Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Where is Regina,” the Darkest One growled, voice low and eyes flashing as she stepped through the doors of the diner, they opened to her presence without a touch.

It was like a storm had descended upon the room, a hurricane striding into the diner. With a teenage boy at her side.

The lights flickered and the windows rattled and it was instantly clear that the Darkest One was unhappy.

Emma had her son at her side and he looked a bit startled to have been teleported from the tower and marched up the stairs to the diner, but he recovered quickly, twisting around to find his mother.

“What?” Granny asked from where she was knitting at one of the booths. It wasn’t yet time for her to start the evening meal and she’d not long washed the dishes from the midday meal, so she was taking some time to herself and knitting her granddaughter a sweatshirt.

“Where. Is. Regina?” The Darkest One spat through her teeth, eyes flicking around the room and then returning to look at her parents, who were seated together in a booth.

Snow was reading an old magazine while David had a sharpening stone and was working a blade edge.

“I don’t-“ Snow began, brow furrowing and she glanced over at Regina’s booth bed, as though only just realising Regina was absent. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen her in a while.”

A snarl appeared on the features of the Darkest One and over in the booth the pirate lifted a bottle.

“Finally decided to grace us with your presence,” he slurred at her, voice mocking.

She ignored him.

“Have you seen her?” She barked, eyes flashing and her fists were curled into claws at her side.

“She went out,” the pirate answered, perhaps sensing that the Darkest One wasn’t to be messed with.

The Darkest One growled, literally and spun.

She strode towards the exit, blowing past the doors as she went. With a groan the glass shattered and fell like little shards of diamond to the ground, and the doors bowed to her departure, broken on their hinges.

“Oi!” Granny shouted to the Darkest One’s retreating back and she got to her feet to chase after the blonde.

“Emma?” Her parents and son followed her out the door, gingerly stepping over the broken glass to head towards the teleportation circle.

The Darkest One was crouched down having moved inhumanly fast and was picking something off the stone and holding it in her hand.

It was a white flute with a silver tassel.

“Zephyrs,” the Dark One growled through her teeth and her hand constricted, the flute cracking and then splitting in half beneath her power.

“You DARE?!” She roared to the sky; head thrown back with enough power it could surely shake the heavens.

“Zephyrs?” Henry repeated, panting a little behind his mother and she spun around to see him.

“Why is that familiar?” He looked deep in thought for a moment before his head snapped up.

“Merlin talked about it! He said it was the East Wind or something… its how you find the Spirits!” He pleasure at being able to supply information was quickly replaced by the knowledge of what that meant. The spirits were said to accept a life in exchange for a wish. And Regina had gone to them.

“Mum wouldn’t!”

“She’s dying anyway,” Granny said grimacing as she came to halt, and she was glaring at Emma. “If she thinks this might save you all, she wouldn’t hesitate.”

“She wouldn’t!” Snow White gasped, eyes wide and she was staring at her daughter aghast.

“Only True Loves Kiss can save Emma,” Henry said, and his brow was bowed in his fear. The Fates couldn’t cure Emma, could they? And if they could, was it worth his mum giving up her life for it? She didn’t have very long. She should be spending it with her family. With him and Emma. “Emma, you have to stop her!”

“Regina is dying anyway,” Granny said gruffly, though her expression did soften when Henry shot her a betrayed glare. It was the same look as the one his grandmother was giving her.

“I don’t think she’d exchange her life for nothing, she might be trying to get us home.”

“She is not going to die!” The Dark One barked. “I will not allow it!” Her voice rose to boom like thunder at the top of the mountain.

“She needs a True Love’s Kiss as well,” David said, trying to be the voice of reason at the back of the group. He had the sense of mind to take his son with him as his wife had run out after their daughter.

“To save her before the curse kills her, we need to get back to Storybrooke and Robin Hood! He can kiss her and save her!” Snow White said with an enthusiastic nod.

A sneer descended on Emma’s features, twisting the marble-like diamond into something gruesome.

“He is not worthy,” she snarled, eyes sparking and she spun back to look over at the infinite forest. The lines of her body were tense and rigid, betraying her anger.

“That’s because you want to be him,” Granny said sharply and all three members of the Charming clan gaped at her.

Emma spun around, sharp, and dangerous to fix the elderly were-wolf with a venomous glare. “Why would I want to be like that pinecone? He is dull. Boring. Think’s he’s God’s gift to women. He doesn’t deserve her. He didn’t want her when she was willing to do anything for him. And then he had the nerve to treat her like garbage when she went to New York to save him, as though she hadn’t been the one to push him to do the honourable thing. And then, he expects to jump right back into a relationship after fucking her sister?”

Emma’s disdain for the legendary thief had never been so obvious, but it was clear she had given it some thought by how quickly her words formed. Her family were just staring at her, at the venom she had towards the man. Henry’s eyes were wide at the language, knowing that if his mum was present, Emma would be in trouble.

“Fuck his honour. If he had the love of Regina, he should have never let her go. For anything. He doesn’t deserve her. He doesn’t love her.”

“Like you do?” Granny interrupted smoothly, with all the subtly of a freight train down a church aisle.

The air atop the mountain froze. For a brief moment, time itself may have stood still at Granny’s words.

“I-“Emma was speechless, shock visible on her features so heavy that it wouldn’t be faked.

Snow White inhaled so sharply she choked on her own spit and had to cough several times to clear it. No one offered her any assistance. They were too busy staring at a paralyzed Darkest One.

Henry had lost control of his mouth, and David looked even more stunned than normal, as though someone had slapped him in the face, and he couldn’t figure out why.

Emma had made no move to deny it. And the words that had fallen from her lips had animosity towards the man, but it couldn’t be jealousy, could it?

“Have you kissed her yet?” Granny asked, a slightly mocking tone entering her voice. “You basically felt her up every night, but didn’t have the stones to actually kiss her?”

Emma gaped at her for a long moment, completely bewildered as though the thought had never occurred to her and then straightened.

“Mind yourself, peasant,” Emma hissed, gaining control of herself and straightening from her shock. Granny glared right back at her, hands on her hips.

“If I hadn’t have stopped you, what would you have done?”

“Emma? What is she talking about? Kiss who?” Snow asked, having thumped her chest uselessly to clear it and was now just staring at her daughter as though she were someone else. As though this was happening to someone else.

“Felt up?” Henry quoted, nose curling in disgust. “What, with my mum?”

He might have been a teenager, but he knew enough from the words that had been spoken to form an opinion. An opinion he didn’t like. He didn’t want to have to think about either of his parents like that.

It was hard enough after his classmates got over how ‘Evil’ his mum was, and instead started to comment on how ‘hot’ she was. Actually, they did that with both his mums. Life was very hard for the teenager.

Emma was silent in the face of her sons disproval. But really, it wasn’t the idea of his parents together that alarmed him. No, that would be okay. That would be awesome, actually! But it was the idea of his parents together. Cause if they were together then they would do parent things and he did not want to think about his parents kissing. Ever.

And then he caught up with the words. His mum had been asleep when Emma had gone to see her, and Granny had to stop her…. What did she want to do to his mum? He kinda got the basics of sex, and he knew some things from tv and stuff, but he knew his mum wouldn’t have wanted Emma to be there when she was vulnerable and asleep.

 “Emma!”

“She was warm!” The Darkest One protested, as though that were a satisfactory excuse. It fell flat even to her own ears and she grimaced away. The first sign of discomfort she had shown.

“So you felt up my mum? When she was asleep?” Henry’s voice rose into a crack as he finished, a sign of his approaching journey to adulthood, but the disgust present was that of a boys.

And he knew that wasn’t okay. Even if he absolutely did not want to think of his mother putting her hands on his other mother. He’d seen some things at school with the older kids. Overheard them bragging in the changing rooms and knew that the land of secret girl parts was somewhere only the older, cooler boys got to venture. The thought of his mum going there with his other mum was horrifying.

“No! I just-“

“You curled up around the queen like a satisfied house cat and couldn’t keep your hands to yourself,” Granny told her sternly over her glasses.

“I had to get my crossbow,” she said as an aside to Snow, who was staring at her daughter with her mouth open.

“I never- I wouldn’t have- I didn’t- she was warm ,” Emma tried to defend herself, falling painfully flat of providing a sufficient excuse. Either way she addressed it; she had gone into Regina’s bed uninvited while Regina was vulnerable. Dark One or not, that was not okay.

“So you crawled into her bed and held her while she was asleep?” Snow’s voice raised into a high pitch, and she was staring at her eldest with a horrified expression.

Whether that was because her daughter admitted she’d invited herself into someone else’s bed while they were vulnerable and ‘couldn’t keep her hands to herself’ or because it was her daughter and her former stepmother. The distinction wasn’t clear.

“Emma!” David said, eyes wide at what his daughter had confessed to

The Darkest One glared but had no further response to give and instead spun back to stare at the Infinite Forest.

“Regina doesn’t have very long anyway, and who knows how long she has been gone? She may already be-“Granny cut herself off with a side-eye to Henry, who had gone pale.

“She’s not dead!” Emma said sharply, back to them but clear in her belief. “I would know.”

“How do you know?” Snow White asked desperately, ignoring what her daughter had done in the face of the impending death of Regina.

“Because she has her heart,” came a bitter voice behind them and everyone spun back towards the diner.

Killian had a piece of paper in his hand. It was crumpled in his rage, but he waved it around mockingly. There was anguish beneath the hard, angry glint to his eyes.

“She gave the Queen her heart,” he spat and his fist clenched. While his expression was a storm, there was genuine pain in his eyes. Emma appeared next to him a plume of black smoke and took the letter from his grasp.

“It is rude to read something not addressed to you,” she informed him coldly, dismissively turning her attention to the letter and uncrumpling it carefully while her family gaped at her.

“The heart of a saviour cannot be taken,” David said blankly, rocking his son.

“Not taken,” Granny said sharply with an audible roll of her eyes. “Given.” And though she was clearly shocked by this turn of events, she was jumping ahead to the conclusion faster than Emma’s blood relations.

“But- how?” Henry asked, eyes as wide as his grandmothers. “Mum had her heart, didn’t she?”

Emma didn’t look up from her letter. “No, I had to give her mine. I had to save her.”

Killian let out a strangled sound, but she didn’t even dignify his outburst a response as she read Regina’s letter.

Everyone else did though. The implication was clear. Emma had given Regina her heart to save her life. Beyond that, there were further implications.

The saviour had given her heart to Regina. She had willingly and knowingly reached into her own chest and taken her heart to give to someone else.

“Is that why’s she’s lasted this long?” Granny asked shrewdly. “She was dying from poison but had the heart of the Dark One in her chest…. Did it delay the curse?”

Emma ignored Granny too.

“Its why you became the Dark One, isn’t it,” Killian’s voice shook with the effort he was making in an effort to keep it calm and steady, to not give into the rage and pain gathering in his heart.

“Without your heart, you couldn’t resist the Darkness,” and he shook his head, jaw working with words unsaid.

“You exchanged your soul for her, and now you’ve given her your heart….. which one of us is it you're supposed to be in love with?” His words were cutting and lingered in the frozen air atop the mountain and Emma slowly lifted her head to stare at him.

“I stabbed her, so I had to save her.” She had gone a little blank, perhaps working through something in her mind while what Killian had suggested lingered in the minds of her family.

It was true. Emma had always been a bit too invested in Regina, even when she had first come to town. And whenever Regina was in danger, Emma was not far behind, ready to protect her. It was also Regina that the Darkness had gone for, and Emma who had stepped forward and refused to allow it. 

“Is that why our True Love’s Kiss’ didn’t work?” Snow asked, doe-eyes wide but with dawning hope. Her husband looked as though his thoughts weren’t making their way through his brain, and instead a loading circle was present as he tried to process what was happening in front of him.

“No,” Emma shut her down in her cold, enunciated way. “Regina proved with Henry that you don’t need a heart to have a True Love’s Kiss.”

“You stabbed her?!” Henry shouted, finally picking out something important from the words being thrown around, careless to his presence.

“It was an accident, “ Emma answered him instantly. And she had time for him the way she had time for no one else, except for maybe Regina.

“Is that what you were fighting about?” He demanded, voice rising shrilly and cracking at the end.

Emma shook her head. “No,” she said and looked again at the letter in her hand. “I will return,” she turned from them and began to stride across the mountain top back towards the teleportation stone.

“If you leave, we are over!” Killian thundered out behind her. He hadn’t had a confession from Emma, but she had sacrificed her soul to save the town (though Regina had been the one in danger) and had rejected his kiss, but had given her heart to the Evil Queen. It was clear to see where his thoughts were heading.

He and Regina had never liked each other and had tolerated each other for Emma’s sake. But the animosity had never faded between them. Mostly because in Hook’s mind, whenever Regina so much as sneezed Emma was there with tissues and Dayquil.

Whereas it had taken months of them courting for her to confess that she loved him, and it was as she traded her soul for Regina.

Emma didn’t even pause. “So be it.” And to Henry she said, “I will bring her back.”

The plume of smoke that enveloped her was as black as coal, and she directed her power to take her to Regina.

The thing with teleportation, was that you needed to know where you wanted to go. Otherwise, you might just end up teleporting yourself off a cliff or into the middle of a volcano.

Emma, however, was the most powerful creature in all of existence. She would go and stop Regina from doing something as stupid as throwing her life away.

Power surrounded her, flooding every cell in her body, and Emma Swan was unceremoniously dumped on the outskirts of the forest.

What. The. Fuck.

The forest was silent before her, a mix of greens and browns and she glared into its heart.

She would not be denied by a fucking tree. Regina needed her.

Summoning her power, she focused with all that she was on Regina. Go to Regina. And she vanished in a plume of smoke only to re-emerge back at the exact same spot she had teleported from.

Her eyes narrowed.

There was a barrier before her. She could feel its power rising to meet her own every time she teleported in, and it would block her and knock her back.

Very well.

When faced with an unmovable obstacle, it was always best to channel her best friend. And when Regina was before something she couldn’t fight, her fireballs came out.

Emma flicked her hands out to her side, fists bursting into flame and she sneered at the forest.

“If you don’t let me in, I’ll raze you to the ground!” She roared and lifted both of her hands to thrust them forward.

Like twin flamethrowers, fire burst from her palms in a powerful stream, billowing forward past the first few trees and catching the branches instantly.

It didn’t take very long until she was standing before a roaring flame and she snarled and stalked forward.

“Do you hear me!” She boomed, magic coating her voice and spreading it through the forest.

“She is mine! You will not keep her from me!”

The forest was silent and Emma nodded. So be it.

She called her power to her and then shot it out before her, like she was the centre of tsunami of fire. It crackled, roared, and spat as it burnt through the forest, and Emma Swan stalked behind it.

Important things were always hidden at the centre of the labyrinth. All she needed to do was burn her way to the middle. And she would if she had to.

It didn’t matter that countless animals were fleeing her wrath, the spectre of her heralded by consuming flame.

She would burn this forest to the ground and turn it into an Infinite Wasteland if she didn’t get what she wanted. She cast that thought out before, letting it seep into the magic in the air around her.

Give her Regina and she would stop. Defy her and pay the price.

Flames crept along the carpet, lapping greedily at the undergrowth and pillars of it hugged the trees, branching out until it seemed as though she were in a forest of fire. It’s heat would have been unbearable, cracking her skin and sapping her sweat, but she was a creature of ice. Nothing was warm, and her skin was diamond. It would take a greater heat than this to break her.

She breathed easily as she walked, leisurely keeping pace with the flames that burnt faster than any wildfire, her boots smoking on the barren, black earth she left behind. Columns of black flame could be seen rising into the sky and still she walked, past the charred and smoking remains of the animals not swift enough to escape her wrath.

Eventually she felt a disturbance in the magic spread out before her and she gave it her attention, turning her direction slightly so that she, and whatever was approaching, would meet head-on.

It didn’t take very long and soon the flame in front of her was parting, the way a river for a rock, and something emerged from the cacophony of black and orange.

At first all she could see was its antlers, wider and taller than its body, and forcing the flames to part around it like an invisible dome. A few dozen points proudly announcing its presence, and any one horn would take its place as the prize of prizes on a hunters wall, and then the rest of the beast followed.

Sweat and ash dotted its coat of chestnut brown, and its mane and tail were as though leaves at the height of fall, a swath of oranges and reds. It could have been a cross between a horse and a stag, but truly none of the animals Emma was familiar with could compare.

It wasn’t built for speed the way a horse and deer were, nothing about it was dainty. The legs were thick and strong like trucks, and its body was round and powerful, but it carried itself with a dignified grace. There was intelligence in its eyes, golden as though a shaft of sunlight had been cast through a canopy of trees.

Emma halted.

The animal snorted, its breath misting and its ears,  long and slender and like a rabbits were raised in her direction.

For a moment it met her eyes and then it slowly turned and began to leisurely walk away. Emma followed, extinguishing the flames around her with a sharp clench of her fist.

It didn’t do anything for the miles of forest she had already scorched, but her demands had clearly been heard if this creature had come to her, so she saw no reason to continue turning the forest to ash.

The forest creature lead her through an aimless path until they emerged into a clearing and Emma faltered.

In the middle of the clearing there was a great tree, so great that Regina’s house in Storybrooke would fit inside its trunk comfortably. A brief, childish part of her mind wondered what it would be like to build a hut inside the tree, but the thought was fleeting.

The trunk itself stretched forward into the sky, hundreds of feet tall.

Emma had once, in her youth when she’d been a wanderer, had snuck across the boarder to Canada and had found her way to the redwood forests. This tree would have laughed at those. It was, at a brief glance, taller than her own tower and for a moment she was cowed by its silent presence.

This was the heart of the forest.

The stag-like creature kept walking and she followed it. Around her the forest was silent but as she dogged its footsteps, animals began to appear.

First, it was a bird or two. Fluttering past her and roosting on the trees near by. Then, field-mice and small rodents scampered before her feet, though the best took careful steps to avoid them. Then some foxes, badgers, even a wolverine bared its teeth at her. Soon a bear came lumbering from the forest and she eyed it warily.

Though she could destroy it in an instant, something told her that she’d face opposition from the creature in front of her if she tried, and who knew what might lay before her closer to the tree.

The animals watched her silently when they came to rest near the tree, and they were magnificent animals. If there were a god of each of these beasts, it would be these creatures. The birds had magnificent plumage, and the predators were large and powerful.

Predator and prey seated next to each other with their eyes unblinking on her, and she swallowed when she realised that they were in pairs. A male a female. It raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

While she had never cared much for religion, perhaps Noah had it right. Although…she side-eyed a pair of unicorns and kept walking with a shake of her head. Nah. Something else was going on.

As she got closer to the tree she couldn’t help but marvel at it. It was truly magnificent, and as she rounded its berth she did pause.

There was a split in the truck. It was rounded as though the edges of the tree had been bent over time, and it was about as wide as one of the bears, and as tall as the highest antler of the deer.

The creature stopped near the entrance and turned to face her.

In a move that was painfully obvious, it lowered its head and swung it towards the tree, a gesture forward if Emma had ever seen one.

She glanced around at the silent animals and entered the tree.

Typically, she’d have to bring a light with her, or create her own, but there was no need for it inside the tree.

Moss or something similar was at her feet, glowing in a bright green and she didn’t hesitate as she was guided forward. It was cold inside the tree, but it wasn’t musty like cold and dark places, nor was it earthy like wood. Instead, it was… stale and sharp, like something old.

Though she was constantly in a state of chill, her spine straightened. This was an ancient place.

Soon she was before a series of stone steps, and as she was guided down, there was glowing blue-ish white lights above her like strings of fairy lights. Almost as though she were standing among the stars themselves.

It was beautiful and she reached out to touch it, gently letting the string drag across her fingertips.

The light went out, as though power had been cut to Christmas lights and she jerked her hand back in regret. Whatever it was, she had killed. And she had killed it in this beautiful and ancient place. She kept her hands to herself after that, least she aggravate whatever it was that waited for her. Because something did. Something was waiting for her. Something had summoned those creatures; something had given her the stag-horse as a guide.

Her stone stair-case was a spiral, and she wasn’t sure how many loops she did before it halted and she was faced with an even brighter light.

The same stringed lights from earlier were back, in mass. Coving the ceiling of the cave as though she’d stepped into the cosmos, stars caught on the threads and hung from the ceiling.

In the middle of the floor, there was a shadow lying on the floor and she stared at it a moment. It wasn’t that bright, not so bright that she could make out the features of the body and she grit her teeth. That was Regina.

The cave itself wasn’t large, perhaps the size of her parents loft, and along its walls there grew bioluminescent mushrooms. They were in all shades of blue, glowing a deep blue and the pallet shifted slowly to the vibrant green at her feet and she paused at the edge of the moss.

Did she walk upon it? While she did not fear whatever it was that was waiting for her, she didn’t want to unnecessarily anger it in case it held Regina hostage. And perhaps, her tantrum in the forest was unwise, taking that into consideration.

She hesitated and dipped her toe forward. When she touched the moss, the bright green of it dimmed like the echo of light in a bulb after the light had been turned off and she pulled her boot back.

Like water soaking into a sponge, black slowly bled back into bright green and it was as though she’d never touched it at all.

She glanced along the moss to the shadowed form of Regina and her eyes narrowed.

She had come this far and she was not about to leave without Regina.

Emma took a steadying breath and stepped onto the moss, body alert for any mischief but no attack came and she began to walk across the moss.

Like a wave the moss grew brighter at her presence, even as the moss beneath her boots faded into black, leaving a trail of black footprints behind her. It was like walking across sand. The moss itself was slightly springy to walk upon, and she got the feeling it would be soft if she were to touch it, but as her footsteps faded it reminded her of walking along the beach near the waves. Her footsteps would slowly disperse until only a small trail remained, and even that would eventually fade.

It was Regina waiting for her, silent, but she was reassured by the rise and fall of the Queen’s chest and Emma had nearly reached her when she had the sudden feeling she was being watched.

Years in her profession had taught her the value of trusting her instincts and her eyes darted around searching but she couldn’t see anything. That didn’t mean they weren’t there though, and she was cautious as she crouched down near Regina.

The moss around Regina had lit up brightly, casting the queen’s skin in an unnatural bright green glow. For a moment Emma had to pause.

Small white flowers had bloomed around Regina’s body as though she were on a bed of them, and she looked peaceful in her sleep, as though the pain that had riddled her body this last week had faded. She looked young like this, a strand of hair over her cheek, as though she were merely sleeping and Emma was loath to wake her, but she needed to know that Regina hadn’t left her yet.

With a gentle hand she reached out to touch Regina’s face, to brush the hair back, and it was though some giant had breathed a sigh in the cave.

The wind rippled in the room, stirring the bioluminescent life in the area and making it flare brightly before it faded back to its normal colour, and when Emma lifted her eyes, she had to start.

There were three…. Balls of light in front of her. If they could rightly be called balls.

They weren’t round. They weren’t even solid. They were like fireballs of smoke. Coloured smoke that hovered in the air before her.

But they weren’t something as mundane as will-o-wisps or something similar. No, this trio had power. Ancient power. Power such that even Emma faltered. Not even the Darkness was as old as these creatures and for the first time since she’d given her heart to Regina, Emma Swan felt fear.

Their colours were blue; a bright vibrant blue that radiated a cold, blue light like the shifting colours in a glacier, a flash of bright white intermingled.

Red, bold, and bloody, bright and burning hotly.

And the final one was gold. Gold like the metal, molten and spun into smoke like dawn.

“Hello, Emma Swan,” a voice, no, three voices spoke in unison and Emma swallowed. There was power in those voices, the kind that reminded her of the wind howling at night, of the rumble of thunder, of the roar a storm. She bowed her head respectfully, feeling the strength of the magic around her and wondered if she had not walked into a trap.

“Hi,” she said and wondered her chances of swopping down to pick Regina up and then bolt from the cave with the queen in her arms. There was power over the queen, power she didn’t understand and didn’t think she could fight.

She chanced a quick glance over her shoulder and felt the amusement of one of the creatures in front of her. It was the golden one.

“You will leave when we allow you to leave,” it said, its voice echoing through the cave, though it hadn’t lifted its voice. It had no need to.

“We are the Fates, or the Essence, or Spirits, of this world,” said the one that was blue. “I am called Will.”

“I am, what you would call, Flesh,” said the red one, shining brightly for a flash.

“And this is Life,” said the two red and blue whisps of power. The golden Spirit drifted closer and Emma hunched forward slightly over Regina. What had they done to her? What sort of spell was this?

“The Queen lives,” said the red one and a ribbon of smoke fell from its orb and dropped down over Regina’s body as though it were a tail or a hand. “Though not for much longer.”

Emma wanted to swipe at it, to curse it for daring to touch Regina but she didn’t dare. These Spirits were an abnormality, a powerful one, and Emma was vulnerable. They had Regina.

“Are you able to help her?” She asked instead, shameless. For Regina she would ask anything, even of these powerful beings.

“I’ll give you anything,” she promised and the blue one flared brightly for a moment.

“Unwise,” it said and she had a feeling it could have been shaking its head at her, however there was no change in its tone. “To offer what you cannot afford.”

“How bold,” said the red one. “To burn our children and then demand something of us.”

Children? What children- oh. She had set the forest on fire. The home of these creatures. Many lives had been lost in Emma’s tantrum, animal it were true, but also kilometres of trees and forest life. Opps.

She was silent. Did she apologise and draw attention back to her crime or did she pretend it hadn’t happened and see what she could barter for Regina’s life. She’d given her soul to save Regina, and she’d do it again if necessary. Henry needed his mother.

There was a ripple of power in between the three Spirits, as though they had pulsed like a heartbeat.

“I’ll pay any price,” she repeated and bowed her head to the woman lying limp on a bed of moss. “Just save her, please.”

“You are desperate,” said the blue one.

“Alone,” offered the red.

“Afraid,” added the gold.

Emma couldn’t disagree. She was all of those things.

She would exchange everything except Henry to save Regina. There was no one who could understand, who would appreciate her decision and respect it. She was terrified she would fail and leave Henry without his mother, because she was not cut out to be ‘mum’. That was Regina. Henry had Emma as an additional figure he liked to worship, but the parenting was done by Regina and needed to stay that way. Regina was part of the package of Henry. She made her son happy, so Emma had to keep Regina at all costs.

Emma ducked her head. Wasn’t that what had got her in this position in the first place? Hadn’t it been that fear, that desperation that had driven her to step into the vortex of evil and challenge it to take her instead?

“You already know what is needed to save her,” said the blue. “Though we could save her.”

Emma’s head snapped up. While her own power had been enough to heal Regina’s bodily injuries, it hadn’t been able to stop the poison that crept through Regina’s body. The curse on the dagger was not one easily lifted. It had two outcomes. Death, or a True Loves Kiss. And Emma would not allow Regina to die. Even if she had to rip the fabric of the universe apart. If she needed to, she would.

And as much as it would kill her to take Regina to Robin Hood, she would do so. The forest-man didn’t deserve Regina in any way. But… if Regina loved him then Emma would tolerate his presence. If he was enough to save her, then she’d protect him for the rest of his life like she protected her family. It would be a privilege to watch Regina love someone Emma didn’t like, as long as he made her smile.

“Will you? I’ll give you anything!”

And wasn’t bargaining one of the stages of grief? But Emma hadn’t lost Regina yet, and she wasn’t about to.

“Desperate. Alone. Afraid. A potent combination,” Gold said.

Red had to add, “One the Darkness relishes in.”

“But we are not the Darkness. Nor are we the Light. We simply are,” said the gold one and it was probably the biggest of the three, though it was hard to tell.

“What will you give, Emma Swan?” The trio asked in unison.

Were they willing to batter? Had an agreement been reached and were they now about to haggle over the price? No matter, she would pay it for Regina. She let the thought fill her entire body and lifted her head proudly. Dark One or not, she was not above haggling for Regina’s life, even if it cost her her own.

 Emma straightened, until she was standing over Regina’s limp form before the three beings, feeling a lot like she was being weighed and measured by the cosmos and was not sure she was making a good impression.

“Anything,” she emphasised. Weren’t these creatures getting her? She would exchange anything she had, anything she could get, anything she was in exchange for a cure for Regina. She didn’t want to face the world without her.

“Would you give your Will?” Will asked and Emma stared at it, stared into the sharp icy blue of it and could only think of her handing her dagger to Regina, and asking her to do what was necessary.

“Yes.”

There was a pulse of light from the Spirit, as though a wind breathed upon it. It moved around, the smoke that made up its form almost vibrating, and a tendril of its smoke reached down to rest over Regina’s chest.

Flesh asked her, “Would you give your Flesh?” And Emma could only think of her reaching into her chest and pulling out her own heart to offer to Regina.

It had been the Darkness’ idea. Or at least, Ghost Rumple had brought it up. He had giggled on the other side of the eternal flame and teased her that Regina had given up her heart and there was no saving her now, because something couldn’t live without its heart, and Regina’s had been destroyed.

Emma had been broken at the thought. How would Henry cope without his mother? What would Emma do without her partner at her side?

Ghost Rumple had given her a parting jibe, grinning wickedly at her across the flame, and told her the truth of what she had done. It wasn’t a surprise that she had been tricked, not really. That was the nature of evil, and she had suspected it the moment the power grew in strength enough to take control of her body and stab Regina, and then have enough of a form of her to fight.

The spell she had cast would indeed bring eternal darkness to all of the realms, but Emma Swan wouldn’t be there to see it. The rising Darkness would consume her, and the first Dark One would reign supreme.

The Darkness, you see, had one goal in mind. To corrupt the heart of its host, to drive out the light and consume it until there was only a shell for it to control. Emma’s heart couldn’t be protected by the spell because the queen’s heart wasn’t enough. She had lost, and she would die, Ghost Rumple had giggled, the darkness malicious in its impending victory but Emma hadn’t registered his words.

Instead, like an entitled politician she took pieces from his taunts and put them together into something else. Regina didn’t have a heart because she had given it to the spell. It didn’t matter that it hadn’t worked, it was okay that Regina didn’t love her enough, she had at least tired. No, what mattered was that she was now heartless with her heart destroyed. Cora, for all the evil she had committed hadn’t tainted her heart how she should have because it wasn’t in her chest. Emma had a heart that needed to be protected, so if it weren’t in her chest then it would be protected from the Darkness.

Regina needed a heart. What better heart than the heart of the saviour?

It was a two-bird one stone scenario, except Emma was quite willing to die if it meant Regina would live.

And so she had reached into her own chest as the eclipse reached its final moments of totality and had removed her heart. Emma had put her heart in Regina’s chest as the moon finally shifted to the left. The explosion of raw power that erupted from the fire in that moment, as the tiniest sliver of orange became visible to the east had shook the room as though the gods and all screamed in unison, the force of it shaking the walls and shattering apart the rocks at the tunnel entrance.

Ghost Rumple had vanished, but Emma Swan, no longer able to resist the pull of Darkness, and lost her fight and the Darkest One she had become.

Regina had her heart, even if only she knew it.

Emma nodded sharply to the red spirit. “Yes.”

It flared brightly, a vibrant red of blood, of life, as though the flames that made it had been fanned and a ribbon of red dropped from it to drape over Regina’s body.

The two, the red and the blue, merged over Regina’s chest into a light lilac in colour. It was a familiar shade, but Emma couldn’t place it exactly. It made her feel warm, though. Bathed in warm light and happiness and all things that were good.

It was Henry giving her a hug. Her parents smiling at her over dinner. It was Ruby fondly rolling her eyes and dragging her out for a drink. Granny, handing her a coffee after a night shift, free of charge. It was the dwarves standing before her and telling her they were with her. It was countless other moments in her life where people had been on her side, where she had felt valued and wanted and loved. It was Regina; telling her she was someone to cherish.

“What of your Life?” The gold spirit asked finally and Emma narrowed her eyes at it.

“Take it. I will do anything you ask of me. Just please-“ she breathed, aware she was begging but not caring. “Save her.”

The blue light of Will suddenly began to shrink, its light fading slowly until all that remained as the ribbon it had connected to Regina before that, too, faded.

Flesh was soon to follow, and Emma watched it shrink in alarm. “Wait!”

It paid her no mind and soon it was also gone, leaving a small wisp of lavender smoke over Regina’s chest, where her heart would be.

“What we ask of you, then Emma Swan, is your Love,” Life told her, and it also began to shrink.

“Wait, what does that mean?” It dropped a tendril over Regina and Emma could only stare at it as it shrank, until it resembled a balloon connected to Regina, before even that vanished.

“True Love’s Kiss can break any curse,” its voice echoed around her, and she had a feeling it was laughing at her while she grasped helplessly at the words its riddle presented.

“WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!” Her roar echoed in the cave, and she twisted around, searching for the Spirits, and let out a frustrated shout when she realised she was alone again. She felt their absence as clearly as one did in an empty school. It was an eerie emptiness, an echo of what was once vibrant and was now silent.

“True Love’s Kiss?! What True Love’s Kiss! There isn’t anyone else!”

She looked despairingly back at Regina and let out a frustrated groan. It was very unbefitting for a Dark One, she knew. But this was beyond her. She didn’t have the power to get them across realms and time, after all, neither did Rumple. So, Regina was going to die here in this cave and there was nothing Emma could do about that.

She collapsed on the ground next to Regina, and surprisingly it was as soft and springy as she had thought. She wasn’t feeling the stone beneath her at all, instead it was like sitting on a slightly firm mattress.

She had said she would bring Regina back to Henry, what would he say when he saw that she had failed? How could she face her son knowing she had inevitably killed his mother? She knew she couldn’t, but Emma also knew that if she didn’t, Regina would resurrect herself and come after Emma through willpower alone. The thought made her snort. Only Regina would defy nature to berate Emma.

She would miss her desperately and the thought constricted her throat.

Regina’s body was still but for the slow rise and fall of her chest and Emma would have lifted her sweater to check on the stab wound and poison progress if her mother and Granny hadn’t made Emma feel like she was a creep.

It hadn’t been anything like that.

Regina was warm, deliciously so, and Emma had been so, so cold. Fire had done nothing, and the body heat of the life-forces around her had done nothing. But Regina’s had. It had only made sense for her to curl around her best friend and greedily soak up the warmth she radiated.

She had kept her hands to herself to start. Had turned her back to Regina and let Regina’s heat warm her from the other side, except Regina had shifted in her sleep and they’d ended up cuddling .

Emma hadn’t realised it at first. She’d been dozing. Blessedly in that border between sleep and wakefulness, and she’d only registered that she was warm and on something soft and she was content.

She had to leave then. Regina was asleep. She didn’t know Emma was there. So Emma had been a coward and fled. Alone and cold to her tower on top of the world.

But she’d gone back the night after, unable to resist, and Regina was so warm. Granny hadn’t been wrong.

Emma did have her hands on Regina’s skin, and it wasn’t just to check the state of her wound and the poison.

That was what it had started with. She was checking on the wound and seeing how far the poison had spread through Regina’s body. She hadn’t even been aware of what she was truly doing as she had been so focused on tracking the curse. It had worked its way through Regina’s lower body, tainting the organs there and was rising to the bottom of her lungs and heading for her heart.

Emma had closed her eyes, hands on Regina’s warm skin, as she felt for the poison when there had been a stern clearing of a throat.

“Mind yourself, Sheriff.”

It was Granny, crossbow at her side. She was glaring at Emma over the top of her glasses.

“Remove your hands,” she ordered and lifted the crossbow a few inches in warning.

Emma sneered at her, not removing her hands from Regina’s warm skin and Granny’s eyes twitched.

The crossbow lifted, and there was already a bolt loaded and ready to be fired.

“She can't consent while she’s asleep,” Granny warned and didn’t hesitate in aiming the crossbow in Emma’s direction.

Emma stared at her a long moment. How dare this peasant command her! She should be made to suffer for her insolence… with her life. Though another part of her was wondering what Granny had meant by her words.

She wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was just touching Regina. Regina was warm. Emma was cold. And what right did this insignificant worm have to dare tell her what she could and could not do!

It was then that Emma followed her arms down and saw the positioning of her hands.

Oh.

Dark One she may have been, but that did not give her the right to have her hands where they were and she jerked them back as though she’d been stung.

Granny gave a little grunt and sat her crossbow on the counter, loaded still and pointed towards the bed-booth. She pulled up a chair and her knitting and sat behind the counter.

It reminded Emma oddly of a librarian behind her desk. Waiting and watching for any naughty behaviour.

It was enough for her to remain aware of herself and what she was doing, and she took care not to have her hand’s on Regina’s skin again. Though that didn’t stop her from curling around Regina for the next few nights as she was so warm.

She didn’t want to admit to herself that it was fear that kept her from approaching Regina during the day. Dark One’s didn’t fear. But. What if Regina denied her? What if she were disgusted by Emma’s sparkly skin and dull, lifeless hair? Who would want to be friends with a freak like her?

Still. The alluring warmth was too much to resist and she returned, like an addict. Granny would come down every night and watch her for a while, but once Emma had made a habit of keeping her hands to herself, the elderly woman would return to her bed. She’d had to use the bathroom or something and that was how Emma had been seen the first time. Widow Lucas hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, which was nice. Dark One’s shouldn’t have their best friend as their weakness. Though now everyone knew.

At least Regina remained unaware. Emma didn’t want to have to explain to her best friend the liberties she had taken, though she had only innocent intentions. And Regina had curled around her the other night, snuggling closer which had made Emma’s entire body feel warm, especially her chest.

But now the emptiness was back. The cold call of the abyss was loud in her mind, and she let out a long sigh.

She couldn’t get them to Storybrooke and to Robin, and Henry’s True Love Kiss hadn’t worked. There was really no other option. Regina was going to die and the thought made her despair.

At least she would die peacefully in a beautiful place, but it wasn’t much consolation.

Regina just looked like she was sleeping. If her hands were clasped over her body, and maybe with some flowers or something else just as corny, she’d look like she belonged in a Disney film.

Emma let out a little laugh at the thought. Regina would hate it!

“I’m sorry,” she offered to the sleeping brunette and let out a little sigh. “I guess I am not enough to save you.”

Regina didn’t reply, not that Emma expected her to.

“I wish I could save you, that was my goal when I stepped into the darkness…. I didn’t want it to take you. I couldn’t let it take you.”

Regina’s hand was near her own, and she looked at it for a moment and then reached for it. Regina was as warm as she remembered, and it was instinct that wound her fingers between Regina’s until they were holding hands.

Regina’s skin was soft, with a few calluses from writing and a scattering of small scars on her fingers. Emma ran her thumb back and forward across it, marvelling at how smooth it was

“I just wanted you to be safe,” she told the body lying next to her. “I always want you to be safe.”

There was no one around to hear her confession, so she had no issue with continuing.

“I want you to be happy too… next to Henry, there is no one else that I-“ she cut herself off, suddenly shy though she was alone.

“Well, I- there isn’t anyone else who matters like you do, but um, I guess you already figured that you with the whole stepping into the darkness for ya thing, and giving you my dagger and, well, my heart was kinda obvious…”

And Regina didn’t love her back. That was okay. She didn’t expect Regina too.

Regina was amazing. She was kind, surprisingly gentle when she needed to be, had a wicked sense of humour, and she was the greatest mother in the world for their son. Emma wasn’t an author, she didn’t have the vocabulary or education to properly put her thoughts and feelings into words, she was a doer, not a talker. But Regina was everything, next to Henry, even if no one knew.

It wasn’t like what Granny thought. Or what Killian thought. She loved Regina. How could she not?

Regina had taken and loved Henry and raised him as her own, and as a child who had once been in the system and longed for a mother, Emma was so thankful to her. How could she not love the woman who loved her son so? Regina had given Henry back to Emma, and she loved her for it.

The mayor who had been her partner in protecting and governing the town was Emma’s equal, her best friend. The trials and tribulations of life had shaped her and had shaped Regina as though they were cast from identical moulds. Regina understood her in a way that no one else did. They were unique. And special.

She had known she loved Regina before the Darkness had gone for her, before Regina had stood in the middle of a dark street with a vortex of evil around her, but she hadn’t realised how much. Hadn’t realised the lengths she would go to keep Regina safe. To keep her happy.

Of course, she hadn’t thought it might be another type of love until Granny had suggested it. Regina was warm and soft, and Emma had been cold and hard, so it was only natural that she seek her friend out. And Regina was so pretty and such a good leader that of course Emma was watching her whenever she was in a room. Regina was magnetic.

She hadn’t ever thought about kissing her, not really. She was Henry’s crazy hot mum and then she was Emma’s best friend and partner, and Emma had never thought of her like that.

Regina’s body was fit, and the outfits she wore always emphasise the curves of it, and she usually wore make-up that drew attention to her lips, plump and soft, usually curled into a smirk.

It was fact, that Regina was attractive. Undeniable. And Emma wasn’t blind to that.

But she had never wanted to know what she tasted like. Even as plump lips left echoes of maroon on wineglasses. Even as her tongue traced the curve of a spoon and her gelato. Even when she smiled at Emma, lips lifted ever so slightly and smile reaching her eyes. Mostly, Regina was warm. Regina was home.

And Regina was going to die. Without Emma having kissed her.

Regina looked young in her sleep and Emma shifted her body slightly, taking their joint hands and lifting them.

Having realised now that she would very much like to kiss Regina she leant forward and then hesitated, lips over Regina’s, feeling the warmth of her breath against her own lips. It made them tingle and she hovered for a long moment, their breaths in the scant space between them. If she moved but a hairs-width forward their lips would touch and Emma would finally get what she wanted. But no.

Regina was asleep. She was dying. Emma wouldn’t kiss her without her permission.

Emma shook her head slightly at her own foolishness and changed her course slightly to kiss Regina softly on the forehead, as though Regina was the one who was precious, as though Regina was the one to be cherished. She closed her eyes and let her lips linger a moment. “I love you,” she breathed and held her position for a long moment, Regina’s hand in her own, her lips at Regina’s forehead.

With her eyes closed and head bowed Emma didn’t see the wave of purple and gold light that flashed between where their bodies met. Didn’t see the ripple of power that spread out from their epicentre. The green moss beneath their bodies flared bright and vibrant and rolled to the walls of the cave where the blue shades lit brightly as the magic hit them.

“You’re an idiot ,” a painfully familiar voice rasped below her, and Emma slowly opened her eyes.

Regina was smiling at her, eyes crinkled and soft, a warm glow in the depths of them that made Emma’s chest swell as though it was a size too large.

“Regina,” Emma croaked. A greeting, a prayer, an elation, a confession all in one.

The mayor met her gaze for a long moment and Emma’s heart did a happy dance in her chest. Regina was awake. Regina was alive. She’d woken with Emma’s kiss, and that was perhaps the most telling of all.

Had she-had they?

Emma swallowed. They had. There was no mistaking the pulse of magic that had erupted from between the two of them for even if she hadn’t seen it, she had felt it. She could see it lingering in the air of the cave like mist, a rainbow of colour. No. Not a rainbow. It was purple and gold. Her eyes narrowed. The purple of Will and Flesh, and the Gold of Life. No…. no way….

Now she felt like an idiot, as Regina had so fondly called her, and she gave Regina a shaky grin. “How much of that did you hear?”

A perfect brow arched, and Regina shook her head slightly and sat her head back on her moss.

One of her hands came up to cradle Emma’s back and she leant into the touch. Regina’s hand was warm through her leather, and she could feel the weight of it.

“Hi,” she whispered, a smile stretching over her face so bright and bold that her cheeks hurt.

“Hey,” Regina replied, tilting her head slightly to gaze up at her, eyes warm and soft and smiling.

“I heard everything,” she answered the question Emma had asked earlier.

“I-um, I-“

“I know,” Regina smiled and moved her hand to cup Emma’s cheek. At the movement there was a sprinkle of silver dust that fell from Emma’s skin, and gravity caught her hair and cast it down around her ears and tumbling over her shoulders. She could see the platinum strands of it but as they caught Regina’s skin, their colour started to change.

Like snow fall but finer, the colour fell from her hair, and it bled into her normal blonde, the curse of the Dark One fading away before their love.

Emma lifted their joint hands. Like glitter dust the silver of her skin had faded to the pale of her natural skin, the contrast soft against Regina’s. Oh.

True Loves Kiss could break any curse, that was true, and had been true for the two of them.

“So,” she drawled and lifted her chin, grinning at Regina. “You love me,” she teased, as though she hadn’t been the one making all the confessions and bold gestures.

On the inside she was screaming. On the inside there was only warmth and light, bright and golden, her heart dancing in her chest and beating out a glorious rhythm. Regina loves her. Regina loves her. Regina loves her!

Regina rolled her eyes but there was a fond curl to her lips and when her eyes returned to Emma, a warm glow in them.

“I don’t know,” she smirked. “I wasn’t the one giving up her heart, her dagger, and…what was it?” She asked teasingly and Emma went a little red.

She had stepped into evil to protect Regina. Had given Regina her dagger to control her. Had handed over her heart. Was willing to offer her life to save Regina. Really, on the scale of romantic gestures Emma was certainly coming out on top. But Regina’s love wasn’t big, grand gestures. Regina’s was the quiet kind. The kind that endured across time and space. The kind of love that people dreamt of. Encompassing. Unyielding. Eternal.

To have Regina’s love was to know that you were loved, and would always be loved. And for Emma, who had been looking for that her entire life, that love was a feeling of belonging, of being cared for, of having a home.

“All of me?” Emma asked and she was still leaning over Regina, her hair coming loose from its tight bun and spilling around her neck like a waterfall.

“All of you,” Regina agreed and was rubbing her thumb back and forth across Emma’s check.

“I love you too, in case that wasn’t obvious. I did give my heart to the spell, after all.”

“It wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t love me,” Emma’s brow furrowed in thought before going smooth in realisation. Regina just hummed. Emma felt sheepish, like she was trying to catch up on a show she hadn’t been watching, because it was obvious now that Regina loved her, truly loved her. And Emma despaired because she had thought she had been living without that love for so long, when it had been in front of her the whole time.

And now? Now she really, really wanted to kiss Regina. Her eyes darted down to those plump lips and she stared. The distance between them wasn’t that great. If she leant forward then she’d be close.

Her eyes slipped up to Regina’s, searching for a moment and then she leant forward.

“Wait,” Regina breathed into the space between their lips and Emma halted.

Was this not okay? Did she not love Emma the way that Emma loved her? That would be fine. Emma could live with that. She could live with Regina loving her but not being in love with her. Maybe she should have clarified what kind of love Regina felt for her, then she wouldn’t be feeling the sting of rejection.

“As much as I want this, you have a boyfriend-“ Regina began and Emma hurriedly shook her head.

“No!” She didn’t even want to think about Hook. Besides, he had made his feelings pretty clear.

“He ended it when I came after you. Right in front of my parents and Granny and-“

Regina interrupted her with her mouth. Her lips were on Emma’s. Emma was being kissed by Regina.

For a moment her entire body was paralysed, and her eyes shut of their own accord. Her entire life narrowed into the single point of contact between the two of them.

As far as kisses went, Emma had never had any that were softer. Rather, she’d been kissed for intent and heat behind the action. But this was Regina, so on the scale of things, it was the best kiss of her life to date. To her surprise Regina’s kiss was somewhat chaste, and the hand that cupped her check was shy and tentative. Emma’s heart went warm, and she shivered all over. Regina was touching her gently, treating her carefully as though she were truly something cherish.

She let out a little happy sigh into the kiss and tilted her head for a better angle. Regina hummed lowly and accepted the kiss, pressing forward more but still as chaste and sweet, as though they were teenagers kissing for the first time. There was a slight pull on their lips as they kissed.

Emma leant in further, keeping the kiss soft and sweet, happy to let Regina guide this. She would follow Regina anywhere, and she would follow her in this too. What Regina wanted, she would get.

Eventually Regina pulled back and Emma dazedly opened her eyes, with some effort.

Her lips were warm and tingled. Actually, her entire body was alive. But Regina always made her feel like that. Maybe the sparks in her blood were the magic between them? Unable to help herself she darted in for another sweet kiss and Regina sighed softly.

“ Em-ma,” she rasped, voice so low it hit somewhere deep in Emma’s stomach, and she swallowed.

Regina finally sat up, her arm sliding around Emma’s shoulders and she held her tightly. Emma sank into the embrace, into Regina’s warmth and let out a happy sigh.

“I love you,” Regina murmured into her hair and Emma pulled her closer. She wanted Regina as close as possible, and then even closer, until their bodies, until their souls were one. But, maybe they already were.

“We should get back,” the queen said after some time but made no move to leave. Emma wasn’t all that interested in leaving this little place of theirs but, well, they were needed elsewhere. Their family needed them.

Some time later the two left the cave, hand in hand. Regina was moving a little slower, but still stuck by Emma’s side as they emerged into the sunlight. She was back in her jeans and jacket, delighting in the return to what felt was her true self.

The animals had already departed, but the stag remained. This time, it had a glowing ball of flame at each side of its antlers, with a golden ball of flame in the centre. Will, Flesh, and Life.

“You figured it out,” they said in unison. “This is pleasing.”

Emma glared at them. “You could have been a bit more helpful.”

The stag-horse snorted and pawed the ground.

“You burnt our children to the ground,” said the blue flame.

“Emma!” Regina gasped and looked at her aghast.

“Why should we help you further?” Asked the red.

“I couldn’t find you!” Emma said and sheepishly ran her fingers through her hair, the blonde locks slightly tangled.

“So, you set fire to the forest?” Regina’s voice lifted in shock and Emma grimaced.

“Only a little?”

Regina spun back to the beast and the three spirits, and bowed her head. “Please accept my apologies for my companion. If recompense is owed, allow us to pay it.”

Emma blinked at her a moment and then hurriedly bowed at the spirits.

“Accepted,” said the gold.

“Though not necessary,” confirmed the blue.

Red was able to lift the weight from Regina’s shoulders. “The magic of your kiss will suffice as payment to return our children to us.”

Regina bowed her head and the glare she shot Emma had Emma bowing as well.

Emma hadn’t been thinking when she’d burnt the forest down. All she knew was that it was keeping her from Regina, and nothing would get between them. So, the forest had to burn.

At least the explosion of magic that had fled them when they kissed meant there would be enough to grow the forest again, though it couldn’t do much for the dead animals.

“Go home,” the Spirits said in unison, and tendrils of blue, red, and gold power split off to form in the middle of the air.

Regina was the one to reach out and take it, though Emma didn’t let her get too far, sticking close to the mayor like glue.

“A magic bean?” Regina said in wonder, staring down at the purple and gold bean in her palm.

The stag-horse bowed its head, its mane rippling, and then it turned away, tail swishing in the wind.

“Goodbye, Emma Swan and Regina Mills,” the Spirit’s said and they vanished from the beasts antlers.

Emma watched them go a little bemused. She had thought they might be punished for what she had done, but it seemed their True Love’s Kiss had enough power to let these ancient being’s offer them a way home.

Home.

She glanced at the woman next to her.

Regina’s hair was glinting in the sunlight, strands of it cast to bronze, and her skin had a healthy flush to it. She was alive. She was well. She’d no longer die from the Dark One Curse.

But she was Emma’s home, so wherever Regina chose to go, her and Henry, Emma would follow.

They were her family and now that she had found them, she’d never let them go.

“What are you thinking?” Regina asked, a gentle squeeze of their combined hands bringing Emma’s attention back to her.

“That I love you,” and now that she had said it, how easily did the words come. She wanted to say it every day for the rest of her life, wanted the warmth in her chest to expand within her body until there was no space for anything but love. She would also never tire of the shy lowering of Regina’s eyes at the confession, the happy quirk to her lips and the way she’d duck her chin ever so slightly into her shoulder.

“I love you,” Regina replied and the words made Emma’s heart dance about. Her literal one, not her magical one. That was still safe in Regina’s chest, keeping her alive. But Emma didn’t need it back. Regina felt enough love for the both of them, and Emma could feel that love in her body, in her magic, in her very soul.

“Lets grab the kid and get out of here,” Emma said looking around at the clearing and wrinkling her nose. “I’m tired of forest.”

Regina hummed and ran her thumb across Emma’s skin gently, ever so gently that Emma could feel a goofy smile taking shape on her face. How embarrassing. But she didn’t have the power to stop it, would never stop it, not when it made Regina’s eyes glow golden and warm.

“Lets go home,” she agreed and lilac purple smoke curled at their feet, snaking up their legs and preparing to teleport them back to the mountain and their family.

Home. Home was where the heart was, Emma had heard many years ago. And she had scoffed at the notion in her youth. Home was where you chose to live, or were forced to live. A heart didn’t come into the equation.

But Emma now knew that her heart was freely given to Henry and Regina, and that wherever they were, that would be her home. Forever. She, who had been lost, had finally been found, and she’d never be lost again.