A short one. Just to push events to the tipping point.

Chapter 15

Regina wore a victorious grin as she listened to some dwarf run thru the castle screaming that the curse was coming. She marched past guards and simply flung them against the stone walls. She wanted to watch the curse hit Snow and her child. She hadn't had time to get it to safety, surely. She climber the stairs towards the royal chambers happily. As she rounded the corner, her troops were fighting with the White soldiers nicely. She allowed herself a moment to watch as they moved. They moved like Lorelei, slower, but so very similar that it made Regina watch, wishing for her guardian. Past the fighting, she saw the liar prince run past a corridor, he had blankets in his one arm and a sword in the other.

She started chasing him then. She just realized… the old man stuffed his son in, but she hadn't waited to see him come back out again. Of course! How could she be so stupid? It was a magic wardrobe of some kind. She swore at herself as she raced to follow David. If that child escaped her curse, Snow would get a last minute victory. That wouldn't do at all.

She finally saw him as he was slowed by two of her men. He cut them down and took a step towards a door when Regina appeared in front of him. "You lose, dear." She smiled at him as his sword was torn from his hand by her magic. She held his sword and pushed it thru him, wanting to watch him die holding his child who would not escape.

"NO!"

Regina spun around in time to dodge a sword aimed for her own throat. She stared wide eyed at the wielder of that sword, "Red? What are you doing?"

Red held her sword firm in her hands. It wasn't an ordinary sword. Lorelei had made this for her, long ago. She had made it with her own magic. It was as powerful as the one she conjured with magic. She wanted Red to have the very best protection. With this sword, Regina's magic couldn't touch her. "Enough is enough Regina. I don't know if killing you will bring her back, or if it will stop this curse, but I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

Regina stared at her as her magic wouldn't touch her. She never wanted to hurt Red. Obviously, Red felt differently. "Red, please, don't do this. This curse, it will bring her back, I swear it."

Red scoffed and slashed at Regina who narrowly avoided the swing. "People swear a lot of things Regina. In the end, we do what we must anyway."

Back against the wall, she couldn't hope to avoid the next attack. She glanced away long enough to see David kick the door shut as he drug himself and the child thru the doorway. She locked eyes with Red again. This was it. Red was going to kill her. This woman used to be her best friend. She mentally adjusted her curse, changing what she thought would be ideal. If it did work after she died here and now, Red could suffer alongside the rest of them.

Regina shut her eyes tightly as Red lunged, prepared for death. There was a crack of lightening and the sound of steel connecting with steel. Lightening?

Opening her eyes, she was staring at the sirens back. She had steam rolling off her flesh. She was covered head to toe in silver runes that were glowing and pulsing with her heart beat. She wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing, Regina could see every rune flashing and it took her breath away.

Thru clenched teeth, Lorelei growled at Red, pushing the woman back violently. "I told you to protect her. You swore!"

Red recovered from her shock and with a broken heart, she knew it was finally time to choose a side. So she chose. "I will not let her destroy everyones lives!"

Regina flinched as their magic swords clashed together at a blinding speed she could never hope to keep up with. They had sparred many times. They were nearly evenly matched. Lorelei was drawing on her magic for strength and speed, her eyes glowing silver. Red was pulling on her wolf to use it's speed and stamina. Her eyes were glowing yellow as they aimed to kill. Regina caught a few drops of blood from a wound on Lorelei's side. The siren made that sword with her own magic. It could hurt her.

Regina looked out a window and her curse was only seconds away. She mentally changed more of it, now that she was going to live. She would never be parted from her siren again.

She rushed thru the door Davids blood trail led to. She found David on the ground, unconscious. The wardrobe was closed and the baby was gone. She threw open the door and her infuriated scream nearly drowned out the sound of clashing steel in the hallway. She watched the curse sweep them up. The sight of the two women struggling to reach each others flesh with their swords as tears streaked down both their faces would always be locked in her minds eye.

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