believe that I know what I am doing is the right thing. I know that it hurts. I know that it isn't going to be painful and that it is going suck royally, but I am still willing to do it anyway. You had your convictions about killing Snow, but you never succeeded, why?" Coraline asked her turning the tables on her own mother in the end.

"Because she was always one step ahead of me," Regina told her.

"No, because you couldn't personally do it. You never could, because every time you looked at her you saw that scared little girl who's spooked almost killed her. You were with her in the woods, living as a peasant and injured, but even when you had the chance you hesitated. Do you know why?" Coraline asked her.

"No," Regina answered, wondering where her daughter was going with this line of thought.

"Because secretly you loved her and she loved you. She showed you something that you had been searching for years, something that your own mother couldn't give you: unconditional love. Even when she hated you, she couldn't hurt you. She banished you instead of killing you. She stopped your execution. She willingly tried to sacrifice herself, not just because she wanted to protect the kingdom and Charming, but because she figured it was the only way to make your pain stop. She came to you at Daniel's grave because she cared enough for the both of you."

"What does that have to do with anything now?"

"She told you the truth about Neal's heart. She came to you with her realization and hoped that you would help her find a way to stop the future that I, her granddaughter and your daughter, had to live through. She knew that you would put things together and realize why Snow wasn't at the final battle. She had pulled maps based on what I told her. We all had, but she was the first one to put it together because she lived in those woods. For years those woods protected her from you, but now, she needed you to know their secrets to protect her from herself."

"I still don't –"

"I don't expect you to. I need you to look inside your heart and realize that she forgave you a long time ago. I need you to realize that you did the same thing that day on your porch when you ripped her heart out. You forgave her and your relationship changed. She wanted a mother, but you wanted a friend. You both got what you wanted, but you both had to fight each other and the world to get it. Has she not come to you for advice on Neal?"

"She has."

"Has she not done everything in her power to help me?"

"I believe that she has."

"Then forgive yourself for not finding the answers that you want. Our family is connected and it will continue to be connected, through you. You are the reason that the House of Swan rises. You are the reason that peace will be forged and the kingdoms will unite. You are that reason. You and you alone have the power to save us all, but you have to want it."

"I do want it," Regina mumbled.

"Then you have to let me go now, so that I may live and thrive in this grand new world that you will help build. The first five years that I have with you are glorious in my memories. I can only imagine the world that she will have," Coraline told her, pointing at Regina's womb. "She will not know fear like I have. She will have her family and she will continue the line. Things will be peaceful but adventurous for us all. She will be the Survivor, but she will have a group of cousins, siblings, and friends that will be by her side helping to guide her to her new destiny."

"Which is?" Regina asked, worried for her.

"To live…"

Regina smiled at her daughter. She knew that she was right. They needed to carry on and live. They would be prepared for whatever may come and they would fight it head on like they always had. Coraline would just be younger, but she would still be with them. That is what her head knew, but her heart wasn't so sure of it.

"Coraline…"

"Mom, please."

"I don't understand how this is so easy for you," Regina told her, tears in her eyes.

"Do you think that this is easy for me? It isn't. I didn't come here to die. I came here to stop the Blackness. I've fought for so long to see your faces and then I had it. I had it all, but I couldn't keep it. I knew that. I had to figure out how to stop my future from becoming a reality. Why do you think that I hid for so long as Belle's baby sister? Why do you think that I went to Tink and Blue in order to work on my magic? It was too hard to see you and not tell you who I was. Do you think that it was fun walking around town, faking that accent, in order for you to believe that I wasn't your daughter? How the Hell no one noticed before I 'came out' as your daughter I still don't know, but it happened. I have good memories now of my family. I am proud of who I am, who I come from and who I am meant to be. Please don't take that from me, again. We will be happy, Mom. You just have to believe," Coraline told her.

"Ever the Charming, Darling," Regina mused.

"That I am, but I am also a Mills. I am a forced to be reckoned with. I feel things with all my heart. And, I am willing to do whatever it takes in order to protect the family I love. Can you still do the same? Because that is what I need my mothers to do. I need them to let me do this."