Chapter Twenty-Nine—"Worth Fighting For"
Snow hated the thought of leaving Regina to fight the Black Fairy on her own, but she had to protect Henry. She didn't know exactly what would happen if the Black Fairy was able to get Henry's heart, but nothing good could come of it—either Henry would die, or he would live a horribly empty life as a prisoner of the world's most evil fairy. Not wanting the Blue Fairy to get her grandson's heart didn't mean Snow wanted her enemy to have it, and that meant she had to get Henry away from this fight. Getting Henry to safety was the best way she could help Regina. Besides, Snow knew enough to know that her sword would be about as useful against the Black Fairy as a mosquito bite, and probably less annoying. So she had to get Henry away. Now.
Even though the thirteen year old seemed rooted to the spot, unable to tear his wide eyes away from the battle between his mother and the Black Fairy.
"Henry." Snow tugged urgently on the arm she still held. "Come on. We have to go."
"But—"
"We can't help her," she told her grandson. "All we can do is make this harder for Regina. The best thing we can do is make sure she doesn't have to protect us, too."
Huge brown eyes turned to stare at her, and for a moment Snow was reminded of herself as a child, wide-eyed and terrified, knowing she was going to lose her dying mother and unable to do anything to help. Her heart clenched, but she pushed the pain aside. There was nothing to guarantee Regina would die. After all, how many people had tried to kill the Evil Queen over the years? Regina was tough. Finally, Henry nodded. "Okay."
Together, they sprinted for the nearest door leading into the castle, while Snow tried not to think of wherever Maleficent's body had been thrown. Thankfully, Aurora had run inside the moment the Black Fairy had revealed herself, calling for help that Snow knew wasn't inside the castle. Tink had headed off to help Emma and never made it there, at least not judging from the last communication Emma had sent before heading for the King's Cave. Rumplestiltskin was—well, Snow didn't know where, but if he wasn't back, it was probably because he'd run afoul of other fae during his quest to find their hiding places. The Blue Fairy was nowhere to be found; now that Snow knew this wasn't her, it seemed evident that Blue and the rest of the fairies weren't going to help them.
That meant Regina was on her own.
The wind in the courtyard was already fierce; it felt like a hurricane blowing through, dark and heavy, dangerous and terrifying. Running against that wind was hard; it took twice as long as it should have for Snow and Henry to reach the kitchen door. Lights were starting to flicker against a rapidly darkening sky as Regina and the Black Fairy fought, and Snow could feel the magic down in her very bones. Finally reaching the door, she grabbed ahold of the handle and heaved with all her might—only to have the door refuse to budge. Snow tugged again, but the hinges didn't even squeak. It was stuck. Even Henry's help didn't make the door move, and both grandmother and grandson wheeled around to stare at the suddenly laughing Black Fairy.
"Did you think it would be that simple to escape me?" she asked lightly, vanishing for a moment and then reappearing between Regina and the other two. Her hazel eyes zeroed in on Henry. "Come with me now, boy, and spare the others a great deal of pain."
Henry only stared; Snow felt her hands land unconsciously on her grandson's shoulders and hold tightly. It was tempting, she knew, the thought of sacrificing yourself to save everyone else. Snow had done it, and she knew that her grandson had such courage in him. But now was neither the time nor the place; such a sacrifice would only make matters worse. However, Henry had to make that decision on his own. If Snow tried to force him, he would only resent her—and possibly try to turn himself over, anyway.
Sometimes the hardest sacrifice is knowing when to say no, Snow thought grimly. Even if it means leaving those you love to fight, and if need be, to die.
"No." Henry's voice was surprisingly strong, and Snow felt the teen square his shoulders. "I'm not gonna betray my family by going with you. Not ever."
"You'll regret that." Was it Snow's imagination, or did the Black Fairy smile ever so slightly? She was enjoying herself! "I promise you that, Henry."
A sudden gust of power slammed into the Black Fairy, making her stagger and cutting off anything else she might have said. The tall redhead caught her balance quickly, but by the time she did, Regina had vanished and appeared a few feet away from Snow and Henry, clearly intending to shield them with her body if necessary. "No," the Evil Queen cut in. "You'll regret not dealing with me before you started bothering my son."
A sudden whirlwind of purple magic reared out of the ground, enveloping the Black Fairy. Grinning, Regina snapped her hands up to chest height, slowly bringing them closer to one another as power cackled between her palms. In response, the whirlwind thickened and tightened, wrapping closely around the so-called Fae Queen and completely obscuring her features. A roaring noise filled the air, sounding like an incoming freight training closing around the Black Fairy. Snow thought she heard a noise of distress coming from within the cloud—until the whirlwind collapsed, and suddenly the Black Fairy was free.
And laughing.
She hadn't even bothered to escape the cloud; no, she'd taken ownership of it. Arms held straight out, with her long sleeves billowing like silken wings, she absorbed Regina's potent magic with a playful smile creasing her porcelain white features. The whirlwind vanished as she continued to laugh merrily, and her arms came down as she tossed her long hair back over one shoulder.
"You are talented," she told Regina, looking the human woman over appraisingly. "And wasted on mere humans."
Regina snorted. "As one of those 'mere' humans, I think I'm insulted."
"You're not only human. You are a queen—and a sorceress." The beautiful voice went soft and convincing, alluring. "Come with me, and you may keep the boy you call your son."
Snow's heart hammered into her throat. The cornerstone of Regina's redemption had always been her love for Henry. Regina cared for nothing the way she loved her son; her broken heart had started to heal through Henry, and Snow knew that even the Evil Queen's powerful feelings for Robin Hood were dwarfed by how much Henry meant to her. Would that tip the scales? Would that—
"How crazy do you think I am?" Regina demanded of her opponent without missing a beat. "We all know that we can't trust you, and I'm not foolish enough to think I'd be anything more than a tool to you."
The benevolent smile vanished, replaced by something far darker. Suddenly, the Black Fairy was all danger and sharp edges. "Useful tools survive, child," she said softly, and Snow felt the electricity in the air. "My enemies do not. I will do well by you, Regina. If you make the right choice. Ignore my offer at your peril."
"Oh, like my sister?" Regina shot back. "You've done great by her."
"So be it, then." The answer was all but a snarl. Pale white hands rose again, black lightning arcing between them.
Regina didn't even blink.
"Bring it, fairy."
"The Witch is here!" Mulan shouted as her horse slid to a stop next to where Baelfire and his company crouched in the woods.
"Here?" Bae echoed, blinking in surprise.
Out of breath, Mulan only nodded, her chest heaving almost as heavily as her horse's.
Baelfire rose from his crouch, grabbing his looking glass so that he could spy on the growing battle at the bottom of the hill they were perched on. Early that morning, his scouts had spotted ogres, griffins, chimeras, and a host of other magical creatures massing on the plain in front of Regina's old castle. The timing was perfect. His and David's army had been closing in on the Witch's stolen stronghold for days, hoping to lure her into one final battle in which they could destroy her forces once and for all. She had finally obliged them, and flying monkeys had led the attack that started not long after noon. The fighting had been fast and furious ever since; both sides knew that this battle would turn the tide of the war one way or another.
Two hours later, the Witch's army had suddenly faltered, buying David time to split his forces. Philip took over commandant he right wing while Bae separated out a hundred of their best daredevils—the same team that had taken King Stefan's castle with him—leading them around the rear of Zelena's forces. His original intention had been to sneak in and seize the castle, hoping to find a way to capture the Witch before she could call on any of her fae allies. By this point, everyone knew that the Witch wasn't the worst threat they faced, and it was high time they ended the bloody war for control of the Enchanted Forest.
But Zelena's sudden appearance on the battlefield changed everything. Bae could see her through the looking glass Hook had loaned him, surrounded by flying monkeys and other fell creatures. However, the way her forces responded to her mattered more than the half-mad still on her face—no longer were the ogres milling about aimlessly or griffins attacking one another. Now her army was focused again, and Bae could see them pressing into David's front ranks, pushing into the gaps in the Grand Alliance's ranks and tearing into his allies.
"We'll take care of her," he told Mulan, not sure how he was going to pull that off but knowing they had to find a way. "Get back into the fight. David needs you down there."
After all, he still had a crossbow and Bae hadn't given Robin all of his squid ink coated arrows. He'd figure something out.
Mulan grinned. "He said you'd say that." The warrior woman dismounted, and for the first time, Bae noticed the sword-shaped bundle tucked under her left arm. "I'm here to watch your back. And to give you this."
She held out the sword, flipping the cloth wrapped around it back, and offering him the weapon, hilt first. Immediately, a chill ran down Bae's spine. He'd suspected as much, but being handed Excalibur was another thing entirely. If David had been there, he'd have argued—but the king really did know what he was doing.
"Well, I'll be damned. I guess I'm in the big leagues now."
"What?" Mulan frowned as the reference sailed over her head.
"Nevermind. Just a saying from the Land Without Magic." Finally, Bae accepted the sword, feeling the tingle of magic race up his arm as he wrapped his fingers around the grip. He'd spent so long running from magic, hating it, but the last year in the Enchanted Forest had taught him that magic was a part of his life. And here he was, holding the most legendary magical sword in any world.
Damn. If my thirteen year old self could see me now… Bae would never be able to go back to being just a spinner's kid from the Frontlands, but maybe that was okay.
"You ready?" Mulan asked, breaking Bae out of his short reverie.
"Yeah," he answered. "Let's kill the Witch."
Hook staggered to his feet, obviously still shaking but doing much better. Emma reached out to steady him but never managed; the pirate caught his balance on his own.
"You okay?" she asked quietly, noticing how pale he still was and how his limbs seemed to want to shake. The Nightmare Curse really was aptly named, and Hook looked like he was still seeing a bit of his less savory dreams.
"Better," he replied gruffly, his voice clearly still hoarse from all the screaming. Then he turned to eye the former Dark One warily. "It seems I owe you my life."
"You owe it to Belle," Rumplestiltskin replied immediately, with an odd twitch in his expression that wasn't precisely friendly. "I'm not that kind."
"Rumple." The beauty looked unhappy, but Emma wasn't surprised. After all, Hook had been trying to kill Gold less than two years ago, and even if vengeance was no longer on the table, plenty of bad blood remained between the pair.
Rumplestiltskin only shrugged and moved over to Belle's side, his expression softening. "Sweetheart, I am many things, but even with my curse broken, I'm no saint." There was a flicker of that smile, the one that Emma knew he only wore for Belle. "You're always going to be better than I."
"Not as much as you think," Belle replied softly, smiling back at him.
Suddenly, Emma realized that this was the first time that watching a True Love couple hadn't made her feel a little envious. She'd been closed off for so long and then had come to unexpectedly burn for love like that. Maybe she and Neal were not True Love; maybe they were. But she had something special for the first time since before Henry was born, and Emma was finally happy with her choice.
Hook cleared his throat and turned to Belle. "Then I owe you my thanks. And a debt I will strive to repay."
"You don't owe me anything," Belle replied with a smile. "It was the right thing to do."
"Even a pirate does not forget the woman to whom he owes his life," Hook answered, reaching out to take Belle's left hand, the one not intertwined with Rumplestiltskin's. His next action made Emma blink, not sure if she should be more surprised by Hook kissing Belle's hand or Rumplestiltskin letting him. "If you ever have need of me, all you need do is ask."
Regina's vision was starting to swim. She'd been in more than a few magical duels during her heyday—mostly against idiots who thought they could take down the Evil Queen and failed utterly—but facing off with the Black Fairy was nothing like any of them. Oh, she'd gotten in a few good blows of her own, but the smug and smiling bitch shrugged most of her spells off with contemptuous ease. Then she hammered Regina with magic that almost defied explanation, pure and sweet dark power. It wasn't fairy dust and it wasn't human magic; it was something stronger and far more terrifying.
Knowing that she was faring better in this fight than any other sorceress would was a very small consolation. Regina was still losing, and she was all that stood between this monster and Henry.
Only determination kept her on her feet as Regina half blocked a burst toxic black magic and just weathered the reset, gritting her teeth against the pain and forcing a smile. "Is that the best you can do?"
"No. I shall do far worse," the fae snarled. Regina's constant goading seemed to really annoy her; apparently, the Black Fairy preferred clever quip exchanges to snarky attitude. So, she flung fire towards Regina, and the Evil Queen barely managed to dodge in time.
"For an all-powerful being, you're sure taking a long time killing me," she shot back.
She only had to last long enough for help to arrive. Snow had already tried calling on Rumplestiltskin—clever girl—only to find the Black Fairy's magic blocking that spell. But the Black Fairy hadn't seen the tablet that the younger queen had pulled out of her pocket, and probably wouldn't have realized its significance even if she had. Snow had caught Regina's eye no long afterwards, and the message was clear. Help was coming. All Regina had to do was hold out.
A brick wall of magic crashed into her in response to her last taunt, and Regina saw stars as she crashed into the ground. A hastily assembled shield barely absorbed the brunt of the Black Fairy's next attack, and the edges of that spell slammed into her, too. But Regina had always been stubborn, so she staggered back to her feet, spitting out blood. It didn't matter if she swayed drunkenly. It didn't matter if only her magic kept her thinking, fighting, functioning. What mattered was that she could still fight.
She didn't dare look over her shoulder at Henry. Not when Regina knew how worried and heartbroken his expression would be…and not when she was busy dying to keep him safe.
Focusing on her desperate love for her little boy, Regina let that emotion fill her soul and fired vicious white light at the Black Fairy.
"Blue!"
Tink burst into the senior most fairy's private sanctum without a single regret, interrupting a meeting between Blue, Silver, and Cyan. The other two were far older than Tink, the two most powerful fairies left now that the Rose Fairy was dead, but Tink just didn't care. She hardly even waited for Silver to stop talking, and just cut in.
"The Black Fairy is at the Dark Castle," she said without preamble.
"Green—" Cyan started, gaping at her audacity.
"Tinker Bell," she cut the older fairy off; Tink had never liked Cyan, who was even more stuck up than Blue, and utterly full of her own importance in the complicated fairy hierarchy. "And I wasn't talking to you."
"This is not the first time my sister has visited the Dark Castle," Blue put in calmly before Cyan could get really worked up. "I fail to see how it is my concern."
Not slapping Blue with the tablet still clutched in her hand took all the self-control Tink could muster. Instead, she said: "She knows about Henry somehow, and she's after him. Regina's trying to stop her."
It went without saying that Regina could not be faring well, but Blue's expression never so much as twitched in concern. Then, Blue had never approved of Regina or Tink's attempts to help her. She'd never believed that Regina could be better than the Evil Queen, and probably still didn't. A faint look of distaste crossed Blue's face. "And Rumplestiltskin?"
"Not there."
A long moment of silence passed between them; Tink tried not to fidget impatiently. Finally, unable to wait any longer while Blue debated the merits of doing the truly right thing, Tink snapped:
"This is your chance. You can either abandon them, or you can help. But I know which side I'm on."
She met Blue's eyes fiercely, hoping against hope that coming here hadn't been a waste of time, that she hadn't just doomed her friend with this delay. But Tink knew that she wasn't enough to tip the balance against the Black Fairy in a fight. Only Blue or Rumplestiltskin could do that, and she had no idea where Rumplestiltskin had gone once he'd left her in Nottingham two hours earlier. Besides, it was high time that Blue stepped up and actually fought for her own beliefs instead of making others do it for her.
"Make your choice, Blue," Tink demanded.
With Mulan by his side, Baefire cut his way through the assortment of magical creatures surrounding the Witch. Eviscerating a chimera while Mulan took out a pair of goblins, Bae next sidestepped a group of selkies and left them to his companion, then leapt over a dead centaur before it could trip him. Sheathing Excalibur, he pulled the crossbow down from where it had been strung across his back, the weight in his hands familiar and more comfortable than a legendary sword would ever be. They were finally close enough for him to shoot a squid ink-tipped bolt straight into Zelena's back, and Bae wasn't going to waste the opportunity.
"Cover me!" he snapped to Mulan while several of his soldiers caught up in time to rush forward and engage the selkies. Meanwhile, Mulan stepped up beside him, her sword flashing out to decapitate an approaching yeti.
Is this a battlefield, or a zoo? Bae wondered as Mulan shot him a grin. The Witch really was pulling out all the stops today.
"You shoot, I'll fight," she told him.
"Deal."
Sighting along the crossbow, Bae sucked in a deep breath and ignored the rest of the world. He paid no attention as Mulan killed a crazy-looking human, or when she dodged around a berserker gray unicorn who tried to skewer her. Bae just focused on Zelena's back, not caring if it was 'dishonorable' to shoot her there. He was aiming for her shoulder, anyway, trusting that the squid ink would freeze both the Witch and her magic. Despite what he'd said earlier about killing her, Bae really preferred to take Zelena alive. She had numerous crimes to answer for, and he knew enough about human behavior to understand that various members of the Grand Alliance would need to see someone take the blame for the reign of terror that the Witch had spawned.
Still, he wasn't stupid enough to bring a sword to a magic fight, even if David had been nice enough to give him an enchanted blade. That was why Bae preferred squid ink coated crossbow bolts. One more deep breath, and he squinted his left eye shut. There was no way he'd get a chance for a second shot, so this one had to be perfect.
Green sparks emulated from Zelena's hands; her posture was tense with concentration. She had no idea he was there as Mulan took out another goblin. Slowly and steadily, Bae's finger squeezed the trigger—and then suddenly his sights were full of fur, teeth, and wings. Screaming, the monkey took the bolt right in the chest, and the squid ink froze it in midair. But the monkey had been dive bombing Bae, so it fell out of the sky and landed right on top of him.
Hitting the ground hard underneath a mess of furry dead monkey, Bae heard something snap. He'd already started in on an inventory of his own body parts when he realized what it had to be.
"You okay?" Mulan asked, pausing in her fight to haul him to his feet with ridiculous ease for such a slender girl. The monkey flopped off to the side, leaving bits of blood and fur on Bae.
"Yeah, but the crossbow isn't." Bae was going to be bruised as all hell, but his weapon of choice was in three pieces. Maybe an armorer could repair it, but so far as this battle was concerned, it was toast.
Mulan followed his gaze. "That's a problem."
"No kidding."
Bae supposed that he could stab Zelena with one of the remaining bolts—most of them weren't broken, and they were all coated in squid ink—but he'd still have to get close enough to do that. He groaned. Either way, he was going to be bringing a short, handheld sharp object into a fight with a sorceress. Being out of options didn't make that any less stupid, particularly since the fighting around them was only growing fiercer. Zelena still didn't seem to have noticed Bae or his company, but if she hadn't, why had the monkey come after him? Bae couldn't escape the feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong—but there was no time to sit back and contemplate the horribleness of the situation; they were still in the middle of a battle.
"What now?" Mulan asked as she took down a chimera, making it look stupidly easy. "Retreat and regroup?"
"No way." Bae drew Excalibur and helped with the next two creatures. Determination made his sword strokes strong, and he cut a goblin in half without so much as blinking. "We're ending this today."
The best thing about Mulan was that she never argued about stupid stuff. She was a woman of action, plain and simple, happiest when the fight was honest and there were enemies to defeat. So she just nodded and took up a position on his left side. "Your lead."
Together, Baelfire and Mulan surged forward, cutting their way through the thicket of creatures between them and the Wicked Witch of the West. Zelena was about forty feet away from where the monkey had dive bombed Bae, a long shot with a crossbow but one Bae had been sure he could make. Now, however, he wished he'd gotten closer, because Zelena wheeled around before he and Mulan had made it further than another ten feet, her grin face splitting into a vicious grin.
"Kill them!" she ordered the trio of monkeys orbiting overhead, and all three dove.
Dodging the first one, Bae split the second in half with Excalibur as the Witch turned her attention back to a pair of ogres that had suddenly turned around and were lumbering into her troops instead of the Grand Alliance's. That was odd. Didn't she have the Janus Stone to keep all these creatures under control? Mulan killed the third monkey and they took the remaining one out together while Bae turned that thought over in his mind. Zelena might be smiling, but she looked tired, like the magic Bae could see flashing between her fingers was draining her. That meant she was working on something powerful, and if he couldn't see the effects of that power—if people weren't dying in droves or turning into flying monkeys—it had to be that she was working to control the creatures of her army.
Wait. She'd shown up without any warning at all instead of staying safe in her castle like she usually did. There'd been chaos before her arrival, too, with dark creatures going every which way and doing as much damage to each other as they did to the enemy. But once Zelena had shown up, everything had sorted itself out and her army had renewed their attack—
Emma did it! The thought tore through him like a blinding flash of light, brilliant and beautiful. Emma and Belle must have managed to fetch the Janus Stone out of hiding, despite whatever traps Zelena had put in their path. And that meant that the Witch was stuck controlling her army with magic, which in turn meant that she was weaker now than she'd ever been before. This was their chance.
Rushing forward, Bae yanked a crossbow bolt out of the pack on his hip with his left hand. Mulan was right on his heels, and together they sliced their way through the remaining creatures as Zelena fought to keep control over them. Immediately, the Witch screamed for monkeys to attack them, but none were close enough. Once, she spun to face them and threw a green bolt of power in their direction, but it split the difference between them and both dodged easily. The attack seemed weaker, too, and that was enough to tell Bae that his suspicions were right. They'd better be, or we're both dead! He didn't think that Zelena was subtle enough to try lulling them into a false sense of security by faking that her power was lessened, but there was no way to be certain.
Mulan zagged left and he zigged right. The slender woman immediately went after Zelena with her sword, only to be blasted back by a sudden wave of a green hand. But that freed Bae to act, and he leapt towards the Witch, aiming the crossbow bolt for her side. He didn't even have to stab her with it. Contact with the squid ink would be enough—
Fire blossomed in his hand and the bolt disintegrated. Pain on his left hip matched the burn, and Bae suddenly realized that Zelena must have had some sort of protective spell up to keep away objects that might disable her. But the spell didn't stop him, and he was already in motion, so he just let his momentum carry him right into her, tackling the Witch like the football player he'd never been in the Land Without Magic. Still, he'd been a decent brawler in his time, and Bae knew how to take someone down hard. So he did.
He rolled off the Witch as she spat and swore. "You'll pay for that!"
"Oh, did I ruin your fancy dress?" Bae asked cheekily, already on his feet and with Excalibur in hand. Yeah, bringing a sword to a magic fight was downright stupid, but it was the only choice he had, now.
"You cursed brat!"
Bae snorted. "I hate to tell you, lady, but I'm a hell of a lot older than you are."
Zelena snarled, and even as that same pair of ogres turned around again (what had she done to infuriate them? Bae was half tempted to distract her long enough to let the ogres get Zelena, since they seemed to want to), she flung a cloud of magic at him. Out of options—it was too big to dodge—he let his instinct guide him and parried the spell with Excalibur. He didn't expect it to work, and braced himself for pain, hoping that Mulan would be able to get up and get Zelena while the magic worked on him…but nothing happened. Excalibur turned the spell aside easily, bouncing it back towards Zelena. The Witch pushed it aside in a hurry, but Bae could see the strain on her green face again.
"Oh, I know," she purred back at him, clearly trying to get the upper hand back. "So, how is your relationship with dear Papa going? Has the prodigal son regretted coming home yet?"
"Not for a moment." It was surprising how easily that answer came, but it was true.
"Pity you aren't as smart as your father," Zelena retorted, sparks of magic rolling between her hands as she readied her next attack. "It might have been worth keeping you as a pet if you were."
Too bad the ogres were distracted. Watching this obnoxious woman be stepped on would have really made Bae's day. But since that wasn't going to happen, he just laughed and blocked that spell with Excalibur, too, ignoring the way his wrists were starting to tingle. "I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not the pet type. Not really housebroken."
"That sounds like a challenge," she retorted, and Bae's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't meant to interest the crazy Witch. And she was definitely crazy. That obsessive gleam in her eyes was downright dangerous. "Perhaps I will keep you, Baelfire."
He dodged the next spell, but only barely, trying not to think of the horrible things that being Zelena's pet would entail. That thought frightened him more than he'd like to admit, particularly when he thought of all the reasons he had to get out of this battle safely—a battle he'd foolishly courted with a sorceress. Bring a sword to a magic fight, and… Heart hammering in his throat, he forced the fears aside and dodged yet another attack, this time having to drop to the ground and roll away from her. Yet doing so taught him something—Zelena's magic seemed to have a very limited range at the moment. Was controlling the creatures that much of a strain? It must have been. Once he was more than fifteen feet away from her, she seemed unable to attack him.
Too bad his crossbow was broken. Gathering his wits, Bae rolled to his feet and started thinking about his next move. Meanwhile, Zelena's crazed look only grew, her green face screwed up with hatred.
"Going so soon?" she demanded. "I wouldn't hear of it. My little party's just beginning!"
"More like it's ending," Bae retorted, leaping forward once more, closing the range with Zelena in what was almost a suicidal move. Her hands came out, sweeping magic towards him, but the spell was weaker than any of the others, and he only caught the fringes of it. Pain shot through his shoulders, but he was able to shrug it off, whipping his sword forward with as much force as he could muster.
"Sorry that the bucket of water was too unwieldy. This'll have to do," he told her as Excalibur went in her chest and came out through her back.
"How cute." Zelena coughed up blood, but didn't look worried. "You think a little sword can kill me?"
"This isn't just a sword," Bae replied as the green drained off her face like so much food coloring, revealing a pale-skinned woman who looked far younger than she had seconds earlier. "It's Excalibur."
Regina hit the ground hard, smacking her head against the courtyard's cobblestones. As the world around her faded, she thought she heard Henry calling for her—and was that Snow calling her name, too? The Black Fairy was laughing again, but then there was a fourth voice, one she recognized and for some reason felt angry about. The Black Fairy was no longer laughing; in fact, now she sounded angrier than she had during their entire fight, aloof and cold.
But Regina couldn't care, couldn't think, and everything was going black.
A/N: Stay tuned for Chapter 30: "Towards the Sun", where Blue chooses her side, Regina's fate is explored, and the Witch's army is defeated.
And now my questions for you: 1) Did you find the homages to a certain 1930s MGM movie in this chapter and 2) Do you think that the dagger cut Norco inflicted on Rumplestiltskin will be a problem?