Special request from ILoveRegina'sStrength who wanted something with Regina as the Dark One and Emma fighting to save her. I hope this is what you had in mind.
Alternate Ending. Cannon up until Regina is surrounded by the darkness then all mistakes and meanderings are mine.
Thank you for reading!
"There has to be another way," Regina forced out as Emma came impossibly closer to the swirling darkness, dagger in hand. As soon as the blonde raised her arm Regina knew exactly what she was about to do. She raised her own instantly and the dagger vanished from Emma's hand and appeared in her own. The simple transference took everything the queen had left; she fell to her knees without a sound. Before Emma could fully appreciate what had just transpired, they dagger clanged against the concrete; the small sound almost deafening in the sudden silence of the street.
Regina Mills the engraving reflected in the light of the street but cast no shadow. The Dark One had been renamed and Regina had been imprisoned.
It was Robin who moved first, walking toward the blade like a man walking toward his death. He crouched next to it as if to a grave, but couldn't bring himself to touch. "What did you do?" he asked to no one and everyone; to the woman he knew couldn't answer.
Hook bent toward the grieving man, picking up the dagger and offering it to Emma. "What now, love?" He asked the Savior. She was the woman who was supposed to bring back the happy endings; the one who stood shell-shocked staring into the night.
"I…I have no idea." She forced herself to meet her lover's eyes, unable to face the blade in his hand. She let Killian see her fear. He is the only one she'd ever show it to.
"Gold," David answered from beside her, his arms still wrapped around his trembling wife. "He was the Dark One for centuries. If there's anyone in this town that knows how to undo this it has to be him."
"Aye, but do we want it undone?" Four pairs of eyes glared at the pirate.
"She sacrificed herself! Of course, we want it undone," Robin yelled. If the thief had more fight left in him Hook knew he would have an arrow embedded in his chest.
"I'm not saying I don't want to help Regina, we go way back the queen and I. I am saying that she may not be Regina anymore. Power corrupts and that much darkness…"
"She's strong," Snow broke through Hook's argument with a certainty that shut down every other hesitation or suspicion floating between them. "She's the strongest person I've ever met in my life." She took the dagger from Hook's hands and tucked it in her coat. "Let's go talk to Rumpelstiltskin." The name that was feared for so long left her lips in a curse.
"He's under a preservation spell." At what point Henry had arrived, no one was sure.
"So we un-preserve," Emma had found her voice, driven by her parent's assurance and unyielding hope. She looked her son square in the eyes.
"He killed her!" Henry yelled. "You were there. He just killed her so he could have the life he wanted; he'll never help her escape what he's been trying to outrun for years." Once again, Emma had underestimated her son's intuition. She knew Henry had saved her, saved them all from the Author's curse, yet somehow hadn't realized what the impact of watching his mother bleed out must have had. Regina hadn't remembered her son, but her son knew his mother. Emma wasn't about to let him watch her die for a second time.
She pulled him against her in a tight hug. It wasn't their style, but they both needed the contact. "We're getting her back, kid. I swear to you: I'm not letting her go out like this." She looked to her parents, steadfast and ready for battle and to the men that she and Regina loved who waited anxiously to follow whatever plan she had. "As for Gold's assistance, I don't plan on giving him an option."
/
REGINA
She's everywhere all at once: past, present, and future. She can look into the minds and hearts of anyone; change them; manipulate them like puppets with just a hint of a thought.
She's nowhere and she's alone. Empty and imprisoned.
/
"Get out of the way, Belle." Emma led the parade into Gold's shop.
"What's going on?" Belle stood protectively in front of Rumple. "What are you going to do?" She could tell by the intensity on everyone's face that plans had been half formed and all involved the man that she had tried so hard not to love. It was then that she saw the dagger in Snow's hand and the new name scrawled across it. She already knew the answer, but asked the question anyway. "Oh my God is that?"
"Yes." Emma answered shortly. "Now please move before I have to make you. We have questions that only he can answer." She could appreciate Belle's hesitance, after all she loved her own reformed villain. But at the moment she didn't have time to worry about the other woman's feelings. Thankfully, Belle stepped aside. She may have loved the man, but understood perhaps better than anyone, the workings of the monster beneath.
Emma's magic shot out like a bullet and Rumple was gasping at breath and clawing at his chest. He looked around lost, empty with the darkness no longer inside of him. His eyes were bright for the first time in far too long, but there was no time to appreciate his sudden transformation. The change didn't' go unnoticed by Belle. She tried to approach him, but Robin's arms were tight around her waist, holding her back.
"How do we get her back?" Snow shoved the dagger into the old man's face. The name scrawled across the blade inches from his eyes. It took a moment for Rumple to truly see, to truly appreciate that his burden had been transferred. There was a momentary sadness for the girl he had molded into his weapon.
"Oh, dearie, what have you gotten yourself into." He moved slowly, feeling everything anew with his lighter soul. A finger traced the letters embedded in the curved blade that had held his name for so long. "I tried to warn her that this would happen. She was the most likely candidate for the Dark One once I was gone."
"You're still here, Crocodile." Killian placed his Hook against Rumple's chest. "And unlike you and your cowardice, she sacrificed herself to it; she didn't seek it out."
"All the same, she took it willingly. It won't leave her without another host and I assume there isn't a long line of volunteers to save the Evil Queen."
"I'll do it." Robin stepped from around Belle who seeing Rumple relatively unharmed, had finally stopped fighting against him.
"True love. How touching," Rumple rose from the cot, pushing Killian's hook aside. "Such honor, thief, but she'll never let you take her power. You don't know her like I do, like I did. You don't know the horror she's capable of."
"I know the woman that you tried to destroy; who in spite of you overcame the monster you turned her into." Robin's hand went for Rumple's throat, but the older man side-stepped his reach.
"We shall see." Gold plucked the knife from Snow's hands, felt the weight of it and the relief. "Regina Mills, I summon thee." There was a sadistic grin on the former Dark One's face, one that Henry quickly wiped off with his fist. Gold flew back, dropping the blade and toppling over the cot he had been lying on. Emma made a mental note to tell her son how proud she was of him, but it would have to wait. The newly cursed Dark One stood before them.
She was still Regina, but she wasn't: her skin was porcelain white and flawless, almost a mask, every bit of the lines that pulled at her eyes and her smile were gone. Her dark hair was longer, the unruly curls they'd only caught glimpses of over the years flowing free. But it was her eyes that gave them pause; they were a deadly red, the color of spilt blood pooling into the earth.
Robin was behind her and moved instinctively forward, drawn to her, but Hook held him back. "Easy, Mate. The Crocodile wasn't entirely wrong. Let's just see who we're dealing with first." Robin remained tense, but stayed in place.
"Regina?" Emma asked cautiously, praying that her friend was still somewhere under this wretched façade.
"My, my. If it isn't the entire Un-Charming family!" Her voice wasn't her own, but a sinister sing-song variation; the voice of the Evil Queen but far more deadly. She turned slowly taking them all in, letting them all see this new her.
"Regina." Robin gasped when he saw the mask of her face. He couldn't begin to reconcile the creature before him with the woman he'd walked with in the moonlight only moments ago.
"You again?" She looked him up and down, a wicked smile on her face. "Go away. And take the extras with you." With a flick of her wrist Robin, Hook, and Belle were gone.
"Where are they?" Emma stepped into the space previously occupied by the men. "What did you do?"
"Nothing, dear. They're fine, don't worry. I'm not going to start killing people just yet." She stalked up to Snow. "Well, maybe you." Her hand plunged into Snow's chest and the princess cried out in pain.
"Stop!" David stood beside his wife, dagger in hand. Regina sneered at his control over her. "Release her." Her hand retracted, empty, and Snow gasped, tears flooding her eyes.
"Regina, we're trying to help you." David held the dagger level with their faces. "Tell us how to help you." He knew it wouldn't be that easy, nothing with Regina Mills ever was, but he had to try. He thought that he could somehow turn her, or that he could trick the Dark One in betraying herself.
"What could I possible need from you, Shepherd. I have more power than you could ever dream of."
"Regina, this isn't you. I know you're still in there; talk to me!" Emma spun her, grabbing her shoulders and searching her menacing eyes for any hint of the woman that was.
"Oh, but this is me, Miss Swan. This is who I was always meant to be. Evil is made and I just made myself unstoppable." She cupped Emma's chin. The blonde cringed at the icy coolness of her hand. "I have so many plans for you, Savior."
"Mom?" Henry had backed himself into the corner; the man he had been seconds before replaced by the frightened child he hadn't been in years. He locked eyes with the person that had been his mother, but saw no trace of her there.
"Your mother's dead, child," she said flatly before vanishing in a swirl of red smoke, leaving the four of them open-mouthed with shock.
"What the hell was that?" Emma eventually gave voice to what they were all thinking.
"That, dearie, was the Dark One," Gold cackled from the floor. Emma leveled her gun at his head, finger on the trigger. "You won't kill me; especially not in front of your happy family. You're a hero, Miss Swan."
"Not yours." She slammed the gun into the side of his head.
/
REGINA
It rips through her, this raw power she doesn't want and can't control. Yet there is something familiar in it. The feeling she had when she finally summoned the will to force her mother through the looking glass; the power of knowing her husband would never hurt her again; the satisfaction of no longer having a weakness. It's something almost comforting and that terrifies her more than anything else.
She should be fighting; she knows this, but can't seem to find the will to do so. It's safe here in this void. Freeing. She doesn't sleep, doesn't eat, doesn't feel. She has everything and nothing all at once and it's more than she can process so she doesn't bother trying.
/
Emma's days are spent putting out fires, sometimes literally, that the Dark One has caused. The town has sequestered itself; no one dares speak the former mayor's name. Emma keeps the dagger with her at all times although she's only had to use it once. Regina had gone after Rumple, tortured him into a mindless oblivion by the time Emma arrived. She's not sure why she stopped her. 'For Regina's sake,' she tells herself. So she won't have to live with the guilt of his murder when they rescue her from the darkness. Each day that goes by, however, she is less and less sure of that outcome.
She sleeps with the dagger under her pillow because although she'd never tell the man that sleeps next to her, or the boy down the hall, the Dark One's words in those first moments haunt her: I have plans for you, Savior. She's only come face to face with Regina twice, both times were blissfully ended in Regina's sudden departure. Mostly she uses her magic to heal: turning Leroy back from stone, mending Ruby's broken leg when the wolf was cast haphazardly against a brick wall. Twice she'd uncrushed Doc's Miata, smiling to herself both times. Regina really did hate that car.
Still, she has yet to come for her. Or Henry, or Robin, or Roland, or even her parents since that first heart-grabbing incident. Emma chooses to believe that's hope. Call her her mother's child, but it is what it is. The Dark One has been on a rampage, but the people that love her have remained unscathed. Who but Regina could be responsible for that?
/
Robin has mostly kept to himself: he and his son taking refuge in the woods. He does it now for Roland, who can't understand how his 'Gina could possibly be dangerous, how she could want to hurt him and why she no longer tells him stories. He does it for himself, because he has failed her once again. He vowed to keep her safe, to make her happy, and now this. She is the Dark One and Robin had no idea how to help her.
REGINA
Every once in a while she dares to look through the eyes of the Dark One; dares to see the devastations her captor is causing on the faces of the ones she knew. Loved. Emma has thankfully kept Henry protected, but Robin and his son… The people who unquestioningly believe her strong enough to conquer anything now look at her with fear, disgust, hatred for the monster she's let herself become. Its Robin's eyes she stares into now. The woods are burning around them, her doing she knows although she has no idea why it was done. He holds his son, their son, tight to his chest and he's begging; begging her to stop this madness, to come back to them, to save them from the flames she unleashed.
She wants to close herself off to it: the pain on his face, the cries of the injured and dying that surround them, but it overwhelms. She feels it and it's as if she's never felt anything before. Control. 'You did this,' she says to herself. 'You.' The power rages through her again and she can feel herself being forced back, but she's had a taste of freedom and she wants more. She pushes back against the darkness, stares hard through red eyes that hide her own; stares at the man who loves her still.
There's a light that pulses from her body. If he had blinked, Robin would have missed it. In that heartbeat everything had changed. The fires extinguished as if they'd never sparked, his men alive and well going about their day around him. He would have thought it all a dream except for the boy still clutched to his chest and the woman before him. He sees a tear streak from her red eyes, but before he can wipe it away she's gone. "Regina," he says to the space she left then reaches for his phone. They were all losing hope that the woman still existed within the monster. That one tear was all the convincing the thief would ever need.
/
"How do we stop her?" Emma stood over Gold and let the point of the dagger press into his leg. He was much less intimidating tied to a hospital bed. She could have done more to heal him after rescuing him from Regina, probably should have, but part of her couldn't help but feel the former Dark One got exactly what he deserved.
"Stop her or save her?" Rumple quipped, ignoring the pain.
"Both."
"Ah, that's your problem, dearie. You don't get both."
Emma took in the weight of what he was saying. She knew he was right, but wasn't ready to admit it. Rumple saw the realization behind her eyes. "Stop her it is then. You have everything you need in your hand. Of course you have to get close enough to use it."
Emma sat heavily in the chair next to the bed, dropping the dagger into her bag. She was exhausted. "Like you did with Pan?"
"In a manner of speaking. The Dark One and his dagger, or her dagger as the case may be, cannot occupy the same space. The dagger goes in, they implode. Perfectly simple."
"And Regina? What happens to her? What happen to you?"
He was quite for a moment. Emma knew he was struggling with the memory. "Oblivion," he finally answered. Emma had nothing to come back with. She sat another moment, listening to the steady rhythm of machinery keeping Gold alive. The ringing of her phone brought her back to the present; as she answered it her eyes went wide. She left Gold without a word.
Henry appeared seconds later, arm outstretched toward Gold. "Are you sure you want to do this, Henry?" Gold asked. The boy was his grandson after all; the concern seemed almost genuine.
"We had a deal," the boy said unblinking. Rumple closed his eyes and the dagger appeared in Henry's hand.
"Be careful, Henry," Rumple said, but the boy was already gone.
/
Henry stands in the middle of the street. He knows what he has to do; he knows he's right. His mother is still there. She's still fighting for him. He raises the dagger and yells her name to the sky. Red smoke fills his senses and then she's there, or rather the shards of her that remain.
"Well, if it isn't the child wonder. Awfully brave aren't we? Summoning the Dark One when you are here alone." She leans in close and Henry fights the simultaneous urges to hug her and to run. "What is it that you want? I'm quite busy."
"Kill me," Henry says flatly.
"Don't toy with me, child. You'll find I don't play nice." She grabbed his chin roughly shoving him back. Henry bounced back instantly, shoving his entire weight into her, causing her to stumble back.
"Then kill me!" Henry challenged with a maturity beyond his years. "If she's really gone, if you really destroyed every shred of her then it shouldn't be anything at all for you to kill me!"
/
REGINA
She hears him. His voice so grown up, so frightened. She's alone in the endless dark, but she hears him. Her son. He's fighting for her. The least she can do is fight for herself.
The Dark One holds her back, forces her back down, but she's resilient. She can see him now. She can feel him. And she can feel what her captor is about to do.
/
The Dark One's hand sliced through the air, for all the terror Henry felt he didn't flinch. Regina's fingers were pressed up against his chest, poised to attack the fragile heart below, but they moved no further. "Run!" she screamed out and Henry had no doubt that the panicked voice belong to his mother. "Henry, please. Go!" Her hand trembled against him; Henry could feel his mother radiating though.
"Get away from him!" Emma ran up and shoved herself between mother and son. She ripped the dagger from Henry's hand and raised it to Regina's face, daring her to defy the control, but the Dark One seemed to be frozen in place as surely as if she had turned herself to stone. Her arm was still outstretched, level with the placement of Henry's heart, her entire body trembling. Emma took a step back when she realized it was Regina's eyes stared back at her. "Henry, get out of here," Emma whispered.
"Not a chance," her son answered defiantly.
"David, get him out of here!" Emma pleaded, as her mother and father came into view. She never broke eye contact with the woman in front of her.
"No one's leaving her, Emma." Snow placed a hand firmly on her daughter's shoulder.
"I can't control it. I. Can't." Everyone turned toward Regina. She was shaking violently, tears streaking down her cheeks. "I asked you before, Emma, but this time I'm begging; let me die as Regina; let my son remember me as his mother, not a monster."
"I can't do what you're asking. I won't." Emma shook her head violently, tears spilling from her own eyes. "I won't kill you! There has to be another way; there's always another way."
"I'm already dead." There was no defeat in her voice, just a simple excepting of the fact. The Dark One had taken almost everything she had; everything worth saving. "Please."
The dagger shook in Emma's hand, reflecting the moonlight and creating a light show of the space between them. "Thank you," Regina whispered. It was getting harder and harder each second for hers to be the voice to come through.
"For failing you?" Emma questioned, tightening her grip on the blade. She knew what she had to do, but had no idea where she would find the strength to do it.
"For being my friend." Regina grabbed Emma's arm and with her last bit of strength, spun herself against Emma's chest and shoved the dagger deep into her own.
"No!" Emma screamed as she felt the blade sink in, felt Regina's blood covering her hand. "No," as Regina sank to her knees, pulling Emma to the ground with her. "No," as Emma saw the first tendrils of darkness leave Regina's dying body. "No!" as she summoned ever ounce of magic she had to slow the blood that poured out of her friend. "No," as the darkness swirled around them. Over and over: "no."
/
Seconds passed like hours as Emma held Regina in the deafening silence. The darkness swirled around them; she could see their son, her parents, Hook, and Robin; all yelling, all trying to reach them. She knows this is what Regina saw right before she let the Dark One take her and admires the queen's strength even more.
"Emma," Regina's voice is barely breath against the Savior's ear. "You can stop now."
Emma looked down at her hand, still glowing brightly against Regina's chest. She hadn't even realized she was still doing it. Regina sat slowly, Emma's hand on her back until she was able to turn enough to face the blonde. The dagger lay un-named on the ground beneath them. Regina breathed deeply and tried not to look at her blood that covered them both.
The darkness grew closer around them. Emma felt it nipping at her back. "It's happening again. It didn't matter; nothing I did mattered! I can't stop this. I'm not strong enough." The Savior yelled to the queen, to the Dark One, to whoever was listening in the universe. Her frustration pounded her fist into the pavement.
On the third punch, Regina grabbed her hands, forcing her to focus. "No, you're not. But maybe we are?"
Emma would have laughed at the irony of the situation if there had been time. How much had changed between them in the last 3 years? Instead she only nodded as she and Regina both hovered their hands over the dagger. "Now or never?" Emma whispered as they each placed a hand around the blade. Blinding white light surrounded them, the dagger glowed white hot in their hands but neither woman let go. Somewhere in the chaos Emma's free hand found Regina's and they held tight, faces buried in each other's' shoulders, their only protection against the onslaught raging around them.
And then it was over.
The dagger crumbled to dust between them and before either had a chance to move they were surrounded. Henry threw himself between them, an arm wrapped tightly around each neck. "You okay?" Regina panted over Henry's head as she held her son tightly.
"Yeah, I think so." Emma looked around at the family that had joined them in the middle of the street. She took her mother's hand and could feel Snow shaking against her. "You?" she asked the queen?
Regina nodded. She leaned against Robin who had knelt beside her. "Thanks to you," she told the blonde.
They were pulled to their feet by Robin and David, Henry still clutching at them both. Killian kicked at the remnants of the dagger with his boot. "So, that's it then?" he looked skeptically between both women.
"For tonight," Henry said as he finally released his mothers. Emma and Regina both burst out laughing; it was a moment of brevity that was long overdue.
"Grannie's?" David suggested as he steered the group toward the diner.
"Where else do we celebrate the not-ending of the world?" Snow took her husband's hand.
"I could go for a grilled cheese." Everyone's head snapped to Regina. "What? I haven't eaten in weeks." She laughed as Robin pulled her tightly to his side.
"Grilled cheese it is then," he kissed her hard before they moved to join the Charmings and her son.
"What is it, love?" Killian came up behind Emma, wrapping his arms around her waist. The blonde had barely moved since she and Regina had broken free of the darkness.
"Nothing," she leaned back into him, soaking up his warmth. "I just can't believe it's over."
"I never doubted you." He rested his chin on her shoulder, his beard scraped against her cheek.
"I know," she crossed her arms over his. "I love you."
"I know," the pirate kissed her cheek before he moved to her side, guiding her slowly towards the diner and her family. He never saw the blood red flash in her eyes.