Maleficent threw a puff of fire towards them and before Emma could react, Regina stepped in front of her and captured the flames with her magic, making them disappear.

"Aw that's cheating darling," the dragon pouted from above. Maleficent stepped ahead, making the cars around her jump. Emma tightened the grip on her sword and breathed, "Fuck."

Regina was already bringing roots out of the ground to hold the dragon's feet, but they weren't enough. Emma finally reacted and ran towards Maleficent, raising the sword over her head and she swung it, hitting the dragon's big foot. However, it bounced back on the hard scales, making it possible to hurt her.

She could hear the laugh above her, but she kept trying over and over, ignoring the pain in her shoulders as she hit what felt like a wall while Regina used everything she had to stop her.

After a moment, Maleficent looked down to see Emma grunting, digging the sword in her heel and she huffed, "Enough games." It only took one kick to make Emma fly away from her, hitting the wall of a shop.

"Emma!" Regina yelled when she saw it. She tried to go after her, but Maleficent stepped in between them. The long flames that appeared in both the Mayor's hands reflected in Regina's fierce eyes. She could hear her heart thumping in her ribcage and the tears burning in her eyes with fear that Emma could be so badly hurt she wouldn't wake up.

She had seen how the air had left Emma's chest when she had collided against the wall, and now her heart leapt when she saw her body limp on the ground between the dragon's feet.

Regina desperately wanted to run towards her and check she was okay, to calm the creeping fear that whispered in her head that Emma's breathing movement was missing from her chest. Maleficent laughed and Regina turned the attention back to her.

"What are you going to do now dear? Kill me?" Her voice hissed, like a snake, and mocked her. "You're not fooling anyone. You don't have it within you, not anymore."

Regina staggered and the flames in her hands disappeared. Maleficent was right, even with the rage she felt, she couldn't kill her because Henry would never forgive her. The dragon took a step forward triumphant under Regina's stare. She couldn't kill her, but perhaps she didn't have to. It was a long shot, but she still had to try.

"You're right, I can't kill you," she shouted. "But I still can defeat you."

She gathered all the strength she could and aimed towards the dragon, throwing a wave of magic towards her. It was Maleficent who staggered this time, the lamps surrounding them trembling, and she shrieked but she still tried to fight Regina's magic.

"You're going to need more of that if you want to try to defeat me," she roared.

Regina fiercely looked at her and didn't listen to her words, knowing they were only meant to weaken her. She kept focusing on who she wanted to protect, on the flow of magic she felt trough her body, leaving her by her fingertips. A drop of sweat ran down her cold forehead. Her skin was starting to go pale, and she had to fall to one knee to prevent herself from falling to the ground, but she still kept on her task, her mind thinking about the family she wanted to protect.

A single drop of blood appeared on her nose and she grunted, throwing the last trace of magic she had in her body. She felt her head dizzy and swallowed; it had to work now or there would be nothing to do to stop Maleficent. Through her eyelids she finally saw the dragon shrinking, losing height and transforming into a person.

Both of them fell to the ground at the same time; Maleficent, now in human form, collapsed on the ground and blacked out. Regina raised her head and when she saw her lying there, she knew she had succeeded. She fought against the exhaustion of her body and stood up like she could, running towards Emma, who was still on the ground without moving, and falling next to her.

She heard David cuffing Maleficent behind her as she turned Emma's body to look at her. The breath caught in her throat when she saw her eyes closed and, as she had thought, she observed the missing movement of Emma's chest.

"Emma," she whispered. She cupped her face and watched her, the tears finally streaming down her still pale face.

"Mom?" she heard Henry next to her, as frightened as she was. He kneeled beside her and watched in shock.

Regina burst into sobs and doubled, leaning her head in Emma's chest, whispering her name. She heard everyone gathering around them, whispering, but she no longer cared about them. Emma was gone. She couldn't bear the idea of a life without her, not now that she had discovered how it was. Stupid Emma, she thought. How dared she leave them.

No one got closer to them for a while. Eventually Henry hugged Regina and cried on her shoulder while she stayed leaning over Emma. Her knees hurt, her head hurt, her back hurt and she felt more tired than ever, but she didn't want to leave Emma. Leaving her meant she was really gone forever.

Henry raised his gaze and saw David holding Snow while she cried too, and an idea hit him. "Mom," he whispered Regina. She didn't move so he repeated, "Mom."

Regina obliged herself to look up to her son although she didn't want to leave her place hovering Emma. The blood had mixed up with the tears and her eyes were swollen.

Henry swallowed, "True Love's kiss." When her mother just stared at him, he explained, "It can break any curse. It saved me, now it can save Emma."

"Henry, this isn't a fairytale, this is the real word. Emma's gone." Her voice broke with the last word, the tears furiously sliding down her cheeks. "You were under a sleeping curse. She…she…"

Regina couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, but Henry didn't back down. "It can break any curse. You can do it, mom. Please."

She looked up at his son, "Me?"

He smiled though his tears, "I'm ten but I'm not stupid. You love each other. Kiss her. Bring her back."

Regina bit her lower lip and stared down at Emma; her expression was calmed, like if she was sleeping. Regina remembered herself in the same position so many years ago, with Daniel in her arms, kissing him to save him with a True Love's kiss. She remembered how it hadn't worked. Perhaps she just hadn't it in her.

She felt Henry's hand on her shoulder as her eyes caught in every detail of Emma's face. She brushed aside a strand of golden hair and kept her hand on her cheek. She wasn't sure about it at all, but she clung to the little hope she had in her heart and leaned down without thinking about anything that wasn't her love for Emma. Forgetting she was being under everyone's gaze, Regina pressed her lips gently against Emma's, closing her eyes and wishing it would work.

Magic tingled her lips and she felt the characteristically wave of true love's magic. Her heart leapt as she separated, opening her eyes to scan her lover's face, searching for any signs of life. The next seconds felt like hours to Regina as she waited for it to work, and finally Emma's eyes fluttered open.

Their gazes met and Regina felt the tears again, only this time they were tears of relief. Emma took in her face. "You look awful," she said with a raspy voice.

Regina leaned down and hugged her, a relieved smile plastered on her face. Henry jumped and hugged her too as she tried to sit up. "I knew it would work!"

"What would work? What happened?" Emma asked as she looked around to realise everyone was staring at them.

Regina and Henry separated, and the Mayor cradled Emma's face in her hands. Emma was grateful for it, but she smiled nervously, "Regina everyone is looking at us."

Henry giggled and she frowned, feeling like she was missing something and was about to ask when Regina launched forward and captured her lips for a quick kiss before leaning her forehead against Emma's. "I thought I had lost you," she breathed.

"And she woke you up with true love's kiss!" Henry chimed in.

Emma looked between them back and forth, "Okay I'm definitely missing something here. What—"

"Emma."

The three of them looked up to meet Snow and David. They were smiling, relieved that their daughter was alive. Regina suddenly took in the scene and realised the whole town was staring at them. She felt a blush spreading over her cheeks and quickly tried to wipe her tears as she put some distance within her and Emma, although she highly doubted it mattered by then.

Snow joined on the ground, kneeling and soothing a strand of hair off Emma's face, "Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"Uh...," Emma eyed Regina and cleared her throat. "I feel like if a train just ran over me."

"Maybe we should go somewhere more…comfortable. David?" she asked looking up at his husband. "Take Maleficent to the cells. Thanks to Regina's spell her magic won't help her get out of there."

He nodded and after smiling fondly at his daughter, parted to pull Maleficent up from the ground and took her away. Snow and Regina helped Emma to her feet and Henry hugged her again, making her grunt through a smile.

"Careful kid. I meant it when I said my whole body hurts."

He stepped aside and smiled apologetically, "Sorry. I'm just glad everything is over."

Ruby approached them as the crowd dissipated. "You need help?"

Regina tightened her hold on Emma's waist when Snow staggered under her weight, "Perhaps Regina can transport us there?"

The Mayor swallowed, "I'm afraid I lost all my magic fighting Maleficent."

"You did what?" Emma whipped her head towards her but it was too quick and her head felt dizzy.

Ruby suppressed a knowing smile and helped Snow, taking a grip of Emma and holding her upright. Snow sighed relieved; her daughter weighted more than she looked. She put a hand on Henry's shoulder, "Let's get you some water first. Then we all can catch up."

Regina held her head high but she couldn't bring herself to look at Snow, knowing what she meant. Instead, she held Emma and all of them walked towards the apartment.

A/N: in case any of you is curious, I made some boards on pinterest about my fanfics. You can check them out under the name of helenadm95 :)