«What do you mean my mother is here?! »

Regina was frantic. Her whole body was shaking, she couldn't stand. She leaned on Emma to get her balance back and almost collapsed in her arms. Emma helped her onto one of her office chairs. She had called Regina as soon as Ruby showed her the blue rag. Regina drove like a maniac when she heard the news; it was a miracle she didn't hit someone on her way to the station.

«Regina, » Emma held the piece of cloth in front of the former queen. «This comes from the gown Cora was wearing when Mary Margaret and I fought her and Hook to come back to Storybrooke. Right before we jumped into the portal.»

«No, no that's not possible… She didn't get out of the well with you or after you, she wouldn't… Emma, if she followed you from the Enchanted Forest but was not with you when you came back, that means... » Regina stopped talking, her mouth dry and a heavy weight growing in her stomach. «That means she came through the void. »

«But what's so awful about this void? You and Rumple seem completely nuts about it! What is it?» Emma burst out hastily.

«It's the price of magic, » Regina said quietly. Her face was blank and pale. She didn't shake anymore, but her knuckles were turning white as she slowly clenched her fists.

«The void is the result of all the acts of magic in all the magical realms. It's like a garbage can where all the magic remnants end up. And it's alive, full of ethereal living creatures, monsters, all created because of magic. »

«What does this have to do with Cora? She's quite the monster, but she's very flesh and blood and –»

«If she didn't come back with you that means she jumped in the portal too late. There's usually no way of surviving a late jump. We know nothing about the creatures living in the void, except that they need a vessel to exit. »

The bright green of Emma's eyes suddenly darkened at the realisation of what Regina was implying. She knew enough of magic now to understand what a vessel was. That meant Cora was not herself anymore, and that a creature not of their world had come to Storybrooke. That meant they were in danger. And she remembered feeling as if Regina was being spied on, when the air was so thick even she could feel it. It was Cora.

«Emma, there's no time to lose. If the creature took control of my mother, it has access to all her powers. Coupled with its own skills, it's a deadly threat for all of us. »

«I think you are in danger, Regina. »

«But I'm not the one my son found dead in a bath of blood!" Regina jumped out of the chair, coming so close to Emma she could feel her warm breath on her lips. "The whole town is in danger! Henry is in danger! I won't let anything happen to him, even if –»

«Even if you have to kill your own mother, » Emma finished softly.

Regina leaned her forehead on Emma's and whispered so low that Emma wasn't sure she heard it well:

« I already killed her once. »

xxxx

"I… I was different when it happened. I was… angry and had only one goal, my revenge over Snow. I was evil, Emma."

They were back on their seats, facing each other. Emma was holding Regina's hands on her lap, in a comforting gesture. The older woman wasn't looking at her, her breath still a bit short from the wave of emotions that overwhelmed her a moment earlier when they were talking about Cora. Emma didn't know the details, but she knew Regina didn't have a healthy relationship with her mother; she had hints from Mary Margaret. Regina, herself, never spoke of Cora.

"She killed my first love, Daniel, in front of me, and I blamed Snow for it."

Emma gaped at her, the enormity of the revelation hitting her like a truck at full speed. Mary Margaret never told her anything about a murder! She had only known Cora forced Regina to marry a man she didn't want; that she was this abusive authoritarian of a woman whom the young Snow was scared of; and that some time before her daughter's wedding, to the relief of everybody, she had disappeared, even though this move was not quite understandable, since they all knew how much she wanted the union.

"So all these years you went after my mother... all this bloodthirsty revenge that led to the Dark Curse... was in fact because of Cora, and not my mother?!"

Regina heard the accusation behind Emma's words : she ruined her life for the wrong reason; she directed her wrath, her frustration, her anger on Snow, resulting in the wreckage of her family, in her being forced into the life of a rejected orphan.

"It's a bit more complicated, dear-"

"Don't 'dear' me, Regina!" Emma was furious. She let go of Regina's hand and started pacing the room, shaking her head. "All of this, all these lives ruined by your curse, all this mess, because of Cora. It was never my mother, Regina! " She was yelling now, all she knew, all she could have understood was collapsing under this confession.

Regina was still in the chair, not moving, not saying anything, and Emma was struck by this unresponsive Regina.

"So, what, Madam Mayor?No fireballs to make me shut the fuck up? No vine restraints to pin me on the wall and show off your power?!"

"I merely asked her to never tell my mother about Daniel... It was a secret. A swear-on-your-life secret."Regina's voice was a whisper, low and blank, emotionless.

"She was a child, Regina!"

Regina jumped out of her chair and violently grabbed Emma's shoulders "I was a child, too! She robbed me of my happiness, of my true love! He died because of her — my mother was just the executioner!But Snow allowed this to happen. I told her, I told her…" Regina let go of Emma, all her anger leaving her as suddenly as it came. She bent her head and started crying, standing in the middle of the sheriff's station.

Emma was caught by surprise. She was prepared for an ugly fight with Regina, ready to get all of it out of her system. But this — this she wasn't prepared for. She was still angry, her world still about to collapse, but a crying Regina in the middle of her office was more than she could bear. This was not what shesigned up for. Storybrooke, the Enchanted Forest, magic, her parents, Archie's death… it was all too much.

It was then that the creature decided to make its first appearance. A burgundy smoke filled the space between Emma and Regina, and there it was, in all its glory, ready to make what it considered to be its first move (the death of Archie was already forgotten;the only thing it craved for was Regina).

The creature looked like Cora, had her features and wore her clothes, but looking into its eyes was horrific. It wasn't Cora, and the empty two brown eyes proved it well. There was nothing in these eyes. They were not a window to the soul, because there was no longer a soul to reflect. All Emma could see was cruelty, insanity and coldness. Ice-floe coldness coupled with a millennium of existence in a magical no man's land. This eye-to-eye didn't last more than two seconds before the creature turned to Regina and grabbed her by the arm, ready to disappear in a curl of smoke.

Except when the creature looked into Regina's eyes, it froze. The most horrible scream tore from its throat — a scream of pain, a scream of fear, a scream of anger, a scream that struggled for a way to express one of the most powerful weapons in all the realms: maternal instinct. Somehow, there was still something of Cora in the creature. It underestimated her love for her daughter, mistaking the feeling for its own sick obsession for Regina's magic, never bothering to try to understand the emotion. When Cora lost the battle, her mind was absorbed in the soulless damp of the creature's mind. Her magic helped her remain conscious enough to read this sick maelstrom, and what she saw there was enough to make her cling to life. She couldn't regain possession of her body and mind, but she could cling there, a little spark of human nature well-educated in magic.She didn't know if she would be able to do anything once the creature found Regina, but she knew she had to do everything possible to hold it — to kill it, even.

Regina looked at the creature with distress, her eyes still teary from her previous emotional burst.

"Mother?" She had the smallest voice, hoarse and weak.

"Regina! Regina look at me! This is not your mother, look into its eyes!"

xxxx

Silence had fallen on Storybrooke.

The city was covered with snow. The sounds were muted by the soft, white blanket covering the streets and roofs. The forest around the city eventually looked like the setting of a fairytale, as they are described in books - the kind of scene Emma would have envisioned when she still thought they were only stories.

Regina was resting in her crypt, and Emma didn't know what to do, what to say to her son. The crypt was sealed so that nobody would disturb the woman.

When she had to explain what happened, she was unable to find the words. Crippled by the toxic touch of Cora - no, of the creature – she had had to fight with a horrible pain running through her veins. Whatever the creature had done to her at that moment had made her feel like her blood was boiling water, pumped from her heart to every single cell of her body. Her pain was unbearable, but it was nothing compared to what Regina was going through.

At first, time stopped. The creature was frozen, a living statue. Regina was still paralyzed by the apparition of her mother. Even though she knew it was not really her, she'd been struggling for such a long time with her feelings toward her mother. Seeing Cora in front of her so suddenly brought back a wave of contradictory thoughts and feelings.

And then she saw her eyes.

Rumplestilskin had taught her about the void and the creatures haunting the place. She was familiar with coldness, she had been the Evil Queen! But all her former mentor told her paled before this horrifying reality. She knew her weak whisper of "Mother?" wouldn't reach Cora.

"Emma," she said in a short breath, "You should leave. Get Henry, go to a safe place. I don't want you to be hurt. He'll need you when this is over."

"I'm not leaving you, Regina." She narrowed her eyes, her dark green gaze daring the brunette to argue. Regina returned the look, but she knew those eyes - that was a stubborn and determined don't-bullshit-me gaze, and Regina knew better than to try to fight Emma when she wore that face. Plus, they didn't have time for arguing. She could feel the grip on her arm intensifying; whatever kept the creature still was weakening.

She looked into its eyes again, and there she was! Her mother!

"Re…gi…na… My pre…cious daughter…"

"Mother! Mother, are you still there?!"

This was unprecedented. Once a vessel, the conscience of the person being used was supposed to disappear to leave space for the creature. That was what Rumplestilskin had taught her. But did he ever personally witness such a possession? This was magic not of this world, non-human magic, a magic that nobody had ever used or learnt.

"It wants your… your magic, Regina. Do… do not use your magic or it will … it will destroy you."

"Mother, tell me how to help you!"

Cora gave her daughter a last desperate look, one the heartless woman never before let her eyes express. Regina realised for the first time her mother loved her more than anything, even if her love was sick and done in the wrong way, and she understood in a second what Cora was going to do. She was a powerful witch, and she had learned from Rumplestiltskin, but that was not all. She had spent years studying magic from other realms, gathering knowledge from portal jumpers. She had power inside herself of which the creature had no idea. She was saving this power for this exact moment.

"Mother, no!" Regina tried to pull free from the strong hand that was still holding her. Emma rushed to help her, but the creature grabbed her with its free arm, forcing a tremendous wave of energy across her body. The blast knocked her out, and she fell on the ground.

"Emma! EMMA!" Regina was still fighting to get free. She knew what she had to do. She turned her free hand up, preparing a ball of fire to strike at the creature. She didn't want to hurt Cora, but the older woman was no longer there. She was a conscience clinging to life because of magic, and she was about to use it. Regina had to stop her.

She looked her mother right in the eyes, for their last encounter shouldn't be about hate or revenge, and she whispered, "I love you, Mother."

xxxx

An unbearable pain running through her entire body made Emma jerk out of unconsciousness. She gasped for air as she could feel every cell, every nerve, burning.

Regina had a fireball ready in her hand. Tears were leaving dark traces of makeup on her cheeks, but her look was determined.

"I love you, Mother."

Emma understood the situation in an instant and jumped on her feet. She caught Regina from behind, catching the brunette by surprise. The fireball died in her hand while Emma pushed her aside, placing herself between her and the creature.

"Don't use your magic, Regina! You heard Cora!"

"She's going to turn into a magical bomb, Emma! Like a nuclear bomb, except she will explode from inside! I have to help her. I have to try to save her!"

"You... you can't save me, dear." The voice was shaking, but it was Cora talking. "I have to do it myself. I can't lose my hold on this creature. It will get your magic, Regina, it's very powerful. And cruel. Much more than I've ever been."

"I won't let that happen, Mother."

And before Emma could stop her, Regina ripped her own heart out and shoved it into her mother's chest.

Time stopped for a moment - Regina's arm in Cora's chest, Emma standing in the middle, fighting the fire running through her veins.

"No! NO!" The scream came from the creature, but the voice was Cora's. Both of them hadn't had a heart for a long time - Cora, because she removed it many years ago, the creature, because it never had one to begin with. And for both, the sensation of this living, beating heart was a shock.

The creature panicked, overwhelmed by new feelings. No… not new feelings, just feelings. It tried to take away Regina's arm, still stuck in Cora's chest, but Regina was strong and determined to succeed. She was radiating magic, a bright energy emanating from her while purple curls of smoke wound around Cora's body.

As for Cora, she couldn't stop crying, a wave of joy filling the pure abstract conscience she had become.

"Regina. Regina!" A bright smile was illuminating her features, and Regina's expression mirrored that of her mother's. She had never seen this kind of love in Cora's eyes, and for a minute, this love was all that mattered. For the first time in their lives the two women were merely mother and daughter, with no hidden agenda, no hurt, no power were just Cora and Regina, bonded by the deepest kind of love.

The former queen was shaking now, her stare locked onto her mother's eyes. Emma, her moves slowed down by the pain, came to her. She put an arm around Regina's waist, hypnotised by the bliss she could see on the brunette's face. She had never seen this glow in Regina's eyes - except, perhaps, when she was looking at Henry, when she thought no one else was watching. But Emma realized how soon they would darken, for Regina knew Henry wouldn't give her a loving look back any more.

"Regina, my sweet child, let me go. Please."

Cora was not asking for mercy. Regina knew it, but she couldn't let her mother go.

"Mother, there must be a way. We can ask Rumplestiltskin for help. He knows things he never shared with the rest of us. By combining our magic, we could-"

"Please." Cora's voice was soft. Never in her life had she been so sincere and genuine.

"I know, Mother, I know. I just…" Regina leaned on Emma, exhausted. She felt the pain running through the blonde's body. "Mother, what did the creature do to Emma?"

"Nothing that her magic can't fix. You have magic, don't you, Miss Swan?"

Emma was startled by Cora's question. At this point, she thought Cora wasn't even aware she was there.

"I do. Regina teaches me-"

"Of course she does," Cora said in a husky laugh. "Once the creature is … has disappeared, its magic will vanish. All you'll have to do to relieve your pain is use a simple curing spell. Now, Regina…"

Regina looked at her mother. She was ready. With a delicate and soft flick of her wrist, she took her hand off her mother's chest and gazed at her beating heart as if she didn't recognize it.

"Put it back. You need it," Cora smiled. "I won't be able to hold it for much longer- the creature is not panicked any more, and it's pulling itself together. You should go."

"I won't leave you, Mother!"

Regina had her heart back, but she felt empty inside. Emma was still holding her, and she didn't bother moving away.

Cora stepped away and braced herself, closing her eyes. The air thickened around her, and all the energy seemed to be drawn to her. Her body began to shake, more and more violently. She fell on the floor. She was still conscious, but oblivious to her surroundings.

Waves of energy were visible around her, and Cora was absorbing this energy. She stopped shaking and curled into a ball. And it began- when the creature tried to leave Cora's body.

xxxx

The ethereal creature had changed during its possession of Cora. Within that time, it had acquired an organic form that was strange and unfamiliar to its conscience.

Before it first came into Cora's body, it only had to concentrate for its light, gas-like form to invade the sorceress. It was its first possession. A millennium of existence gave it coldness and anger, but not much in the way of knowledge. Creatures from the void had no teachers; they did not communicate with one another. They only fought against one another, to pass the time. They were not really aware of what they were. They were alive, in a dark place of suffering and violence, never questioning their existence, feeding on the occasional living creature of flesh and bone that became lost in the void. They lived in the moment, for they had no concept of time - no past and no future.

Now, for the first time, the creature felt the beat of a heart pumping blood and oxygen, as well as warmth. It felt organic life intruding its very being. This was unknown. And uncomfortable. But the living heart was still here. It couldn't do anything to get rid of it, because it gave oh so much strength to its vessel. The human shouldn't be there anymore, she lost the battle when the creature took over, but there she was, stronger than ever. She had tricked it.

And something was wrong. The heart was gone, but –

Energy.

Power.

Magic.

Its vessel was reclaiming her body! Just for a second, the creature managed to peer through Cora's eyes, and it saw Regina. It felt her magic vibrating, and it was still yearning for it, but it was neither a creature of braveness nor courage - it knew only darkness and time had come for it to leave this body that betrayed it. It concentrated on leaving, just as it had concentrated on entering the body when it first came across the human in the void.