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Chapter Text

 

“The Oracle will have a long and terrible reign, but it will be ended by the Savior. Descending from the White Kingdom, the Savior will be from royal birth, capable of using strong magic.”
- Rafiki of the South lands, almost a century ago

 

---

 

Regina is seven when she watches her mother murder her father.

She is standing at the edge of their estate, having just returned from the forest, and she knows now that her father's goodbye had been a final one.

Her mother rips her father's heart out and crushes it right in front of his eyes.

Regina is frozen to the spot, feeling the need to scream burn up in her throat, even as she knows that she can't.

If her mother discovers her here, she might as well take her own heart out of her chest and crush it herself.

And yet, she feels that she is failing to protect herself.

At the same moment she is starting to hear a wail, only to realize that it’s coming from her when a strong hand covers her mouth. An arm snakes around her waist, lifting Regina off the ground and carrying her away.

Regina recognizes Zelena’s fierce and protective grasp just as she recognizes the burnt smell of his magic. Her sister is protecting her from their mother when she is about to leave to live with someone far worse.

Only when they are within the walls of their estate, does Regina turn around to bury herself in Zelena's embrace, wrapping her arms around her sister's neck, and her legs around her torso.

She is little for her age and still, under normal circumstances, too big to be carried that way.

Zelena doesn't seem to mind; on the contrary, she just tightens her arms around Regina, not letting go until they reach Regina's room.

As soon as Zelena sets her down, she arranges Regina’s hair, and takes her face into her hands.

“Are you okay?”

Regina nods slowly. She isn’t hurt. She knows that’s what Zelena is asking.

Zelena gives her a small smile before she focuses intently on Regina, her blue eyes seeming cold.

“Did you get her away? Did your father and you succeed?”

Stunned, Regina just nods because, yes, they did.

But Daddy never said anything about involving Zelena. Still, despite what Daddy says about it not being safe to talk to Zelena because of the Oracle, Regina knows she can trust her sister.

“We did. She's safe. I gave her to...”

“Don't say anything!”

Zelena urges and Regina flinches. Immediately, Zelena's face softens and she softly strokes Regina’s hair from her face.

“Look, I think what you did is right, but my mind might not always be safe around... Him. So, you'd better not tell me, okay?”

Regina doesn't really understand, but she nods anyway. She tries really hard not to think about the fairy who took the girl away, who promised to protect the baby, but of course Tink is all that she can think about now.

Zelena is still arranging her hair and looking her clothes over, moving her hands to magically remove the forest dirt, before she takes Regina’s face in her hands.

“Listen, sis. I have to leave soon and I know it will be hard with mother, but I know you're strong enough to get through this, okay?”

Regina nods.

She knows she’ll be okay because Zelena believes in her.

 

---

 

“I can’t do this,” Emma pants, stifling her cries. They are alone. Granny ran to get a doctor, but who knew if he’d get to their remote hut in time. Emma thought that she still had a fortnight.

“You can,” Ruby reassures her, squeezing her hand, taking her focus away from her pain and anxiety. “You can.”

“No, no, no,” Emma repeats, only slightly relaxing her muscles in a pause between contractions, her breathing evening out a little.

“I can’t raise a child, Ruby. No matter, if… I’m not ready. I’m seventeen. I’m constantly changing homes. How do you raise a child without having a home?”

There’s another contraction, more painful, and this time Emma screams, involuntarily giving Ruby the opportunity not to answer. Although she has grown pale, Ruby regards Emma with kindness. There’s something else in her dark eyes, something Emma has never seen before, but she’s too preoccupied to think about it.

“We talked about this, Emma. It’s okay, if you can’t raise the baby. We’ll find a solution.”

“And what if…”

There’s fear in Emma now.

“What if it’s a boy?”

Ruby swallows, but holds on to Emma’s hand.

“Then we’ll find a way as well.”

And because it’s Ruby, her friend, Emma believes her.

 

---

 

“It's a boy,” Ruby breathes in wonder and Emma starts to cry. She cries through Ruby cutting the cord, the afterbirth, and Granny washing the baby, doesn’t care that Granny has come back alone because the doctor wasn’t at home, because the baby is healthy, but it is a boy. She is still crying when Ruby hands him to her, a beautiful baby boy with a tiny bit of brown hair on top of his head, twitching and screaming but finally relaxing against her chest, listening to her heartbeat.

It is everything, and yet so very terrifying.

She holds him for an entire night.

Strangely, no matter how much Granny makes her try, there's no milk coming from her breasts, and it is okay. It is as if her body is telling her what she has to do.

Granny talks about stress and getting a nursemaid, but Emma takes a deep breath and looks directly at Ruby.

“I'm sure.”

Ruby nods once before she bolts.

Her sudden flight doesn't stop Emma from seeing the tears in her wide brown eyes.

Ruby has slowly become her best friend, something akin to what she imagines a sister could be. She has seen her baby bump grow, and certainly looked forward to watching a little niece or nephew grow up.

It takes Ruby only a couple of minutes to come back, red-eyed and red-cheeked, but face dry.

“We'll find a way,” she repeats. And it is a promise.

 

---

 

A couple of hours later there's a shining light by the window, and Emma scrunches up her nose.

Wild fairies make her nauseous.

When the golden light grows and blinks, Emma huffs and tightens her hold on her baby. The light blinks again, and then a full grown light-skinned woman is standing in front of her, displaying a serene face surrounded by blonde curls, and a blissful smile on her lips, typical for fairies.

It makes Emma glare at her.

“What are you, my fairy godmother?”

The smile doesn't waver, but the blonde fairy does roll her eyes, a very atypical gesture for her kind.

“Actually, I am. If you're ready to believe in me now.”

Careful not to disturb the baby in her arms, Emma sits up.

“Listen Lady, I might have had use for you in the last seventeen years, but you are a little late. I'm grown up now.”

Noticing how bleak her own voice sounds, Emma tries to cover it up with another glare, but it seems in vain, the fairy's smile changes into a wistful one. She comes closer and pats Emma's leg over the covers.

“I'm sorry for the life you had. There was nothing I could do to change it. But you've asked for me now, and I will do what you wished for.”

Emma swallows. She can feel the fairy's earnestness, the gentle magic coming from her touch, and she knows it is true.

Emma can hardly believe herself when she voluntarily surrenders her son to the fairy's open arms. The fairy smiles down at him and for a moment Emma feels a connection to the fairy that can’t be possible.

“Well, hello little guy. Would you like me to be your fairy godmother?”

Emma frowns at the offer, but the fairy ignores her, focused on the baby instead.

“My name is Tink, and I will promise to do my very best for you. Your mother and I will make sure that you will have a better life, won't we?”

Tink looks at her and Emma blinks, both at the promise and the name. She recognizes the name from the story of her own survival, even if she has never met the fairy who helped her escape. Emma can feel the tears burning in her eyes, but for the first time, she believes. Somehow – maybe she can even feel Emma's decision – Tink nods in silent agreement before she places the baby back onto Emma's chest.

“I'm going to save his life.”

Emma nods, somehow expecting that. For the first time since Ruby told her his gender, Emma feels hope. Still, it’s against her nature to believe in something as fickle as hope.

“I'd have thought he'd get a different welcoming committee.”

There's a somber look on Tink's face when she agrees.

“I know.”

“You have to take him, don't you?”

Tink nods again.

“You promise he will have a better life?”

“I promise.”

So Emma looks down at her tiny baby boy with his button nose wrinkled in sleep. He blinks once, bright blue eyes impossibly seeming to focus on her, and she smiles at him before she leans down and kisses him on his forehead.

“I love you.”

He blinks like he agrees, and Emma sucks in a sharp breath. It’s now or never.

It’s for his best.

So she holds him up. Tink takes him, cradling him against her chest before meeting Emma's eyes.

“Can I see him again?”

For a moment Tink blinks, looking faraway in the distance, until she smiles in relief.

“Yes. Every year, on this day, he will come to visit. At least for the first couple of years that I can see.”

Emma doesn't question her knowledge; she trusts the fairy to be connected to the threads of fate. Instead she gives her a tearful smile.

“His name,” she says, voice breaking until she's sure, certain. “It's Henry.”

She looks at her little baby boy, her prince, when she says it, but she notices Tink hesitate.

“After...?”

Emma nods, giving Tink a meaningful look.

“I know the story.”

And she would hate Tink for helping to take her away from her parents, if it hadn’t saved her life.

 

---

 

Tink leaves the little hut, magicking a blanket out of thin air to wrap Henry in. She knows what will happen now. She can hardly believe it, and yet, at the same time, it is as if fate has collected all the pieces and realigned them.

A dark haired witch steps out from behind the trees, red painted lips smiling at Tink, hesitant, almost fearful, her magic curiously subdued.

Only when Tink smiles back, does the witch lose some of the flight reflex that's plain in her eyes. Brown eyes focus on the baby.

“That's him?”

Tink nods.

“She named him Henry.”

Regina, for she is only Regina in that moment, not the witch that Tink might fear, draws in a sharp breath before she collects herself, and nods almost imperceptibly.

“Fate has a funny way of arranging things, doesn't it?”

Tink finds she has to agree. So she allows Regina to step forward and reach out for the boy in her arms. At the last moment Tink holds on tight to the innocent child. She has seen that this is the only way for him to survive, and yet...

“How do I know that I can trust you?”

Regina simply snorts as she takes the baby and soothes the blanket.

“It's a bit late to ask that now, isn’t it?”

It is. And yet when Regina smiles at little Henry, a little uncertain, definitely happy, Tink knows that it was the right decision. Maybe she might just be changing more than one fate today.

 

---

 

“Are you sure?” Ruby asks, aimlessly kicking at the grass under her feet, her tense shoulders expressing how uncomfortable she is about the entire situation. It might have something to do with being close to the full moon, but Granny is as calm as ever, even if she isn’t even trying to hide the crossbow strapped to her back.

“I’m sure,” Emma replies.

There are few people she has implicitly trusted in her life. Ruby and the fairy, Tink, are two of them.

And Tink hadn't been lying.

“How will she even know where we are?”

Ruby grumbles, and Emma's stomach clenches.

It's her one worry. She moves around a lot. She was alone before she met Ruby, in wolf form, on the outskirts of some town. At first she’d thought it amazing when the wolf saved her, only to turn into a woman moments after, but it turns out that society isn’t as welcoming to strangeness as Emma is. So, of course they haven't stayed in the same place for an entire year.

Surely fairy magic is above that.

Right?

Noticing her anxiety, Ruby reaches out to pat Emma's shoulder.

“It's gonna be fine.”

But clearly her heart isn't in it.

Emma glares, and Ruby rolls her eyes.

“I say comforting stuff when necessary. They are called white lies. Deal with it.”

Emma rolls her eyes and smiles, and Ruby huffs.

All tension is cleared away when they hear the familiar sound of a carriage.

They live too far off for anyone to just pass by, so it can only mean one thing - a visitor.

The three of them stare anxiously at the curved way leading to their little cottage, Granny stepping back to have a better vantage point.

It seems like an eternity until they see the small but ornate carriage advance. It is lead by a young man, wearing uncommonly expensive clothing. He ignores them, jumps down, and opens the carriage.

A dark haired, olive-skinned woman emerges gracefully, carrying herself with a grace that Emma knows doesn’t come easily. She fusses over a bundle in her arms before looking up.

Under their scrutiny the woman seems to straighten her already perfect posture. And that, despite the almost simple ensemble of dark leather pants, white blouse, brown coat, and the loose braid of her hair, clearly indicates that she is more than a noble woman, holding herself with an almost regal air.

After taking them in, she nods at Emma.

There's a whining sound, and the woman rubs the bundle in her arms.

“Henry?”

Emma's voice breaks over his name, and she curses herself for it.

But the woman nods with something that is almost a smile, and all that Emma can do is keep herself from running straight at her.

So, it's Ruby who goes to her and takes the things the coachman hands over. Even when it doesn't look like the woman needs help, it seems appreciated, she gives Ruby a small smile. Emma hears her saying goodbye to the coachmen, and the carriage is off again.

As she walks toward them, the woman carefully opens the blanket with one hand, holding on to the boy with the other.

There's still brown hair atop of his head, but there is so much more now. He grins sleepily up at his mother, clearly happy, clearly loved, and before Emma can help herself she is crying.

The woman only hesitates for a tiny moment before she hands Henry over to Emma.

“Mamama!”

Henry bubbles up and Emma freezes.

“That's right,” a low voice says next to her, patting Emma's arm reassuringly.

“That's your Mama, Henry.”

He smiles, and Emma laughs and smiles through her tears.

“I'm Regina,” the woman says, and Emma starts to smile more than she cries.

“I'm Emma,” she nods at Ruby. “This is my sister, Ruby.”

But Ruby just shows her teeth in a far too wide smile. Fortunately Regina bears it with grace, just as she eyes Granny’s crossbow without making a comment.

They stay for three nights.

Emma learns that one-year-olds sleep a lot... but not necessarily throughout the night. They cry and have temper tantrums that prove how sharp their nails are.

But then the most honest, brightest of smiles makes up for all of the food they throw around, and they are the only child in the entire universe that can be this cute, this beautiful, and this bright.

She also learns that Regina loves her son dearly. She learns that Regina calls herself 'Mommy' and explains to Henry that Emma is his 'Mama'.

One time, after they have gone to bed, she listens to Regina murmur to Henry in the other room. It's probably a breach of confidence since she's pretty sure the other woman doesn't know how thin the walls are, (and she doesn’t want to linger on what Regina might think about their cottage that is at least more than the hut Henry was born in,) but she listens to her talking to Henry.

About where he came from, about how happy she is to have him, that they are never allowed to talk about his Mama unless they are alone.

It's the last one that sticks with Emma.

When they are gone, she cries herself to sleep for an entire week.

 

---

 

The second time they meet, Henry’s waddling steps have turned into a run. His bright smile is the same, but his babble has changed into ‘What’s that?’s’ and ‘Why’s’, and an even more exuberant giggle.

For an entire day he just hides behind Regina’s legs, too shy to say anything to Emma, but when he thaws, he does so wholeheartedly.

He is so clearly happy that Emma cries herself to sleep every night of their stay, torn between regretting to miss so much and being happy for him, but the last night turns out different.

Regina, who is so ridiculously patient with Emma’s insecurities, Ruby’s attitude, and Granny’s open enmity, seems to hear her.

There is the sound of naked toddler feet on the wooden ground, and then her door creaks open.

“Mama?”

For he really calls her that, and Emma doesn’t know how to ever express the gratitude she feels toward Regina, especially when throughout all her patience with Emma, Regina stays guarded, her smile always a little bit too controlled, unless it’s for Henry.

Emma reasons that it can’t be easy, having to share your child for a few days every year. Ruby blames Regina’s magic, but Emma won’t hear any of it. Granny just huffs, knowing Emma will disregard whatever she has to say.

“Emma?”

Blinking, Emma sits up to see a strangely bashful Regina, dressed in a long nightgown, standing in her doorway, Henry at her feet, rubbing his eyes and smiling excitedly.

“We sleep here?”

Emma’s heart stops at his words, at the question in Regina’s uncertain eyes, and she nods before she can even think about it.

Henry scampers up to her, still holding on to Regina with one hand and, within a minute, he is snuggled into Emma’s side with Regina on his other.

He is warm and so trusting and it is more than Emma ever hoped for. She can feel her throat burn with the bittersweet mixture of love and loss, and she holds on to him a little bit tighter.

Until his breathing evens out and Regina’s hand is on her arm.

“Is it okay? I can go now…”

Emma just shakes her head.

“He could wake up and miss you.”

He could wake up and miss Regina and scare Emma to death with his crying.

Regina seems to understand, for she only nods and pulls up the extra blanket laying next to Emma’s bed before she stretches out.

Emma watches Henry’s little chest rise and fall and takes everything in, how he scrunches up his nose in sleep, how he smiles contently, even fast asleep. Something falls on Emma’s arm and only when she blinks at the wet drop, a little confused, does she realize that she is crying, this time in joy.

“The first time he laughed, really laughed, was after he had just thrown up all over me. My entire upper body was covered by his stinking, milky vomit. I felt horrible until I looked at him, and he started laughing.”

Emma holds her breath at the little bit of Henry’s life. Her eyes meet Regina’s questioning gaze and Emma nods. It may be painful to hear this, but she wants to. She needs to.

“His first smile was actually directed at my sister, not me. I had just introduced them to each other and she wasn’t that thrilled to have him around. I think he wanted to charm her with his good looks.”

Emma can’t help but smile at that, and Regina nods at her before closing her eyes.

“You have actually seen his first step, last year, when he tried to get to Ruby.”

Emma’s breath stops at that.

“I wasn’t…” Regina’s voice breaks before she clears her throat. “I wasn’t that ready to share him with you, so I didn’t say anything.”

Before Emma can say anything, Regina continues.

“He is fond of horses. He loves to pet their heads and it was really difficult to explain why he had to be gentle with their noses. He doesn’t really like dogs - I think they make too much noise for him - but he loves chasing cats in the courtyard…”

Emma falls asleep to the soft rise and fall of Regina’s voice, soaking in as much information as she can. With Henry next to her and the reassuring presence of his mother, Emma feels safe. Despite the kicking feet and the elbow to her nose waking her up several times, Emma has never slept so well.

 

---

 

On his third birthday, Henry is cranky and Regina visibly tired.

They arrive in a carriage and even Emma, who doesn’t really know much about her son, can see that he is sulking.

She finds out later that he wanted to celebrate his birthday with his friends.

Fortunately for Emma, sulking isn’t something Henry is especially good at.

He forgets all about it as soon as he sees the birthday cake Granny made, and his resentment against Emma fades.

No one talks about the fact that Regina carries him into Emma’s bed in the middle of the night, or that Regina pats Emma’s shoulder until the now silent tears stop.

And everyone just smiles at Emma’s insistence to get as much cuddle time with Henry as she can.

 

---

 

The fourth visit is a five day exuberance. While Henry doesn’t talk much about his life, (Emma assumes that Regina makes sure that he keeps his everyday life away from her,) he tells Emma all about the birthday party he had, shows her the vest his aunt gave him, and talks endlessly about his friends.

This time they don’t hesitate to put Henry to sleep in Emma’s bed.

Instead, they snuggle in next to him and Emma feels her face hurt from all the smiling of the day. Her eyes meet Regina’s, who gives her one of those rare smiles that seem real, the ones that usually seem reserved only for Henry.

“So you have a sister?”

It’s an easy question. Either one has a sister or one doesn’t.

But Regina freezes up as if Emma had asked about where they live, how she keeps Henry hidden, or what kind of magic she possesses and how she controls it (which Emma carefully never does).

“Yes,” Regina husks after a long moment. “I do.”

And with that the topic seems to be closed.

Emma doesn’t ask more. She goes back to watching Henry sleep.

If she could, she’d thank Tink for the happy life Henry seems to be having, for the obvious love his mother has for him, even if Regina is closed off to anyone else.

Ruby still doesn’t like Regina’s magic, but nowadays Emma pretends not to hear Ruby when it is about that, just like she overlooks Granny’s judging glares - sometimes Emma hates how werewolves seem to be able to see magic.

 

---

 

When he is five, Henry runs into Emma’s arms, no longer just vaguely recognizing her, but clearly having missed her. Or at least, looking forward to his stay with her.

He still bubbles up with excitement, but his green eyes darken sometimes when he stops in the middle of a sentence and meets Regina’s eyes over Emma’s head in question.

There is a lot Emma doesn’t know about his life, about Regina’s life, but she convinces herself that it is okay.

As long as he is as happy as he seems to be, there is no need to know, no need to question their arrangement.

Even if Regina seems more subdued than usual.

Even if, this time, it is Emma who picks up a sleeping Henry and brings him into the guest room to a red-eyed Regina, who seems embarrassed and tries to hide her tears, but Emma doesn’t care. Not when it was her who had cried for the first three visits.

Henry snuggles into Regina, immediately calming his mother, and Emma has never felt more at peace.

She is surprised when Regina lets her stay.

This time Emma starts talking. About the first time she felt Henry move, about how he kept kicking when she wanted to sleep, how he seemed to blink at her just after he was born. Regina seems to be listening intently; she even starts to smile while Emma talks.

The problem with Henry being so obviously smitten by Emma is that it gets progressively harder to say goodbye.

Ruby’s caginess around Regina doesn’t help in the least, even less Ruby’s obvious relief once Regina is gone again.

 

---

 

The sixth time they see each other, it’s no birthday at all.

Emma, Ruby, and Granny are staying in another village, this time right next to Ella’s castle. Emma hasn’t been there in a decade, and Ella and Thomas are sure that no one will recognize her. They do seem to know Ruby and Granny, which Emma thinks is pretty strange, but no one openly acknowledges it, so she doesn’t ask.

Still, Granny and Ruby are traveling at the moment, looking at the borders and listening for rumors, making sure it’s safe for them to stay.

Alex, of course, recognizes Emma immediately, and pretty much doesn’t stop hugging her. She even leaves her parents’ castle and her frowning younger brother Felix behind to move in with them for a couple of weeks.

No one is complaining since it gets them a pretty big cottage, even though Alex can’t do anything more useful than sewing. It reminds Emma of the year she spent with them and she teases Alex about growing up to be a proper princess, but Alex just rolls her eyes and challenges Emma to a race to the castle.

They are saddling the horses when Regina and Henry appear in a violet cloud.

Alex’s horse spooks and almost takes off, but Emma’s just whickers in greeting.

Emma simply stares for a moment before she runs toward them and engulfs Henry in a tight hug, cradling his head. She closes her eyes once before she looks up at Regina, worried.

“What happened?”

Because Regina looks nothing like her usual self. She isn’t dressed in her travel clothes, but an ornate gown, her hair is in some kind of weird contraption instead of one of the loose braids she usually seems to prefer and, to be honest, it’s a little bit too much make-up.

“Three days?”

Recognizing the urgency, Emma nods at the question while tilting her head.

“What…?”

But Regina just shakes her head, and kneels down to Henry. She straightens the collar of his little traveling cloak before she gives him a teary smile.

“Okay, Henry. I’ll be back in three days, okay? You’ll be good for me?”

He nods, face earnest, desperately trying to appear more mature than he is, hiding his fear behind a tight smile.

“Yes, Mommy.”

“You will have a lot of fun with your Mama. I am sure of that.”

Only now does Henry give Emma a genuine smile before he looks back at Regina.

“You’ll be back?”

“I promise. Three days.”

Emma hardly has the time to place a reassuring hand on Regina’s upper arm before the other woman disappears again.

“So… Your mom has magic?”

It’s no use to ignore it anymore now that Regina openly showed it to her, but Henry simply shrugs, completely dejected.

It’s Alex who saves them from the awkwardness with an open smile and an only too welcome offer.

“Would you like to learn how to ride?”

It turns out that Henry already knows how to ride a pony, but he loves it, so he agrees with a lively nod, and Alex rides off to the royal stables to return with a kind brown pony. It’s the highlight of a tense visit.

A tense visit in which Emma comes to fear that there are no visits without crying.

Because, this time, it is Henry who needs to be comforted.

He cries himself to sleep and is extremely embarrassed when he wakes up in the middle of the night in wet blankets. He swears he dreamed about using the chamber pot.

Emma is patient and loving and kind, and she doesn’t despair once during the four days.

There is no time to freak out when she has to take care of Henry with only Alex as a distraction. Alex might be the same age as Emma, but they both know that she is a lot less mature; her biggest worry being convincing her parents to cement a peace treaty with an engagement to Agrabah, despite traditional gender norms.

Alex doesn’t have any idea what it is like to live with a prophecy foreshadowing your family’s every move, having your parents die on you only days after your birth.

Fortunately, she does know how to make a five-year-old laugh, which is a blessing during Henry’s stay. Not only is Henry clearly afraid for his mom, Emma is growing more and more anxious herself.

She doesn’t like the way Regina said goodbye to Henry.

When the three days are over with no sight of Regina, Emma has an even harder time comforting Henry.

 

---

 

Regina comes in the middle of the fourth night. Henry has just fallen into a fitful sleep, somehow claiming all of Emma’s bed with his tiny body but incredibly outstretched limbs, when Emma hears the unmistakable sound of hooves.

Hooves, in the middle of the night, arriving far faster than is sensible in the dark.

So Emma rushes outside, only to catch Regina as she slides off the horse.

The horse is too warm, too sweaty, and Regina is too unsteady on her feet, her eyes too unfocused.

After four days of little sleep and being a pillar to a kid she’s never been alone with before, Emma is suddenly overwhelmed, only managing to hold Regina with one arm and the horse’s reins with the other.

She breathes out in relief when tousled haired Alex stumbles out of the cottage, blinking away sleep. She takes one look at Emma and the horse and takes the reins, motioning for Emma to go inside.

“I’ll cool him down, you take care of this…”

Despite knowing how Regina’s horse is around strangers, Emma nods and simultaneously pulls and half-carries Regina inside.

She helps Regina out of the long riding coat and leaves her in the big comfy armchair, to collect a candle and a mug of water.

It’s unnerving how Regina hasn’t said one word so far; she just groans and sighs and eagerly accepts the water. Emma hisses when the candle reveals Regina’s state.

There are tiny cuts all over her body. Her face looks red, bleeding from several small wounds. Her pants are ruined and so is her blouse, sleeves ripped open to reveal bleeding forearms. It’s obvious that she put on the coat after the injuries, probably with magic.

Fear overtakes Emma when she realizes that these are no ordinary wounds. This is what someone looks like after they’ve survived a magical attack on their body, when they’ve managed to hold on after someone has tried to extricate their magic.

Emma’s breathing turns shallow as fear holds her in its grasp, and she leans closer to Regina, props her chin up with one finger to force her to look at her.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Because she needs Regina to be okay.

The empty look of devastation in Regina’s dark eyes almost makes Emma break down.

Because she can’t…

Not now.

Not now that she has gotten to know her, gotten to see how kind she can be, how good she is for Henry.

She can’t tell Henry that his mother didn’t make it, she can’t lose Regina, she has to…

With the very last of her coping abilities, Emma forces herself to get up. She makes sure that the fire flares up again, places a pot of water over it, and collects clean cloths and a healing salve.

Then she starts tending to Regina’s wounds.

Sometime after she made Regina take off the blouse Alex stumbles in, covered in straw that she undoubtedly used to rub the horse down. At the sight of Regina’s wounds, Alex takes a sharp breath before throwing a nightgown in the general direction of Emma and collapsing on her bed without even closing the door.

Emma’s grimace deepens at the thought of cleaning Alex’s bed tomorrow. Her face is a constant frown at the way Regina hardly flinches during Emma’s ministrations.

Halfway through her efforts Emma feels her own magic flare up in reaction to Regina's waning energy. Emma has no idea what she is doing, but she remembers some lessons from the fairies. Before she left them, swearing to never use her magic again, the fairies used to tell her that it was all based on emotions, instinct.

So, she tries to steer her magic into helping, amazed when it actually works.

As soon as she starts cleaning one of the cuts, it stops bleeding and slowly closes.

Emma spends the rest of the night healing Regina until she passes out on top of her.

 

---

 

When she wakes up, Henry has nudged himself in between them and is, for the first time this visit, wearing his usual content smile while asleep.

Regina doesn’t meet her eyes when she gets up, just snaps her fingers, replacing the nightgown with her usual ensemble of some soft trousers, a white blouse, and a brown vest. She turns away from Emma while she tries to braid her hair, twitching and hissing when she pulls her arms up.

Emma sighs and walks up behind her. Regina flinches and is unbelievably tense while Emma braids her hair. Sometime during Emma’s ministrations though, Regina slowly starts to relax. She hangs her head until she speaks up, almost shyly.

“Why did you do it?”

“You’re Henry’s mom,” Emma says immediately.

It’s the truth. Beyond that she has grown to enjoy Regina’s company, to relax in Regina’s presence. There was no way she could’ve just let Regina…

“But… you know now.”

Emma hums in agreement, unsure what to say.

She is aware that Ruby would have thrown a huge tantrum, expel Regina, and threaten to kill her should she ever return, while Granny would have stood behind her, crossbow raised and ready. She also knows that the gesture would have been laughable in comparison to Regina’s power.

Yet, Emma can’t help but remember the love Regina has for Henry, the gentle smile she has given Emma, their talks in the middle of the night, how kind and patient she had been during their visits.

Why would she do this if the stories were true?

“You’re one of the wicked witches,” Emma says offhandedly, ready for Regina to laugh it off, shake her head, and have a perfectly good explanation for her violet magic.

Emma’s heart plummets when Regina doesn’t protest. Instead she tenses up even more under Emma’s secure braiding.

“I am.”

There are a thousand questions in Emma’s mind and she can’t focus on one. It comes down to a single name.

“Henry?”

Regina sighs.

“He is my everything.”

That much is true. Emma knows it to be true, and yet…

“Why? How?”

She is done with Regina’s braid and Regina turns around. She faces her with a terribly empty expression on her face, looking incredibly tired, before something flickers over Regina’s face, some kind of defiance.

“Is it so hard to believe that I never chose this life for myself?”

“No,” Emma whispers, shaking her head, losing herself in brown eyes that show such an unbelievable ensemble of conflicting emotions. It really isn’t hard to believe.

 

---

 

Yet, on his sixth birthday, the waiting is in vain.

Emma tells herself that it is because she has gone back to live with the fairies, trying to get to know her magic.

But Alex, who accompanied her only to give up on her own magic, is standing next to her, waiting with her, just shakes her head.

“She can’t come, Emma. Not now that you know.”

And Emma knows, it is the truth.

 

---

 

His seventh birthday starts with a vision that changes the entire plan for the day. Instead of Regina accompanying the kids into the woods for a tour of archery and a mock tournament with their ponies and wooden swords, Aunt Zelena and Belle go out to supervise them while Regina stays in, allowing Rumple to use her magic to conjure up more visions.

He claims that he saw the White Princess staying with the fairies, learning magic, but Regina noticed the raven bringing the news yesterday.

She knows he didn’t have a vision, but she lets him pretend, trying to keep him calm.

Nevertheless, he stays anxious, sifting through the Princess’s future again and again, looking for a child he hasn’t seen yet.

And that’s why Regina is at his side because Zelena, as strong as her magic is, knows nothing about steering his thoughts away from the important events, she doesn’t know how to make him focus on trivial issues so that he misses the clues.

If it were Zelena holding his hand today, Regina is almost certain that Henry wouldn’t be safe anymore, that Rumple would have tried to look into Emma’s past, check whether he missed anything before.

Because it is her, and she massages his ego, he doesn’t. In fact, he can’t even imagine that he would have missed something of that importance, so he doesn’t even blink into the past.

After an entire day of witnessing Emma’s next year in the future, of her staying with the fairies, getting to know her magic, studying the fairies’ texts on magic, (reading up on prophecies,) Regina is dead tired to the world.

Still, she disregards the insistent pain in the back of her head to celebrate Henry’s birthday with a big dinner, a jester and an enchanted mirror entertaining the children until their bed time.

Even afterward Regina doesn’t dare to fall into bed as well.

Instead she goes to the library herself, looking up old binding rituals, knowing that it is time.

She knows that her binding should be gone by now. It shouldn’t require a spoken permission from Rumple to leave the castle because the caster of the binding, her mother, is long gone.

And yet, it is still intact, still keeps her trapped.

On top of that is the fact that he bound Henry as well.

Regina needs to break all three of the bonds, possibly Belle’s as well, before Emma controls her magic, before Emma finds a way.

Because Henry can’t be around for that.

And as long as Henry is still in danger, Regina has to stay at Rumple’s side, making sure her son stays alive.

 

---

 

On his eighth birthday, the punch in Emma’s gut when she notices the date is numbed because she is determined, she is working on something. She will get him out.

The day gets better when the fairies announce another visitor, someone that might shed some light on a prophecy from the Middle Kingdom, a prophecy that should make it easier to change Henry’s fate.

Emma couldn’t be more shocked when the warrior woman from the Middle Kingdom is accompanied by a Princess who introduces herself as Aurora.

There is a great commotion because Aurora is believed to be either dead or trapped by a sleeping curse, but Aurora just shrugs and the woman from the Middle Kingdom, Mulan, explains that when Maleficent was vanquished two years ago, Aurora woke up. Mulan found her wandering around all by herself in a deserted kingdom. They hid until they were sure that Maleficent was truly gone. Neither of them elaborates on what happened next, but Aurora nods at Emma in an almost grateful way.

Aurora pulls out a dozen scrolls out of her bag, and puts them on Emma’s table.

“It’s all we could find on ‘The Oracle’ and ‘The Savior’ prophecies. I heard you were looking.”

And so, on Henry’s eighth birthday, Emma feels hope.

 

---

 

On his ninth birthday, Rumple is raging because Emma has learned to shield herself from visions. Emma’s plan is almost ready. She will do something soon that might save or doom them all.

And Regina still has no idea how to break their bonds.

 

Chapter Text

 

“The disruption of the Oracle’s reign will start with a ten-year-old-boy; his family will be vital to his destruction.”
- Merlin, date unknown

---

 

“There have been many attempts on the Oracle’s life, just as there have been many executions for even thinking about thwarting him,” Alex reads out loud and shudders. As her eyes take in the next line, she pushes the book to her brother, clearly unsure about some kind of wording in the translation.

Although they’ve been through some of the translations already, now that they obtained all the originals, Emma insists that they start again, in depth this time. The only way to beat the Oracle is to use his own weapons against him, meaning his prophecies or, to be specific, the prophecies and literature texts proclaiming his demise.

It’s astonishing how many lands have their own stories about the Oracle, in their own languages, but the best they’ve found are actual reports from his castle, and, for some obscure reason, those reports are in Latin.

First, Emma asked Granny for help, but Granny refused to look at their research years ago. Today she even spoke up against helping them in an attack. She doesn’t want to hear anything about going against the Oracle, muttering about things like ‘doomed for failure’. Strangely enough, Granny has to have some hope, because otherwise she’d protest more against their efforts.

Emma is beyond glad that Alex and her brother came to help. Emma’s rudimentary Latin is no help, but she knows for a fact that Alex and Felix are fluent. They used to speak in Latin whenever they wanted to annoy the people around them.

So Emma and Ruby are in their current cottage’s library, listening to Alex and Felix, trying to find some more connections.

Or at least, Emma does. Ruby doesn’t seem to pay much attention, mostly staring moodily out of the window. Granny’s words are clearly bothering her, but Emma has learned to wait for Ruby to come to her instead of badgering her.

Felix frowns slightly while Alex bounces on her feet, her blonde waves swaying as she waits for his verdict. As always, Emma is amazed by their contradictions. Maybe Felix is so calm because Alex never seems to stand still, but they don’t even look much alike.

He has brown hair, dark eyes, Ella’s round face, but their father’s deep-set eyes. It doesn’t help that his smiles are only rarely given while Alex still seems constantly happy unless there’s a ball gown in sight. Emma shares the sentiment. There are very flattering dresses out there, mostly commoners’ dresses, but Emma hates everything that has to do with corsets. With time, Alex and her have learned to put up a good front. Everyone knows that you can’t be a princess for twenty-eight years without attending balls and Ella made sure that not only Alex, but Emma as well knew how to behave at functions.

So, with their shared looks and the fact that Emma spent some time growing up in the castle, it’s not surprising that, more often than not, Emma and Alex get mistaken for sisters, while Felix gets passed up.

Emma would say it’s their long blonde hair, but most likely Ella is right, and they both have their fathers’ temperaments. To be fair, Ella tried to tell Emma that her mother was actually worse than her father, taking up archery and winning horse races against him.

One of the reasons Emma loved to stay with Ella and Thomas as a child, was that they used to speak about her parents, and debated with the fairies whether it was actually time to let her go again.

Emma doesn’t like those stories anymore. Her parents are dead and there is nothing that would bring them back.

In a fashion, she has all her family with her now, even Ruby is standing at the window, arms crossed. She is deep in thought, clearly not paying attention, but it’s the first time that Granny has openly refused to help should they need it, and Emma wants to give Ruby the time to process that.

Fortunately, Felix moves on with the translation.

“I got it. The only proven way to infiltrate a kingdom protected by the Oracle, is to overflow it with attacks. One or two assailants are easily seen beforehand and fended off, while, from a dozen attacking at once, half of them might be able to slip through.”

Emma runs a hand through her hair, forcing herself not to speak out. They know that already. She had been hoping that there was something that they missed, something about infiltrating the Dark One’s castle, some way that easily points a way to confront the Oracle, shows hot to get Henry out of there beforehand, and maybe, hopefully, ascertain that Regina is on their side.

Before she gets crazy thinking about this, Emma forces herself to concentrates on Felix’s voice.

“There have been, of course, many failed attempts at invading the Oracle’s compound. Some made it to his chambers, only to be greeted by death.”

Ruby flinches at the words, her hands gripping her upper arms, shoulders extremely tense. Quickly, Emma calculates the days, but it is still too early for the moon to influence Ruby in any way. Granny’s words must have hurt Ruby more than she let on.

Emma almost misses Alex’s sigh.

“Let’s leave it at that, Felix; it’s more of the same stories in the next paragraph.”

“No,” Emma protests quickly. “No skipping this time. Not with the original.”

Alex meets her gaze with concern, but Emma stares her down. She wants to know what they missed. If there even is such a thing.

“Okay, then,” Alex shrugs before taking the book from her brother.

“It is, however, said, that a group of thirteen people almost took him by surprise once - Snow White and the Dwarves.”

“Snow White didn’t have twelve dwarves,” Felix points out, sounding affronted, but Alex just shoots him a look.

“We know.”

She clears her throat.

“Anyway, it’s another story about Snow White and her group entering the Oracle’s grounds, only to be killed by his hand.”

“Not exactly killed…” Felix murmurs, getting Emma’s full attention.

“What?”

“Well…”

He barely dares to meet her eyes.

“We have several translations of that story and most of the time it’s said that ‘he killed them with a steely glance.’”

“So?”

There is nothing new about that and Emma’s tone makes it clear that he should get to the point.

“Well, this seems to be the original one and why they wrote down everything in Latin, I’ll never know…”

“So that he wouldn’t get it. He doesn’t speak Latin,” Ruby informs them and everyone stops to stare at her. She shrugs and motions for them to go on.

“Right,” Felix clears his throat.

“The word choice is extremely strange to say the least.”

“Strange how?”

Slowly but surely Emma’s impatience is waning. If the original shows something new, shouldn’t they have known about that already?

Wouldn’t Felix have noticed it before? He speaks at least five languages fluently and he helped them translate several reports of the Oracle, be it out of the languages of the north or the south.

“It says ‘tactus est’ from ‘tangere’, which can be translated to ‘to lay hands on’, which can be extended to ‘killing’ but just as easily and, even more accurately, to ‘touch’.”

Emma scoffs.

“So, he touched my parents and they fell from the face of the earth because of nothing?”

“No, look, he touched them and..”

“Killed them in cold blood,” Emma supplies. “I know the story. I know its translations. I really don’t need…”

“No, “ Alex interrupts her, raising her hand placatingly while staring at the text. “Felix is right.”

The fact that he doesn’t make a quip about his sister agreeing with him is enough to make Emma hesitate.

“What then?”

“There’s nothing about murder in here. If we look at it closely, you could translate it as an ‘icy glare’, which sure, if you want, can be interpreted to ‘cold blooded’, but really, the words just say that he touched them and faced them with a steely gaze.”

“Froze them,” Felix clarifies and Alex hits herself on the forehead.

“Of course! I’m so stupid!”

“What?”

Emma demands, gritting her teeth. She can’t hardly stand the way the siblings’ faces are red-cheeked in excitement now. It’s Felix who turns around and meets her eyes.

“If we’re right, he never killed your parents but froze them.”

“How? Like Elsa?”

Because in what world is that a good thing? If Elsa freezes a human being…

“No, not like Elsa, a different magic, a cold but rigid magic, freezing them in a stasis.”

Suddenly comprehension crashes down on Emma.

“You think… You’re saying…?”

That they could be alive? Frozen from the week she was born?

“Is there a way to make sure?”

Emma hates how her voice wavers at the prospect.

They are planning to bring the Oracle down for Henry’s sake, to stop that stupid prophecy from happening, maybe get Regina and her sister out of there, if they don’t fight against them, and now they are telling her that they can save her parents? That she can meet them?

Frozen herself, Emma waits for Ruby to speak out against this theory, to proclaim that Emma’s parents are dead, that there is no hope, that magic is cruel and doesn’t give second chances, or anything along the lines of what Granny used to say.

But Ruby just keeps on staring out of the window, feigning indifference. Definitely feigning, for her shoulders are trembling slightly, and she is rubbing her thumbs over her closed fists - one of her nervous tells.

“Ruby?“

Suddenly Ruby's shoulders sink in defeat. She looks dejected when she turns around.

“There were thirteen people there that day, seven of them dwarves. You had disappeared a week after your birth, and your mother was sure that you were inside the Oracle's castle.“

Ruby sighs, still avoiding meeting Emma's eyes. “They were caught, frozen into some kind of stasis, turned into statues. His voice echoed through the entire building. He let us go, promising to unfreeze them, if we gave the child to him.”

“Us?”

Emma stutters as she picks up on the important use of pronouns. “We?”

That was almost twenty-eight years ago. Ruby can’t…

Yet, Ruby tilts her head, her eyes apologetic, her lower lip quivering.

“Werewolf, remember? We don’t age, unless we choose to.”

Shocked, Emma staggers backward.

“You can’t… You…”

She can’t even begin to understand the magnitude of what Ruby is saying.

“You, who kept talking about not trusting Regina, about her magic being weird, actually were the one, who… You lied to me! All the time, you’ve done nothing but lie to me.”

Ruby steps forward, but Emma evades her, turns around and flees the room to run outside.

“Emma, wait!”

Of course Alex immediately follows her; she never learned when to leave Emma alone. So Emma drops to the ground after a couple of steps, allowing Alex to sit down next to her.

For a moment neither woman speaks and Emma is glad, because she is trying to let the severity of the moment sink in.

“I'm sorry she lied to you,“ Alex says after a moment.

“Did you know?“

Emma doesn't need to turn her face to know that Alex is rolling her eyes.

“Of course not,“ Alex scoffs. “Although I don't doubt that my parents did, you know? They have to, right?“

It's true, so Emma just nods and pulls her knees up to her chest, so much for trusting people.

Alex leans her head on Emma's shoulder as if they are ten and it's just a normal evening, reminding Emma that some people are worth trusting.

“You know what that means, right?“ Alex says lightly.

Emma doesn't because she's hardly able to process anything. So she stays silent, waiting for Alex to point it out.

“We can get your parents back.“

Not 'you' but 'we'.

There’s that word again, this time in a positive way, a way that allows Emma to rest her head on Alex's for a while.

“We’ll get them back,” Emma proclaims, reassured by Alex’s approving hum.

 

---

 

Their party is quickly assembled, some of Alex and Felix's most loyal fighters, Mulan because there is no way to tell Mulan to stay behind after she has helped so much by collecting the prophecies, Ruby because no matter whether Emma trusts her to be honest, she trusts her to save her life, and she knows Ruby’s worth as an ally. Felix has gone back to the castle, continuing to learn how to rule over the kingdom while Alex not only stubbornly returned with the fighters, but brought her fiancée along.

Her fiancée, who isn’t only extremely intelligent and sassy, but who dismantles their entire plan for a sneak attack in under a minute before forming a different one – a better one, if Emma's being honest.

She has met Jasmine only once before and her bossy nature makes Emma smile. Now, under pressure, Emma starts to appreciate the royal upbringing. Jasmine was brought up to be a reigning Queen; she knows about war and, fortunately for them, she knows about sneak attacks as well.

 

---

 

Regina is overlooking Henry's history lessons with Belle, making sure that he doesn't learn Rumple's distorted version of the truth but actual history, when she hears the familiar cadence of her sister's steps hurrying along the corridor. Worried by Zelena's haste, Regina excuses herself with a smile at Belle and leaves the room, only to run straight into her sister.

“Hey!“

She grabs Zelena's arms as she notices her swaying. Under blue eyes is the tell-tale sign of a day of visions, dark veins criss-crossing along her temples, skin pale and sweaty.

“What is it?“

“It's her.”

Zelena looks behind her at the door to Henry's study room and Regina's heart stops.

Four years. She has been waiting four years for this day.

“She can't be stupid enough...”

“She is,” Zelena insists.

“She is planning to lead an attack right into the castle.”

Regina's gaze falls back to the closed door behind her.

“She isn't coming for Henry, she...”

Zelena shakes her head and grips Regina's arm.

“I'll explain later because right now we have to make sure that he'll send you on this mission.”

And the other reality comes crashing down on her.

Now she doesn’t hold Zelena’s arms to steady her, but grips them to steady herself.

“No,” she whispers, but Zelena nods.

“We both know that it has to be you, unless…”

They stare at each other for a long while, Zelena anxious and calm at the same time, while Regina wavers. She hates herself and yet, she actually wavers.

All the while Zelena’s eyes never leave hers, accepting whichever decision she will make, waiting for her.

Until Regina nods.

“I’ll go.”

“Are you…?”

“No,” Regina says curtly, interrupting Zelena. She is not sure. All she knows is that she can’t choose, that she has to put the decision off.

Going herself will put the decision off.

“When?”

Her voice is taut as she pulls back from Zelena, who just nods, almost relieved.

Almost .

Because now that Zelena stops fearing for her own life, she fears for Regina’s.

Not able to stand the look on her face, Regina turns back to the door, opens it, interrupting Henry's lesson with her mere presence. Instead of calmly returning to her chair, she sweeps into the room, ready to leave.

Henry doesn’t meet her eyes when she crouches down in front of him, hands resting on his knees.

“Henry, darling?”

“You have to go?”

He bites his lower lip, fixating on some point to her left, not looking at her but close enough to see her nod.

“I have to, Henry.”

When he does make eye contact, his green eyes are full of contempt.

“You don’t have to,” he protests, not knowing what he is saying. She nods sadly and moves one hand to straighten his hair.

“I do. I am sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

He is fierce, invigorated by the righteousness of the youth, but Regina just sighs and shakes her head. This is neither the place nor the time for such a discussion.

If she is being honest with herself, that time and place do not exist.

So, she gets up, letting her hand linger on his hair for a moment before she leaves.

He barrels into her right at the threshold, and she turns around to hug him back tightly, accepting what he can’t say with his words.

She raised him to be a good person, with good morals.

She never stopped to think that she would raise him to despise her life.

But because he is a good person, because, no matter what he says, he does love her, he doesn’t want to lose her because of that life.

 

---

 

Outside, Zelena doesn’t meet her eyes.

They make their way to Rumple’s huge throne room, in silence, stopping just short of the grand double doors.

Regina takes a deep breath before her hand finds Zelena’s and she squeezes once.

It’s okay.

They have to be okay.

As usual, he is dressed impeccably in almost nondescript, subtly ornate clothing.

He has his eyes closed and is humming to himself as they arrive, pretending that he doesn’t hear them, but sees them in his mind.

It’s ridiculous, really.

They’ve both been with him for years, so they know his oracle skills are extremely limited, if they are not around to boost them with their magic.

It doesn’t mean that they haven’t seen his magic tear a person apart without even blinking.

He directs his even gaze at Regina, the question plain in his dark cold eyes.

“Zelena has filled me in. The White Princess is planning an attack.”

“The White Princess has decided to act against us, undoubtedly she has just found out what happened to her parents.”

Regina frowns. They’re dead. Everyone knows this.

Emma, no, the Princess, knows this as well.

Rumple snaps his fingers, his lips turning upwards in amusement while his eyes stay free of emotion.

“That’s right, you don’t know.”

He shrugs, his indifference as usual completely real. It surprises Regina, for he usually breathes a little faster at anything that concerns the Whites.

“The less you know the better, I’d say. In case she gets the better of you.”

Shifting on his throne, he focuses on Zelena.

“Your sister is tired anyway. This is your mission.”

He holds out his hand in a familiar demand and Regina follows, climbing the dais to kneel in front of him and accepts his hand, like she has been taught to do from age seven.

Automatically, she closes her eyes, ready for the pictures to invade her thoughts, keeping her mind empty, prepared.

The cold pressure of his hand in hers is the only thing that grounds her, forces her to freeze instead of letting out the gasp that almost escapes her, when she sees .

Emma is running her hand through her blonde waves, sitting in front of a plain cottage.

The image is so familiar that Regina can almost smell the forest air, hear the wind in the leaves, feel Emma’s vibrant presence, although visions are odorless and most often soundless.

There is another white woman with blonde hair walking from the cottage, but the vision changes to the inside, revealing a young white man pouring over an impressive amount of books and scrolls. Another light-skinned woman with long dark hair is standing in the middle of the room, seeming lost, her forefingers red under her thumbs’ pressure. Her body shivers and the vision reveals her to be a werewolf.

Only at the last moment Regina remembers to be surprised. She has neither met nor seen a living werewolf, at least not that the Oracle knows of.

The vision lingers on the man for a moment, revealing him in a royal crest, Cinderella’s.

So this is Alexandra’s brother, Felix, the current heir to the kingdom, if the rumors are to be believed.

Then the view concentrates on the papers, the words flowing through their minds, in the languages they are written in. Regina knows enough Latin to understand, but she feigns incomprehension. Rumple doesn’t notice, he’d never expect her to know a language he doesn’t. So Regina files the information away for later, hoping it’s false, knowing it’s not, when the vision changes again, focusing on the two women outside again.

The vision concentrates on the magic swirling in both women.

This time Regina doesn’t have to feign her surprise; she never knew about Alexandra’s powers.

Together, Emma and Alex are dangerous. Even more dangerous is the title floating over Emma, revealing itself to Regina in the worst possible moment. She suppresses it immediately, hides it from Rumple.

Zelena is right. Her sister would never survive a fight with them.

Blurring, fast-forwarding, Regina knows, the picture changes into one of the edge of their realm. Knights, female and male, originating from various kingdoms, all wearing Cinderella and Thomas’s crest, assembled next to the group they saw before. Felix is missing in favor of a dark-haired woman, her brown skin and the regal way she holds herself hinting at her origin and royal status before the crest of Agrabah does.

Interesting , Regina thinks, only to realize that this thought isn’t hers.

She has been following Alexandra’s family, hoping to learn something about Emma. So she knows about the slightly uncommon alliance.

Rumple, of course, doesn’t. He is only ever interested in rumors that concern him and his reign. The fact that he never bothered to learn any other languages than his mother tongue and the common tongue proves how stupid his faith in his own superiority is.

Or at least Regina hopes, someday it will.

He disappears in an impressive show of dark fog, with the command to disperse this attack before it is engaged.

 

---

 

Before Regina leaves, Zelena grips her hands tightly, sharing her magic with her. Regina takes a deep breath, accepting the additional energy.

Zelena’s magic has always been more powerful. It’s also more difficult to control, less likely to be able to hide anything around Rumple, which is why it surprises Regina that Zelena apparently does know how to hide things from her.

“What aren’t you saying?”

Judging by the way Zelena averts her eyes, it is something big.

“It’s about Snow and David.”

Confused, Regina frowns.

“They are dead. Why is this relevant?”

Regina fears that Zelena is going to admit to having played a part in this, and she doesn’t want Zelena to continue to speak.

“They aren’t dead. He left them in stasis in a secluded area of the dungeons.”

Not dead. Emma may have a chance to get to know her parents, Henry’s grandparents, alive. For a moment Regina forgets to breathe. Then she smiles. Despite the cruelty, she actually considers this to be good news.

“Why have you never told me?”

“I wasn’t sure you’d be able to live with yourself, knowing.”

Regina sighs and nods.

She isn’t sure she will be able to either. Living in the castle, knowing that Henry’s grandparents, Emma’s parents, are somewhere in the dungeons, frozen in stasis. She hopes she won’t have to endure for long because she wants to find a way to get out of here, maybe after succeeding in getting both Emma and her out of their fight unscathed. It would give Regina more time.

“Be careful?”

Regina nods automatically, suppressing the feeling that this mission is anything but usual, but then Zelena forces Regina to look at her, propping up her chin with a single finger.

“Be careful.”

Swallowing once, Regina nods.

“I will.”

Regina winks almost playfully.

“At least we know I have a chance.”

But Zelena’s adamant gaze doesn’t falter.

“Come back.”

Regina nods.

“I’ll try.”

She leaves in a purple cloud before they can say more, her magic finding its way surprisingly easily, almost too ready to take her to Emma, whose magic the visions interpret differently from the way the Oracle sees it.

Regina knows now who Emma really is, just like she knows what she has to do to keep her son alive. Should Regina disobey Rumple’s order, Henry is as good as dead.

However, she knows just as well that she doesn’t stand a real chance against Emma, the prophesied Savior.

 

---

 

“Tell me, how!”

Alex demands in an almost angry whisper, but Emma shakes her head, keeping her eyes on the map in her hands.

They are about to cross into enemy territory ,and she hasn’t got the slightest idea how to emotionally handle all of this, least of all Alex who is insistent on helping. Realistically, Alex would be the first person who would die, if Emma was one to make those kind of guesses, which she doesn’t, not anymore, but this is how she knows that she will keep Alex close. Alex and Jasmine both because when Emma meets the quiet dark eyes of the Princess of Agrabah she knows that she won’t be able to divide them in this plan.

It’s also how she knows that she won’t have any other choice but to go after him, after the Oracle. As much as she’d like to do other things first, check on Henry and look for her parents in the dungeons, she knows that she can’t.

She has to be the one to end this before it even begins.

“I have magic as well, Emma. You know that. Just tell me how to use it. I’ll snap my fingers and help you!”

Because Alex is her friend, Emma takes a deep breath before she turns around to meet her eyes.

“Listen, I know you mean well, but magic is a tool to be used. It’s not just finger snapping and eyes blinking. It’s complicated, and I won’t be able to explain it in five seconds.”

“Take five minutes.”

Another deep breath does little to help Emma.

She is strung tightly, flinching at the smallest of noises, so it’s a palpable relief to feel Tink appear behind them.

Strengthened by the sudden knowledge that this can actually work, Emma puts her hand at her waist and fixes Alex with a strong glare.

“Listen, controlling magic is like handling a sword. You might know to stick them with the pointy end, but you have no idea where your hand is supposed to be, how to do your footwork, the best way to move it, or how heavy it will actually feel once you hold it up, okay?”

Alex frowns, so Emma continues.

“How long did it take you to learn sword fighting?”

“A while.”

“More than five minutes?”

Alex glares, but nods, and Emma turns around to take the brown bundle out of Tink’s hands. She collects the first little pouch and sets it in Alex’s open hand.

“This is actually the important part, way more important than your sudden realization that I was right.”

“It’s…”

Emma smiles confidently at Alex’s awe.

“Yes, it is.”

She turns around to address everyone else, swiftly handing out the little leather pouches.

“What I’m giving you now is a weapon to use against the Oracle. We will be storming his castle and he will see us coming. Now, our strength is in our number, so a few of us will get through. This,” she holds up her own leather pouch, “is magically enchanted so it won’t hurt anyone until you loosen the binds and throw the contents. Our plan depends on all of you being brave enough not to use it on anyone else, except the Oracle himself. If you use it beforehand, he will know that it will be coming and he will flee.”

The faces around her are a mixture of hidden skepticism and open awe. Ruby seems to be the only one knowing what Emma just handed to her, for she holds the pouch as far away from her body as she can, the binds between forefinger and thumb.

For a moment Emma, amused by the familiar look on Ruby’s face, rests her hand on her arm and nods.

“It’s safe, I promise.”

Ruby swallows and carefully tucks the pouch away in her coat. Emma turns away again, making sure to meet everyone’s eyes, from Alex to Jasmine to their fighters over Tink to Ruby again.

“This is our only chance, guys, don’t waste it, alright?”

Everyone nods and, in total silence, they get ready.

But before Ruby, who is the first because she is the fastest, leaves, there is a dark violet cloud appearing in front of them and everyone freezes.

“The Witch!” someone screams and Emma's heart falters because, despite all of their plans and envisioned scenarios, she's not ready. She'll never be ready.

It's entirely on instinct when she turns around and grips Tink's hand, murmuring the spell the fairies have taught her and she feels rather than sees their comrades vanish from sight, just before a powerful, regal woman strides into her vision, entirely focused on her.

 

---

 

For a moment Emma isn’t sure what to hope for.

She knows that there are only two options.

Either this is the faceless witch from the fairies’ visions, meaning they’ll fight to the death, and most likely Emma wins, which should be a good thing, even if it certainly doesn’t feel so.

Or this is Regina and anything can happen.

Anything from a catastrophic explosion to neither or both of them dying.

Emma wants neither.

Then the woman advances, still protected and hidden by her violet energy. A blast of magic throws Tink a good ten feet into the air, and Emma simply reacts.

She lashes out with her magic, stopping the attack on Tink, allowing the fairy to catch herself in the air, and Emma closes in on the other woman.

The threat against Tink makes this real, no matter how much Emma would like to avoid all of this.

She still can’t see who is behind the violet knives that are conjured up and thrown her way right now. With a distinct gesture of her hand Emma makes them disappear, only to be confronted with a barrage of fireballs.

Emma jumps out of the way, rolls down over her shoulder, and throws silver balls of energy right back at her attacker, smiling grimly when she realizes how much closer the movement got her.

The witch catches Emma’s energy with her bare hands and crushes it, visibly shivering as the deed takes more out of her than expected.

Seizing the opportunity, Emma lashes out with a wide barrier that should strike the witch down. Maybe they can catch her, get some information out of her.

But then the impossible happens and the witch simply shrugs Emma’s barrier off, her magic curling outward in a burning net, barely giving Emma time to protect herself. She can only erect a half-hearted protection spell and she is certain that it will hurt.

Except, the magic passes over her head, an inch on either side of her body. She can feel its power, its potential to burn. And yet…

It doesn’t touch her.

She looks up to finally see the woman without a haze of magic hiding her face.

Her shoulders tense up, but dark eyes hold Emma’s gaze bravely, while black hair sways in the magic. Regina’s lips are minimally parted and Emma can see the shock on her face, no matter how Regina tries to hide it.

Wielding magic is a tool you have to learn. Her comparison to sword fighting hadn’t been that far off. Experience allows you to strike an opponent down in a single blow.

It also makes you capable of showing off without actually trying to hurt anyone.

The last wave of magic should have seriously injured Emma. She didn’t have any viable defenses against it. However, instead of striking her down, the attack just grazed her, didn’t so much as touch her, just like Regina crushed Emma’s silver balls of energy without a second thought.

They aren’t fighting; they are just dodging.

The moment of stillness is interrupted when something rushes through the forest, too fast for either one of them to react. A dark shape hurtles itself at Regina, growling.

“Ruby!”

Emma screams, stupidly holding her hand up, as if it would stop her friend.

She doesn’t know whether she wants to stop Ruby to protect her friend or because she wants neither of them to get hurt.

But the wolf doesn’t react to Emma’s call, instead it snarls and snaps at Regina’s throat.

Emma gasps and then Ruby flies through the air, connecting with the ground in a sickening thud and a heartbreaking whine.

It propels Emma to let go of all her magical shields and fling herself at Regina instead, knowing the physical attack is the last one she’ll expect. She is fast, amazed by how close Regina actually allowed her to come, before her fist meets Regina’s face.

Regina staggers back, her fists at her sides, the magic flaring up in a dark violet haze around them, but not without, ever so carefully, avoiding Emma. Avoiding Emma and surrounding the both of them as they stare at each other, no words able to express all the tangled emotions and thoughts, no thought coherent enough to know what to do, so Emma stumbles forward again, her open hand connecting with Regina’s cheek, still violent, still angry.

Regina still doesn’t react, still just takes it, and Emma despairs, resigns, and feels like she’s pulled apart on the inside.

She stumbles into Regina, throwing them both to the ground. She can feel the burning magic around them, still avoiding her, and she slaps her palms uselessly against Regina’s shoulders as Regina’s hands find Emma’s shoulders, exerting just not enough force to actually push her off.

“I can’t kill you,” Emma heaves a breath and she wants to throw up when she feels Regina nod under her, agreeing.

“I can’t even hurt you.”

It’s barely over a whisper, accusation and concession at once, but Emma hears it and she tenses her muscles, sick because of her own actions, because they aren’t enemies, they can’t be, and she rolls herself off of Regina to lay next to her, the name on her lips, her mouth opening without sound, not quite able to get it out.

“He’s alive.”

Finally Emma can breathe again.

“And well?”

“As well as he can be when the Oracle forces his mother to go outside and kill while he’s forced to stay inside the castle.”

“He’s leverage?”

Emma feels disgusted by this, but Regina just hums in assent. Emma has to close her eyes and count, her fists trembling, her nails cutting her palms, because Regina knew when she took Henry in at what price she did it, she knew what she was subjecting him to.

“How?”

“He doesn’t know who he is.”

That makes no sense whatsoever.

“But…”

She feels Regina tense up next to her, so she stops the burning question and sits up first, looking at the cloud of violet magic around them with an almost curious detachment.

“What now?”

“You go.”

Regina is still lying on the ground, decidedly not looking at Emma.

“Excuse me?”

Because Regina can’t be serious.

However, when Regina assumes a sitting position, all poise and edges now, somehow the black flowing dress doesn’t seem one bit out of place on the forest moss.

“You need to leave.”

“You already said that.”

Regina shakes her head once, clearly exasperated by Emma.

“There is no time for that. You need to leave, flee, and never look back. I will tell him that I forced you to run and everything will be fine again.”

Somehow, Regina doesn’t seem to believe her own words.

“Regina, you have to know about Henry…”

“I know that he’s bound to the castle grounds, so nothing can happen there.”

She stands up swiftly and glares down at Emma.

“If you value his life at all, you and your shady group of incompetent stragglers will leave this land, and return to Cinderella’s little kingdom.”

It’s like Regina doesn’t get it. The prophecy. Anything.

Emma can’t just leave Henry with him , just waiting to be discovered for who he really is. She can’t.

Regina is still looking at her, her face a careful mask that doesn’t betray any emotion, her eyes so expressive, so pleading that Emma feels herself nod.

“Okay.”

She can see the relief wash over her, shoulders slackening, her face losing some of its tension, her lips even venturing into the tiniest smile Emma has ever seen. Then Regina nods, and part of Emma can’t help but think that Regina just sees what she wants to see.

“Good.”

Before Emma can say anything else, the violet cloud disperses around them and Regina is gone, leaving Emma with the ugly feeling of a lie in the pit of her stomach. She can’t just leave. Regina should know that. She should understand that.

 

Chapter Text

“There will be a time the Savior will neglect the powers of magic, maybe even through a magical binding, but in the end the magic of the Savior’s family will be crucial. It will end with the Savior’s family uniting against Him.”
- deriving from a hidden prophecy of the Middle Kingdom

 

---

 

Regina appears right in Zelena’s bedroom, but she doesn’t look at her sister, moving to the huge ornate balcony instead.

She knows that, if she squints, she can see the borders of Rumple’s lands; she spent many mornings gazing at them as the sun came up behind the castle, wishing and pleading to be released, to be allowed to run away.

If it weren’t for Zelena, Regina might have simply succumbed to the magic, given up on her emotions, bottled them up to protect herself, and closed herself off so that Rumple’s actions wouldn’t hurt her anymore.

Rumple who took a young woman as a prize for a half-hearted warning against an enemy’s invasion, who told the King and Queen of Arendelle how to prevent their daughter from freezing their entire city, accepting their money for the advice to send Elsa to the fairies for training, only to neglect to mention that the ship they take back will travel into a storm and sink. Rumple who would warn people of war and forget to mention the famine, who would profit from the famine afterward.

It’s how the Oracle works. All the while making sure that not a negative word gets spoken against him. Open enemies simply disappear, courtesy of Regina and Zelena.

Regina can’t really blame her son for hating this life.

Trying not to dwell on that thought, she focuses on the forest again, reminding herself that Henry is alive and well.

He wouldn’t be if Rumple had any idea who Henry truly is.

And now Regina let his mother escape, adding another secret to her ever growing list.

She isn’t sure how long she will be able to keep this charade up, but the alternative is death for both Henry and herself.

She had seen it again and again. A dozen versions of Rumple finding the little baby, first barely older than a newborn, a baby hidden in Ella’s kingdom, a toddler in a distant kingdom - all had led to the same result - a dead child at the hands of Rumple.

So she had faked her own pregnancy, had given a sad tale about meeting a knight on a mission, and had used her magic so that she seemed pregnant.

Rumple, too happy about the circumstances to look into it, had believed it, even allowed her a visit to the ‘father’ once a year. Zelena had almost lost it, knowing the pregnancy was faked. She had freaked out even more after she had guessed correctly where Henry had come from.

Regina sighs, hoping that her ruse would continue to keep Henry alive.

“Regina?”

Zelena’s voice sounds tired. As Regina turns around, she sees her sister slowly sitting up. Regina quickly makes her way to her, helping her into a sitting position.

“I thought, you’d be out for a while longer.”

“And yet you came here.”

Regina pushes the long, red hair back and inspects Zelena’s face closely. She looks slightly better.

“What kind of spells did he make you use?”

Zelena shrugs.

“Powerful ones?”

Regina rolls her eyes at the quip.

“How’s your head?”

“Beating in tune with my heart.”

Regina cringes and lifts her hand to take some of the pain away, but Zelena holds up her own hand, stopping her.

“Don’t.”

Regina frowns, confused. They take care of each other. It’s been that way ever since she can remember, even if they spent a decade living apart.

“Why not?”

Zelena sighs, placing her hand on Regina’s wrist, effectively avoiding her searching eyes by looking outside.

“We both know it won’t be long anymore.”

A horrible dread fills Regina.

“Don’t even think about such things. We have time.”

Zelena straightens up and sends Regina an icy stare.

“You have time.”

Regina swallows and holds on too tightly to Zelena’s hand.

“I’m as old as mother was when…”

They both avert their eyes, their hands squeezing tightly.

Cora had never known Rumple’s plans. She had trusted him implicitly, even boasted about sharing his power.

Only, instead of sharing his power, Rumple had killed Cora to free the space for Regina.

He didn’t even have to do much, just divide his magic from hers. Channeling that much energy takes a lot out of one’s body. Without his magic, Cora was as good as dead.

Neither daughter had lifted a finger against him when he had throttled her, frozen by a spell they both technically knew how to break.

“He won’t do that to you.”

Zelena chokes out a laugh.

“What? Would you allow Henry to try and save me?”

“Henry?”

Shocked, Regina pulls her hand back, trying to decipher the strange expression on Zelena’s face, but Zelena doesn’t seem to be hurt or angry. No, there’s something else in her eyes, something infinitely more dangerous.

Hope .

“Yes, Henry. You read all the prophecies, didn’t you? You had to find out why he attacked the Whites so viciously. Why Daddy wanted their child saved, hadn’t you?”

Regina just nods. Of course she has. That doesn’t mean she wants to understand what Zelena is talking about.

“They don’t say anything about Henry.”

She’d hoped they did, because Henry…

That would be something in the future. Something to be dealt with someday.

Not as soon as she fears they’ll have to. Not before she has any idea how to get them away from Rumple.

But Zelena doesn’t know. Zelena stares into the distance with that dreamy look on her face.

“I keep thinking that I only have to make it for a couple of years, until he’s old enough, until he can fulfill the prophecy, until we can help him to get us out of here and find a quiet life somewhere else.”

“It’s not his to fulfill,” Regina blurts out, silencing herself with a hand to her mouth immediately.

“What?”

Zelena focuses on her again, completely awake now. Regina swallows and she feels herself breaking apart at the pressure, at losing hope, at…

“It’s Emma. I saw it.”

“ You… Saw ... It?”

Regina just nods.

“And he didn’t?”

There’s utter disbelief in Zelena’s voice, so Regina whispers.

“I hid it from him.”

Suddenly Zelena throws the blanket away from her and leans toward Regina.

“What did you do to her? Why wouldn’t you say anything?”

Her idiocy, her hope, is suddenly too much for Regina and she jumps up, gesturing wildly.

“Don’t you see?”

Zelena just stares at her, in wide eyed, innocent surprise, and Regina groans internally.

“He will kill her. He will kill her and then you, me, and Henry as soon as he finds out. She has a lot of magic, but she doesn’t know how to properly use it. She is still that innocent little girl. She will get herself, and us, killed in the process.”

“Not if she’s the Savior, Regina”, Zelena insists and Regina is close to ripping her own hair out.

“That’s just another stupid prophecy! There’s literally no definition of what that ‘saving’ would entail. What are you expecting her to do? She can’t kill him! His magic would corrupt her! She’d just replace him, reign in his stead! Is that what you want? For Henry to watch his mother being taken by magic?”

Suddenly Zelena is standing in front of her, gripping her tightly.

“What. Did. You. Do?”

There’s suspicion and fear in her sister’s eyes and it almost rips Regina apart from the inside.

“I sent her away, of course, squelched their little attack in its beginning.”

“Oh, Regina.”

Zelena’s tension fades, replaced by a strange compassion.

“What?”

“You should know by now that you can’t fight prophecies.”

“What else are we doing here? What else…”

She already knows the answer. She knows the distinction, but she just can’t accept…

“Visions can be changed. The future is always in motion, but prophecies? They are set in stone; they will happen in any case. If Emma is the Savior, she will strike him down. Since that’s how it will happen, it is up to us to help her, without ever letting him know.”

Regina keeps shaking her head.

“You don’t understand…”

“I do,” Zelena insists, stepping closer, giving Regina a strangely compassionate smile.

“You care for her. You don’t want her to lose her life.”

Regina opens her mouth to protest, but Zelena goes on.

“She doesn’t have to lose her life. Neither you nor I have ever seen the original prophecy, but I do know someone who might have.”

Finally Regina meets Zelena’s eyes again, even if the compassion there is almost too much for her.

“What?”

“I’ve just asked you what you thought was the reason for Daddy saving the baby?”

Regina blinks, and shakes her head in confusion.

“Because it would have been too cruel to kill a baby in cold blood.”

That’s what he told her, that’s what he was murmuring to himself when he was holding on to Emma.

“Give her a chance,” Regina repeats hollowly.

“No,” Zelena shakes her hand.

“He wasn’t talking about the baby. He was talking about us. He wanted her to grow up, so that she could make sure that we didn’t turn out like Cora, that we had a chance to escape.”

“But…”

Zelena smiles in understanding.

“Of course he didn’t know what you seem to have seen. He didn’t know about her being the Savior, but he did know that she was important. That it was important for the White line to continue, because he wanted the circle to end; he didn’t want you here.”

“He couldn’t have known…” Regina protests weakly and Zelena nods.

“Of course not, but he had hope that, one day, we would find our way out of here. Emma will help us.”

“I sent her away.”

“Then get her back. Have hope.”

“Haven’t you been listening to me? I can’t get her back; she’ll get herself worse than killed!”

“If that happens then that is her fate. Why do you keep protecting her?”

“Because she’s Henry’s mother! Because she doesn’t deserve this fate. Because I owe her.”

Zelena simply cocks her head and lifts her eyebrows.

“You owe her?”

Of course she picks the last one. Regina deflates, sinking down on the bed again.

“Four years ago, when he sent me to take care of Maleficent, I left Henry with her.”

“Yes, and I’m still angry about you leaving when you saw that…”

“That’s not the point. She saved my life afterwards; she healed me. Even after knowing… She must have known who I was by then.”

Zelena sighs.

“So, she saved your life. You spared hers today, after you were sent out to take care of her. I’d say you are even. You can’t work against a prophecy, Regina.”

“That doesn’t suddenly make it okay!”

Turning away from the shock on Zelena’s face, Regina looks out of the window.

“She is no match for him. She had the chance and she didn’t kill me. She is no killer. How do you expect her to last against him?”

“What do you mean she had the chance to kill you?”

Zelena repeats, her voice eerily calm.

“We fought today.”

“I got that much already.”

“I was about to scare her and send her off, but she did some trick and all her little friends went invisible, except that vexatious fairy.”

“Tink.”

“Yes, that one.” Annoyed, Regina rolls her eyes, before she sighs. “Not that it matters. I threw Tink into the air with my magic. She’s a fairy, so it’s not like she can’t fly or protect herself.”

Predictably, Zelena doesn’t laugh.

“And then?”

“And then she fought back. I planned to scare her off, but her magic… It was so much more refined than I remembered, so much stronger, and it took me off guard. I couldn’t hurt her, but I had to fight her off…”

“So you left her an opening?”

Zelena’s voice is still controlled, calm, but Regina doesn’t need to hear it to know that her sister’s angry.

“I did. What else was I supposed to do? Kill her?”

“No, but at your own expense? Regina…”

Exasperated, she turns to face her sister, begging her to understand.

“That’s not the point, Zelena. She had the opening and she didn’t take it. She is no killer. How do you think she’ll fare against him? She doesn't have the skills to match him. She’ll just get herself killed, and end up as another prophecy defeated by the Oracle. Even if she doesn’t, even if she manages, what do you think it will do to her? What do you think she will become?”

Before Zelena can answer, the door squeaks as it sways open.

Shocked, Regina’s head whips around, almost expecting Rumple, forgetting for a moment the soundproofing spell they have set around their quarters, only allowing the two of them and Henry to hear their conversations. But then she recognizes the small figure of her son. Henry’s eyes are flickering back and forth between Zelena and her, his cheeks are red, emotions evidently running high.

“Henry…” she implores him, hoping against hope that he hasn’t been standing there for long, that he hasn’t heard…

“You said you didn’t know where Emma was! You said you couldn’t locate her, that she must be outside of our realm! You lied to me! And now you’re saying that you tried to kill her?”

“Henry, no…”

He’s got it all wrong. He is breathing too fast, his angry eyes focused on Regina. His hurt is showing behind the anger and Regina walks up to him, reaches out, wanting to comfort him, but he staggers away from her.

“You tried to kill Mama?”

He sounds so little in that moment, so vulnerable; it breaks her heart.

“No…” she shakes her head violently. “No, Henry. We fought, she was trying...”

“I don’t care! You lied to me! You are always lying to me and you go out and hurt people and now you wanted to hurt Mama!”

He takes a rasping breath before he finally releases a heartfelt. “I hate you!”

Shocked, Regina just stares at him, her little Prince, her baby boy, and realizes how wrongly she has handled things. She sees Zelena coming up next to her, holding up her hands placatingly.

“Henry…”

“You, too! You knew! You both knew! You’re just the same!”

There are tears in his eyes, spilling over, and all that Regina wants to do is reach out and hug him, make him feel safe in her arms.

But the look he gives her ensures that she knows that he doesn’t feel safe with her, not anymore.

So she doesn’t follow when he spins around and storms off.

Instead she stares after him, feeling her own tears running down her cheeks, realizing how wrong she has been, without knowing how to fix it.

 

---

 

Emma blinks, staring at the place that Regina occupied a moment ago, before she gets her bearings and runs across the clearing to the shimmering wolf, slowly morphing into Ruby again.

Ruby lets out a painful groan, moving one hand to her ruffled hair.

“Are you okay?”

Rolling her eyes at her, Ruby stretches, creaking her joints, and Emma flinches. Ruby is lucky that no one saw her change - Emma doesn’t know whether all of their fighters would be okay with a werewolf in their group.

“Was that really necessary?”

“Everything’s fine. Werewolf, remember?”

Emma shakes her head and offers her hand to pull Ruby up. The other woman takes it, giving Emma a grateful smile, and slowly everyone else comes back to them, including Tink, who looks a bit rumpled and more than a little annoyed.

“You okay?”

Instead of answering, Tink scrunches up her nose.

“I did not see that coming.”

Since the fact that her powers of premonition have failed seems worse than any possible injuries, Emma decides to take that as a yes.

“Anyone else?”

She is met with grim nods.

“Anyone bowing out?”

“You’re still going?”

It’s Mulan, her eyes still determined, ready to follow Emma, but there’s a slight hesitation in her stance, a wavering in her faith.

“I’m still alive. We all are. I say we’re still going.”

Everyone nods and follow as she starts walking.

The only one who dares to approach her is Alex, announcing herself with a hand to Emma’s shoulder, and meekly says. “I take it back.”

“What?”

“Magic. That was seriously terrifying. I think I’m going to stick to sword fighting.”

“That’s what we said when we were little.”

“Yeah,” Alex agrees, kicking the dirt on the ground, before she mumbles, “I’m sorry you had to learn it.”

“It’s for Henry.”

“I know. It’s just…” Alex shrugs, seeming helpless, and Emma sighs.

“Out with it.”

“Well, I’m sorry that I didn’t try to… you know, learn it.”

Emma allows herself a small smile.

“You’re better with the sword fighting anyway.”

Alex smiles back, and Emma is glad that she at least did something right today.

“You’re coming along, that’s what counts.”

“Even if you explicitly told me to stay away.”

Emma rolls her eyes.

“Even then, yes.”

 

---

 

It’s an hour after their confrontation that Regina realizes she should have followed him, even after Zelena told her to give him some time to process.

She finds Henry in the library, pouring his heart out to Belle, who sits next to him, too rigid, and pats his back, too uncomfortable.

There’s only one reason for her to be this awkward around Henry and it’s not a good one.

So Regina doesn’t stop to give Henry the time to collect himself, but breezes into the room with a forced smile for the two of them and a cold nod to the invisible imp in the corner.

“Rumple.”

She has no idea what Henry has been talking about, just as she has no clue as to how long Rumple has been standing there, listening.

Judging by Henry’s wide-eyes and the panic in Belle’s face, it should be about enough.

“Well, hello, dearie.”

He doesn’t say anything else, waiting for her to start, to give even more away than Henry already has. So she pays him no mind and concentrates on Henry, silently asking, begging to know, whether they’re okay. Henry gives the tiniest of nods and Regina has to control herself not to react, to keep the overwhelming sense of relief confined inside of her.

“How was your assignment, dearie?”

“I’ve scattered them. They should be back to their little huts by now, shivering in fear.”

“Alexandra of the Eastern Land, Daughter of Thomas and Cinderella, who, correct me if I’m wrong, owes her life to one of my visions, is certainly not shivering in some hut.”

Regina holds on to the polite smile that hides her anger and simply nods, barely visible.

“If I remember correctly, she has been housing with that werewolf for the past couple of months, so it is a cottage.”

She hopes that it might confuse him enough, but he just waves her comment away with a swiping hand gesture.

“Technicalities, dearie. I do not care one bit.”

He glances at Henry before he concentrates back on her.

“What I am interested in is young Henry’s education. He still hasn’t shown one ounce of usefulness, except displaying slightly disturbing ethical views.”

Belle’s hand on Henry’s back stops, just as Regina’s heart does when Rumple waves Henry over, now completely focused on him.

“You know, dearie, your mother started the basics of her training with me when she was seven years old.”

Regina opens her mouth, desperately trying to control her breathing and her suddenly dry throat.

“We had a deal, Rumple.”

He fixes her with a piercing gaze.

“The deal was that you’d teach him the ways, get him ready to help me. So far, I have seen neither talent nor teaching.”

He is still holding his hand out for Henry. Henry, who instead of throwing her another accusing glare, stands up, his little shoulders tense but his gait is straight, regal, and Regina feels like she is shattering into a million pieces.

“Some people,” Belle says, clearing her throat when her voice breaks, before continuing in an eerily calm voice. “Some people don’t inherit magical abilities from their parents. Sometimes those get lost, more often than not with males.”

Regina is too tense to concentrate on the little stab of gratitude at Belle’s words.

Now, all that she can see is her little baby boy walking up to a monster and placing his hand in his.

All that she can do is wait and pray, look and pray, control her magic not to betray her and pray.

No fairy in the world will listen to her pleas, and yet she sends silent plea after plea up into the sky.

Somewhere, someone, must be listening, because, after an eternity of Rumple’s eyes being closed, searching internally, Rumple tilts his head and hums.

“It seems that for now, Belle might be right. I might have to look elsewhere for a younger generation.”

His glinting eyes meet Regina’s over Henry’s head.

“It’s a shame he is the only grandson you and your sister ever gave to your mother.”

Regina is almost ready to exhale, when Rumple moves toward the door, but he stops short of the threshold.

“You know, we might have to look into young Henry’s parentage, just to make sure that my bond on him doesn’t silence any abilities he might have. Maybe I’ll use your sister for that, since your mind seems to be blocked at that particular issue.”

It’s blocked because Regina has no idea who Henry’s father is. Nor does she particularly care, since something in Emma’s eyes convinced her that she doesn’t want to know.

But for a moment she thinks about Rumple lifting Henry’s bond to the castle. The minute it will happen, she will make sure that Henry will be safely away.

Because it is obvious now, that their time is running out.

Unbinding the magic that forces Henry to stay here might reveal the other bond on him, his ability to do magic, his huge potential that he can’t have inherited from Regina.

After Rumple leaves the room, Belle, Regina, and Henry stare at each other, listening to his receding steps in the corridor.

As soon as Rumple is truly gone, Henry runs across the room and into Regina’s arms.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t say much, I promise. I didn’t…”

“Shh…” she hushes, rubbing his back until he calms down a little. She lowers herself to his level. “It’s okay, Henry. You have a right to be angry at me. I made mistakes, a lot of mistakes, ut you have to know that I didn’t hurt Emma, okay? I didn’t hurt her.”

There are tears in his eyes again, but he nods, believing her, before he throws himself into her arms again.

“I’m sorry, really.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Henry.”

He nods against her shoulder, but he continues to cry silently, until Regina picks him up, and brings him to his bedroom, Belle accompanying her.

They wait together by his bed. Regina sits next to him, holding his hand and stroking his shoulder, until his breathing evens out.

“He didn’t say much,” Belle starts when they are still both looking at Henry.

“He said that you hurt someone today, someone you swore you wouldn’t hurt. He was obviously shaken by thinking you would lie to him, but I think,” Belle swallows and Regina looks up to see her blue eyes shimmering with tears. “I think Rumple merely thinks that you’ve kept his parentage a secret because his father is a noble fighter on the wrong side, one of the people that accompanied the White Princess today.”

“And what do you think?”

“I think it’s not safe for me to know the truth.”

“It probably isn’t,” Regina concedes and Belle hangs her head and moves back, ready to leave the room.

“But there are still some things you have to know.”

Regina hears herself say as she gets up from Henry’s bed and accompanies Belle into the corridor. She realizes that, given how little time they have, Belle needs to know because there is no way that Emma will leave him behind.

“At some point, in the not too distant future, the White Princess will make her way into the castle.”

Belle swallows and looks at Regina intently, soaking up whatever Regina is ready to share.

“It might be that she will try to kill Rumple.”

Belle doesn't waver and despite herself, Regina is impressed by the woman who once claimed to love Rumple, who desperately tried to rehabilitate him.

“Whatever happens, I will try to make sure that the Princess survives.”

Still, Belle simply holds her eye contact and Regina keeps talking.

“She might make her way to Henry first and he might recognize her. If that happens, under no circumstance should he go with her.”

“Of course not,” Belle breathes, immediately horrified. Regina knows that Belle is thinking of the binding and how Henry can’t leave the compound. The horror on the other woman’s face reassures Regina that it is the right decision to trust her with this. Belle cares for Henry - she will make sure that Henry won’t get hurt.

 

---

 

“Are we sure that this is the right course of action?”

Mulan asks calmly. By the way her eyes flicker to the rest of the fighters, even to Jasmine, Emma knows that they have talked about this before approaching her. She takes a deep breath, ready to remind each and every one of them that they swore an oath, that they came freely, that the chance to turn around is gone, but Jasmine holds up her hands placatingly.

“We’re not bowing out, but you saw the power that witch held. There are two of them at the castle, not to mention the Oracle himself.”

It feels like a stab in the back when Alex nods.

“Not to mention Henry and your parents.”

Emma sighs and moves a hand through her hair.

“What are you proposing?”

“Recon”, Mulan answers quickly.

“Recon?”

“Let’s start by mapping out where everyone is first. Send some people into the dungeons, into the living quarters. Let’s make sure your son is safe before you head out to confront the Oracle.”

It’s annoying how reasonable that sounds.

“His mother will make sure that he is safe.”

Emma hasn’t the slightest doubt that, despite the circumstances, Regina will continue to keep Henry safe.

“We can just take the Oracle out and look for them later, when we don’t have to look over our shoulders.”

“We came this far. It should be easy to do some recon and meet up later. Formulate a plan that doesn’t hinge on whoever sees him first throwing some dust at him.”

Taking in everyone’s concerned expressions, Emma suddenly realizes what this is about.

“You want me to meet him, make sure that it is me who confronts him because you all believe in that stupid prophecy, that someone from my family will defeat him.”

Instead of having the decency to look ashamed, all of them respond with even gazes. Emma sighs.

It’s not like she has another chance.

“We are not convinced the dust is foolproof,” Mulan says, giving her the last argument to change their plan, sending an apologetic look to Tink.

“It is,” Tink says. “It is fairy dust that will put him into a stasis. It never fails.”

“Yes, but for how long? Three seconds or three minutes? We are supposed to call Emma when that happens, but we have to agree that it will be easier if Emma meets him first.”

“Okay,” Emma agrees, before the arguing can escalate.

“We move as planned but just recon. No one gets seen by anyone. I’ll make sure to put you under an invisibility spell. We’ll meet up here in an hour, you’ll tell me where he is and then I’ll go back in to confront him.”

Everyone nods and Emma sighs.

“If I do meet him now, I’ll get this over with before he can see us, are we clear?”

Again everyone nods and Emma feels almost relieved.

 

---

 

For their own safety, they team up in pairs. Emma makes them invisible just before they separate. Somehow even Alex agrees that her and Jasmine, while capable with a sword and that deathly magical whip of Jasmine’s, need to split up; they’d be more concerned with keeping each other safe than actually achieving something.

So it’s Alex who accompanies Emma as they creep along the dark corridor. It’s the highest one, the deepest one in the castle. They reasoned that this should be the place to hide private quarters, the place to find him.

Yet, they pass too few guards, see too little protection, until Alex walks right into an invisible barrier that Emma passes through without a problem.

Alex cries out, but Emma makes a releasing hand gesture and pulls her through. The moment she does, Alex becomes visible and Emma has to repeat the hand gesture to make her disappear again.

They are in the private quarters now. Only, they aren’t his .

Still, it is their corridor to look at, so they silently move along, carefully opening doors to a small library, a huge bedroom, and a smaller bedroom right next to it, a bedroom that is occupied by a little figure that Emma recognizes instantly.

“Henry.” His name falls from her lips and Emma is moving across the room before she can stop herself, Alex’s cautioning grip on her arm falls away with a tingle and Emma drops to her knees in front of his bed, watching his chest rise and fall.

There’s nothing left of that peaceful smile that he used to have while sleeping. Instead, his face is scrunched up in a huge frown. Emma moves her hand to stroke his forehead before she can stop herself. His breathing stops for a moment, and although he doesn’t wake, he looks more relaxed now, a little bit closer to the happy kid she remembers.

All she wants to do is pick him up in her arms and flee, take him with her, far far away, simply run away from their fate, away from prophecies and visions and all that stupidity.

“You can’t.”

A silent whisper that’s decidedly not Alex comes from the door and Emma flinches.

A small white woman in an ornate but worn gown has a knife pressed to Alex’s throat. Shock fills Emma, making her incapable of doing anything. She remembers the tingling feeling of another barrier at Henry’s door, set up to reveal and keep out intruders. It must have made them both visible.

“He is bound to the castle. He can’t leave without Rumple’s permission. Take him away and he will be in excruciating pain until he dies, if you don’t bring him back in time. You don’t want that, do you?”

Emma swallows to get herself under control. She concentrates on the dagger while she makes a swift motion with her right hand. Alex sags against the wall when the dagger disappears only to reappear in Emma’s hand.

“No. I don’t want that.”

She definitely doesn’t want that.

The small woman nods and steps out of the room, her brown hair swaying, not at all impressed by Emma’s magic.

“Are you going to raise an alarm?” Emma asks, following her. She throws one last glance at Henry before Alex closes the door. The woman shakes her head as she pulls something out of her pocket, “Not in the way you mean.”

Within seconds of the magic the woman is releasing, Regina stands in front of them, tense and disappointed.

“I didn't think you’d be this stupid.”

Emma raises her hands in pacification.

“I had no choice and you know that.”

Regina seems strangely tired when she scoffs.

“I know very well that we sometimes don’t have a say in our fate, but you could have been a lot smarter. What are you trying to accomplish by stealing into Henry’s room?”

Emma shakes her head and smiles. Regina isn’t immediately chasing them out; she is going to try and help. Some part of Emma doubted it, and now she is beyond relieved.

“We need to get the lay of the castle, so that I can plan an attack on him.”

“And then what? Kill him?”

Somehow Regina doesn't seem as happy about it as Emma would expect her to.

“You want out of here, don’t you? If I do this, Regina…”

“You are going to end up just like him. There’s something your precious prophecies haven’t told you. Killing the Oracle means taking his powers on for yourself and his magic is different from anything that you have ever seen. It will corrupt you, take your emotions away, make you just like him. Have you got a solution for that? A plan for that?”

That’s not what Emma learned when she collected and studied prophecies for almost four years.

When Emma doesn’t respond, Regina just huffs.

“I didn’t think so. Now, can you please leave?”

“Are you sure?”

“Do you want to take the risk? With Henry around?”

Emma swallows, following Regina’s look to Henry’s door.

“Okay, no. I don’t, but you can’t want this for him, right? You want out, too, right?”

Regina is all poised, composed with a haughty superiority, and it takes Emma’s observation skills to notice how she tenses up at Emma’s questions, how desperate she must be to get out.

“So, we need to agree to work together and make a plan.”

Emma sounds a lot surer than she actually feels, and fortunately for her, it makes Regina waver.

“Do you actually think it will be that easy for me? You’re unbelievable. It will be difficult enough to get you out of here alive at all, you can’t...”

“There are fourteen of us and I didn’t exactly have a way of knowing where you stand, let alone a way to contact you.”

“Fourteen?”

Regina’s voice gets louder, making all three of them flinch. The brunette woman places a hand on Regina’s arm, looking at the end of the corridor.

“Regina…”

“Yes. It’s just difficult to concentrate in the face of so much stupidity,” Regina hisses but Emma doesn’t rise to the bait.

“If you want to get Henry out of this, if you want to help getting ahead of all of this prophecy crap, you’re going to help us!”

To Emma’s surprise, Regina sighs and runs her fingers through her long dark hair.

“Of course I will, idiot. How else are you planning on surviving?”

Emma is stunned, but she quickly catches on, takes Alex’s hand and follows Regina striding down the corridor. She is relieved to notice that the other woman stays in front of Henry’s room.

Downstairs, they walk into Ruby and Mulan, coming up from the cellar. They shimmer but are definitely visible. Emma curses the castle and its damned magical barriers. Ruby looks ashen, her forefingers red from fidgeting.

Emma is immediately at her side.

“What?”

“They are really here. I just saw them. They are…”

Ruby looks up, meeting Emma’s eyes.

“I am so sorry. Part of me never believed that they were actually still alive. I thought he was lying, trying to get to you as well. I never…”

Emma feels her throat constrict at the certain knowledge that her parents are downstairs, waiting to be freed, have been waiting for almost twenty-eight years.

“I…”

Emma throws a longing look toward the stairs. She knows they have to get out, she knows that it is crazy to linger, even with Regina at her side. She knows that she doesn’t have time for this and yet… she wants to go down there, even to just look at them, know what they look like.

“Emma!”

Suddenly there is a hand at her arm, cold fingers gripping her. Emma looks up to meet Regina’s eyes. Regina who is holding on to Ruby with her other hand.

“I know and I promise I will help you. In time. But now you need to go.”

Regina’s thumb is drawing soothing circles, palpable even through Emma’s clothes. Emma is reminded of comfort in late nights of crying, of stories and soothing humming in the night.

Even Ruby looks at Regina with less suspicion and more awe.

It’s a surprise to them all when it’s Regina who quietly manages to lead them outside, avoids the guards and hides them from the magic detection systems. Emma thought she had turned most of them off but evidently most of them are to detain. The Oracle doesn’t care about intruders, but he apparently doesn’t like to let them leave.

Only when they are outside and Mulan looks weirdly at Regina’s hand still around Emma’s wrist, does Regina let go and nod at them.

“The rest of your group should get out fine, if they avoid the guards. Talk to Tink. She actually knows how to contact me.”

Emma nods, silently thanking her, and she believes that Regina understands, even as she hurries inside the castle again, barriers flickering on and off behind her.

They wait for the rest, so that they can leave to regroup in a nearby village.

All the while Emma’s wrist feels terribly cold now.

Chapter Text

“And the Savior will bring about his downfall, using his own monsters against him.”
- freely translated from Latin, out of the Oracle’s own castle scrolls

 

---

 

One pair after the other, most of them disconcertingly visible, avoids the magical barriers and finds their little group until there’s only one pair left, Jasmine and a knight named Andre.

Alex is anxiously biting her lip while the ugly feeling in Emma’s stomach grows.

Although she almost expects it, she flinches when there’s a blinding light at a first story window, exactly where Jasmine is supposed to be.

Glass breaks and a black-clad guard falls out, a gold whip glinting in the moon light. Emma turns to put her arms around Alex and holds on, refusing to let her go. Tink, wide-eyed, stares up to see the fighting and places a hand over Alex’ mouth, preventing her from screaming out and drawing attention to them.

Alex struggles against them. They need Mulan’s help to pull her back into the forest when they hear swords connect and have to watch the golden whip drop out of the window.

“We’ll get her back, I promise,” Emma says, but Alex doesn’t seem to hear her. She keeps staring up at the window, eyes unbelievably wide, looking so young and helpless in her fear that Emma starts hating herself, hates that the only thing she can do is to repeat her promise again and again.

Sometime during Emma’s reassurances, Alex slumps in their arms and allows them to drag her away.

As can be expected, everyone is dejected, the general mood miserable. Emma fights with herself to call it a win. They sneaked into the compound without being discovered by the Oracle.

Jasmine and Andre know enough to keep their mouths shut, and with Regina’s help, Emma has to hope that they stay alive, until they can go back to save them. She has to.

Even though Tink tells her that she has no idea how to directly contact Regina, she promises to work it out while they walk back to the land’s border and make camp in the forest.

They’ll get them back the next night. No matter whether they hear from Regina by then or not.

 

---

 

Zelena wakes up with a head splitting migraine, feeling instantly that something is wrong. She should be fine after a night of sleep. She is almost relieved to see that it’s still dark outside because otherwise it would indicate that she is losing her ability to channel his energy.

She dresses with a snap of her fingers, forces her eyes wide open, almost succeeding at ignoring the stab of pain at her temples, and teleports into the middle of the commotion.

Five guards are attacking two invaders. A knight clashes his sword with two of their guards while a woman wields a whip in an almost casual way, so quickly Zelena that suspects that it’s enchanted. A window is broken, from the looks of it, because someone has been thrown through it, and two guards are being disarmed by the whip as Zelena arrives.

She makes a gesture with her hand, throwing the whip out the window and disarming the knight in the same move.

“Stop.”

Zelena is pleased to notice that her voice still echoes, still wields an invisible power all by itself. She smirks at the shocked looks of the couple while the guards pull away.

They should be lucky Zelena arrived before Rumple. She tilts her head, listening to the barriers around the castle, feeling the inconsistencies.

Regina.

With a sigh, she disables all the barriers and pulls them right back up again, hoping it’s enough to feign a flawless system. She then turns to the invaders.

The woman wears her defiance like a second skin, clearly ready to fight whatever they want to do with her. The knight simply looks stoic.

“If you’d be so kind as to accompany me to the dungeons,” Zelena orders and starts walking. She hears the guards rush up, clearly pushing the prisoners to follow. Part of her hopes to have them in the dungeons before Rumple appears, because she isn’t sure she can stomach this tonight, not with the pain in her head and her magic still being all over the place.

Maybe not ever.

Predictably, just when she thinks they’re in the clear - she is securing the woman in chains, while a guard is patting the knight down before chaining him to the other end of the cell - Rumple appears in the middle. He is cheery, clapping his hands, clearly in the mood to make a show.

Hopefully that means he isn’t in the mood to tear them apart limb by limb.

“Guests!” he coos and Zelena knows that it will be a long time before she’ll get some sleep. He holds his hand in her direction, making an eenie-meenie-miney moe-gesture with his other hand. Zelena steps forward, putting her hand in his, opening her magic for him.

He chooses the woman first and Zelena does her best not to gasp at the pictures in her mind. The woman, Jasmine, is the single heir to the kingdom of Agrabah. She’s also engaged to Thomas’ and Cinderella’s daughter, Alexandra, who is the best friend of the White Princess, according to the scenes that invade their minds.

With horror, Zelena witnesses the coming scenes. No matter how much she wants to stop them, she has never learned, how.

Regina appears in front of the little group and everyone becomes invisible except the White Princess and the Fairy. Magic is thrown - none with the intent to harm. The Princess’ magic is blazing, powerful, silver, and indescribable. Sheer power, supported by a claim that is branded on her energy like nothing else is. Savior. Destroyer of the Oracle’s reign.

Mother.

There is a split second where Zelena sees the last term before he will. She feels powerless, defeated, because she knows she is about to lose her sister, probably her nephew as well. Her head is an entire source of pain.

It’s the last one that allows her to pull back, to succeed for the very first time in keeping the tiny bit of information from him.

He is far too focused on the other revelation anyway, eyes brimming with the realization of betrayal, with sheer and utter hatred.

His eyes focus on Zelena, and she is sure that the only thing that saves her, is his certain knowledge that she doesn’t know how to hide anything from him, never has.

“Your sister…!”

Suddenly there is a dark cloud around him; he is shivering in anger. It has only happened two times before, both ending in death and mayhem.

“Bring me Henry!” he grits out between clenched teeth and Zelena feels that she can’t disobey.

 

---

 

She wakes Henry gently, with a hand to his forehead, a whisper of his name in the night.

It’s the least she can do, after she used her magic to secure Belle in the next room, unharmed in only the very literal interpretation of the word, because her eyes had been shining with yet another betrayal and Zelena hates herself for causing that.

Henry blinks, his eyes focus on her, and he seems confused.

“Lena?”

It feels like he is holding her heart and squeezing it without even knowing it. She feels her eyes burn and blinks the tears away. They aren’t needed right now. They aren’t useful.

“Henry, you need to get up. We have to meet Rumple in his workroom.”

“Really?”

He is smart, always has been. So there’s an uncomfortable suspicion in his gentle green eyes.

“Why?”

“There’s no time for questions, little Prince,” she insists kindly before pulling the blanket away. Finally, he nods and gets up, and Zelena feels like the worst traitor. He is just a child and he trusts her so implicitly that it splits her heart into tiny pieces.

He dresses in the ornate clothes Zelena places in front of him and rubs his sleepy eyes as he follows her down the corridor, down the stairs, down always down.

What scares Zelena the most is that he doesn’t even ask after Regina.

Instead he straightens his shoulders and assumes a powerful walk, a regal one, that speaks of more than a ten year old should know. Zelena fears that he is expecting his mother to be tied up at their destination.

She also knows that he doesn’t know which mother he should expect it to be.

When they reach the part of the dungeons that is bright, lit with magic, Henry’s eyes dart around and Zelena watches him exhale in relief while she continues to feel dreadful.

Suddenly Rumple is there, appearing behind one of the shelves filled with potions and trinkets. He seems collected, his smile almost friendly, like the predator in disguise he is.

“Henry! It’s good to see you, young man.”

Rumple is smiling and Zelena feels the urge to vomit.

He beckons Henry closer. Henry seems wary, but happy that neither mother is in sight.

Zelena doesn’t know where Regina is now. She doesn’t know whether she dares to look for her. So instead she focuses on Rumple, who regards Henry with an intent that is unnerving and dark, and it takes everything Zelena has to hold back, to control herself, to keep them alive. Because if she lashes out now, there is no one to keep Henry alive afterwards.

And yet, if all she can do is keep him alive instead of protecting him from the Evil that is in this world, how much is this really worth? Is that all her love for him can do?

Still, she watches as Rumple pulls some kind of potion out of a hidden compartment. She watches as he scribbles surprisingly easy symbols on a parchment. She notices that he is writing it with his own blood and files it away for later. She feels sick when she realizes that the second vial is filled with Henry’s blood.

But she continues to watch, to learn the symbols and the gestures. She barely prevents herself from gasping when, after a while, the metallic smell of a broken bond fills the air and Henry’s magic is set free.

Rumple smiles grimly at the sheer amount of magic in the air, the floral smell that is more like fairy magic than theirs, sweet, but oh so potent.

Zelena doesn't even know how to read Rumple anymore, and her heart stops when he tilts his head at Henry, but he just smiles his cold smile and nods at the boy.

“Go to bed, Henry. Tomorrow we’re going to start teaching you how to use the power within you, that your mother kept away from you.”

Henry blinks and Zelena holds her breath, but Henry nods and thanks him politely before he excuses himself. Zelena exhales, her heart suddenly beating much faster than usual because he forgot the essential part.

He took the binding from Henry without repeating the first one.

However, now Rumple focuses on Zelena once more and her heart feels like ice.

“I am going to take care of our little Savior situation. You are going to stay and take care of your sister.”

Zelena doesn’t even have a moment to be relieved that Rumple still hasn’t figured out that Regina isn’t Henry’s mother or that, if he does, he doesn’t seem to care. His words are just as much of an order as it had been to bring Henry to him, just as unyielding, as direct, and Zelena feels herself nod while she is torn apart on the inside.

“And by take care I mean that you are going to kill her, just so that we understand each other.”

Her head moves up and down again like a puppet’s, and he gives her a satisfied smirk before he disappears in a cloud of darkness.

Zelena starts to move in an almost mechanical way, knowing that without the shadow of a doubt that there is no Savior to help them now.

 

---

 

He is gone. She forces herself to remember that it will take him some time to reach Emma and her group. It helps a bit.

If he isn’t ‘taking care’ of Emma yet, she doesn’t have to go to Regina now. She can experiment a bit. She has time.

Even just thinking like this is physically painful, but Zelena moves forward, clutching the little vial with Rumple’s blood. Her hands clench again and again, but she manages to draw the required symbols on some fresh parchment. Feeling her resistance slip, she pushes the pen into the skin of her lower arm, drawing blood. It sinks in ridiculously fast, barely hurting, so she knows it’s enchanted.

She can only hope that it is a part of the ritual and won’t disrupt the process.

However, after the first symbol, the liquid runs out and she has to press the pen to her arm again and again.

She is not even halfway finished when she hears a noise in the corridor. Her muscles seize and she lets the pen fall out of her hand before it taints the parchment.

“Zelena?”

It’s Henry, his voice hesitant, and Zelena doesn’t doubt for a minute that he has probably waited outside the entire time. She doesn’t dare turn around and keeps staring at the pen. She can’t waver; she can’t possibly lose her concentration.

“How can we help?”

Her concentration slips away at the pronoun and she whirls around.

Regina is standing right next to Henry, still dressed. There isn’t the smallest trace of sleep in her features as she stares at Zelena, reaching out to pull Henry back by his shoulder.

“What did he do?”

An order, but he hasn’t left yet. Sometimes he stays in the library for hours before he leaves. As long as Zelena keeps believing that…

“Lena?”

Zelena gasps at the nickname that she hasn’t heard from her sister in years, at the fear in Regina’s voice. She closes her eyes, so that she doesn’t have to see the horror on Regina’s face.

“I need three more symbols,” she presses out between her lips, and she knows that Regina will come to help, knows that she will be tense but trusting, knows that…

“No, mom. Let me.”

Her magic rears up, betrayed and angry, when the boy moves to her instead of the witch.

Henry. Regina. She reminds herself and forces herself to smile at Henry, who looks up at her, gentle and earnest.

“What can I do?”

She feels gratitude and it helps, if only for a moment, it’s long enough to answer, “The pen.”

He nods and she closes her eyes again.

“I can feel the magic,” he says, effectively distracting Zelena, but Regina draws in a sharp breath, and Zelena has to grit her teeth.

“Mom, I think you should go,” Henry suggests almost offhandedly, surprising Zelena enough to take her focus away again. She looks back at Henry, who gingerly holds the pen in his hand, magic brimming under his skin, magic that helps when he touches her with his free hand, carefully, warm.

“What now?”

It’s wrong to accept his help, but not as wrong as leading him into Rumple’s arms was. So Zelena nods to her arm. She is biting her cheek to keep her magic under control. Her magic that is almost forcing her to turn, every moment of control a searing pain biting into her skin.

Henry places the pen into her hand and guides it to her arm. She puts the right amount of pressure behind it and adds the next symbol. The simple contact to Henry’s hand dampens the pain considerably, helps her to remember the lines and shapes. She’d ask about Belle’s lessons, if she could, because Henry guides her hand knowing how a symbol ends once she begins.

With his help she finishes the lines, and she sags to the ground as the bindings break. It feels like chains are snapping open all over her skin, a constant, almost forgotten, pressure finally releasing her.

Henry is holding her hands, sitting right in front of her. His magic is still warm, protective, repairing some of the damage the binding caused.

“Lena?”

Suddenly Regina is at her side, gently touching her arm, and Zelena feels her magic flare up. She might have broken the bindings on her, but that doesn’t nullify his order that is written into his magic, magic that she has channeled for so long; it’s become a part of her.

Zelena meets Regina’s eyes in desperation, even as she lunges forward and her hands close around her sister’s throat.

Regina gasps. Henry screams. Instead of using her magic to shove Zelena away from her, Regina grabs Zelena’s arms, trying to pry them off physically.

Zelena feels like she is watching herself without being able to restrain herself. Rumple’s magic is overwhelming her, making her hands clench again and she gasps in horror. Desperately, she tries to use that gasp. It was her own reaction. She has to be able to steer her own body, her own hands.

She fails and she faintly hears Henry begging them to stop, begging her to stop.

Suddenly Regina’s magic flares up, trying to protect her, trying to push Zelena back, but just like with Zelena’s magic, Rumple’s energy prevents it from winning, recognizes itself and obeys.

There’s a new horror in Regina’s eyes, something that Zelena has never seen before, and Zelena feels sick at her own hands.

She should have to die. It should be her, not Regina.

“Lena?”

Again, it’s Henry’s voice, full of innocence and fear, that snaps her out of it. She looks at him, not able to move her hands away. She feels her muscles begin to relax, hears Regina gasp for air. Slowly, ever so slowly, Henry places one of his hands on Zelena’s wrist, the other one on his mother’s arm.

“Stop.”

It’s no longer a plea, it’s a command.

A command that ripples through her entire being, that breaks Rumple’s order. Henry’s pure unbridled magic overwhelms the Oracle’s refined order, and Zelena’s hands fall away. She scrambles away from Regina immediately, until she meets a bookcase with her back. She stares at her own hands, stares in fear, knowing this can’t go on.

She can hear the hushed voices of Regina and Henry, but she ignores both of them, ignores her family because...

This is as far as she can go. She almost…

“Lena?”

It’s that name again.

Somehow Regina has moved across the room and is kneeling in front of her now, Henry at her side.

“Go away,” Zelena says, her voice breaking, but Regina shakes her head.

“I won’t leave you.”

Then Henry’s hand is at her upper arm, giving her magic. He’s not taking her magic but giving, overpowering Rumple’s magic, driving it into a subordinate position within her by sharing his own magic, making her unbelievably stronger.

Zelena stops shivering from fear and stares at her nephew in a mix of awe and an entirely different kind of fear.

“What are you doing?” Zelena whispers at Henry, who just shrugs, and looks up at Regina.

Zelena notices with relief that her breathing is slowly returning to normal. Regina squeezes her arm in comfort. Whatever is happening, it is okay.

“Can we go save Mama now?” Henry asks, sounding like it’s just a normal day and that they usually save his Mama on a regular basis. Zelena knows that they will have to talk about this magic of his, maybe even find a way to rebind it, but not now.

She meets Regina’s eyes and there’s still fear, but it is an old one, a familiar one, the fear for Henry. Underneath that there is something new, a determination that Zelena doesn’t think she’ll ever understand.

“Yes, Henry. We will go and save your mother,” Regina agrees.

He nods and smiles, and Zelena swallows. She can hear the unspoken continuation of the sentence.

Even if it should cost us our lives.

 

---

 

They have barely reached the border when a cold wind whips through the trees, speaking of a storm. Everyone stares up in disdain, but Emma meets Ruby’s eyes in fear. They both feel the magic in the storm, the threat.

It is so much colder than Regina’s magic which can only mean one thing.

“Everyone down!”

Ruby’s scream echoes through the trees and Emma barely has time to see everyone reacting before there’s another icy gust of wind, a dark cloud closing in on them.

This time she doesn’t have the opportunity to make everyone invisible; she doubts it would work with an all-seeing being anyway. She could make herself invisible, even hide herself from magic, but that would leave everyone else vulnerable, free to be tortured by the Oracle until he starts calling her out.

She won’t do that.

Emma doesn’t know how Regina kept Henry’s parentage a secret (whether it still is a secret), but she knows that questioning even one member of their group would reveal that secret. It would reveal Regina helping them.

She can’t let either happen.

While she doesn’t have a nice prophecy backing herself up, she has determination. If her son is supposed to succeed against the Oracle, it is possible, which means that she can win as well.

She will win.

So she pushes the dark cloud off of her and jumps up, squinting through the thick fog, trying to determine where he is.

It is obvious that he is somewhere, observing, waiting for the fear to overwhelm them, and run straight into his magical trap.

“Where are you?”

The only answer is the whisper of leaves.

“Such a coward,” Emma mumbles to herself, cringing at how high and nervous her voice sounds. She feels before she sees a knife flying toward her. Before she can react, Ruby pulls her down.

“Careful.”

“Any way out of here?”

Ruby just shakes her head. She can clearly see just as little as Emma, only the wall of magic, no way out.

“Tink?”

“Don’t know. She was lagging behind, mumbling to herself about Jasmine.”

It’s the only explanation as to why Emma can easily see everyone else but Tink.

“Shit.”

“Yep.”

The wind carries a haunting cackle and Emma can see Ruby shiver.

“Turn.”

“Really?”

Most of Alex’s fighters don’t know about Ruby. This time they aren’t invisible, cowering somewhere, but they are looking everywhere, just like herself. Ruby changing in front of them might mean that they have to move again.

If they make it.

“Yes.”

Emma nods. Ruby should be able to protect herself as best as she can.

As soon as Ruby shimmers and the wolf is standing next to her, Emma feels infinitely better. She has never failed to escape with Ruby at her side.

It’s that certainty that allows her to conjure up a protective barrier the instant a wave of destructive magic reaches them. Ruby grumbles deep in her throat and Emma smiles grimly.

“Where are you? Come out and fight instead of hiding in the shadows!”

To fight him, she needs to have an indication of his hiding place, otherwise she is lost.

They dodge another wave of energy, this time a warm one, full of fire. Emma supposes he is probing her defenses, but there is nothing she can do about that.

Ruby grumbles and she waves at the wolf. There’s nothing to do without something to aim your magic at; at least the magic won’t be able to hurt Ruby in her wolf form.

There’s something new aimed at them, something that feels like a barrage of spikes made of energy. Arrows.

Emma describes the appropriate counter gesture and the little bolts of energy flare out of existence, without reaching anyone hiding between the trees.

The wolf whines and Emma tenses.

She can’t feel anyone anymore.

She tries to strain her eyes, but it’s still night and the dark cloud prevents what little light the moon and stars provide from coming through.

There’s a scream to their left and Emma has to put her hand on Ruby’s shoulder to prevent her from leaping into the unknown. She diverts another wave of energy, almost daring to feel triumphant. Sheer magic won’t reach her; she has learned enough to stay alive.

But then a dark shape, strangely big, slowly appears between the trees.

Emma sucks in a breath as she notices the bit of yellow above brown clothes.

He comes closer, looking nothing like Emma imagined, his clothes looking impeccable over white, pale skin, brown chin-length hair disturbingly neat. He is holding Alex in front of him as protection, a cruel smile is playing across his mouth when he focuses on Emma.

“Let’s see who the coward is.”

 

---

 

Regina acts quickly. She holds on to Henry and Zelena, transporting them to his bedroom, where Belle is sitting, immediately getting up at their arrival.

“I tried…” She starts, but Regina waves her off. “It’s alright.”

She lets go of Zelena and Henry, conjuring up a dagger in her hand, setting it on Belle’s lower arm. It says a lot when Belle doesn’t even flinch.

In absence of paper, Regina copies the symbols she has just seen Zelena draw, onto Belle’s skin. They glow and move and, within seconds of finishing the last one, Regina can feel her own binding break away just as Belle’s breaks. She gasps when the bindings fall away and steadies herself with a hand on Belle’s shoulder. Regina’s binding always was different, done by Cora but keeping after her death; maybe that’s why writing the symbols was enough for her.

Regina shakes her head and forces herself to concentrate.

To her surprise, Henry doesn’t protest when she tells him that he has to go with Belle. Belle promises earnestly to protect him with her life.

It shouldn’t reassure Regina so much, but it does.

There’s another person who would lay down her life for Henry and it feels right, after all he is an innocent in this scheme fate is playing.

So she pulls him close, hugging him tight, before she sends him off, desperately trying not to let the thought get to her that it could be the last time.

Emma will win, if they get there in time.

As soon as Belle and Henry are gone, Regina moves to teleport, telling her magic to find Emma, but the air in front of them flickers with a golden light and Tink appears.

Zelena takes on a fighting stance, but Regina calms her with a hand to her arm.

“Tink, it’s urgent.”

“I know,” Tink nods. She looks utterly shattered and Regina draws in a sharp breath.

“Is she…?”

“Oh, no.” Tink shakes her head. “When I left, he was on his way, but she was fine.”

Without giving Regina a chance to say anything, Tink goes on. “I was wrong. I made a mistake.”

Tink hesitates and Regina regards her with a silent urgency. Only the knowledge of how difficult that admission must be for the fairy, stops Regina from hurrying her along.

“I was wrong and now…”

Tink meets her eyes again, desperate.

“I haven’t prepared her for this. I don’t know what to do.”

“Which is why we’re going to go to her and help her.”

Tink just shakes her head.

“I know, but I don’t think it will be enough. He can’t be killed.”

Regina nods.

“I’m aware of that.”

“So?”

They stare at each other, Tink’s eyes widen when she realizes Regina’s intent.

It takes a while for Rumple’s magic to take over; Regina has read about it. She will have a choice, if it should come to that.

Regina has brought Emma into this by taking Henry. Even if taking him in and disguising him right under Rumple’s nose had been the only way she had seen to protect him, to keep him alive, leads to this. She’d do it again in a heartbeat because it saved her beautiful baby boy.

It may have started with finding a way for the baby to survive, because that’s what her father would have wanted, but it is so much more now, infinitely more.

If it is keeping Henry and Emma alive, it is worth it.

“Regina…”

Tink whispers, the protest quickly dying on her lips and Regina nods grimly. Even the fairy knows that there is no other way.

“The dungeons,” Zelena suddenly speaks up confidently, her voice strained. “We transport him into his own stasis cells. We only have to break his protection against them.”

Regina spins around to meet Zelena’s desperate eyes.

“We know how to break his spells now.”

Indeed they do.

It takes them all of five minutes to collect another vial of his blood and find an appropriate cell in the very back of the dungeons, right next to Snow White and David. The sight of them frozen in a shimmering stasis makes Tink grit her teeth in anger. Zelena avert her eyes in shame, while Regina gasps because the portraits don’t do them justice.

Snow White looks fierce, holding a bow in her hand, and dressed to fight, nothing like the simpering Princess Cora used to talk about.

It’s difficult to look at David for an entirely different reason and Regina averts her eyes, following Zelena across the corridor to their current prisoners. His concerned gaze at Snow reminds Regina of a night four years ago, of Emma caring when she had no reason to and a dozen good reasons against helping.

The crown heir of Agrabah and the knight frown at them in disgust until they see Tink. Zelena frees them both simultaneously, and Regina nods at Tink.

“You’re going to make sure everything will be ready?”

“I will,” Tink says with fervor, taking in the instructions Zelena is writing on a parchment. She seems determined to avoid any other mistakes and Regina believes her.

With another nod to Zelena, they teleport at the same time. Regina can feel Zelena follow their magic to Rumple, open that connection to him, while Regina follows her own.

To Emma.

 

---

 

They have to fight through a cloud of his magic, dark, glinting and menacing, just like Rumple himself. Regina shakes her head about the dramatics, but Zelena shivers.

“It’s okay,” Regina reassures her, but Zelena just glares at her.

“Really?”

“I’m going to make sure that it will be.”

“Sacrificing yourself to take him with you is not my version of okay, Regina.”

Oh.

Zelena snorts at the caught look Regina is sure she is wearing.

“Yes, I got that part of your conversation with Tink. Now can we use that damn cell and make sure no one has to die or take his powers for themselves?”

“Of course,” Regina says, surprised when, at Zelena’s determination, she feels actual hope.

That is, until she can hear Rumple, dangerously close to them.

“Now, Princess. What will you do? Embrace that prophecy for yourself or let your little friend here die?”

Fortunately, he doesn’t see them, too focused on Emma, who is swaying in the wind, her energy frazzled, her skin covered in tiny cuts.

Regina takes a deep breath and squeezes Zelena’s arm, making sure her sister doesn’t make a sound. Zelena wriggles her arm and Regina withdraws her hand, wincing in sympathy when she realizes how tightly she grasped it. Zelena just shakes her head, and Regina concentrates on understanding the scene in front of them, unsure whether to cry in relief or frustration when she takes in the magnitude of what she sees.

Rumple has grabbed himself a hostage, singularly choosing the worst person he could have taken: Alex.

He tortures her in front of Emma’s eyes, either too stupid or too preoccupied to notice what he is provoking.

The cruel smile across his lips is as familiar to Regina as it is frightening in this very moment. He describes a cutting gesture with his hand, causing a huge red gash to appear on Alex’s cheek.

It is mended instantly and he chuckles, still so stupidly oblivious.

“We can keep this up all day, dearie. I’d wager you’ll crumble before me.”

Regina looks at Emma, really looks at her, and notices that she isn’t simply healing Alex. No, Alex’s dormant magic would prevent that from being possible. Emma takes the pain onto herself, inflicting the wound on her own energy.

This time, the shock of the realization makes Regina gasp. It is silent, the rest of her still taking care not to draw attention to her.

When Emma’s eyes dart to her, Regina knows she failed spectacularly.

Emma swallows and her defiance wavers, the underlying fear prevailing for a moment, curiously enough Emma looks like she is afraid Regina as well now.

It is enough for Rumple to notice, enough for him to swirl around, his dark eyes searching for the intruder, quickly, almost nervously, almost afraid ?

Rumple’s eyes find hers and the tension leaves his shoulders, replaced by curiosity.

“You’re alive.”

Regina tries to ignore Emma and Alex for a moment, focusing on him instead.

“Of course I am,” she scoffs. She only stops for a moment to consider what she is doing, but her mind is whirling with the opportunities they have. With Emma being severely injured, it’s not like they have many.

Regina knows what she just promised to Zelena.

She also knows that if she does this, they will get to live. Henry won’t grow up without any love. He will still have one of his mothers, and his aunt. He will be loved.

It is that thought that she holds on to as she advances on Rumple.

“You left Zelena to kill me, not even bothering to do it yourself.”

She feels so betrayed by the act, that he forced Zelena to go through with this. She can deliver the hurt perfectly, make him believe she cares about him and not her sister.

Rumple tilts his head in his usual curious, contemplating gesture, and Regina smiles cruelly when it makes him unconsciously loosen his hold on Alex.

“You wanted me to take care of you myself?”

It is sickening how he almost seems satisfied by the idea, how he looks at Regina for the very first time like she deserved his lessons, the same way he used to look at Cora.

The reminder is painful in more ways than Regina will ever be able to understand, but it is what makes it possible for her to lunge forward and push Alex away from him.

Instantly Regina’s hands find their destinations, one around his throat and one on his arm, scribbling symbols as fast as lightning, enhanced by her magic, by Henry’s magic.

Rumple groans and twitches, but she has him securely in her hold. He isn’t able to pull away.

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be,” he croaks and Regina only smiles victoriously, feeling his magic waver, almost ready to seep out of him, looking for its next master, someone stronger than the current one.

“It’s exactly how it is supposed to be, Rumple”, Regina answers. “Your hubris is what will be your downfall.”

The fear in his eyes, finally there, finally taking over, is strangely satisfying and Regina can feel her smile grow. Still, he doesn’t give up; he pulls up his usual superiority out from somewhere.

“It seems you have failed to read properly, dearie. It says ‘If they vanquish him, everyone will die with him.’”

“We both know that’s a lie. Only one person has to die to give you your final death.”

She knows that it’s true as soon as she sees another sliver of fear in his face.

It is possible. She can and she will succeed. She doesn’t care about the price anymore. His magic seeps out of him, faster and faster, looking, finding its target with her.

She only has to die with it to make sure it disappears.

Somewhere, faintly, Zelena is screaming, but Regina doesn’t let it get to her, not anymore.

Her blood is boiling and all that she can hear is her own pulse in her ears, the power threatening to take over.

“Regina.” A hand grips her arm. Emma’s familiar magic, her concern begins decreasing the rush of energy, stopping it for a moment.

Her hesitation is enough for Rumple to free himself, calling his magic to himself. He suddenly stands again, his magic boiling beneath the surface, and he throws it to his first target.

Not at Emma nor Regina but at Zelena. Zelena, who has tears running down her face and is supporting Alex, helping her to get out of the line of fire, refusing to look at them.

It’s that inability to face their failure that gives them their win.

Rumple aims at Zelena again, entirely disregarding Alex, and, in an instant, his magic concentrates on the bigger threat - Alex.

Alex’s magic flares up immediately, throwing his own lethal energy back at him in an instinctive response to save herself; her magic explodes from her, completely uncontrolled.

Regina can only stare in shock while Alex lights up in a silver-white fire.

She hears Emma scream and feels Emma getting up, running at Alex.

Using the last of her wit, Regina jumps up and throws herself at Rumple. He is almost unconscious; his own attack hit him hard.

He has a strange look in his eyes, as his magic is trying to heal him, trying to keep him together. Regina leans over him, takes the vial with his blood, and begins to draw symbols of binding. He is weak enough for it to work, and after all, she has promised they’ll get him to a cell.

Behind her, Regina hears Emma talking in a soft murmur, and she knows that Alex is going to be alright. She should have either started earlier to get a handle on her magic or she should have let the fairies bind it, but Regina trusts Emma to help Alex.

“Is it done?”

Suddenly Zelena is next to her, looking at the symbols. Regina nods.

“I hope so.”

Zelena smiles weakly before she kneels down on his other side and together they teleport him right into his cell. He groans at their arrival and when he sees where they are, he scrambles to get up, crawling to the cell’s door, only to be repelled by his own spell.

He falls down again and Zelena pulls Regina past him and out of the cell. Tink is waiting for them, wide-eyed, clearly surprised by their success.

Regina just turns around and draws the remaining runes on the bars.

She meets Rumple’s eyes one last time as the stasis starts to take hold and she finally recognizes the strange look on his face.

Fear.

The great Oracle’s last expression is fear.

Regina takes a step back and shakes her head.

It was almost too easy.

“Prophecies, hm?”

She turns to see Zelena giving her a wry smile.

“They never really tell you all that you need to know, do they?”

Despite herself, Regina releases a tired bark of laughter. She shakes her head once more before she takes Zelena’s hand in hers.

“Let’s go and see how the Savior is doing.”

 

---

 

Emma only spares the Oracle one glance to understand that he is incapacitated, at least for the moment. She sees Regina hurrying toward him and she trusts that Regina will make sure that he stays down, she trusts that Regina will do it without trying to kill him.

She has to trust because, right now, she has to make sure that Alex will keep her magic inside and not kill all of them by accidentally exploding.

“Emma, I really have no idea how to do this.”

Alex’s voice is wavering, breaking with fear, but her eyes are begging for a way, still showing just enough resolve, just enough of Alex’s stubbornness, to save them.

“That’s the thing, Alex. I know you don’t, but I also know that you’re going to succeed.”

“I’m sorry?”

Alex seems confused. She is blinking, and the energy across her skin crackles, still feels hot even without touching, like it should be burning her where she stands. However, Alex is still alive, still holding on and that gives Emma hope.

“You are too stubborn to let this be the end.”

Alex grimaces, but Emma can practically feel some of the tension ebbing away, just like she can see Regina and Zelena disappearing with the Oracle. She trusts them to have a plan and really hopes it will work.

“Good, you’re relaxing.”

“That’s good?”

Alex still sounds shaky, but she focuses on Emma now, ready to try.

“Yes. Now breathe.”

“Emma?”

“Right,” Emma shakes her head at herself. Alex hasn’t been around for all the stupid training Emma has been subjected to. “Deeply. Take deep breaths.”

Hoping that it helps, Emma takes a deep breath herself.

“Oh, right.”

Alex holds Emma eyes and breathes in with her, breathes out, in sync, the energy growing fainter.

“You’re doing it. Just hold on to that calm. Use it to pull the energy back in.”

“Back in?”

Alex’s voice is too high, the fear creeping back in, but Emma stays calm, continues breathing, and just nods.

“Yes. You’re already doing it. You’re calming down, regaining your control.”

She smiles at Alex, who slowly, ever so slowly, smiles back, the energy retreating. As soon as she feels safe to do so, Emma moves in and puts her hands on Alex’s shoulders.

Carefully, Emma forces the magic to become dormant again. She knows it won’t stay that way. They will have to either bind it or teach Alex how to control it.

For now, it will do.

Alex falls into her arms when the last of the energy retreats. She is mumbling into Emma’s neck, an endless array of ‘Thank you’s’, and Emma holds on tightly.

As soon as the last trace of the magic is gone, Ruby joins into the embrace, resting her head atop of Alex’s, mouthing her own silent ‘Thank you’ at Emma.

It’s how they’re standing when Regina and Zelena reappear.

Emma whirls around, positioning herself in front of her friends, hoping but fearing.

She has heard about the Oracle controlling his witches with spells and bindings, but Regina meets her eyes, smiles and nods. She holds her hand out for her and Emma hurries towards her.

“He’s gone?”

“Incarcerated,” Regina confirms as Emma grips her hand.

“For good?”

Again, Regina nods.

“For good.”

Now Emma smiles herself, squeezing Regina’s hand.

“Shall we get our son now?”

At this, Regina’s face breaks into a beautiful smile and she nods.

“Yes. Of course.”

Emma is ready for Regina to whisk them away, but Regina just shakes her head at her.

“Maybe we should get the rest of your crew out of the forest first?”

“Oh, yeah. Right.”

It’s embarrassing. She’s responsible for these people and usually she doesn’t forget those responsibilities. Alex is coming up behind her, slowly, hesitantly, but eyeing Regina with thinly veiled hope.

“Jasmine?”

“She’s well. Andre and her are helping Tink to break the bindings on Rumple’s prisoners.”

Finally, the tension leaves Alex’s body and she smiles. Emma reaches out with her free hand and Alex takes it.

Together, the three of them transport all of them back to the castle. It is curious how Alex just blinks, barely noticing that Emma is mostly using Alex’s magic while Regina determines their destination, which is, weirdly, a big room that looks like an abandoned ballroom.

Emma raises her eyebrows, but Regina just shrugs.

“Only room big enough for all of you.”

She turns to the other witch, who squints at the room.

“Really Regina?”

Regina just laughs and Emma stares at how free Regina sounds, how light she suddenly looks, her usual tension gone. In the next moment Tink is coming through the door, shortly followed by Jasmine and Andre. It takes Alex all but five seconds to draw Jasmine into a bone-crushing hug.

Emma barely notices the red haired woman come up to them and she really doesn’t like the wary way the witch looks at her.

“Should we get Belle and Henry back?”

Surprised, Emma looks between Regina and the witch, only to see Regina nod.

“Emma, this is my sister, Zelena. I believe you haven’t been properly introduced.”

Zelena rolls impressively blue eyes but smiles at Emma.

“I have heard a lot about you.”

Her voice doesn’t indicate whether it’s good or bad, but Emma decides to smile.

“Me too.”

At that Zelena shakes her head.

“It’s vastly exaggerated.”

Somehow, Emma decides, she likes her, especially when Zelena looks at Regina and says, “Let’s go,” making Henry her priority.

They don’t look very much alike and Emma wonders for a moment why that is, whether they are sisters from circumstance, like Ruby and Alex are to her, or from upbringing. In her opinion it doesn’t make much difference, but part of her wants to know how they ended up with the Oracle, how they were subjected to that fate.

All that thought is rendered pointless when they appear in a tiny cottage and Henry runs up to them, the small brunette from before standing behind him. He stops right in front of them and stares up at them in amazement. Regina kneels down and draws him towards her, hugging him. He closes his eyes for a moment, resting his head against Regina’s shoulder. Zelena kneels down next to them, putting her hand on Henry’s back, protective and loving.

Emma stops and stares.

She had seen him sleeping in his bed hours ago, stressed even in sleep. The stress seems gone now, replaced with relief, and shining happiness in his eyes as they meet hers.

“You did it!”

He smiles at Regina and then Zelena before he flings himself at Emma.

It takes Emma a moment to bend down and hug him properly. She holds him tightly against her, rubbing his back, cradling his head, promising herself to never lose sight of him again. She meets Regina’s eyes over his head and Regina nods at her, giving her a teary smile full of promise, and Emma knows that she will have a place in Henry’s life.

She holds him a bit tighter, resting her cheek on his soft hair.

“Hello Henry.”

“Hi Mama,” he whispers softly against her collarbone and she can feel her heart growing and expanding in a way she never thought it could. It’s shocking, a little bit painful, and endlessly wonderful.

She hasn’t allowed herself to love him like this before, has tried to keep him separated from her and even if it never worked, there still was the illusion.

It’s gone now. Now that she finally accepts him because she knows that she’ll have a place in his life.

When he draws back, Emma is finally properly introduced to the brunette, Belle, and they teleport back to the castle. Henry is hugging Zelena properly now and Belle is smiling at them all when Emma looks at Regina, who is still smiling at Henry. It isn’t just that the shadow that always seemed to cling to her is gone, but more than that she looks happy, just like Henry looks happy.

Before Emma can think about it, she draws Regina into a hug and whispers into her ear,

“Thank you.”

It’s so little, but she hopes it begins to convey some of the gratitude she feels, for raising Henry, for helping to save them, for everything.

Clearly surprised, Regina doesn’t react at first, but then she hugs Emma back, her arms strong around Emma’s waist.

“You’re welcome,” she breathes against Emma’s cheek, and Emma feels her heart flutter in something that can’t entirely be attributed to the overwhelming happiness of the moment, but something else; something new, something more.

She swallows and leans back only to have Regina meet her eyes with a hesitant smile that mirrors Emma in ways that make it difficult to concentrate on anything else but the sheer happiness in Regina’s eyes.

 

Chapter Text

 

“The Savior will grow up apart from the Whites, finding another family on the way, reunited with the entire family only after He is gone.

Reul Ghorm, shortly after the birth of Princess Emma

 

---

 

They arrive back in the big ballroom and Ruby is the first one to approach them. She ruffles Henry’s hair and gives him a big smile.

“Hey kid.”

To everyone’s surprise, he remembers Ruby immediately and hugs her.

Behind them Tink is glowering at Ruby and Emma walks up to her, concerned.

“What’s wrong?”

“That… ‘person’ has been badgering me for the last five minutes, screaming, that I should lift the spell on your parents.”

Emma tries to hide her smile at Tink’s inability to insult someone, but then Emma frowns. She thought, it was included in their plan.

“Why haven’t you?”

Tink puts her hands to her waist, scowling.

“I thought you might like to be there.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. Also, I don’t have a lot knowledge of those kind of spells, so I wanted to ask Zelena and Regina whether my idea is right.”

Emma nods and waves the two witches over. So they make their way down to the dungeons again, leaving Henry with Belle, who is already starting to give out orders, putting everyone to work, to get the living quarters ready for their guests.

It’s astonishing how, with a few prudently placed comments, the entire staff follows Belle. Everyone looks like they are slowly starting to realize that the Oracle is gone; hesitant smiles slowly begin to on their faces. So it surprises Emma when Belle’s gentle orders are immediately carried out, instead of questioned.

Now is not the time to worry about the castle or about the fact that an entire land is without leadership; neither is Emma’s issue.

Or maybe they are, she thinks to herself as she follows Ruby, Regina, and Zelena down into the dungeons. After all, she is royalty; she has a kingdom that’s been left in the hands of a noble family. A kingdom that her parents will take back as soon as they regain consciousness.

Her parents.

Will they recognize her? Know how much time has passed?

How could they?

Will they even like her? They had no part in her upbringing. Ella has said that her parents would be proud of her, but how well did she really know them?

What if they hate her?

What if they look at her and always see the person that she could have been? The child they could have raised?

Suddenly there is a hand at her shoulder and Emma flinches, only to meet Regina’s gaze.

“Don’t think too hard.”

Despite everything, Emma smiles.

“What makes you say that?”

“You’re about to get wrinkles on your forehead from frowning.”

Not knowing what to answer, Emma simply sticks out her tongue, and Regina shakes her and smiles.

Somehow Regina’s hand finds Emma’s and her fingers squeeze shortly before letting go again. It is strangely soothing.

Before Emma can gather her panic back up, Tink stops in front of a cell and waves at the glowing bars.

“Can’t get them out without the proper breaking spell.”

Emma stops, just short of being able to see, her heart beating uncontrollably fast.

She feels Regina pause at her side and sees her gesturing to Zelena, who moves towards the bars and starts tracing the glowing symbols with her fingers, changing them from binding to opening.

Slowly Emma moves forwards, emboldened by Regina’s presence.

She sees her mother first.

Snow looks just like the portraits. Her flowing, black hair frames her face; a fierce expression present; she is dressed in unconventional fighting clothes and the fact that her mother actually invaded Rumple’s castle, ready to fight, wearing a crossbow over her shoulder, makes Emma smile.

Then she sees her father and takes in a sharp breath.

His eyes are so full of love, focused on her mother, that Emma has to swallow, the feelings threatening to overwhelm her. She can’t help but imagine having his love, this protectiveness, directed at her.

She can’t help but imagine what her life could have been like with that kind of love.

Regina’s hand is at her back, bringing Emma back to the present, and Emma notices that almost all the runes are changed now.

The spell on her parents flickers and dies.

Snow takes a step forward as the stasis falls, fighting for balance, and blinks, her eyes ghosting over their little group.

“Red?”

In an instant, Ruby throws herself forward and hugs Snow, whose arms immediately go around Ruby’s waist, pulling her in close. David blinks shortly at Ruby, but his eyes continue to take everyone in. He gives Tink a small smile, but his eyes get caught at Emma.

He frowns.

Emma can’t stop holding his gaze because it is so obvious that he is about to understand just how much time has passed, that he is on the verge of…

“Emma?”

Her lips move into a trembling smile, and she shrugs with one shoulder as she hesitantly nods once.

It doesn’t take him more to rush forward and put his arms around her.

For a moment Emma just stands there, not quite ready, but then he mumbles into her hair, holding her head with one hand.

“Are you alright?”

Not ‘How old are you?’, not ‘What happened’, but ‘ Are you alright .’

Emma sags against him, resting her head on his shoulder, arms around his waist. She feels tears brimming in her eyes as she nods her head against his hand.

“I’m alright.”

Because she is.

Her life might have sucked a lot of the time, but she has found friends, sisters, a family of her own, she has Henry and Regina. She is alright.

Even if she is crying now, because he holds on until she moves back. He looks at her with so much love, so much acceptance that she doesn't know what to do with herself until Snow is at her side, wearing a pained smile, as she puts a hand on Emma’s face.

“You saved us.”

Emma gives her a crooked smile through her tears.

“Technically, they did.”

She nods back to the others and Snow glances at them, the hand falling away from Emma’s face to rest on her shoulder instead. Recognition dawns in Snow’s eyes as she takes in Zelena.

“The Oracle?”

“Locked up.”

“Cora?”

“Dead,” Zelena says, almost defensively, but Snow only nods, a sad smile on her lips.

“I’m sorry.”

Zelena’s lips part in shock, but Snow just looks at everyone else and smiles.

“Thank you all, for freeing us.”

Her hand on Emma’s shoulder clenches.

“And for bringing my daughter back to me.”

This time, it is Regina who speaks up.

“Technically, she found the way on her own.”

 

---

 

After that, it doesn’t take Snow long to start asking after the affairs of the kingdom. Ruby jumps in, with just the answers Snow seems to want. It’s weird in ways Emma doesn’t even want to start to think about, like the fact that her mother calls Ruby ‘Red’, or that they seem to share a best friend.

Snow squeezes Emma’s arm again, before swiftly moving upstairs, looking for Alex to get some more news. David had lingered, but Emma sent him off with a smile and a nod.

Now, only Regina is left, leaning against the stone wall opposite of the empty cell, silently waiting for Emma to…

What, process?

How can she possibly process that?

She looks back to Regina, only to notice that Regina isn’t waiting for her at all, but staring at the next cell over, at the Oracle, caught in his stasis.

Regina seems to notice Emma staring at her because she looks up with a wry smile, before she goes back to staring at the Oracle, starting to speak in an eerily calm voice.

“And the Savior will bring about his downfall, using his own monsters against him.”

“You are no monster,” Emma objects immediately, having heard this part before. She has always subscribed it to the meaning of internal monsters, his own doubts. For once she should have taken a prophecy literal.

“I might not be now, but I was,” Regina counters, a tired note in her voice.

“ You did what you had to do. For him.” For us .

Emma is insistent because she is right, but Regina only gives her a tired smile.

“And what now? When they will start calling for vengeance? When they learn that he is dead, because that is the smart thing to tell everyone. How will they get their public execution then?”

The image of Regina standing in the middle of a courtyard, arrows pointed at her, ready to be fired, makes Emma sick to her stomach.

“There won’t be any public executions, Regina. He is gone and everyone knows that he is capable of controlling people, even witches.”

Now Regina meets her gaze, her empty eyes looking frightfully defeated.

“Do you really think that will protect us? Zelena and me?”

Emma holds her head up, feeling a fierce protectiveness.

“I will protect you.”

And Regina smiles.

With hope.

 

---

 

When Regina and Emma reach the ballroom, Snow is already busy making history.

Zelena looks scared, but for an entirely different reason than Emma immediately suspects.

“Your father was Henry Sr, wasn’t he? Son of King Xavier?”

Zelena simply stares and Snow nods.

“It gives you a claim. You descend from royal blood, this castle, this kingdom needs someone to lead it, at least until we find out who originally owned this land.”

“Unlikely to find anyone left with that claim,” Regina mumbles under her breath and Emma hears the familiar sound of Alex’s silent snort. She turns to her left to meet Alex’s bright face. Jasmine has her arm around Alex’s waist, her head placed on Alex’s shoulder.

Alex looks at her, a silent question in her eyes, and Emma nods.

She is okay.

At least, she thinks she is.

“I apologize, Your Majesty, but I am not Henry’s daughter. He took me in when he learned about me, but I don’t have any…” Emma hears Zelena clear her throat, failing to disguise her nervousness, “claim on royal blood.”

“Oh.”

It seems to stop Snow short, until she frowns.

“But your younger sister? Regina? I remember she looked just like him.”

“I am here, Your Majesty,” Regina speaks up. She moves away from Emma to approach Emma’s parents in the middle of the room, executing a perfect curtsy before she assumes her own regal stance.

“However, I am afraid I have to decline your offer. I am not fit to rule a kingdom.”

Snow examines Regina for a moment before she nods.

“That is what actually qualifies you to rule a kingdom. I’ve heard you and your sister have kept the affairs in order anyway, so it shouldn’t take that much to get used to it.”

Regina looks at Snow for a moment, her face carefully empty, before she turns around to take in the room. Guards and maids are convened with their guests, most of them nodding in approval, and Regina’s eyes widen in surprise. Regina searches until she finds Belle, the young woman shrugging in a way that so clearly says ‘what the hell’ that even Emma has to grin. Regina smiles until a small figure steps forward, escaping Belle’s protective hold.

“Mom?”

Immediately, Regina crouches down and smiles at Henry, opening her arms for him.

“What is it, Henry?”

“I’d like to stay. This is our home, isn’t it?”

Emma grins.

Sneaky little bastard.

Like Regina could refuse him anything.

“You have a son?”

Snow breathes and...

Oh.

Regina meets Emma’s eyes over the crowd and Emma nods.

Regina has a son.

But then Regina opens her hand, beckoning Emma closer and Emma starts moving through the room before she has made the conscious decision to do so.

In no time at all, she is standing next to Regina, their hands clasped and she hears Regina say.

“He is our son.”

Emma stares at the ground, not ready to meet her parents judgement at giving Henry away. She sees David move out of the corner of her eyes, approaching them, and she watches as he lowers himself down in front of Henry, opening his arms.

“Hey buddy. I’m David.”

Henry hesitantly takes his hand in his to shake before he changes his mind and moves into his grandfather’s embrace.

“I’m Henry.”

Emma smiles and raises her head to look at Snow, who gives them a tearful smile.

“You’re married?”

Oh.

Instantly, Emma lets go of Regina’s hand.

“No. Ehm. I…”

“I raised Henry,” Regina saves her, drawing Snow’s attention towards her. “Rumple was under the misconception that the Savior had to be a male coming from your line. He was wrong in the end, but he was ready to kill any male child that was born to your daughter. So I hid him under strong protections spells, right under Rumple’s eyes, because he didn’t think me capable of lying to him.”

Something flickers over Snow’s face before she nods.

“I see.”

 

---

 

It’s a couple of hours later, at an impressive lunch feast, that Alex drops into a seat next to Emma, looking at Snow talking to the chief of the Oracle’s, no, Regina’s guard.

“Your mom’s kind of badass.”

“My dad’s sitting right next to me,” Emma answers, not without a note of surprise in her voice. David hasn’t moved from her side for more than a couple of minutes. He gives her space, but when she looks at him, she can see the desire to simply hug her close and never let her go. While Emma can understand it, especially looking at Henry sitting between his mother and aunt, she really doesn’t know how to deal with this kind of parental love herself.

“Your dad’s kind of awesome, too,” Alex quips and David laughs. “Thanks, Alexandra.”

“Alex,” she corrects him. “Awesome people can call me Alex.”

David smiles, still looking so very happy, and nods.

“Alright then, Alex.”

Emma feels herself smile as well.

This is all too much, but so very good.

“So, you were saying?”

Emma asks Alex who rolls her eyes.

“I was saying that I like your parents and I was about to ask you how you feel about that, but I’ll refrain on grounds of your awesome dad sitting right next to you.”

Emma laughs and nudges Alex with her shoulder.

“I really have no idea. Honestly,” Emma answers. She rests her head on Alex’s shoulder, whispering, “To be honest, I’m a bit overwhelmed.”

Her dad proves how awesome he is by busying himself with his food, pretending not to hear them.

“Well, I’m here for you,” Alex murmurs into her hair and Emma feels a surge of familiar happiness.

“I know,” she responds and Alex hums.

For a moment they just lean on each other in content silence, observing the others. Snow talking to Regina with an easy smile, observing Henry with a strange kind of tension around her eyes, like she is trying too much to smile at him, her mouth a little bit too wide. Ruby next to Snow talking to Jasmine, gesturing wildly, clearly at ease. She notices Emma looking at her and Emma winks, letting her know that they’re okay.

“I think she has found her protection again,” Alex murmurs, looking at Ruby as well.

“Come again?”

“I overheard Granny once, when she was talking to my mom. She said that it was different, when they still were under royal protection.”

Emma smirks, realizing something.

“Well, now she’ll be protected in two kingdoms.”

“Snow’s and Regina’s?”

“Exactly.”

There’s another moment of silence in which Emma observes Regina. Even while she is talking to Snow or some guard, she rests her hand on Henry’s arm every once in a while, making sure he is alright.

It makes Emma smile and Alex snort.

“Returning to the topic of your mom being awesome.”

“Hm?”

“She reacted considerably well when she thought you were married to Regina.”

Recalling that embarrassing moment, Emma lifts her head away from Alex’s shoulder and shrugs.

“Well, with us calling a ten-year-old our own, it wasn’t like she had much choice in the moment.”

“No,” Alex protests. “They always have a choice and your mom was clearly okay with it, which I think is kind of awesome. You should keep it in mind, you know, if it ever comes to something like that.”

Alex winks at her and gets up, walking back to her place next to Jasmine before Emma can respond.

Emma is still shell-shocked at Alex’s suggestion when David speaks up.

“So, Ella and Thomas took care of you?”

Emma smiles at him.

“For about a year. The fairies used to move me, so that the Oracle wouldn’t find me.”

David nods slowly, his brow creased in pain and understanding.

“Well, that’s over now.”

There’s that fierce protectiveness again, this time in his voice, aimed at Emma. Loving her, holding her, appreciating her, just as she is.

Before Emma can find a way to cope with that, David’s smile widens.

“You know, we are pretty awesome and we will continue to be, whatever your relationship with Regina turns out to be.”

Emma just stares at him, only remembering to nod after some time, shell-shocked, not finding an answer. David just smiles, nods, and looks away again, accepting her just as she is.

 

---

 

Emma finds herself in a big bed in the private quarters at night - all alone in a room that is too big, too spacious.

David hugged her goodnight, even kissed her on the forehead and Emma is amazed at how easily she accepts his affection. It must be because it seems a hundred percent earnest.

Snow had rested her hand on Emma’s shoulder for what seemed like an eternity, green eyes, that look so much like Henry’s, shimmering with unshed tears, before she nodded at Emma and escaped down the corridor. David apologized for her, saying that Snow just needed some time.

Emma understands that.

It doesn’t change that it hurts.

She looked for Alex afterward, before she remembered that Alex probably shares her bed with her fiancée and Emma really doesn’t want to interrupt that.

Ruby had gone to find Granny and tell her the good news, while Emma had said goodnight to Henry two hours before she went to bed.

So she lies in her too big bed, trying and failing to get her brain to shut up, to find some rest, to just fall asleep.

Tomorrow will be stressful in ways that she can’t even conceive of yet, and still sleep won’t come.

Maybe, tomorrow is the reason why sleep won’t come because it means that Emma has no idea what her life is going to be like from now on.

Snow and David will expect her to go back with them to their kingdom, to her kingdom, but a part of her just wants to stay with Henry and Regina, to finally be a part of her son’s life, really get to know her son’s other mother.

She also wants to get to know her parents, desperately wants to get to know them.

She doesn’t want to choose.

Emma sighs, only to flinch at a knock on her door. She sits up, pushing her hair out of her face.

“Yes?”

The door is slowly pushed open and Henry peers in, hair tousled, dressed in sleep clothes.

“Are you awake?”

Emma smiles widely and moves to make space on the mattress, patting it as an invitation.

“Come in.”

Henry hesitates and then the door sways fully open, revealing another figure behind Henry.

Regina, who is currently smiling a little bit uncomfortably, but doesn’t let go of their son’s hand.

Emma feels herself nod and smile even wider, when Henry bounces up to her.

“Sleep party.”

Emma laughs, hugging him close to her, suddenly feeling incredibly free.

She looks up to see Regina hesitate at the edge of the bed, the door still open behind her.

Emma just makes an another inviting gesture.

“The bed is huge.”

Regina smirks and Henry protests against Emma’s stomach, having curled up in the middle of the bed, “It’s just a bed.”

Regina closes the door behind her and climbs in next to Henry, her motions still hesitant, until Emma draws up the huge blanket, covering all three of them.

Henry sighs, draws the blanket down to free his face, and closes his eyes. He is the only one really lying down. Emma is propped up on one elbow, stroking his hair with her free hand, while Regina awkwardly positions a pillow to sit up against, leaning against the wall.

Slowly, Henry’s breathing evens out and it is enough for Emma to feel content, happy even, strangely calm for the first time in forever.

However, Regina still seems a bit awkward and Emma desperately wants her to feel at ease.

“The first time he met his grandparents, his grandmother made him the sole heir to two kingdoms.”

It doesn’t have the same levity their comments previously had, but it somehow fits. Regina blinks, a smile tugging at her lips, and it breaks the awkwardness as Regina lies down, bedding her head on an extra pillow.

The smile barely stays before it is replaced by a sigh.

“The first time he did magic, he saved my life.”

Emma sucks in a sharp breath.

So much for levity.

“He has magic?”

Regina nods slowly and Emma decides to take a chance, dares herself to be brave.

“Well, then we’ll just have to teach him how to control it, won’t we?”

Regina doesn’t smile or laugh it off. Instead, she meets Emma’s eyes, searching for something. Emma knows that a simple nod won’t do. She also knows that after the day they’ve had, after all that has happened today, her ability to put emotions into words is strangely silenced. So she expresses them by acting, leaning forward, over Henry, and placing her lips shortly on Regina’s.

It’s a quick kiss. An offer.

For a moment, Regina doesn’t react, so Emma pulls back, starting to panic. She closes her eyes and lays back down on her pillow, internally cursing herself.

But then Regina starts to move and places her head into the crook of Emma’s neck.

“I’d like that.”

Just like that Emma feels excited, nervous, happy, and content all at the same time.

But above all, she feels at home.