I did promise you chapter 77 tonight as well, didn't I? ;)
Zelena's spells wore off the minute she disappeared from the castle. Chris grunted as he felt the small bump on his forehead caused by him falling against the reception disk.
"Is everyone alright?" he heard Robin call from the other side.
"Fine", Chris replied and rose, followed by Tessa. "We're fine."
"She must have seen us, somehow", Tessa said and looked disappointedly at the collection of pebbles they had intended to use against the Witch, still in their containers by the plants in front of the reception.
"Well, red hair is easy to spot in this environment", Jade replied and grimaced as she massaged her neck. "Looks like my spell hit its mark; shame I didn't get to see it."
"What happened to the others?" Chris asked. Just then Belle, Maryse and Arianne emerged from the corridor.
"We were knocked out as well", Arianne said. "Don't know what happened then."
Steps from the opposite corridor caused everyone to turn around. Rowan, Miranda, Ella and Filipi came running towards them.
"Zelena", Ella asked, "did she make it past you?"
"Yeah", Maryse sighed. "Where were you?"
"When we heard the sound of people crashing to the floor we tried to get back here to help", Filipi responded. "There were barriers blocking us by the corner; we couldn't go anywhere near here."
"What about upstairs?"
"We weren't close to any stairs", Miranda responded. "Zelena trapped us, again."
She had barely finished speaking when the doors opened and Emma and Hook entered, followed by Toby, Clarissa, Catriona and Indira.
"What happened?" Indira asked. "How did it go?"
"Zelena made it to the top floor", Maryse said. "Hopefully they managed to stop her there."
Rachel stared at the door where Zelena had disappeared, then at her wand, then at David and Mary Margaret trying to comfort each other by the bed and then back again. Her wand was still glowing white, almost like a side-effect of the spell she had tried to cast.
"He's gone", Mary Margaret weakly breathed from the bed. "It happened again."
David straightened up, pulled off his protective clothes and grabbed his sword, before storming out of the room. Rachel quickly put thoughts about her wand aside and ran after him. Regina, who was out in the corridor with Henry, was faster.
"Where are you going?" she asked and followed him, walking next to Rachel.
"To get my son back", David growled, marching on.
"You're going to get yourself killed!" Regina protested. Rachel reached out and grabbed David's arm, forcing him to turn towards her.
"David, think about this."
"What's there to think about?" he sharply responded.
"Don't let him get hurt", Henry begged, having run after them. Regina opened her mouth to answer, but just then Emma and Hook emerged from the stairs, followed by most of the Children of Magic from the ground floor.
"What's going on here?" Emma asked. David paused, studying his daughter intently.
"What happened?" he asked. "Did you find Zelena?"
Emma looked away.
"He doesn't know what happened outside the room, does he?" Clarissa asked.
"What?" David asked and looked from one to the other. "What happened out here?"
"Wolfgang collapsed", Rachel responded. "Zelena affected him through a spell she cast on Hook."
"Actually it was Rumplestiltskin", Hook pointed out, "but on Zelena's orders. How's Wolf?"
"Getting better", Wolfgang responded and emerged from the bathrooms. "How about you?"
"I'd say the same."
David looked from one to the other before focusing on Emma again.
"She took your brother."
"Because I failed?" Emma asked, suddenly sounding like a child fearing a beating.
"We're still here", Hook calmly pointed out, "so you haven't failed just yet."
"Hook's right", David said and pushed past his daughter. "Come on."
"No, wait", Emma said, grabbing his hand. David stopped and turned towards her again. Rachel noticed how the blonde struggled with the words she was now about to say and looked at Toby.
"You didn't get there in time."
"No", Toby replied. "We did our best, but we were a few seconds too late."
"Too late for what?" David asked. Emma inhaled deeply before she responded.
"Zelena took my magic."
"How the hell did that happen?" Regina exclaimed.
"Doesn't matter how; it just happened", Emma replied, not meeting the Mayor's gaze. "We need to find another way to stop her."
"And quickly, by the looks of it", Chris said. Regina shook her head.
"There is no other way."
"That's not true", Henry replied, causing everyone to look at him. "You can do it."
He was looking at Regina, who, in turn, looked like she could hardly form any coherent words in reply to her son's claim.
"Sweetheart", she eventually managed to say, "I don't think I can survive round three with my sister."
"Glinda was pretty specific", David agreed. "Only the purveyor of the strongest light magic can defeat her."
"But Zelena only beat you because you were using dark magic against her", Henry protested.
"But..." Regina begun, "but it's all I have."
"No, it's not", Arianne protested. Emma nodded in agreement.
"When you kissed Henry and broke the Curse; that was True Love's Kiss. Light magic."
"See?" Henry said with a smile. "You can do it."
"Henry, I don't even have my heart right now", Regina argued.
"That doesn't matter", the boy said. "You broke the Curse without it and I know you still love me. I know there's good in you."
"He's right."
The new voice came from Robin Hood. As he came from the opposite direction he had obviously taken the emergency stairs, checking for any servants of the Witch still lurking in the shadows. Regina turned towards him with another protest on her lips, but before she could say anything Robin continued.
"I know you can beat that Witch."
Regina stared at him, then at Henry, then at the group in front of her.
"But... I don't..."
"You have to", Emma said.
"Once upon a time", Henry said, drawing her attention again, "you were a villain, mom. But you've changed; you're a hero now! And defeating bad guys is what heroes do."
He smiled and squeezed her hand in comfort.
"I believe in you; now you need to believe, too."
Regina swallowed and looked up at the gathered ones again, before she nodded.
"Alright", she said. "I'll do it."
"Let's go", David said. While the group started to move Rachel grabbed onto Maryse's arm.
"You know where the hide is, right?"
"Yeah", the Canadian girl answered. "Why?"
"We're going to help Regina, from here", Rachel replied.
"How?" the strawberry-blonde girl asked with a frown.
"Let's just say I figured out which spell Ollivander didn't create, but we all know about", Rachel said. "A spell that we might be able to amplify with the hide and use against Zelena."
Fingers crossed that I'll manage to post 78 as well tonight!