Chapter Twenty-Eight—"Old Debts"

"Look out!"

Emma threw herself aside and dragged Belle down with her; they'd stepped into a large cavern and suddenly there was magic everywhere. A trio of fae—she recognized their unique brand of magic from her lessons with Regina—stood around a short pedestal upon which a glowing red rock was perched. All three fae were smiling and spitting magic at Emma's small group, looking utterly smug over their trap having been sprung. Hiding behind a large rocky outcropping, Emma snuck a glance at the trio. They were all female and had clearly been there awhile, judging from the layers of magic around them, though none carried packs or any type of survival gear. Yet they'd obviously known Emma and the others were coming. The fae had attacked with no warning, had struck before Emma had even realized that this cavern was occupied.

She scowled. There wasn't even any light other in there than that of the Janus Stone, which bathed the cavern in an eerie red glow. Emma couldn't see where the large cave actually ended, but she was willing to bet that there was no other way out than the way they'd come in—and they couldn't leave without the damn rock that they'd come for. Hundreds of shadows danced in the odd light, making it difficult to determine if there were more than three enemies present.

Of course there were. A trio of chimeras lurched out from a cave to the right, charging towards the rock behind which Ruby and Hook had taken shelter. Or at least Emma thought they were chimeras. She'd only ever seen one once and it had been barbequed, but those limbs looked terribly familiar—

"Get the rock, Swan!" Hook shouted over the sudden thunder of magic arcing out to slam into the rock Emma and Belle sheltered behind. "We'll handle the terrible beasties!"

Without waiting for an answer, Hook and Ruby surged into action, darting out to engage the monsters. That action took the decision right out of Emma's hands; she didn't even have a chance to object. So, Emma did the only thing that she could think of doing—turned to Belle and asked: "If I can hold them off, can you get the stone?"

Belle peeked around the rock outcropping before answering: "Yeah. I think so." The brunette bit her lip briefly, and then looked back at Emma. "Can you hold them off?"

"Only one way to find out."

Gritting her teeth, Emma brought her hands up and focused her emotions. She thought of Henry and her parents, of Neal and Hook, of Belle and Ruby, too. She thought of all the people she'd ever wanted to protect, thought of everyone who depended upon her as the Savior and a world that she had been born in but had never really been a part of. It doesn't matter what your emotion is, Regina had told her more than once. Focus on what matters to you. Screw what anyone else says is important. So Emma did just that, picturing Henry's face in her mind and thinking of how she'd felt when Pan's agents kidnapped him, remembering her fury and her grief, and the fierce need to protect her son.

Magic leapt from her mind and into her hands, white and bright, and Emma closed her fists around it. A viciously powerful tingle ran up her spine, and Emma let out a deep breath. She wasn't as good at this as she should be, but she was all her friends had, so Emma would make it work. Even if those three fae were each a hundred times her age and knew so much more about magic than she did. She didn't care. She just straightened and flung the magic forward, watching white lightning envelop the three fae, who yelped in surprise as magic swirled around them.

"Keep their attention," Belle told her as Emma ducked back behind the rock. "I'll circle around to the right and try to get behind them."

"Try not to get yourself killed," Emma told the other woman with a lopsided smile. "There's no way I'm going to explain that to your boyfriend."

Belle laughed. "I'll be careful."

With that, Belle crept away from Emma, keeping to the shadows as the Savior summoned her magic again, straightening to fling more of it at the fae. Regina hadn't bothered with teaching her the finer points of magic usage, and Emma didn't know a single actual spell, but Regina had taught her to channel raw power to suit her needs. There hadn't been time to learn anything precise, but Emma had always been good at stubbornness, and stubbornness and focus were all that was needed in order to use raw power to accomplish something like this.

The next burst that flew out of her hands knocked two of three fae back, and gave Belle time to make it halfway around the cavern. Emma kept firing magic at them, dodging everything they threw at her—except a few spells that she had to waste time blocking with a emotionally-fueled bomb of her own magic. Exhaustion started pulling at her after only a minute or two, however; this was the first time Emma had tried using controlled power all on her own, and she'd never expected it to be so damn tiring. Regina always made it look so easy!

To her right, Belle had almost made it far enough that she could get behind the trio of fae. The two Emma had knocked down were back up again, but one looked positively drunk from the way she was swaying back and forth. To the left, Hook and Ruby were still facing off against a pair of chimeras. The third one was down now, bleeding and twitching, and a second one looked ready to join it. Ruby was unbelievably fast on her feet and far stronger than such a slight girl had any right to be. Oddly enough, she and Hook made for one heck of a team; as Emma glanced their way, she watched Hook dig his hook into the stumbling chimera's eye as Ruby's sword bit into its throat. Together, they took down the beast, while Hook whirled around to attack the other one. Its claws managed to take a bite out of Ruby's side as she yelped in pain and surprise, but the pirate shoved her aside before the chimera could injure her too badly.

Then Ruby was on her feet again, despite the way she was bleeding from the left side. Emma couldn't afford to look any closer, however; the three fae were now trying to send magic towards the dead chimeras, as if they could reanimate them somehow—

Oh, no you don't! Forgetting her rising exhaustion, Emma sent a giant blast of magic towards them, knocking all three down and watching one of fae's head crack against the pillar upon which the shining red rock glimmered. The other two got up shakily, but one of them flung toxic magic back at Emma and she barely ducked in time. Rocks shattered around her, raining down, hot and burning. Emma hissed in pain, swearing under her breath.

"Come out, come out, little savior!" the fae to the left—she looked younger than the other one to Emma's untrained eye, yet instinct insisted that she was more powerful. "Face what destiny has always had in store for you!"

"And what's that?" Emma called back, buying time as she focused her sudden spike of fear into power. The more tired she got, the harder it was, but Emma had never been any less than determined. Every emotion was useful, so she'd use fear, too. "You gonna tell me how horribly you're going to kill me?"

Laughter greeted her bravado as Hook and Ruby killed the last chimera together, and then had to dive behind cover to avoid a trio of curses that zeroed in on them. Belle was just about there—all Emma had to do was keep the two conscious fae distracted long enough for her to grab the stone, then they could call on Rumplestiltskin and get the hell out of this nasty little cave.

"We don't want you dead, little savior," the same fae replied, giggling. "We have a far better use for you."

"Oh, and what's that?" Emma popped her head up briefly, just long enough to fling power at the two fae and hope it would hit. She was nowhere near so lucky; the one who wasn't speaking blocked it with a shield of some sort. Damn. That that been the limit of the power Emma could muster; her vision was starting to go black in spots from the effort of throwing so much magic around, and couldn't these two annoying fairy-like creatures just shut up and go away? Her hands were growing heavy with exhaustion. Raw power was hard to use, harder than she'd ever imagined.

"Did your teacher tell you about the Nightmare Curse?" the speaking fae asked as magic crashed into the rock behind Emma.

"Nope, must have missed that lesson."

Ruby and Hook were starting to make their way towards her, and the wolf girl threw Emma a look that asked Are they serious? Emma could only shrug in response—she didn't think that the fae were supposed to be crazy, but at least one of these two seemed to be a bit off her rocker. Things were starting to get ridiculous! Stopping a fight to have an irrelevant conversation was just plain stupid, and Emma wanted nothing more than to get this over with. But at least her frustration could be useful, and Emma channeled that into her magic. That had been the first thing Regina had taught her to do.

"You're a child of True Love, little savior," the fae said in a sing-song mocking voice. "And you have magic. Once we place you under the Nightmare Curse, you'll erupt wildly with magic. Every memory you have will only make the curse stronger, as you relive every nightmare you've ever had, every fear you've ever felt, and every dream you have turns to dust. You will become nothing but a power source."

Emma grimaced. Did they have to be so graphic with their threats? "Thanks, but I'll pass," she retorted, coming out of her crouch to fire magic at them—

Without warning, the unconscious fae suddenly launched herself upwards. She had a small knife in her hand, sharp and gleaming in the red light. It look…wet? Emma's instincts lit off a moment too late—there was magic on that blade and there was no time to move—

Suddenly, Hook was there, throwing himself between Emma and the fae. The knife took him in the right shoulder, not a fatal wound but definitely a painful one. Grunting in pain, the pirate fell to the ground, but not before he buried his hook deep in the fae's throat. She gurgled and collapsed in a heap, landing half across Emma's feet. Pinned down, Emma needed precious seconds to push the dying fae aside, during which another wave of magic washed over her, Ruby, and Hook. Ruby and Emma grunted as a thousand freezing sharp nails of pain prickled into their skin, but Hook cried out in pain, already wounded and taking the brunt of the spell.

There was something off in his expression, Emma realized. Something very wrong. Hook lay on his back, panting now as his eyes slid shut and pain raced over his expression. Within a few seconds, he started convulsing—but before Emma could figure out what was happening, the red light filling the cavern flickered oddly and Belle's voice shouted: "Rumplestiltskin!"

Hands raised to fling more magic at the fae, Emma hurriedly redirected the magic into the ground in front of her, sucking it back in as fast as she could…because the two remaining fae had disappeared. Belle held the Janus Stone in her hands as she hurried over to join them, and Emma could feel the sudden difference in the atmosphere, a lightness that hadn't been there before. Physical possession of the Janus Stone was how you controlled it, Belle had explained the previous night, and now the wards keeping anyone from just popping in using magic were down.

Conceivably, anyway. Emma hoped that Belle had a good grip on the rock, because if she didn't and the Janus Stone wanted to disappear, all this would have been for nothing—including Hook getting himself stabbed. Twisting to face her friend, Emma collapsed into a kneeling position at Hook's side, feeling the power in her hands dissipate and exhaustion press in on her mind. Her limbs suddenly felt heavy and her breathing sluggish…but that didn't matter when Hook didn't respond to Ruby shaking his uninjured shoulder.

"Hook?" Emma touched his arm. "You okay, buddy?"

He moaned, and then suddenly the pirate flailed wildly, catching Ruby in the face with his hook and making her fall back with a sharp cry. Hook started convulsing as Emma dove over to desperately grab for his left arm and keep him from doing any more damage. Her first effort missed and Hook then managed to stab himself in the thigh, making the pirate scream in pain. But once he started screaming, he didn't stop—his handsome features clouded over with tension and he continued to thrash.

"Hook?" she tried again, slamming her weight down on his arm so that he couldn't hurt himself or anyone else. "Killian!"

There was no response, only Belle rushing over to join them. "What's happening?"

"I don't know!" Emma snarled, turning to try to look at Ruby and almost losing her grip on Hook's arm. "You okay, Ruby?"

"I'm still alive, if that's what you're asking. And not a flying monkey yet." They'd all been worried about that monkey bite, but so far Ruby seemed to be fine. Or at least not a flying monkey, even if her face was bleeding fairly heavily. At least Hook's hook had missed her eye.

"At the moment"—she shoved down on Hook's arm again as Belle pocketed the Janus Stone to hold down his legs—"I think that's a victory."

"What's a Nightmare Curse?" Belle asked her, having to shout to be heard over Hook's screams. Emma wished to hell that she'd started learning magic back in Storybrooke. Then she might have actually known the answers. Who said the fae were telling the truth in what they'd said to her, anyway? This could be anything.

Hook convulsed wildly; Emma bit her lip. Whatever it is, he took it for me. "I have no idea."

"An ancient and terrible curse, designed to use the power of someone's own memories and worst fears to destroy their mind," a new voice answered. Magic flicked out, and Hook suddenly went still, his screams quieting to tormented whimpers.

Overbalanced, Emma almost collapsed onto Hook, having been concentrating on holding his flailing limbs still. But she caught herself and turned to face Rumplestiltskin as he approached, his face unreadable.

"Can you fix it?" she asked, her heart in her throat. Just because she'd chosen to make a go at it with Neal didn't mean she wanted Hook to die—he was still her friend and she still cared about him. Emma had had so few true friends in her life, and Hook was the only one who had never let her down or never abandoned her, and she couldn't imagine a world without him.

"There's no cure for a Nightmare Curse," Gold replied emotionlessly, and Emma was suddenly reminded of the centuries-long feud between the two men. Of course it had been over a woman—Milah, Hook had called her. Emma was vague on the details, but she remembered that Rumplestiltskin had killed the woman…but that she'd also been Neal's mother. "I haven't mitigated the effects so much as I have masked them. He's reliving the worst moments of his life, now. And imagining far worse."

"Then only True Love's kiss will work," Belle put in, her eyes on her own lover.

Emma's heart sank. Hook was a good friend, but despite his hopes, she didn't feel that way about him. She shrugged helplessly, glancing at Belle. "He tried it on me, once…but it didn't work then, either."

A moment of heavy silence passed as Hook twitched and whimpered. Emma could only imagine how three hundred years as a pirate could provide fodder for his nightmares—and what had the fae said? That every fear would become real. How long could you survive like that, imprisoned within your own mind and living your nightmares? Why did the fae want to do that to me, of all people? Something about erupting magic. There were times Emma really hated being the Savior.

"Why the hell did you have to do that?" she asked Hook in a broken whisper, wanting to hit him more than almost anything. If the fae had stabbed her with that curse-coated knife, Henry could have woken her up, even if Neal couldn't have.

Hook didn't answer, of course, or at least not with anything that was stronger than a tormented whimper.

"He can't hear you," Rumplestiltskin answered her unspoken question, and Emma swallowed hard. They couldn't even say goodbye. What the hell kind of horrible curse was this?

"What about the bottles of True Love, Rumple?" Belle asked suddenly. "Could they do something?"

A long heartbeat passed in silence, and Emma thought she saw a flicker of something cross Rumplestiltskin's face. Was he contemplating lying, or unhappy that Belle was putting forth a possible way of saving Hook? Their eyes met briefly, and although Emma couldn't understand the multiple layers of communication passing between the pair, Belle shot Rumplestiltskin a significant look before his shoulders twitched in a very slight shrug. Hook had sworn off vengeance against Gold, but Emma didn't remember the sorcerer ever doing the same. Her eyes narrowed.

"Bottles like the one you stole instead of letting me use it to save Henry?" Emma demanded, feeling her temper rising as she remembered.

Rumplestiltskin grimaced. "Indeed. And before you get worked up, Emma, there is no guarantee that the True Love potion I have will work. The one I stored in Maleficent was from your parents. If your kiss failed—which I knew it would not—it could have saved Henry because he is a direct descendant of Snow White and Prince Charming. The only bottles I have that are ready for use are…well, not from anyone associated with Captain Hook. Or even anyone he wants to be associated with."

"We should still try, Rumple," Belle said quietly, still crouching at Hook's feet.

"Of course." The sorcerer held out a hand, and Emma felt a twinge of magic—and then there was suddenly a bottle of purple glowing magic in his right palm. Still expressionless, Rumplestiltskin dropped to one knee at Hook's side. "Hold him down. I'm going to have to remove the magic that is muting the effects of the Nightmare Curse for this to work."

Ruby scrambled forward to help, and the three women grabbed ahold of the whimpering pirate. Emma glanced at the other two—Ruby on one side, her on the other, and Belle sitting on Hook's feet—and received nods in return. She looked back at Rumplestiltskin. "Ready."

His left hand twitched, and Emma felt the complicated spell lift. How did the man make it look so easy? Practice made perfect and all, but really? However, Hook's thrashing immediately stole her attention, and the pirate let out a horrified howl of pain, mixed in with pleas and unintelligible words.

"Milah—run—no…!"

Perhaps those were exactly the wrong words to say—or maybe the right ones. Something almost like regret flashed across Rumplestiltskin's expression as the sorcerer carefully lowered the bottle to Hook's lips, holding the pirate's head still with his left hand as he did so. He dripped the liquid in slowly, drop by drop, until the entire bottle was gone. Several long seconds passed before anything happened at all—Hook continued wailing and convulsing while the women held him down. Rumplestiltskin simply straightened slightly and watched, looking as if he didn't care if Hook lived or died.

"What now?" Emma demanded.

"We wait," the sorcerer replied evenly.

"How long?" This time it was Ruby asking, with her face still bleeding and one eye almost swollen shut.

"There's no way to know. The single least effective True Love potion to cure Killian Jones would be the one I have just used," Rumplestiltskin answered as he rose to his feet. Hook's shaking seemed to be slowing, slightly anyway; and was it Emma's imagination or were his convulsions lessening, too?

"Why's that?" she wondered aloud, relaxing her grip on Hook as his limbs stopped going quite so wild.

"Because it's ours," Belle replied openly. "Rumple's and mine."

Was that annoyance on Rumplestiltskin's face, or resignation? Emma couldn't tell.

"Right," she said, shaking her head to clear away that image. Belle, however, only smiled. It was a tolerant expression, nowhere near as annoyed as the one Rumplestiltskin was now wearing.

"People always forget."

Suddenly, Hook coughed, and his eyes popped open. "Emma?" the pirate whispered. "Is that you, love? You look beautiful."

"I'm right here." Snorting, Emma shoved grimy hair out of her eyes. She felt like crap, tired and dirty and with every muscle she owned aching. "But not really gorgeous at the moment. We're all a little battered."

"You saved me."

"Sorry, bud, but it wasn't me. You owe this one to Rumplestiltskin."

Emma had never thought Hook could go so pale.

Regina, Snow and Maleficent strode into the courtyard together, with Aurora hard on their heels. Snow had a sword in her hand, but was at least smart enough to stay a half-step behind the two magic users. Her stepmother was extremely grateful that she'd developed at least that much common sense over the years, but Regina still half-wished that Snow would just stay behind. Wanting to protect her was a far cry from wanting to ruin her life, but Regina supposed that a lot of things could change in three and a half years.

But if there was one thing that would never change, it was her love for Henry. Henry was her son as much as he was Emma's, and Regina would be damned if some self-important petty king was going to hand her son to the Blue Fairy. It was odd—Regina had thought that the Blue Fairy (narrow-minded and 'all-knowing' that she was) had listened to Rumplestiltskin during that last meeting. The fairy hadn't seemed happy, but she'd seemed open to the idea of working together against the Black Fairy, apparently understanding that the compromise of neither of them having Henry's heart was better than the Black Fairy getting it—or Rumplestiltskin throwing his weight in on the other side. Regina had never liked the Blue Fairy, but that didn't mean she thought that the bug was an idiot…but now she wasn't so sure.

How in the world did Blue think this was a good idea, marching into the Dark Castle and—

"There he is!" Snow cried, pointing to where Henry was walking across the courtyard towards the front gates, glassy-eyed and obviously enchanted. "Henry!"

He didn't even twitch when his grandmother called his name; Regina was pretty sure he didn't even hear Snow. Henry just kept walking as if in a daze, with King Hubert standing not very far away and obviously waiting for her boy.

Regina saw red.

"Take care of the fool," she snapped at Maleficent, just knowing that her old friend would relish the opportunity to mess with Hubert. But Regina turned her attention to Henry, grabbing ahold of him with magic and triggering one of the several protective spells she had put on him—doing so without tripping the ones Rumplestiltskin had used was tricky, but Regina had known she might need to do this for some time. Or something like it. The spell, previously dormant, roared to life, and magic wrapped around the teenager protectively, glowing purple in the afternoon sun. Henry suddenly stumbled, going pale and shaking his head as if he had no idea where he was or what had happened. Immediately, Regina called: "Henry!"

He wheeled around to face her. "Mom!"

"Come here, boy!" Hubert started to order, but a wave of power swept him off his feet, and he screeched in surprise as Maleficent laughed.

"You people keep forgetting that you have enemies," the former fairy purred, striding over to where Hubert lay sprawled on the ground. "And perhaps more importantly, this boy has friends."

Henry was in Regina's arms before she could blink twice, but the worst wasn't over—suddenly, the Blue Fairy flew into the courtyard. To Regina's right, Snow drew her sword, her face as hard and tight as Regina had ever seen this.

"What is the meaning of this, Blue?" her stepdaughter demanded, and for a short moment of clarity, Regina was suddenly reminded of herself. The straight backed hostile expression was one she knew well—and an anger twin to Snow's own boiled deep within the Evil Queen.

"I have told you that I will always do what is necessary, child," the fairy responded loftily. "The boy is the Truest Believer, and—"

"His name is Henry," Regina cut her off in a snarl, shifting so that only her left arm was wrapped around her son. She might need the other one, and soon; magic was starting to swirl around the courtyard, and most of it wasn't hers or Maleficent's.

Her instincts were starting to tell her that something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Blue was watching Henry warily, hungrily, and—

"Regina, I don't think she's—" Maleficent started to say, only to be swept off her feet in a sudden gust of immense power. The wave of magic caught the other sorceress completely unprepared, and Maleficent flew thirty feet into one of the outer walls, hitting with a sickening crunch.

Regina's own spell came only a moment later, a swift attack to keep the Blue Fairy from further hurting her friend, but it was swept aside with almost contemptuous ease. She barely had time to shove Henry behind her before the counter attack hit her, but too late Regina realized it was only a distraction. She was able to block that spell, but the one that mattered hammered into Maleficent, picking the former fairy up and tossing her over the wall like a broken ragdoll. Sparks flew as Maleficent's limp body impacted with Rumplestiltskin's outer layer of wards, and Regina felt the magic rushing outwards—and knew her friend was dead.

"Blue, what are you doing?" Snow cried; winds of power were rising and she had to shout to be heard. But even when the fairy smiled, the words Maleficent never managed to say rang in Regina's ears:

I don't think she's—

"She's not the Blue Fairy," Regina spat, stepping out to shield the other two. "Get Henry out of here."

"I'm not leaving you," Snow retorted before the flying and tiny fairy suddenly transformed into the tall red haired woman who they had both seen at the Christening. She was dressed in black and silver again, with a long dress that flowed behind her like the wings of a dragonfly, whipping gracefully in the wind. A chill ripped down Regina's spine, ice cold and terrified.

She was a powerful sorceress—more powerful than almost any human magical user who had lived in centuries—but Regina knew that she couldn't defeat the Black Fairy. There was a reason that all-too-beautiful creature had become the legend she was: ruthless, deadly, and capable of dark magics that Regina had never even dreamed of. But—maybe she didn't have to beat her. Maybe she just had to buy Snow time to get Henry away, because if the Black Fairy could have gotten into the Dark Castle, she would have been there already.

Regina's hands came up, crackling with power, as her back straightened. Her oldest and nastiest grin lit up her face, and the darkness within her, the Evil Queen that she had embraced for so long, raced up to meet that of her opponent. Regina had tried so hard to be better for the last year and a half. She had tried to be someone who Henry could be proud of, to be worthy of the family she had unexpectedly found. In doing so, she had abandoned her old ways, had pushed the evil within her aside, and had tried to ignore the way her heart was already stained black. But not now. Now she could use her darkness to protect those she loved, could pour every last bit of her blackened heart into her magic, and Regina knew how powerful that made her.

"Surrender now, and I shall let you live," the Black Fairy told her with something that sounded almost like respect. "Else there is nothing that will save you from me."

"I'm not looking for saving," Regina shot back. "I hate to break it to you, but I've never been much of a damsel in distress."

The Black Fairy laughed, and power rang in the sound.

At least Snow was backing up, slowly bringing Henry away from this fight that could only end one way. But Regina had a son—and stepdaughter—to defend and a friend to avenge, and that made her dangerous. All I have to do is hold her off long enough, Regina told herself, gathering power from the depths she'd never known she could reach. Just long enough.

"How about you laugh less and fight more, fairy?" Regina taunted her opponent, and attacked.

A/N: Next up is Chapter 29: "Worth Fighting For", in which Regina takes on the Black Fairy, Baelfire and Charming's army goes after Zelena, Mulan returns, and Tinker Bell makes an important choice.

And now my questions for you: 1) What do you think Norco wants with Grumpy? 2) Do you think that the Blue Fairy has chosen to be on the "heroes" side, or that she's doing something else?