A/N: Hi, guys! Long time no see! Sorry about that! I've been swamped with school and writer's block for this fic. But I just got back from Disney World (my first time and it was super amazing and wonderful and so HOT! So much better than D.C), so hopefully I'll be updating some more. We're nearly at the end, I believe. I can't believe this has gotten so long and has so many followers! Thank you all so much for reading my crappy writing and putting up with my super long absences. I love you all!
Everyone was easier to find than she imagined. Once they'd woken Vicky and Snow managed to convince her that she truly was good and that nothing would happen to her or the girls, they found a large crowd gathered by Granny's Diner and simply followed, gently shoving their way inside.
"Snow!" Snow turned and found herself immediately enveloped in a hug by Red. She hugged her back just as tightly, grateful to have her friend back, and pulled away to look at her.
"I don't have too much time to explain, but Regina has Emma and we need to get her back. Regina will give her back to us in an hour if I give myself up and I'm willing to do that but…"
"But it's Regina," Red said grimly. "She does what she wants, no matter what she says."
Snow nodded. "Right. And she has magic here, I don't know how, I just know that she does. Maybe that means that magic exists in this world, or at least in this town she brought everyone to. We need good magic to counteract hers—I've seen some of the fairies at the hospital, but do you know where the Blue Fairy is?"
"I'm here." A lyrical voice spoke up and a woman stepped forward, her light brown hair spilling over her blue sweater. Her face was sad and it dashed some of the hope that Snow was holding tight to. "But I'm afraid none of the fairies have any magic. I'm not sure how Regina has managed to hold onto hers—perhaps because she cast the curse herself and was able to control it."
Snow sighed. "Well, all right. Do you think maybe there are other sources of magic? Like—the tree! That's in this world and that was magic, right?"
Blue shook her head. "I'm sorry. It was magic on our end and it simply transported you here with that magic. It didn't transfer any magic over with it."
Snow tried hard to bite back her frustration, but it plainly showed on her face. Her pale cheeks were splotchy and the lines of worry that came with her frown deepened. She met Charming's eyes from where he stood talking to a few of the dwarves and the reassuring smile he gave her lifted her downtrodden spirit some.
"What if you find Regina before your meeting time?" Red spoke up. "I could track her."
"Well, we'd know where she and the girls were, but it wouldn't help with getting them back."
"It might if we can surprise her. There are enough of us." Red said, looking around the packed diner at the displaced fairy tale characters reuniting with one another. "We all backed you and Charming against the Evil Queen once, we can do it again!"
Snow smiled at her best friend's gallant efforts. "You're right. But then we at least had some advantages on our side—magic of our own and weapons and knowledge of the castle. We have almost nothing but each other now; Regina has all the power. She could poof away in a moment and be anywhere."
"I think I can help with that." A softly accented voice spoke up and Snow looked to find the Huntsman standing nearby. She eyed him warily, unsure of his allegiance to Regina in either world. But he had saved her once, he might be able to help again.
"How?" Charming asked, moving to stand beside Snow, resting a hand at the small of her back. "Do you know how we can defeat Regina and get Emma back?"
"And my daughters," Vicky spoke up softly from her seat at the counter. She'd been watching and listening to everything wide-eyed and pale, but there was a determined set to her jaw and her voice didn't waver.
"Well, no," Graham admitted. "Regina is still as powerful as she was back in the Enchanted Forest. But she's limited in where she can go. She has to stay in town—it's the only place her powers will work. Snow, you came in from outside; you know where the town limits are. If you can get here there somehow and we can get her out, she won't have powers anymore."
"This is the Evil Queen we're talking about here, bud. I think she's a bit smarter than that." Grumpy quipped and a few others murmured in agreement.
"Well, then, we need someone as smart. And I think I really can help with that. I know where Rumpelstiltskin is."
Snow and Charming exchanged a look. As Charming had said before, Rumple's magic always came with a price and Snow didn't know what they would possibly be able to pay this time. They had little, but one another and Emma and even the most innocuous seeming thing could turn into something large where the Dark One was concerned. Still, perhaps he might have his own reasons for helping. Regina was mayor, completely in charge of Storybrooke, but she had seen Rumple nowhere. Perhaps he had his own bone to pick with Regina and hopefully it would be large enough convince him to help them. Swallowing back a sense of déjà vu—her mind flashed back to visiting him in the castle dungeon to ask about the curse—Snow nodded.
"All right. Take us to him, please. We don't have much time."
Emma's cries grated at Regina's nerves and she toyed with the idea of silencing the infant permanently. It would save her a mess of annoyance, true, but it'd land her into trouble and she wouldn't get what she wanted. Although, these days, she wasn't even exactly sure what it was that she wanted exactly. She'd clung to her dream of Snow's death by her hand for years, but now that it was so near it didn't seem substantial enough.
"She's hungry," Lauren announced sulkily as she rocked Emma. Katie attempted to help by making faces at the red-faced infant, but nothing short of food or Mary Margaret seemed to help.
Regina opened her palm and in it a deep red apple appeared. "Then feed her."
Katie scowled, piping up. "She's a baby! They don't eat apples! Besides, I'd never give her an apple from you. You're the Evil Queen."
"As if that weren't already obvious." Already impatient and the magical barrier that she'd put up to block out Emma's cries wearing thin, Regina tossed Vicky's heart lightly in the air before waving a hand at the mirror. Its surface clouded for a moment before Vicky appeared and she hold Katie and Lauren make a soft noise at the image of their mother awake and walking.
"She's okay," Lauren whispered to her younger sister in relief and the younger girl nodded, her own relief too great for words.
Regina was quick to combat it. "Not for long." She promised as she began to squeeze. The image of Vicky in the mirror paused, a hand to her chest as her eyes closed and her face contorted in pain. She tried to speak, but her own words failed her, replaced instead by Regina's.
"I'm growing bored and your children are annoying. The clock is ticking, Charmings. Especially for this woman." She squeezed again, watching as the purple heart contracted and spasmed, the glow of its light flickering.
"Stop! What are you doing?" Lauren cried out, clutching Emma tighter to her, oblivious to the cries in her ear.
"Picking up the pace for them," Regina answered, her eyes lit and her smile wide as she watched the image in the mirror. Vicky had dropped to her knees now, with Charming and Snow at her side, a hand clutching frantically at her chest.
Before she could squeeze any tighter and turn the purple heart into gray ash, a small burst of magic struck her and the heart disappeared from her hands in a small puff of white smoke. Her eyes widened and she whirled around to face the girls who were staring at her with equal surprise.
"What the hell just happened?" She growled, eyes menacingly narrowed as she began stalking toward them. The girls hastily backed up until their backs were against a wall.
"You were trying to kill our mother." Lauren spit out, meeting Regina's gaze head on.
"Where is the heart!" Regina screamed. The absence of the heart didn't scare her as much as the use of magic to do it did, especially white magic. She was sure that these girls didn't have any magic—they were from this world after all—and no one else did in this world besides her. But that only left one other source and infants couldn't do magic. Or at least they shouldn't be able to.
Regina fixed her cold dark eyes on the infant in Lauren's hands and an icy wave of anger and disbelief washed over her. With it came a cool mask of fury and she stepped forward to grab, only to find an invisible but solid wall in her place.
"What is this?" She hissed.
Despite her fear, Katie giggled faintly. "You're asking a lot of questions. Maybe someone should take your heart."
The giggle died on her lips as Regina conjured her fireball in her palms, throwing it toward the young girl in anger and frustration. It sizzled out when it hit the invisible barrier, hot orange sparks shooting back and scorching her.
All three sets of eyes, good and evil, turned to look at Emma, now cooing quietly, almost contently, in Lauren's arms.