Hello all. Thank you for all the follows and faves. I'm glad this is something that interests you lovelies. This one shot deals with the final moments and what goes on between Emma and Regina in the moment they change places. OQ of course, but SQ friendship and feels. Enjoy!

The darkness surrounded them. Regina felt it crackling in the air, felt it honing in on her. She wasn't sure why she gasped the seconds before it consumed her. This ending shouldn't have surprised her. She had everything she needed, her happy ending. She should have known that it wouldn't last: She'd never outrun the Evil Queen.

It whipped her away, surrounding her completely. Dark tendrils were snaking all around her, through her, causing white hot searing pain that was everywhere all at once. 'Just go,' she thought to tell them all. 'Just run.' But, damn the heroes, no one was leaving. They were standing around her, wide-eyed and open-mouthed while she felt the light being pulled out of her. It wasn't a feeling Regina could describe, but she knew instinctively what was happening to her body, her spirit. She was growing numb; returning to the familiar emptiness she'd lived with for decades. Robin runs to her side and she swears she feels his fingers brush against hers briefly before he's thrown back, rolling across the pavement.

She sees Emma turning the dagger over in her hands, can see her working out a solution before she charges forward. "Emma, NO!" She should have sounded more like the Evil Queen, the indignant Mayor, or at the very least a scolding mother, but Regina was frantic and the panic echoed in her cry. Still, it was enough to stop Emma in her tracks. "There has to be another way," she said through gritted teeth. Regina tried to yell over the howling darkness, but she was weakening; the pain was becoming unbearable. This was her burden now, this darkness. Rumple had warned her as such and she wouldn't let anyone, least of all her son's mother to take it from her.

Emma was yelling at her again, crying. Regina couldn't understand her words, but the blonde's eyes told her all she needed to know. She would fulfil her role as Savior and Regina was powerless to stop her. "I can take it," she screamed, willing Emma to hear. "Leave me!" she managed before falling to her knees, darkness surrounding her senses completely and she was falling endlessly, letting herself be taken in.

Snow is screaming. Regina doesn't know how she's certain that the cries come from her stepdaughter, but she has no doubt. She's still on her knees in the street, but the dark hold is easing away. Strong arms wrap around her, jerking her up to her feet and dragging her backward. Robin whispers her name over and over against her ear, holding her tightly to his chest. She opens her eyes slowly, knowing what she'd see but unprepared to see it. She is too shocked to scream. Emma stands where she had been, dagger outstretched, giving herself to the Dark One. Robin holds tight to her waist and Regina practically topples them both when she lunges for Emma.

"You don't get to do this!" Regina screams as she pulls out of Robin's grip and reaches for the dagger. "It'll destroy you, Emma."

"It'll do the same-to you," the blonde struggles with the words. The darkness is feeding on her, wrapping tighter and tighter. "I made you a promise."

"And I made one to them," Regina points at the Charmings huddled together. David's grip was the only thing keeping a terrified Snow White on her feet. "I can't outrun fate, Emma. I can take it. Give me the dagger." She speaks slowly, and as softly as she can to still be heard. Regina reaches up, fingers shaking. Something like electricity jolts through her when her fingers barely brushed the blade. "Give me the dagger!" she yells, abandoning reason when the stubborn blonde pulls away from her.

Robin was pulling her back again, or was he holding her up? She couldn't tell anymore. None of this was supposed to be happening. Regina hears someone calling desperately to Emma and she's not sure if it's Snow or herself. She can no longer see the woman she never imagined she'd call a friend; the darkness encompasses every inch of her.

"No," she said, not loud enough for anyone to hear. It didn't matter anymore; it was already too late. She slumped against Robin, her knees giving out beneath her the moment the Dark One's dagger hit the floor. The thief lowers her to the ground, kneeling behind her. "I'm sorry," she says over and over again, her voice shaking, tears falling freely from her eyes.

Hook crossed the short distance between them, picking up the dagger and staring at the newly engraved name. When he drops to his knees in front of Regina, she half expects him to plunge the dagger into her chest. She wouldn't blame him for it. Instead he lifts her hands and places the dagger in them. "Keep it safe." It's all he says, all he needs to. He gets up with a hand on her shoulder and walks off.

She doesn't know how long she stays like that, staring at the dagger that now held Emma Swan in an endless darkness. The tone of Snow's voice tells Regina that she had said her name more than once. "I'm sorry," Regina says again because there's nothing else she can say. "Snow, I'm so, so sorry." She grabs her step-daughter's hand and holds tight.

"You'll help us get her back." It wasn't a question, but a promise of the hope Snow lived by. Regina can only nod in response: hope never being her strong suit. "Did it hurt? In there?" The princess' voice was that of the frightened child Regina remembered all too well as she asked the question she didn't want the answer to.

"No," Regina looked her dead in the eyes and lied. "It was loud and," she takes a deep breath to steady her racing thoughts. "It's hard to describe, but no, Snow. It didn't hurt." Regina rises to her feat, grateful for Robin's arm on her back and takes Snow into arms. "We'll get her back. I swear." She looks from David back to Snow, cupping the younger woman's cheeks and wiping away her tears with her thumbs. David puts an arm around his wife and slowly leads her away, but not before sharing a long, knowing look with the queen. Regina doesn't react, only holds the dagger tightly against her chest until the Charmings disappear around the corner.

"Regina," Robin says softly against her hair as his arm snaked more firmly around her. He can tell how hard she is fighting for control and wants her to know that she doesn't have to keep up the act for him.

"They can't know." Regina lets her head fall back against Robin's shoulder, closing her eyes and trying to keep her breathing under control. Snow had just lost her daughter, again. And again because of Regina had done, or rather, couldn't do. She would never allow her to know that the moments she'd spent surrounded by the night were the most terrifying and painful she'd ever experienced. "I um," she swayed against him, her body still weak, tremors still pulsing through her. "I'm going to need your help getting home. And Henry…" She is quickly losing her battle with consciousness as Robin sweeps her trembling body into his arms.

"…will be okay. He's a tough as his mothers." He kisses her forehead as she curls into his neck, the dagger still pressed against her.

"I love you," she tells him because she never has and because Emma gave her the chance to say it and she won't let it go to waste.

"And I, you." He walks back toward the car with her in his arms. He knows tomorrow she'll throw herself into the battle to save Emma; she'll be unrelenting and undeterred. But tonight, tonight he can keep her safe and he intends to do just that.

Thank you for reading. Next up is our favorite sexy Pirate and some CS because I promised I'd try.