Emma -
"I will do it" it's the right thing to do and she can do it, the alternative is Gold and she's not going to let him anyway near Regina's soul, not again.
Robin nods "okay".
Little John rises from seat, walks towards Robin, "Robin, this isn't a good idea, it's dangerous".
Robin nods jaw clenched "yes it is but I believe it will work, we already have proof that such things can work" Robin nods at Mary Margaret and David "one heart beats for two".
"Yes but Robin, it's not the same, the Prince and Princess, it's true love" Little John stands firm but his eyes are compassionate.
Robin moves to Regina's side, Emma watches as he tenderly sweeps a fallen lock back behind her ear "I know and I feel her heart and her soul and she feels mine, it will give her a chance to find herself again and I know she will".
Robin looks up sweeps his gaze around the room "I love Regina and I will willingly give my life for her if necessary. Marian and I have talked, she understands, obviously she is hurt but I know that with the help of her friends" Robin looks at his men who nod, Marian is their fellow they will help her, she is not alone. "and Roland, our son, she will find her way here and a life she deserves" not a life spent with a man who loves another, Emma understands, Robin has made his choice.
"Robin it's not our business" Emma tells him, he gives her a hard look "I'd rather be clear, there has been enough confusion these past weeks. My fault, I should have been honest with myself earlier, saved a lot of heart ache but what is done is done, I believe my plan will work and if it does not, I trust Marian and Roland will be looked after by my family as Regina will be by hers" Robin looks to David and Mary Margaret who nod.
"Yes" David says rising to his feet, hand on Mary Margaret 's shoulder, "whatever happens".
It's agreed then and if Robin's plan doesn't work, he has absolved them of any guilt should the worst outcome come to pass.
They split up, Tink, Mary Margaret and the merry men minus Robin to Gold's, their mission to restore the town's people.
The rest of them are going back to the woods, first they will move Robin's camp to the town, the woods are now out of bounds. Elsa will bind Regina, create a ice cell which will hold her, the frozen magic that traps her heart will trap her physical form as well. Elsa is adamant, this is how the magic works, the cell will hold her she assures them. When she wakes the Dark Queen will be trapped and then it is up to Robin.
The Dark Queen -
A heart once again beats in her chest, its dull thunk the first thing that registers when she wakes.
A heavy heart and it hurts this heart as it sits leaden above her lungs. Cracked, a deep crack, partially healed but the scar runs deep, if she were to hold it in her hand, she could run a finger nail through the deep crease, trace its path from top to bottom. There's guilt too, a foreign feeling to her, sluggish and sickly in her veins, bile rises and she huffs out a breath, watches as it freezes in the cold air.
Magic and ice in the air, cold around and beneath her.
This body is healing as she lies still, impatient, flexing, letting the magic flow through her. The dagger is gone but no matter, she will not lose, not this time.
She opens her eyes, lifts her head, her body is healed, her magic still strong.
Walls of ice, cold, hard, beautiful, but she is forged from fire and fury, this ice prison will not hold her, it will burn and then they will.
She calls the power to her, unleashes it towards the ice wall. Glorious as it flows through her, hot and heady, pulses and tugs at her core, tingles and burns in the best possible way. It's too much and not enough at the same time, it's everything as it has always been but it's different too.
Resistant.
She stops, skins her hand over the ice wall, the cold burns her hand, the wall is unchanged.
"It won't work"
She turns sharply, eyes sweeping the ice room properly this time. Three walls, floor, celling all solid ice, the fourth wall transparent, thinner, a man stands behind it, facing her, hands pressed against the barrier, the thinner barrier she thinks.
"Regina"
She turns towards him sneer on her face, who is this so free with that name and that name is not hers, not now, she has no name, she is only fire and destruction.
"Regina"
The word echos inside her head, the heart in her chest lurches, literally skips a beat. Her hand moves to her chest, clutching against the rapid beat there.
Not her name, not her heart, not the heart that belonged to the owner of that name. Her cold hard heart shot through with burning red,white magic tainting that soul. That soul buried by this true power, buried in ice and hate, that soul that fights now, now when HER name is called, now that HIS heart beats in this chest, this chest that is merely a vessel for power, she needs no soul, no heart, only power.
"Fools" she spits. Foolish man, foolish soul that stirs deep within. No matter, she doesn't want this heart beating in her chest, doesn't need it. She reaches her hand to her chest, rips at the heart there but it is unmoving. Her hand burns and stings, she shrieks, livid, pulls her hand back. Light magic she hisses.
Regina -
It's a slow awakening, she wasn't and then she is but it takes time to dig through the confusion, the fear. She is nothing but then she is something.
First there is no awareness, then awareness flares and she feels him. He is so close but she cannot see him, all around and yet no where.
She panics, sinks down again but he calls to her silently, she rises, fights for control, finally she understands.
"Fools" the frozen heart, this dark queen who wears her skin says, fools she agrees.
She sees now, catches her reflection in the ice, twisted and warped. It's frightening, how small she is, she is nothing. Lost, inside a cold fire rages, anger and hate freeze and burn.
The part of her that is just Regina, that is the evil queen, is both, was never this. This cuckoo, an invader working the strings of her body, pushing her soul aside, filling her body with nothing, just cold dark hate.
Hate that was never hers, not like this, not without sorrow, not without longing for the evil queen felt sorrow, felt want and need but this impostor feels only the hate.
Now as pure essence, she wraps her battered remains around the warmth of his heart and clings there, drawing strength.