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Truthfully, Snow and David had an excellent marriage, one that made most of Storybrooke envious. They knew how to communicate with each other, knew how to listen, when to give words of encouragement over words of advice. They knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, could finish each other's sentences, and knew exactly what the other was thinking and what their next move would be. They were truly the ying to the other's yang, something that transcended that magical link they shared. So when they found themselves at odds with each other it made things fairly difficult and stressful, extending so far to even effect those around them. And this was one of those miserable times...

30°19'10.5"N, 72°32'34.7"W 
517 Miles Southwest of Bermuda
Wednesday 7:40 PM

Sheriff Nolan heaves a heavy, tired sigh on the other end of the line. "I still wish you two would have waited until Killian and Emma got back tomorrow. At least Killian could drive the thing." 

"I'm not getting back into this with you, David." He heard her right. She had said David, deliberately not calling him by his beloved moniker. "We've already been over this. Besides, Ariel said it was urgent and Regina said she knows how to operate the sub. I don't want to risk waiting another day if Ariel is in trouble."

He didn't like this idea of his wife going gallivanting off to god knows where with Regina all while trapped twenty thousand leagues under the sea. Yes, Regina and Snow were on much friendlier terms than anyone had ever seen but it still didn't sit well with him. With just the pair of them going alone there would be no buffer between them and he and his wife had been up all night arguing over it. "I know, I know. I just want to make sure you'll be alright with her by yourself."

A hard stern look settles in on Snow's face as she watches a small school of hatchet fish swim through the lights. She can't help but question where exactly this worry was coming from. Couldn't he see that Regina was changing?... that she had changed? After everything they had overcome: Neverland, Camelot, the goddamn Underworld and most recently the Jekyll and Hyde clusterfuck... there was good in Regina, why couldn't he see that. "Don't start that. You know we will be fine. It should only be a couple days and then we'll be back home."

"Just make sure you come back to me. Don't let any of those handsome merfolk convince you to stay."

"I'll try my best not to jump ship." A subdued smile sits in the corner of her lips as she leans into the back of the second captain's chair, her legs pulled up onto the seat. Movement down at the further end of the corridor catches her attention, it's Regina stepping through the bulkhead and heading her way.

What could David do?... his wife was already aboard and hundreds of miles away. Only thing now was to wait until this trip played out. "I hate whatever this is that's happening between us. I'm not trying to control you or sway your thoughts, I just-.... I worry. That's all. I do love you, Snow."

"Don't say it like that. I know you do, and I love you too. We're-.... we're just having a marital dispute, guess we were due for one." Her head lays back against the headrest of the seat, staring up at the deep blue ocean hanging over her.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm not a fan of it." There's a soft lift in his voice as he's trying to lighten the mood.

"Look, I know you don't like me being out here, I understand that.... but I'm asking you to trust me on this. Please."

"I do trust you. It's her that I don't."

"Well I do. And that should be enough for you... right now it has to be." 

He hesitates, another heavy sigh leaving him as his hands were tied. He trusted his wife, now he just had to prove it by trusting her judgment. "Will you call me later?"

A mix between a scoff and chuckle leaves her as she shakes her head to herself. This difficult space they had found themselves in was finally starting to loosen its grip. "Go put our son to bed and maybe I will."

Regina slides into the little swivel chair, pretending to mind her own business as Snow tries to quietly end the call. She places the submarine's master control tablet on the charging base as the younger of the two pulls her headset down for it to rest around her neck.

"Do you think we'll ever have a normal life?"

Regina scoffs as she watches the radar. "Don't be ridiculous. Nothing will ever be normal about Storybrooke or our lives." She looks over the reports of incoming weather. "Why, what's happened now?"

Snow reclines, eyes glued to the large viewing window beside them, the marine life skittering past their deep-sea lights. "Nothing as far as I know. I was just thinking over the past year... how insane everything has been for us."

A beeping sound goes off along with a green flashing light above Regina's head. She reaches up and flicks a switch. "This is the Nautilus, go ahead."

Emma's voice pipes in over the speakers. "Ahoy, Mateys!" Regina can't help but smile as Snow leaves her chair with a snicker. "Get it? It's because you guys are at sea."

"It sounds like Hook is rubbing off on you" The older of the two says as she rolls her eyes. "Speaking of which... are you certain these are the proper coordinates?"

"Absolutely, Killian double checked them. They match the ones Mera received."

Just as Regina is about to say something, her step-daughter interrupts. "Emma, did you just call Ariel's cousin ' Mera ' ?"

"That was the pirate's idea." Regina grumbles under her breath.

Snow looks at her a little bewildered, sliding the headset off from her neck and setting it back on the holder. "She has a proper name, you know."

The older brunette swivels in her chair next to the control board. "Which is unpronounceable for most people... and by most people I mean everyone except you."

"Regina's right...and it could always be worse. He could have gone with one of those generic nautical names like... Pearl. Or Oceania... or.."

Regina shakes her head in disapproval at Storybrooke's Sheriff. "Are you finished?"

Snow giggles, unable to stop herself from adding one last name herself. ".....or Ursula." Her step-mother shoots her a look as if to say ' you're not helping '.

Emma chuckles. "So are you guys really there? In the middle of the Bermuda Triangle?"

Regina leaves her seat and moves over towards the large viewing window Snow had been sitting by. Her hand pressed into the glass as she peers out. "We sure are, but I've got news for you... it's not all that exciting. Just your typical marine life."

"Come on, are you kidding me?! What about you, Mom? You're in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle! People have been speculating about that part of the ocean for centuries. Missing ships, planes disappearing... the list is endless!" 

Snow folds her arms as she leans her lower back into the edge of the control panel countertop. "I hate to say it but she's right. There's been reports of lost time and doors opening up to other dimensions, even alien abductions."

Regina looks at her as if she had three heads. "What's with you two? It's only the ocean... seriously." 

Emma laughs again. "Okay, but if you two find ancient alien artifacts or those missing airmen from World War Two-.."

"Goodbye, Emma!" Regina walks back over and slaps the switch again, terminating the call.

Snow snorts a muted chuckle as she watches the live feed from one of the exterior cameras. "You know, I've got to say that as a teacher, this is a trip of a lifetime. To be down here in such a legendary place."

"Other than a high concentration of sea life and salt, there's nothing particularly special about it."

The younger woman turns with a skeptical look in eyes. "Nothing special other than the fact that mermaids are inhabiting the area.... an area outside of Storybrooke."

Regina had to admit she had a point there. The Bermuda Triangle had been a thing of speculation long before their little cursed town ever showed up. She shakes her head, surprised at herself for even entertaining this conversation. "And, as a teacher, you should know why any species lives anywhere. It's all based on food supply, temperate climate, and safety." She slides back into the swivel chair, crossing her own arms as she does so. "I mean look at us with Storybrooke. We could all leave at any point, go out into the world and spread around... but instead we choose to stay because it's what we know. It's our brand of home... of safety."

"Yeah, I'm not so sure about the latter anymore." Snow pipes in with a soft smirk.

"Hmm.... you and me both."

The teacher stands straight, moving over to the secondary computer behind Regina. "Still slightly disappointing that it's not magnetic waves, or a time portal, or... aliens." 

Try as she may, Regina can't stop the nearly toothy grin. She could see where Henry got his active imagination. "You've seen too many B-Movies."

A short laugh erupts from Snow. "Our whole life is a B-Movie. It's a classic, don't get me wrong, but still..." She's still smiling to herself as she starts flipping through the different camera feeds. To think that Captain Nemo had done an absolute overhaul of his submarine was still amazing. Completely fitted with all new technology and upgraded gadgets but still decorated with the immaculate art-deco aesthetic. Through the help of the exterior lights they could see almost seven meters ahead into the murky abyss surrounding them.

Regina hits a couple buttons and the screen in front of her changes, reading out their coordinates as she compares it to what Killian had given her. Her left-hand lifts to the touch screen, hitting the button marked ' FULL STOP ' and immediately the constant background purr of the engines dies down. "According to this, we're in the right area... maybe a hundred meters or so deeper but we still should be able to make contact. In this darkness our lights should act like a beacon."

Snow remains silent as her smile slips, her eyes narrowing as she takes a half step towards the screen she's watching. There's a shadow hanging in the dark water, unmoving. Her right-hand raises, nudging the controls to zoom the camera in. Something about this was all wrong, she could feel it in her gut. "...do you remember the vicious run-in we had with the mermaids on the way to Neverland?"

"...How could I forget? I learned first hand what a rather mean right hook you have." Regina answers over her shoulder, waiting to hear some sort of bratty retort but what she gets is far from it.

"Well, you may want to have a look at this." Regina swivels in her chair and stands at the serious tone, moving to look over Snow's shoulder at the view screen. She blinks quickly several times to make sure she's looking at what she thinks she is... it looks like a mutilated corpse floating out in the distance. She reaches up and pushes two large switches, in response two large flood lights bursts to life illuminating the dark around them a further thirty meters. The pair of them gasp in unison. Sure enough, it's a partial mermaid torso... missing one arm and everything else below the hips. "...Regina... is that..?"

"Ariel."

Snow swallows hard, forcing herself to take a deep breath as her lashes bat back unwanted tears. "....she's been massacred." She certainly had; her flesh was torn to shreds where she had been severed. With a quick spin, Regina turns on her heel and leans back to the control monitor. "What do you think did this? A great white or some other sea creature?... what if it was-.."

"Snow White, if you say Sharktopus I'll toss you out the hatch myself."

"I was going to suggest mankind ." Snow gives her an irritated hard side-eye, only briefly turning around before moving over to a large viewing glass. It's creepy the way the body is just suspended there, simply hanging as if it were trapped in resin rather than water. And it's only getting worse the closer they get... various body parts and loose organs from other merfolk bumping up against the glass along with little bits of ripped iridescent tail floating by. "What in the hell could have caused this?"

Regina moves over to the two round joysticks. A new hum whirls up as a mechanical arm extends from the submarine to bring the body in. "I'm not sure but we're going to find out."

----------

Wednesday 8:27 PM

The two women stand across from one another in the small morgue of the vessel, the pair of them donning gloves and plastic disposable aprons. The mermaid remains laying between them on the small metal table. Snow leans over her little fish friend, her hand gently shutting her eyes before observing the tears in the flesh and what looks like bite marks. "Regina, look at this. These aren't predatory teeth marks, they look human. And here on her chest..." She softly drags her right gloved hand across the corpse's chest, her fingers matching the deep red abrasions as though she had done them herself.

This didn't make sense to either of the women. They were in the middle of the ocean and practically one-thousand meters down. "I think it's safe to say we can rule out this being some sort of aquatic creature attack... and I know neither of us are forensic pathologists, but based on what the evidence is suggesting means the mankind theory also doesn't make any sense. I mean, look where we are. The closest oil rig is hundreds of miles away."

Snow stands upright, her hands resting on the metal table as she slightly leans forward. "I know but… I hate to say it, but this looks like genocide."

"What if it was an accident? Like a military maneuver, a depth charge, or a floating mine?"

The younger woman shakes her head. "I thought that at first too, but no. There would have been heat damage and shrapnel, I see neither."

Regina reaches out, gently turning Ariel's face from side to side to inspect it. She wasn't sure exactly what she’s inspecting it for, but other than the mauling she could see there was nothing out of the ordinary. As she pulls her hand away, there's a semi-transparent gel-like fluid stuck to her hand. She watches it as it oozes and crawls down her glove, almost as if it had a mind of its own. "Who knows, maybe you're onto something about this Bermuda Triangle and all the wild claims." She removes her soiled glove, finding some of the fluid had made its way through the latex. Her index finger and thumb move against one another before spreading apart... the clear substance stretching from one finger to another as though it was thick spit. She makes a disgusted face as she moves towards the sink.

Snow's now leaning a hip against the table, as she stares off into dead space, still trying to come up with a valid reason why fishermen or scuba divers would be here this deep. Her eyes shift back to the marks on the deceased before looking at her own hand again. "Do you think there would be any reason for them to go to war with themselves?"

"I thought you said their society was supposed to be benevolent unless threatened."

She nods. "They are, but I'm kind of running out of scenarios to go through my head to explain this."

Regina turns around, drying her hands with some paper towels and simply just watching her stepdaughter as the pain sunk in on her face. Back in their own realm, mermaids were considered a rare find and the fact that they also here was a bit of a surprise. Who knows how many actually existed in all the worlds combined and the fact that this had happened made it utterly catastrophic for the species as a whole. "You really think they would have turned on each other?"

Snow shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know... I feel like I don't know anything anymore." Following suit, she removes her gloves and then the little plastic apron wrapped around her; tossing them both in the trash beside the sink then moving to wash her hands clean as well.

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Wednesday 8:43 PM

David answers with a soft hum in his voice, almost as if they hadn't been at each others throats just hours prior. "Mmm, you called."

"Charming..."

Instantly he knew something was very wrong by her tone alone. He could hear how close to the edge his wife was to crying and it lit a fire within his chest. And of course, his first thoughts went directly towards Regina yet again. "What did Regina do? Are you okay?"

Snow sniffs as she puts her head in hands, leaning forward beside the computers and control panel in the captain’s chair. Next to her sits a highball glass with two fingers worth of whiskey liqueur. "It's not that, she didn't do anything." She sniffs again before taking a deep breath. "It's Ariel... she's dead."

A pause fills the space, one that wasn't a usual or welcomed occurrence in their relationship. ".....wh-....what? What happened? Are you safe?"

There's a noise to her left that catches her attention. Lifting her head she finds Regina moving at the end of the corridor, shutting the back bulkhead behind her before resetting some control valves. "I'm okay, Regina and I are both safe... we just got here too late."

His end goes quiet, he's not quite sure what to say. He partially feels guilty for holding them back from going the day they received the message. Then again Snow was ready to charter a boat alone and go out there herself if need be. "Oh, Snow... I'm so sorry."

A single soft sob escapes her. "It's horrible, David. She-... her and several other mermaids are just... it's like they were slaughtered. Body parts floating everywhere..." She goes on to describe what they had found, the details making his stomach curl and twist. All David can do is listen and try to offer support  and comfort from afar. The call doesn't last long as Snow is adamant he go find Ariel's cousin to deliver the news as this wasn't something that should wait until morning. 

The call finishes with a soft ' I love you ' as the older brunette slides in beside her, the leather of the second chair softly groaning as she eyed the glass of amber sitting at Snow's lips. "...are you sure you're ready to head home? We both know there must be some evidence down here that could tell us what really happened."

Snow nods after taking an indulging sip, the burn of it warming her as it made its way down her throat. "I don't think there's anymore you and I can do; this isn't our forte, Regina. Maybe if Killian had come along we'd have a better shot, but..." She shakes her head, so disappointed in this turn of events. If they had only got there sooner. "...there's nothing else out there. The quicker we get her back to Storybrooke, the quicker Dr. Whale can do an autopsy to try and figure out what happened to her... to all of them." 

Regina studies her a little longer. "Only if you’re sure." She gives a quick but gentle pat against one of Snow's bent knees as she removes herself from the chair. "I'm sorry about Ariel. I know she was a good friend to you."

Snow looks at her with a soft nod as her thank you, clearing her throat. "I appreciate that. And I also appreciate you being so willing to stay; I know you weren't necessarily amused by this trip. Then again being trapped in a tin can for several consecutive days isn’t the most appealing idea to the majority of people."

The Mayor looks back at her as she adjusts the lead controls, the engines waking back up. "I don't mind that part so much. It was being trapped in a tin can with you and all your questions." There's a gentle smirk in the corner of her lips as she gives a quick wink, one so fast that if Snow wasn't paying attention she would have missed. "We should be along the Carolina beaches in roughly seven hours... and back home by tomorrow night."

Snow nods to herself, finishing the little bit of alcohol that remained in her glass before standing. "If it's alright with you, I'm going to get a couple hours of sleep before we get to port. Then we can trade out?"

Her stepmother nods as she slides back into the swivel chair from earlier. "Sure, that's fine. I had planned to be up for a while anyway."

"Thank you." The younger woman turns away, taking her glass with her. "Please wake me if you need." The only reply she gets is a nod but Regina doesn't look at her, she's too busy watching the radar on the screen above. "Night, Regina." She tries again but fails to catch her attention. 

"Mmm... night." She manages to mumble under her breath as she's left in silence, the soft beeping of the computer now and again with the persistent humming in the background. Now that everything had slowed down, she notices a bit of a chill in her bones she hadn't felt earlier. But even after making herself some tea and adding a blanket around her shoulders, it doesn't let up. Watching the screens again, she finds her eyes beginning to blur a little... this was fine, she supposed. After all, she had been sitting there for a while and she normally didn't stare into a computer monitor this late into the evening. She stands with plans of retrieving a book from Nemo's library but as soon as she's upright a sharp pain from seemingly nowhere hits her right between her eyes. It wields powerful punch, one that feels like it's threatening to become a migraine. To steady herself she reaches out to grab the back of the chair and that's when she sees it and stops.... standing there motionless, she watches as her hand trembles of its own accord.

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Wednesday 11:52 PM

It's not a restful sleep by any means. Sure, the soft humming of the vessel and chilly air helped her drift off rather quickly, but her body jerks her awake twice and she can't help but wonder if she'll actually be able to sleep before they make it back to their sleepy little home in Maine. Though the third time she wakes it's not of her own doing, leaving her with the strange feeling she'd been woken up by someone or something. Laying as still as possible she hears nothing but her own heartbeat and the vibrations of the ship. Her eyes flutter open and she's met by the darkness of her quarters, not so much as even a thin line of light anywhere in sight. Slapping her hand over in the direction of her nightstand, she makes contact with her phone, grabbing it to look at the time. This non-stop waking and sleeping was more tiring than if she had just decided to stay up. She pulls the covers up and rolls over after the bright screen burns her eyes, determined in her attempt to sleep.

*bang*

She bolts up in bed; something had indeed woken her. The covers fly back as she crawls out of bed, grabbing her grey button up sweater and slipping her arms through as she ventured out the room barefoot. "...Regina?" The space is quiet, almost a little too quiet as there's no reply back. Tightening the sweater around herself she pitter-patters her way down the lacquer wood. "...Regina?..." She calls the name a little louder as she peers down the corridor leading to the observation deck, the last place she had seen her stepmother. 

*BANG*

This time she jumps at the crashing noise, the distinct sound of shattering glass now being added to the mix. Spinning around, she takes off towards the sound which doesn't take too long to locate. Taking the first right she finds glittering shards scattered across the floor heading away from the galley. Minding the bits of glass as best she can, she rushes... dropping into a squat next to Regina who has collapsed in the threshold and is struggling to prop herself up. "Regina!... what happened? Are you alright?"

She shakes her head, both her hands grabbing the younger woman tightly. "...something's wrong..."

The way those words drip from those lips made Snow's soul freeze; she sounded so small and desperate. "Hey... hey! Look at me." She's almost certain Regina looks ready to pass out but what really catches her attention is the trail of blood that's coming from her nose and ear just as Regina wipes it away. "You're bleeding..."

Before either one of them can move from the spot, Regina winces as if she'd been hit. Both her hands release the grasp she had on Snow only to be moved up, cradling her own head as she fell against the woman supporting her. "My head!" All Snow can do is brace her back against the doorway as she holds her friend against her chest. "The pressure! Don't you feel it?!"

"Pressure?...no, I’m fine. I don't feel anything." Nothing but confusion and unabated panic were breathing down Snow's neck, unable to make heads or tails of this. "Regina, listen to me. We hav-.."

"We have to stop!"

"Stop? No, we-.."

Regina pulls herself from the arms that supported her. Struggling as she manages to stumble to feet, moving forwards down the hall to the control room. "We have to stop rising!"

Her companion is right on her heels, braced and ready if there is another collapse. "Wait, talk to me! What's going on?"

"I have no idea! All I know is it's getting worse the shallower we go!"

"How could you be suffering from the Bends?"

Regina nearly drops again as she grasps the back of a nearby chair, the pain in her head becoming almost unbearable. "Down! We must go down!"

Snow wraps her arms around her, doing her best to keep her friend from sliding back down to the floor. "No, listen to me. You need medical attention, Regina! Cranial bleeding is never a good thing." One of her hands cups the older woman's face, the mirror image of seeing Regina like this when the pair of them were kneeling on the floor of the mossy woods of the Storybrooke's forest. Regina had thankfully survived that attack from the winged creature in the woods while trying to rescue Robin, but it had left a haunting image burned in Snow's brain which now came simmering back to the surface. The only problem was they were still four hours away from the shoreline and no help would be able to get to them if something went terribly wrong. Going deeper is the opposite of what they should be doing.

"The pain is becoming worst the higher we ascent, we have to go back down again!"

"No, that could make you worse." Regina shrugs the little woman off her, if she wasn't going to be heard then she'd do it her-damn-self. Mustering up the energy and focus, she pulls herself to her feet before clawing her way to the captain chair. She flips the controls, the sound of a hissing within the pipes overhead as the vessel tips downward... making her descent again. "What are you doing?"

"Taking us back down to our original depth."

Snow approaches, standing just behind her with a soft hand against her shoulder blade. "I don't think that's a-.."

"I have no choice!" She raises her voice with such a sharp old familiar tone, that Evil Queen within her bursting to the forefront for just a breath of a second. She can feel Snow flinch where she stands, but still her warm hand remains where it is against her back. She wants to turn around and apologize but the stabbing in her brain hasn't let up yet. That's when her world plunges into darkness. In her last second of consciousness she registers her knees giving way, buckling beneath her only to be caught before she can hit the floor.

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Thursday 00:27 AM

There's a tightness wrapping around her right bicep, one that usually wasn't there nor should be. She draws a deep breath as her eyes flutter open, the four walls of her dimly lit cabin suite greeting her. Looking down she finds a blood pressure cuff tightening around her arm, the diaphragm of a stethoscope shoved under the bottom lip against her pulse as the headset hung from Snow. Those greenish-hazel eyes flash up for just a moment when Snow notices the heavier breath and slight movement. Her focus returns to the needle of the pressure dial, neither of the two women saying a word for the next half a minute. A rush of air comes from the valve of the cuff as it begins to deflate and is removed from her arm, the curved earpieces removed from Snow's ears as her eyes now focus and lock with Regina's, waiting on the round of questions that were bound to begin.

"How long have I been out?"

"Not long. Half an hour or so... just long enough to give me a heart attack."

Regina snorts as she closes her eyes for just a little longer. "So I take it we aren't off the coast of Charleston just yet, are we?"

"Not even close."

"How far down?"

"We're back where you wanted. Nine-hundred and twenty-three meters, sitting at nearly a full stop.

A moment of quiet settles in and Snow is almost convinced that Regina is ready to try her own hand at sleeping, but just as she's about to get up and dismiss herself the woman draws in another heavy breath. "...you carried me."

"I did."

At this confirmation, her honey eyes finally flutter open again as she adjusts herself; taking in her surroundings once more. Last thing she remembered was having a death grip on the controls before blacking out, yet here they were in her room. She stills herself for a handful of seconds, staring up at the crème coloured ceiling of the cabin. Gods, she feels completely drained and weak. "...I'm still not a fan of this, you know?"

Snow's brow wrinkles as she tilts her head slightly. "Not a fan of what exactly?"

There's a weighted pause, she doesn't want to verbally admit it or go into too deep of a discussion about it; she's too exhausted for that. "...of you and yours hellbent on making it a mission in life to help me."

"I've told you before and I'll tell you again: you're part of this family, Regina." A half smirk settles in the corner of those blood red lips for just a moment. "Better start getting used to it." She loops the stethoscope around her neck, both her pale hands coming together in front of her as she leans forward, her elbows buried into the top of her knees. "Now... want to talk about whatever the hell happened?"

Another long pause separates the two as both of Regina's hands rise up in front of her so they could be examined... the tremble was gone. "I don't know. It started with a headache and a chill... thought I just needed to eat something or have a little caffeine." She shakes her head in confusion as her hands rest back at her sides once again.

"What about now?"

She nods a little. "Feeling a little better, all things considered. The headache is still lingering and I feel worn out, but it's not nearly like it was before."

Snow leans away as she stands, her hands sliding down her black leggings she was still in from her short nap. "I've checked your blood pressure twice and it's through the roof... your movements seem sluggish compared to your usual." The stethoscope is pulled off from around her neck then placed in the medical bag that Regina now noticed was perched on her nightstand. "I don't know what's going on with you, but this looks like decompression sickness which doesn't make any sense. The atmospheric pressure in here is regulated so that doesn't happen."

"... not to mention I'm the only one who seems to be affected, not you."

"Which is exactly why we need to have you looked over by someone with a medical license. I'm a teacher not a nurse, I don't know what's going on here." She zips up the red first aid bag then turns back towards Regina, her right hand propped up on her hip just like a move her husband would make. "Still, you were right about going to a lower depth. It seems to have relieved your pain at the very least."

"I don't understand it. Nothing like this has ever happened, and as you said, the atmosphere in here is controlled. Neither of us should feel anything as we surface."

Snow sits again, dropping into the chair with her own frustration and confusion, arms folded across her chest. "The bleeding from the ear and nose, the disorientation, the dizziness... that's what has me concerned, Regina. If that's not the Bends, then what is it?"

Regina rolls onto her side, propping herself up on her right elbow. "I had some time to look around the Nautilus before we left the harbour... and I don't know if you noticed, but next to the morgue was a lab." She bites her lips with a bit of a shifty look in her eye.

"Where's this going?"

"...do you think you could manage drawing some of my blood?"

"You cannot be serious."

"I am very serious."

Snow scoffs with a shake of her head. "I volunteered at the hospital as a simple aide, you know this."

Those warm brown eyes narrow on her. "But could you do it?"

----------

Thursday 01:05 AM

Snow hovers the arrow of the mouse over the command marked ' RUN '. Clicking it only to see a little spinning hourglass pop up before the engine of the machine whirred to life. "Looks like this may take up to two hours." 

"Have some patience. We've asked it to look for a lot of different things." Regina mindlessly scratches at the gauze wrapped around her left arm. Just like she had predicted, her friend had made a successful blood-stick... at least on her second attempt she had.

"You do realize that neither one of us have any idea how to read bloodwork, right? Let alone recognize what levels are normal versus abnormal."

"I'm well aware. However, we can send a transcript of the result back to Storybrooke. I think you could persuade that husband of yours to get them to Doctor Whale." Again, she was right. There wasn't much Snow wouldn't do to help Regina and waking David in the wee hours of the morning was small potatoes compared to everything else they'd been through over the years. Regina pulls the spare cardigan she'd been lent tighter around her, curling into it's comfort. It was incredibly soft and smelled like the little loft back in Storybrooke; like warm cinnamon and perhaps a touch of sandalwood... or maybe firewood?... there was a note in scent she couldn't quite put her finger on but it was without question the signature mark of the Charming's. 

"How are you feeling?"

A gentle touch to Regina's shoulder makes her jump, not realizing just how far she'd zoned out. "I'm alright."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Regina stands, moving away from the machine and heading towards the threshold... noticing Snow was hovering beside her as though they were joined at the hip; following her every move as if she was her child. She raises an eyebrow, gesturing at Snow's own position as the two of them pause in the doorway like chess pieces stuck on a board. "...are you planning on following me to the bathroom as well?"

"Look, I’m sorry, I don't mean to act as your shadow... I'm-... I'm just worried about you." She takes a healthy step back, crossing her arms in front of her as if she were hugging herself. "If you want to be alone while we wait, I can hang back here or... something." 

"It's alright. To be honest, I'm a little worried myself." She watches Snow face fall and just as the younger woman is about to interject Regina cuts her off. "Come on. Maybe I'll let you make me a cup of your famous cocoa."

She scoffs, fighting a smirk. "Oh, now you're just humoring me."

A chuckle almost escapes Regina's lips. "Perhaps, but there's nothing better to do while the computer analyzes my blood." 

"Alright... fair enough. Although I could go for something a bit stiffer than hot chocolate."

This comment strikes Regina as odd; certainly not the sort of response she was used to hearing from her little friend. As they move down the corridor she watches Snow from the corner of her eye, still slightly hovering close by. She stops in the doorway of the galley, motioning for Snow to go ahead of her. "Want to tell me why you've suddenly taken up drinking as your new hobby?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I noticed it when we came back from the Underworld. You had what... three whiskey sours that night at Granny's? You also had a double tonight. This isn't like you."

Snow arches an eyebrow as she makes her way around the long kitchen counter. "Well, I don't know how you missed it but we almost didn't make it out of that hell-hole. Our names were engraved on tombstones."

Regina holds back a soft scoff as she leans forward against the opposite side of the counter top. "Hmm... I suppose you have a point, that was a bit unnerving to see." 

"Unnerving ? I think you meant to say traumatic."

She watched the younger woman carefully, two mugs appearing from the cabinet onto the stainless steel top before she started rummaging around to find either cocoa or booze or both. Regina knew there was something eating away at her and she knows what it is but she'd rather Snow willingly say it rather than pushing her to open up. Though, that was probably how it would have to end up. "Still, that doesn't explain why you're trying to follow in your father's footsteps."

"I'm not my father." The reply comes quick as her head lifts, making direct eye contact with Regina. No, Snow wasn't her father; she'd make sure she never got to that point.

Regina gently nods, both her hands coming together atop the counter in a gentle clasp with fingers laced together. She's not quite sure how to bring up the fact that she had heard the Charming's conversation from earlier that evening. Unfortunately, Snow had forgotten to hit the headset priority button and what she thought had been a private conversation turned out to be very public, the full conversation coming through the speaker system for anyone aboard to hear. To say she wasn't hurt by David's hesitation would be a lie but then again she couldn't blame him. Her past was ugly and what she had done to them would be hard for anyone to let go... anyone except Snow. Hearing that woman defend her had nearly made her lose her composure as she was sitting in the same room. Snow trusted her, she truly did. Even though she was fully aware of what sort of monster still remained in Regina... she called her family without hesitation. "...want to talk about it?"

She can't seem to locate the bottle of liquor she had found earlier nor an ounce of cocoa. What kind of submarine was this? She did find some loose tea though and set a pot of water on the gas stove. "About what?"

"About you and David."

Snow turns around to face her. "What about us?"

Regina raises an eyebrow; it was plain as day just how hard Snow was trying to avoid this unwanted conversation. "You two seem to be at another crossroads. I'd hate to think this now the new normal for Storybrooke's hero couple."

A hard look crosses the young of the two but it doesn't last long; softening into something Regina has trouble recognizing at first. "Things have been a little off ever since Emma brought Lily back to Storybrooke... and then Camelot made things harder, but we're fine. Just a rough patch."

Ah, yes. Sweep her problem under the rug, be dismissive... there's that King Leopold in her.

The unfortunate heated lovers-quarrel Regina got a small taste of in Camelot seemed a bit clearer than ever in her memory. At the time, she had thought this was their first real argument but it appears she had been wrong. "Wow. Really groundbreaking details there... case closed I suppose, Mrs. Nolan." She leans away from the counter and turns on her heels, deciding that maybe separating themselves while waiting on results was the better idea after all. This new side to Snow was something she'd never seen before and it was definitely the one she disliked the most. 

Snow turns away from the bubbling hot pot, clicking the stove off as she does. "You see? Right there. You ask your questions and then when you don't like where they lead, you just walk away."

"That's hardly fair. You're-..."

"You just called me "Mrs. Nolan" and were about to leave the room."

She sighs as she stands in the doorway, ready to snap. Their ever-evolving relationship could get downright exhausting at times. "I'm frustrated, that's all."

"Why? Because we can't surface?"

"Because-..." She pauses, catching herself pausing then wonders why she's struggling to be open with Snow about this. This was her friend, her oldest and dearest friend. What was happening to them? This wasn't like her. "...because I'm tired. Tired of allowing myself to get close to others only to have them pull away. To have conversations stopped before they even have a chance to begin." She turns, only looking half way over her shoulder. "And now you're starting to do it, too.... you don't know what that kind of loneliness feels like." 

Snow's back straightens as she just looks at her full of disbelief; her body jolting as if she'd just had the rug pulled out from under her. "Really? Are you so sure about that?"

"Oh spare me the platitudes, Snow. You wouldn't understand."

The younger of the two moves from behind the counter with something like an angry scoff huffed through her lips. "Running in the woods alone for almost a decade? Spending twenty-eight years alone... you think I don't remember what that felt like day in and day out?" She stops only when she's standing just to Regina's right, her speech picking up along with her emotions. "Why do you think I ask you the questions that I do? Why do you think I worry about you?... why I check on you as often as I do?"

" Why ?" Regina spins to face her, the same anger and frustration matched in her tone. "Because you see me as some sort of problem that you've created, that's why. Something you feel responsible to fix. You're infested and driven by so much self-righteous guilt that you are completely over-flowing with it. You-.."

From almost nowhere an open pale palm comes flying from somewhere, making full contact with Regina's cheek causing her face to jerk to the side. Snow continues to stand where she is, making no move as she holds a cold stare on Regina... almost daring her to look back and try to match her gaze again. She bites the inside of her bottom lip before tightening her jaw. "I could have stomached hearing that come from Emma.... but to hear it come from you of all people? How dare you." She abruptly shoves herself past Regina as she heads away; not giving a damn for the dishes she's left behind.

"Snow-.."

"NO!" She cuts Regina off as she spins back around, heading right back in with a pointed finger. She had reached her absolute limit with her on this. "You know first hand how little I saw of my father when I was growing up... and back then, the Evil Queen kept me at arm's length too. I can-..." Her voice falters with a catch; having to pause to rebuild her strength with a hard swallow. Her mother was always such a difficult topic. "...I can count on my fingers the handful of precious memories I had with my mother before she died, before I was left to be raised by servants and tutors." She moves closer still, practically standing toe-to-toe with Regina. "So how dare you have the audacity to tell me that I wouldn't understand. I have known loneliness more than anything else my entire life... I think I understand it better than anyone." She waits several beats, waiting for Regina to try and defend herself or bite back but she doesn't. With a painfully deep breath, Snow moves back towards the counter to sit on one of the stools with her face turned away, shoulders dropping. "...outside of my marriage, you're the only family I’ve ever known and yet you want to act like we don't know one another."

It's now that Regina looks up towards her. They were family, weren't they? Not by flesh or blood but by fate alone and that was enough. She pursed her lips together, the sting and heat of her cheek increasing for just a moment. She wasn't quite sure where her outburst had come from but then again she wasn't quite acting like herself. Some of her emotions seemed to be swinging out of her control and that was adding fuel to her frustrations. But Snow was right. Out of anyone and everyone in their little cursed town, this woman did indeed have an intimate relationship with loneliness. And out of everyone, Regina was the only one who she had those family ties with. Absolutely refusing to give up until she could pull her back in... and she had done it. It all came to the surface down in the Underworld when she had to admit that Snow had defeated her and had done so in a way none of them had thought possible. Damn that internal fountain of undying Hope. She clears her throat as she slowly moved beside the counter. "You know my past and all that comes with it.. and it has made it difficult for myself and others to get too close to people. We've all had to bury family... enemies... colleagues, lovers... more than anyone outside our town can even imagine." Snow looks at her as she leans down to her level, a smirk sneaking into her lips. "And the whole reason I choose to stay in Storybrooke certainly isn't because it's our brand of home but rather the daunting idea of having to attempt to relate to anyone outside of it. Dinner parties would be hell."

Snow hates that Regina is trying to get her to smile, but what she hates even more is that it's working. She rolls her eyes the same way her step-mother does with a scoff of her own. "Is that your way of saying we're boring?"

"Far from it. In fact, you're-..." She had to say it, didn't she? It was the truth after all. The smile disappears from Regina's face as her tone changes into something more serious. "...you're my best friend." Snow's blood red lips part as her face falls, her eyes rapidly searching Regina's as if she was waiting for a ' but ' to slip in there. When she realizes there isn't one, she slings both her arms around Regina's neck as she leans across the counter. Her arms wrap around her young friend's frame, giving her a gentle squeeze. "I know that if anything should happen to me, Storybrooke will be just fine in your hands."

"Stop it, you're going to be fine." Her grip tightens. They were both going to make it back home, anything less was unacceptable.

"I mean it, you're ready to lead them even if you don't see it yourself."

Snow opens her mouth to object again but a foreign buzzing noise down the hall catches both their attention. "...what the hell was that?" She releases her hold and stands where she is, turning towards the door as the buzzing starts again. "Surely that can't be your results, it said it would take two hours." She looks back at her friend and it's like they're back at square one; a thin line of red inching its way from her nose. "...Regina..." She nods towards her, gestures to bleeding with her hand.

"Dammit." Immediately she wipes her nose, standing to move around the steel counter. 

Without fail, Snow follows. "Listen to me, we have got to get you to a hospital."

"No!" She rips a paper-towel sheet from the dispenser and holds it to her face.

"What do you mean no? We don't have the proper medical supplies aboard to deal with this, Regina!"

"We need to go deeper."

"We can't."

"We have to!"

By the Gods, Snow wants to fight her on this. Her hands curl up into fists and she makes an audible growl under her breath. "Fine, but in return you have to show me how to work the controls."

----------

Thursday 01:34 AM

Snow watches the numbers fluctuate as the panel reads out their new depth of just 1,575 meters below the surface; the engines continue their coasting hum. Sitting behind her at the other computer is Regina, looking over the several pages of her blood analysis. "I know we can't technically read these results but it's a wall of negatives. Negative for nitrogen narcosis, negative for toxins, negative for meningitis, it just keeps going..."

"Which leaves us squarely in the dark on your condition, except for the fact that it's getting worse." Noise from sub causes her to look up at the metal above them, as if waiting for it to cave in on them. 

Regina does the same, the paper in her hand drooping as she listened to the creaking ship surrounding them. "Breathe, Snow. It's just the hull adjusting to the new depth; it's all perfectly normal."

The younger of the two wets her bottom lip as she looks back at the computer. "Be honest with me, how deep can the Nautilus actually go?"

"Deeper. It's not built for deep-sea exploration but rather mid-range submersion. I believe the crush-depth is 2,400 meters."

A little over 800 meters, that was the allowed gap.... and both of them know it's not a lot of wiggle room to play with if Regina's health took a nosedive. "What about our oxygen?"

Regina lays the papers against her chest as she makes a couple clicks on the screen in front of her. "About a day and a half."

Snow leaves her chair to pace, her hands landing on her hips as if she were channeling David. "Okay, so... as long as we stay low and conserve our air, we should have time to figure this out, right? What if we're looking in the wrong place?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we asked the computer to screen your blood for signs of the Bends and indicators of specific diseases. What if it's something out of that scope?" Her pacing comes to a full stop as she stands next to Regina. "What if its some kind of infection or bacteria?" She takes another second to think it through before she's moving again, grabbing the papers from Regina as she leaves the space.

"Hold on, where are you going?" Regina follows behind her, climbing down the metal stairs that reminded her of those in the Charming's loft.

"I'm going change the parameters of the analysis."

Snow walks like she's on a mission, shoving the lab door open with one heavy push. As she slides into the swivel chair Regina peers through the thick glass window that separates the lab from the back end of the morgue, Ariel's remains now carefully zipped in a body bag. "Changing them to what exactly?"

Those hazel eyes quickly flips through the results in her hand. "Any element that's not on your list or can't be identified." She makes her selections, narrowing down the search as she clicks ' RUN ' for the second time. The same little hourglass from earlier pops up again... but just as she's about to turn away and resign herself to waiting another hour the computer buzzes, signaling the results were ready. A slow flashing ' MATCH ' now flickering on the screen. Oh how she had never hated being right more than in this moment. "....Oh god..."

"I don't like the sound of that." With two long strides Regina walks over, leaning over the teacher's left shoulder. "...what the hell is that?"

She makes a few more clicks and the screen changes to a microscopic view. "That's a parasite." They watch as the strange foreign thing moves, engaging with Regina's white blood cells before quickly absorbing them completely and making the cells one of its own... it was multiplying at an alarming rate. The two women continue to watch in silence, utterly shocked at what they're witnessing. "Regina... it's taking over." She finally pulls her eyes away from the horror on the screen as she looks up at her stepmother. Without warning Regina pulls away. Nearly marching out the lab, barely stopping long enough to grab two medium sized gloves from the dispenser rack near the door. "Wait..." Snow spins out her seat to follow but she's met by a pointed finger and a demanding tone.

"Stay here."

The lab door closes behind Regina as she watches her through the glass. She pulls her gloves on as she makes the corner and walks into the morgue. Snow goes back to the computer and hits the intercom button. "What are you doing?"

Regina gives her no reply as she approaches the body bag, unzipping the top half just far enough to see Ariel's mangled face. Carefully she reached in, turning the mermaid's face to side by her chin... that strange slime that was there earlier was now gone. Instinctively, she looks at her gloved hand; her pointer and thumb rubbing together to check for any substance but there isn't any. She zips the bag back up and moves for the trash where she had tossed her gloves. Popping it open with the foot lever she finds exactly what she's looking for. "Bring me that microscope on the desk."

Snow's moving before she barely finished the sentence, swiping the heavy chunk of metal and a couple blank slides from the nearby tray. When she gets to the morgue door she finds it won't budge, shoving harder as she puts her back into it. "I can't open it, the door is stuck." She moves over to look through the glass window and Regina approaches the other side.

"No it isn't. I locked it behind me when I came in."

"Why?"

"Because I can't let you in here. You're not exhibiting any symptoms, so for the time being we have to assume you aren't infected. Leave the microscope by the door and step away."

Snow hikes the heavy apparatus higher up on her hip. "This is ridiculous, let me in. We've been in the same room, breathing the same air for the last couple hours. If I was going to be infected it would have happened already." 

"I'm not so sure about that." Regina holds up her soiled glove from earlier in the night, the strange gel-like creature slowly inching out in the direction of the glass. "The damn thing is reaching for you. I think it can sense I'm already infected so it has no reason to want me as a host. But you?... you're a new body."

The younger of the two watches as the parasitic fluid moves. Regina was right, it looked like a magnet was trying to pull it towards the glass as it had no interest in the human currently holding it. She slides the microscope down her hip and onto the floor before she takes a few steps back so Regina can open the door. "Any idea how it got to you?"

"Actually yes. There was a hole in one of the gloves I used but yours were intact." She pulls the microscope with the blank slides into the room and when the door shuts again Snow approaches the glass window. "I think it's safe to assume you'll be fine so long as we don't exchange any bodily fluids." 

Snow crosses her arms in front of her chest. "Okay, that sounds easy enough." 

"You say that, yet you've already handled my blood. We also need to figure out how we're going to draw yours because I don't think it'd be wise if I did it." She was also not so sure she could pull it off like Snow had. Regina looks through a few of the drawers until she finds a handful of utensils. Using the flat end of a metal scraper, she's able to smear some of the translucent substance onto one of the slides. She reaches over to put the little glass in its place on the microscope when her hand begins to shake. She holds her wrist with the other hand as if she could get it to stop under her own control but it continues. Her eyes widen as she stares at the tremor almost as if she's in a daze.

"Regina?" The soft tremble of worry in Snow's voice is unmistakable as she takes a step forward, one of her hands gently placed against the glass.

The sound of her name jolts her body back to reality with a shutter. The little glass drops to the table, her quivering hand quickly flexing open and closed as she tries to shake it off. "I'm fine." She can feel Snow's watchful eye on her and right now she just can't bring herself to look her in the face. Doing her best to reign in her focus, she picks up the slide and places it in its slot before adjusting it with her steadier hand, turning the knobs slowly until she can see clearer through the ocular lenses. "Alright Miss Teacher of the Year... care to offer up any theories as to what we're dealing with?"

"Well, if I have to guess I'd say whatever it is seems to like your brain specifically."

"My brain?" She glances up from the lens with a confused look. "Bit of an odd choice. I mean, aren't there more nutrients in say, the stomach lining or intestines?" Her head lowers back down as she turns the knobs again.

"It's not about choice."

"How do you mean?"

Snow folds her arms back across her chest as she slowly paces back and forth along the window. "Earlier, we talked about why any species lives where they do. It's not about choice... it's about needs being met and having a food source takes priority over everything for every living organism."

"Are you saying this worm is eating my brain?"

"I can't say that for sure but it certainly has begun tampering with your limbic system."

Her head lifts fully with an unimpressed slow blink. "I'm a Mayor, not a Teacher... explain it like it's a Town Hall meeting."

Snow looks at her as she fights a smirk. "Well, Madam Mayor , the limbic system is what controls our behavioural and emotional responses. Primarily when it comes to our survival instinct and fight or flight reactions."

Regina leans away from the microscope, looking back at where Ariel lays before turning back to Snow. "...if that's true then I think we may have just figured out what happened to the mermaids." Turning away once again she returns to the body bag, unzipping it to look at the marks on Ariel's chest that Snow had pointed out earlier; making the same motions, she follows the marks with her own fingers. "You were right. These marks aren't predatory... I think they tore each other apart. That's why there's no evidence of any other species and why we suspected humans at first." For this brief second she's quite pleased that they'd come to a very likely conclusion to this mystery but then it all hits her like a train. With her back facing Snow she allows her shoulders to drop as she momentarily hangs her head, the harsh realization of what was going to happen to her was becoming all too clear. Her gloved hands grip the metal table as she closes her eyes, slowly stretching her neck from side to side. "How long do you think I have until this.. thing .. takes over?"

Snow herself stares off into space, drawing in a slow, deep breath. "...Hours? A day, maybe two?... I don't know but with the way it's multiplying, it's going to happen sooner rather than later." She watches as Regina turns around and moves back to the table where the microscope is, sitting in the low stool beside it. Silence hovers between them as they try to come up with their own plan of how to address this; Snow resuming her slow pace back and forth. "So let me get this straight... if we surface, it kills you. If we stay down here, you turn into a killer."

"Or we run out of air first and I for one don't like any of these scenarios." She stands, collecting the used gloves and slides once again to throw away then wash her hands.

The younger of the two glances around the lab. There was a large red medical bag that resembled the smaller one that was still in Regina's room, nearly a wall dedicated to medicine cabinets, and an AED beside the door. Captain Nemo had really gone above and beyond updating to match the times but somehow she doubted there was anything they could use to treat Regina... not to mention the pair of them lacking the know-how. "You said we had a day and a half left of oxygen, right? Well, how fast can this ship go? I know we aren't travelling at full speed so can't we just throw it into third gear and haul ass back to Storybrooke?"

"We'd never make it."

"Why not?"

"There's not enough fuel. That's why we were heading for Charleston." She dries her hands with a paper towel, watching as Snow mouths a mutter as she shakes her head. Fuck . Approaching the door, she tosses the paper towel in the trash before exiting to rejoin Snow in the lab; the pair of them looking at one another as if they were having a private conversation. "I mentioned I had a chance to look around before we left." With a hard swallow, Regina clears her throat as her fingernails rub nervously against her thumb. "There's, um... there's an emergency escape capsule port-side of the engine room. We'll test your blood to confirm you're in the clear and then you need to leave immediately."

The younger woman's back straightens as her brow wrinkles. There's no way she was setting foot off this submarine without Regina. "Wha-... no. I'm not leaving you behind."

She grabs her stepdaughter by both of her shoulders. "If we're right about this, then what happened to Ariel is going to happen to me and I will have no control of my actions. I will kill you if you stay here and that's not a threat, it's a guarantee. There's no choice to make here, you have to go."

Snow shrugs herself free from Regina, taking a half-step back. "If you think I'm going to abandon you at the bottom of this damn ocean then you've already lost your mind."

"We don't have time to argue about this."

"You're right, we don't... and we're not going to. I'm not leaving you, now drop the subject." She turns away, moving over to the medicine cabinets to see if there was anything they could try to possibly use.

Over the last year or two, the pair of them had grown closer to a point where tension between them felt wrong by both sides and this was slowly becoming just that. Regina blinks hard, surprised by what time her watch has when she checks; it certainly didn't feel that late. She moves for the chair near the computer and lowers herself into it as Snow continues to rummage around. "What are you looking for?"

"I'm trying to find if there's any anti-parasitic drugs aboard or anything close to it."

"Any luck?"

"So far, no." She pauses, examining two small glass vials she'd removed from the storage. "How do you feel about a medicinal cocktail?"

"A what?"

She turns around and holds up what she'd found. "There's antiviral and antibiotic solutions in here. We could try mixing up a massive dosage."

"Are you sure it's safe to mix drinks like that?"

Snow comes close to verbally admitting that she's grasping at straws, that this literally is the only thing she can think of left to try. "Yes and no. At worst, it'll make you very ill. At best, it could make you body a rather inhospitable host."

"What about using something to knock me out? Surely there are drugs aboard that will sedate me. Shouldn't we just use that instead? Then we could make the ascent."

"That's not a safe route, Regina. Just a little too much of something like that could leave you brain dead... it would end up being me that kills you, not the parasite." Snow shrugs a shoulder as she places the vials on the desk next to the computer. "I'll leave this decision up to you." She turns back around to look for another needle set along with some more blood collection tubes.

Regina goes quiet as she thinks. If these were all her options, she'd much prefer to go by Snow's hand rather than succumbing to this brain worm or drowning in this tin can. She lifts one of the solutions, looking it over and weighing her options. Maybe it could help?... maybe it could at least slow down what was happening to her, give them both more time to figure out what they were going to do. Then again she had half a mind to dig into the meds and sedate herself before things got out of control. The distant sound of her name being called startles her. "...hm? What?"

"...you okay?"

"I'm alright, I was just thinking." She notices a sealed IV kit in her stepdaughter's hand. "Are you going to be able to do that?"

The teacher looks over the little sterile bag in her hands before holding it out towards Regina. "No, which is why you're going to." She can see the debate rising in the woman's face so she cuts her off before she has a chance. "If I thought I could do this without making myself bleed out then I would... but there is absolutely zero chance I can get the angle right with just one hand." The bag extends further. "I need your help on this."

"For the record, I think this is hands-down the worst idea you've ever had."

Snow fights off a smirk with a shake of her head. "I think I'm inclined to agree with you on that."

Regrettably, Regina takes the kit with a heavy huff leaving her lips. "My hands aren't steady, you've seen the tremor." 

"I have, which is why I'm going to help you as best as I can."

She slaps the bag on the counter as her stepdaughter places the glove box in front of her. The pair of them were the slightly less blind leading the very blind at this rate. "What if we can't-.."

"We're going to take this slow." She smiles softly when Regina looks back at her. The cardigan slides off Snow's shoulders and she tosses it aside, the cool air of the sub hitting her exposed skin. She gloves up and opens the bag, carefully laying out the equipment. "Put some gloves on and I'll walk you through what I know." She grabs the rubber tourniquet and with the help of her teeth she ties it on her upper bicep just above the elbow. As she cleans her skin over her veins she watches as Regina puts two pairs of gloves on each of her hands but she doesn't get far. Without warning her stepmother stands, knocking the stool over as she takes a quick step away with a hand to her face. "Regina!"

"Stay away, it's happening again..." She tips her head back slightly, a quick strip of blood making it's way to her chin before she can wipe it away. "Nnghh... deeper... take us deeper. Now!"

Snow takes off running out the room to get to the controls as quickly as she could, tripping up the metal stairs as she was trying to strip her hands free of the gloves. She almost stumbles again as she rounds the corner, pushing the chair at the control desk out the way as she piloted the vessel down like she had been shown. The numbers on the screen start climbing as they drop another two-hundred meters, the ship beginning to creak once again. Slowly, her hands pull back to level them off... 617 meters away from hitting crushing depths. As she spins around to head back down the corridor, Regina blindsides her from seemingly nowhere; grabbing her by the throat and forcing her against the wall with a rough shove. The back of Snow's head slams against one of the monitor screens as she grunts, grabbing Regina's hand that had a hold on her. "..Reg-.." The hand around her neck tightens causing her squeak as she tries to pull away.

"I said deeper."

She swallows with a difficult nod as she watches the blood snake down her stepmother's neck. "....we're almost at maximum depth already..." Regina shoves her harder as her left hand wipes blood with a knuckle and thrusts it toward Snow's face. The younger woman's eyes widen as her focus changes to that hand, grabbing her by the forearm to stop it from making contact with her face. "Okay, okay! ...we'll go deeper." She nods again quickly to reassure Regina that she'd do what she wanted, her lashes quickly batting away the tears wanting to form in the corner of her eyes. There was a wild look on Regina's face, an old familiar one that she's not keen on entertaining any time soon. The hand around her neck releases and Snow swiftly backs away to the controls, lowering them again until the numbers read out 1,985 meters. The groaning of the submarine continues, loud bangs and pops as the pressure increased. She turns back with a long slow breath. "....Regina?..."

The Mayor says nothing as she turns her back towards her step-daughter. All she can manage is something close to a soft nod as she quietly massaged her temples, exiting the control room... and this time Snow doesn't follow.

----------

Thursday 02:03AM

Snow sits curled up in the second captain's chair at the controls once again. She hadn't left the room, hadn't dared, and had no idea where Regina was but knew she'd have to start looking for her soon if she didn't come back. Her head lifts as she looks at the time. If they could only surface, they'd be two hours away from South Carolina...  a simple two hours away from getting help they so desperately needed. While checking the gauges again she hears a knock at the metal threshold. Regina stands there with her arms now folded across her chest, the edge of her bottom lip caught between her teeth nervously. "....hey."

"Hey."

"You okay?"

Regina nods, her gaze having trouble matching the hazel ones watching her. She clears her throat as she moves further into the room, settling to sit in the seat across from Snow. "I want to apologize. I would have never deliberately infected you. I just... I needed to convince you."

Oh how badly Snow wants to fully trust in that fact but she finds herself holding back. "Was it the pain or did you lose control?"

"It was the pain.... I promise you."

Snow watches as Regina's head lifts, their eyes locking. Promise . That word hadn't been verbalized between the two of them in decades and hearing her stepmother to be the first to say it takes her back a few paces. "It's happening. The heightened emotions, rage, threatening actions....this is all behavior driven by the limbic system. None of this is in your nature, but it is Her's ." Oh yes, Snow had seen all too clearly the restless tendencies of the Evil Queen beginning to surface as this parasite was on the verge of pulling Regina's worst side out. The teacher slowly turns the chair in her direction, leaning in close as she now fully faces her. "I trust you, Regina. I trust you entirely... but it's becoming difficult." 

"I'm still me, Snow."

"...but for how much longer?"

"For as long as I can keep it at bay." And she'd try her hardest to do just that. Keeping herself on the straight and narrow was becoming a strenuous job, a constant fight to keep her other half smothered down was already a challenge at times and now the heat had just been turned up. "I just don't understand why it's reacting this way. I mean, if we go too deep, the sub will implode and it will lose me, and potentially you, as a host."

Snow pulls herself to her feet, her pale hands sliding down her thighs as she does so. "I don't think it's a rational, thinking life form, Regina. It likely invades a host, lives in it for as long as it can, and then moves on. I doubt it has any intelligence."

This entire situation was making Regina disgusted. Here they were, trapped in the middle of nowhere and only sinking further to the fathoms below. "So, what do we do?"

"For the moment, we try to stop it from affecting you as best we can."

"Which means we go deeper still."

Snow shrugs as she crosses her arms. "It seems to be the only thing that's keeping you pain-free... and rational." Noise from sub adjusting to depth groans above them, an ever growing weight hanging over their heads. Both women look up out of reflex, at this point it wouldn't surprise either one of them if a pipe burst. "How deep can this thing go beyond 2,400 meters?"

Regina shakes her head as her lips press tightly together, disappointed in herself for not having an answer. "I don't know nor am I looking forward to finding out." They, more likely Snow, could figure out how to adjust the nitrogen, CO2, and oxygen levels to accommodate for the increasing pressure but doing that would only last for so long, eating into their oxygen supply in the process. "We've not passed the safety threshold yet, we're alright."

The younger woman takes to a slower pace, wandering back and forth in front of the large glass viewing window. "Have you thought about taking that antiviral dosage?"

"I have and I'm willing to make a deal with you on it." One of Snow's eyebrows arch up. Making a deal was more of a Rumple move, not so much one Regina would jump to make. "I'll agree to try it but only if you agree to leave afterwards."

Snow scoffs with a shake of her head. "You've already tried this argument and my answer is still the same, I'm not leaving you."

"I thought you might say that." Regina stands, blocking Snow from continuing on her path. "If that's the case, then there's a scenario we need to discuss."

"Regina, don't..." She had a sickening feeling she knew where this was going.

"Just listen to me, please." Her left hand lifts, resting gently against Snow's arm just above the elbow as they face one another. "In the event that you believe my judgment is no longer my own or that your life is threatened, I am depending on you to take care of things in a decisive manner."

"It's not going to come to that."

"Won't it? This parasite caused an intelligent species to tear itself apart, we can only assume that it will do the same to me." Now both hands are settled against Snow's shoulders. "Look at the situation reasonably, only one of us has a chance of making it home and it's not going to be me. I'm counting on you to do the proper thing if the situation requires it." 

She tries to pull away but her stepmother's grip tightens. "Regina, you cannot expect me to ki-"

"Dammit, Snow!" She takes an intimidating step forward causing Snow to respond by backing up against the wall. "We have lived across a multitude of realms and longer than anyone has a right to. In the end, all I can hope is to choose how it ends and being taken over by some ancient undersea parasite is not on the list."

Snow looks Regina over, her eyes desperately searching those dark pointed ones on her. "...so what is?"

The older woman leans back, her hands falling away as she shrugs her shoulders. "Just... be creative. That's all I can ask." A painful sad smile tries to appear but Regina is unable to manage even that. "Do I have your word, Snow?"

"..I-..." She can't stay here any longer, the air seems to have grown thick and hard to inhale. Her breath quickens as she forces herself to swallow. "...I'm going check our medical supplies again." Snow quickly moves away and leaves the control room, closing the door behind her as she does.

Regina watches her leave. She knew what she was asking Snow to do would be next to impossible; such a heavy and taxing task on the soul. It would no doubt be adding another dark tint to Snow's already flawed heart once she returned to Storybrooke. She looked at the gauges as she sat in the chair her stepdaughter had been occupying. Leaning forward, she grabs the master control tablet to check and double check how the ship was running as well as how their oxygen was holding up. It's not long until she flinches with a sudden shooting pain along the side of her skull. She cringes a second time in pain and she's forced to place the tablet back. As she does, her hand hovers over the control as she eyes the depth gauge now reading 2400... a slow crawling drop of seawater sliding down its glass faceplate.

....Down in the lab once again, Snow sits on the floor with buckets of medical equipment strung out around her as she struggles to keep her mind and hands busy. A loud thunk from one of the pipes overhead makes her pause as she glances up, the constant reminder that their time was running down. With a heavy, angry huff she goes back to sorting. So this was it?... these were the options? Leave Regina behind and guarantee herself the trip back home or stay with Regina and run the high risk of either being murdered or becoming the murderer. How could Regina be asking her to do this?

A cold drop of water suddenly hitting her knee takes her by surprise.

Her hand slowly passes over the damp spot trying to register where exactly it had come from just as another splash lands on top of her shoulder. She snaps her head back to look up at the pipes, a string of droplets forming along the length of it. Before she can scramble to her feet the submarine shutters with an ungodly groan and the lights begin to flicker. The sound of an alarm blares out as something electrical explodes out in the corridor. She rushes forward to the threshold of the compartment when she feels the floor beneath her begin to tilt. "Regina!" She screams her Mayor's name as she clings to one of the railings on the stairs. Sparks rain down on her from one of the intercom speakers hanging over the stairwell before it drops, just barely missing her. Finally stumbling up the final step, she takes off towards the control room. She slides in to find Regina pulling on one of the physical steering gears. "What happened?! Did we hit something?!"

"No, we're sinking! I've lost the navigation controls and can't stop our descent!" The depth gauge now reads 2700 meters and climbing. Snow runs over to Regina, helping her pull back on the gear head but it just won't budge. The screen above them starts flashing. "Balance systems have just gone offline. We'll have to reset the entire system manually!"

"How do we do that?"

"Follow me!" Regina releases the control and runs towards the door, heading back down into the lower depths of the submarine.

As they clear the stairs, a pipe bursts overhead and starts spraying water. Snow doubles back and grabs the pipe, using her hands to try and block the opening as best as she can. "Go Regina! Don't wait for me!" For a moment she hesitates before jogging further down the corridor and out of sight. Snow frantically searches around as the already large puddle of water begins to grow; freezing water quickly soaking her from head to toe. The valves on the wall and a couple above her head... she hasn't a clue what any of them do but now was a good time to find out...

...With a hard heavy yank, Regina starts turning the wheel of the bulkhead door marked 'ENGINE ROOM' located at the backend of the submarine, but when she finally gets it open water starts pouring out. It's up to her knees as a second pipe cracks, leaving her to wade through the room. The lights flicker again as she reaches the metal compartment on the wall. Behind it is the lever that needs to be manually switched back to its upright position but there are two bolts in the way. The only way it was coming open was with the help of a utensil of some kind, preferably one with teeth. "...tool kit... I need a tool kit..." The only one she had laid eyes on was back up in the control room and there was absolutely no time to go back for it. She starts feeling around for anything as the water was climbing up to her waist, her fingers finding something that feels familiar and awfully useful. She is already smiling as she hoists it up... a soaking red monkey wrench. Immediately, she goes to work unscrewing the bolts as quick as she can when another sharp pain pulses along her temple. She grits her teeth as she does her best to ignore it, trying to keep it at bay until this was over and it only frustrates her more. They were actively sinking, rapidly falling to the ocean floor as the water swelled higher... wasn't that enough?... 

...Back in the corridor, another spark from the overloaded equipment explodes behind Snow which causes her to flinch. The water was sitting around her knees as the submarine started listing, its nose now beginning to tip up as the back end fell. She rapidly turned the final valve and the water from the pipe came to a slow drip. She grabs the side of the wall to prop herself up as she takes a deep breath. Further down she can see the water moving and bubbling as it was crawling higher. That dark water ahead looked like something out of a horror movie. The submarine shakes again with a loud crash and she's suddenly thrown backwards, the water rushing to meet her as she's submerged for a moment. Her back hits a corner wall and she's able to get her bearings, wiping her eyes clear as she crawls back her feet. Nothing but an eerie silence surrounds her as she notices the ship was no longer leaning and for the most part they were once again level. The sound of sloshing behind her makes her turn around. With the water stalled right above knee height, Regina comes slowly down the hall, completely drenched with wrench still in hand. "...Regina.... what's happened?"

"We've stopped."

"Stopped?... I think you meant crashed." A blind spot forms when Snow runs her fingers through her hair to slick it back, causing her to miss an inappropriate smile that crosses Regina's face.

"The systems have been reset. Let's see if we can get anything working again." She moves ahead of her stepdaughter and climbs the stairs, eager to get back to the control room.

As Snow starts to follow she pauses and looks back from where Regina had come from... something was off. That water was higher earlier.. it probably would have been up to Regina's chest, maybe even higher than that... She takes a second longer trying to work out why something felt off and begins to look around. They still had electricity so surely their generator was still functioning, but what about everything else? She shakes her head as she tries to dismiss it, chalking it up the incredibly long and exhausting night they've had. When she makes it to the control room she finds her friend at one of the computers. The cracked glass faceplate of the depth gauge reads 2978 meters and Snow finds it difficult to stop herself from hyperventilating under the increasing panic. "...Well, how bad is it?"

She makes a few quick taps on the computer screen as the lights dim for a second. "Oxygen supply has been damaged. We're down to less than half and the CO2 scrubbers are working at full capacity."

"How long?"

"Four hours." 

Though Regina's tone was calm and flat, it still very nearly sucked Snow's breath out her lungs. She had tried to prepare herself for this choice she had made but the gut punch is all the same. She nods to herself, trying to swallow this fate. "What about our engines?"

"Lower cargo area is flooded, same with the engine room." She momentarily picks up the control tablet as though she's double checking something. "Remote system must have been damaged when the engine room flooded."

Snow moves away from the controls in almost a daze. With all systems not responding there was no point to even try any more. She moves over to the radio, holding one of the earpieces of a headset to her ear as she flicks the switches but there's nothing but silence. There would be no distress call or a final goodbye to her husband, this was it. The equipment drops from her hands, clattering onto the metal floor as she moves over to the glass viewing wall. One of the two large spotlights had broken in the crash and the one still working seemed to be slowly dying. "Where are we?"

"I'm not sure but it looks like we're stuck on a shelf above a trench. It must be what stopped our descent."

Suddenly, something Regina had said strikes Snow like lightning. She slowly turns around, her eyes narrowing as the feeling from earlier at the stairs comes back. The younger woman moves forward back over to read the monitor opposite of Regina. With two taps the computer shows their locations and it sends cold chills down her spine..... they were back to almost their original coordinates, only further down. "....you said the engine room was flooded?" She waits for confirmation yet receives only silence, but she knew what she had heard. "Regina, if it was flooded then how were you able to restart the systems?" She hears the woman behind her draw a tired sigh when suddenly there's an excruciating pain in the back of her head before everything goes black.

Regina watches as Snow crumples to the floor at her feet, the bloodied wrench lowering to her side. "...sometimes you're a little too clever for your own good."

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Thursday ??:?? AM

Snow's vision is blurry as her eyes slowly flutter open. She tries to lift her pounding head but finds it feels tremendously heavy. The sound of controlled tools tinkering away captures her focus. She blinks several times, finally able to make out Regina's silhouette laying on the floor in front of her. Half of her body is obscured by a metal panel beneath the controls, cords in hand as though she was trying to rewire the system. When she notices Snow move she stops and scoots out, sitting on her knees in front of her friend with that red wrench still at the ready. "It's okay. Take it easy, we're fine."

For a moment there she sounds like her old self. As if Snow had fallen or had an accident and was now being looked after by Regina, that it was all some big confusion and misunderstanding... but when Snow tries to sit up a little higher she discovers she's tied down to the chair she's in. "Wh-... what's going on?"

Regina scoots a little closer, resting her free hand against one of Snow's knees. "I think you know. Don't you feel it?"

Snow squirms again, trying to see if there was any give in the rope that had her hands tied to the back of the chair. "Feel what?"

"Liar! You goddamn liar!" Suddenly and without warning Regina's emotions flip and she's yelling in her face, forcing her to lean away but there's nowhere to go; she's held in place. 

"Okay...okay, I can feel it." Oh how she hates the lie but there's no way around it, this wasn't Regina any longer. 

"It's incredible, isn't it? It's like sunshine. It's like a drug."

Snow swallows hard as she tugs again at the rope. "Regina, I need you to listen to me..."

Regina drops the wrench she was holding and slams down both her hands on the arms of the chair that Snow is tied up to, leaning incredibly close to her pale face; she does her best sarcastic impersonation of her stepdaughter. " You're not yourself, Regina. That thing has control of you. I can help you. " Her expression changes into something more serious, now a shadow of an expression the Queen may have given. "I know what you're trying to do. You're just like that husband of yours, always trying to profile me, aren't you? Like I'm some kind of common criminal. Well, I've got news for you..." She moves in closer, placing her lips next to Snow's right ear and whispers. "...I'm not so common."

Tears are beginning to swell in the corners of Snow's eyes as a painful chill travels down her spine. Her Regina was gone and this wasn't even the Evil Queen necessarily, she didn't know who the hell this was. She locks her gaze with Regina as she pulls back to look her in the face. For a second her voice falters as fear crept in. "N-.. no, you're not." There's a convicting finger now shaking in her face.

"See I've figured you out, young Snow. You think you need to cure me of this. Truth is, you're the one who needs saving; saving from a life of mediocrity. I've saved you once, I can do it again."

"No, you dont-..."

"You gave me no choice!" Once more her face comes dangerously close, her right hand raising to roughly tap at Snow's temple with her pointer finger. "I know you want to kill me and don't tell me it's because I asked you to, because that's not what friends do to each other!"

This whole situation was making Snow nauseated. She wasn't making it out alive but like Regina had said earlier, at the very least she hoped to make it on her terms. For most of her life she had to play this cat and mouse game with her stepmother, having to stay one step ahead to stay alive and it was time to play that game once again for just a little longer. "....Okay, you're right. I wanted to kill you."

"Ah-ha! I knew I was right." The Mayor shoves herself away, happy with her assumptions; picking the wrench back up and moving over to return to working under the panel.

Snow looks around the compartment trying to find anything she could use much less reach from where she was confined. "I-... I wanted to kill you, but now I see that's not such a good idea."

"And why is that?"

"Because you're the only one who knows how to control this sub. There's no sense in both of us dying."

She crawls back out from under the panel, shaking the red monkey wrench in Snow's direction. "You see? You see how good it feels when you talk sensibly? Still... I think I should kill you now." She stands and as she does she reaches behind her back, pulling a gun from her waistband. The same gun David had made his wife pack, the same gun that had started their heated argument the day before. 

It's hard for Snow to ignore the fact that this woman had gone through her things. She also has to admit that this may very well be the most dangerous situation she's ever been in and she's tied to a goddamn chair. With a hard swallow she manages a slow breath in an attempt to calm herself. "...I don't think you mean that..."

"Really?" Regina takes a step forward without hesitation, holding the gun inches from Snow's head. "Are you ready to test that theory?"

"You-... you want me to feel it, right? ...the sunshine?"

The firearm lowered a bit as the lie began to take root. "Yes..." 

"Well... we... we have to go deeper then, don't we?"

"Yes!"

"We have to go deeper so that we both can feel it...  Together  ."

Regina drops back down to one knee between Snow's legs and even though the gun falls away she's still too close for comfort. "So much deeper."

Snow had her hooked, now she just had to keep her that way. "We can't stay here." She twists her wrists, stilling trying to get some leverage and wiggle room in the rope.

"You're right. We have to go someplace else." It's like a lightbulb has just been turned on in the older woman's head as she suddenly stares off into the distance. When her attention snaps back to Snow she smiles an unnerving, uneven smile as she pats the side of the younger woman's pale cheek. "Very clever. Best protégé ever." She stands once again and places her palm to Snow's forehead with a firm touch as if she's a dog. "Good girl. Stay." With a quick turn on her heels, Regina spins around and exits the control room going off to who knows where.

The instant Snow is left alone she starts actively fighting against her bindings. She closes her eyes as she tries to visualize how the rope is wrapped around her and succeeds in nearly freeing one hand. With another hard pull against the fibers she grimaces, knowing she's rubbing the skin raw but there isn't a way in hell she's about to stop now. Without much fanfare or noise she manages to free herself, quickly pulling the rope off her and scrambling over to the controls. Whatever Regina had been doing to the wires thankfully didn't seem to have done much to the computers. The master tablet sits on its charger which she grabs, typing in the code she had been shown which she then changes to something completely different. With a quick breath she gets a grip on herself... this was it, death was quickly approaching for the pair of them. Cautiously, she peers out into the corridor... Regina is nowhere to be seen, but there is some suspicious metallic banging coming from the deck below so she heads towards the stairs following the sound. There just had to be a way she could get the drop on Regina, that's the only possible plan she can think to try. Halfway down the stairs, Snow spies the gun carelessly balanced on one of large pipes that ran the length of the hull. She places the tablet down at the top of the stairs as she tires to sneak down... this was her chance... 

"I was just coming to find you." Regina seemingly appears from almost nowhere and it causes Snow's heart to jump up in her throat. Slowly, she descends the last two steps, cautious with every movement and breath she takes. "We have to restart the control system but it's flooded and the door is closed. I need your help getting it open again." She holds up a diving mask and snorkel out in front of her. She watches as Snow glances toward the gun then back to her; the mathematics clicking away in the girl's head as she gauges the distance between the pair of them to the weapon. "...unless you think you can get to that gun first." With a heavy relenting sigh, Snow's shoulder's sag as she caves in; her hand reaching out to take the mask as Regina smirks in her victory. "Good call." She motions down to the flooded corridor. "After you. The water's lovely." 

Snow does what's expected of her, pulling the diving gear over her head and approaching the sitting water. Slowly she wades into it, her teeth on the verge of chattering as it laps at her waist but Regina didn't seem bothered one bit by it. "It's freezing! I don't-.."

"Look at me!" With an unnamed force of strength Regina spins Snow around to face her, grabbing her roughly by the jaw. "I need you to help turn the wheel of the bulkhead so I can access the compartment. Now do it!" She shoves the younger woman away, sending her splashing backwards into the cold water. Snow gives her a side-eye glare as she angrily yanks down the goggles over her face. Last couple of hours being alive and she was being manhandled, what utter bullshit.

She takes a couple quick deep breaths to get her blood pumping before diving down the dark flooded corridor, the light from behind her growing dimmer as she and Regina moved further down. She could barely see, relying on her frozen fingers to guide her along the way as the unmistakably round handle finally nudges into her hand yet her lungs were beginning to ache for oxygen. Her hands hurt as she tries to get a tight grip on the wheel but the task feels useless. The pressure in her chest becomes too much and turns around, pushing off the solid metal door back up towards the surface and Regina follows. She emerges, gasping for fresh air and shivering; with a shake of her head she slides up her goggles and snorkel. "I-..I-... I can't, its.. its t-t-too cold..."

Regina wades towards her, blocking her from fulling exiting the water. “Try harder, dammit!"

Snow shakes her head again. "Then help me because I can't do it by myself."

With an angry roll of her eyes, Regina pulls Snow's mask back on her face before putting her own on. "At this rate you'd be more helpful dead." A slender flashlight is pulled from her pocket as she nudges the the younger woman back into the water. The artificial light from the torch underwater is a tremendous help, making the second trip to the submerged bulkhead much quicker now that they could see where they were going. Once again, Snow grabs the wheel but moves off to one side to make room for Regina. The older of the two holds up three fingers signaling a countdown before tugging. Snow nods, counts to one and the pair start pulling... slowly it begins to turn, the spin quickening the looser it became. When the rotation stops they start to pry the door open. The thing was heavy enough when dry and level, now it was like trying to pull a boulder up a sloped hill with nothing but bare hands. Snow's fingers are so cold and stiff they feel like they are burning, but still she pulls. The hinges make a muffled creak and Regina braces herself against the wall as she pushes it open with the help of her legs. Snow gives her a thumbs up when it's opened wide enough, expecting the pair of them to go back for air before continuing but boy is she wrong.

In a move that probably should have been predicted, Regina reaches over and pulls Snow's mask up and off her face before pushing her away. When Regina enters the engine room she takes the flashlight with her which send Snow into a further panic. A flurry of bubbles escapes her as she's suddenly rushing to feel her way out the dark flooded corridor blindly. Her arm breaks through the surface and she gasps like she had earlier, her lungs feeling like they were spasming as she coughed.... but now was her only chance. Snow scrambles through the chest high water until it's around her thighs, the vessel around her giving a shutter as the engines below struggle to get turning again. She grabs onto one of the pipes and hoists herself to higher ground, grabbing the gun from where it was still balanced on the pipe. She pops out the magazine to check if it was fully loaded and it was. There's a splash behind her and without thinking she spins around, pointing the firearm directly at Regina slowly moving through the water. "....please don't come any closer..."

“That's not too creative, is it." A sickly smirk climbs across her face as she slowly approaches, the tip of the gun following her movements. "Careful. Don't miss." She opens her arms as though she's trying to make herself into a bigger a target for her little friend. "Well? What are you waiting for? Do it.”

For a split second, the gun raises as Snow focuses down the barrel but then lowers it, the two of them just a little more than an arms length away. “Fight it, Regina! Fight it! This parasite doesn't care whether you live or die, it'll just move on to another host and do it all over again!"

“Shoot me, you coward. Shoot me!”  

“Give me a reason not to!”

Regina moves quicker than Snow has ever seen. Grabbing for the gun she misses but catches Snow by the wrist while simultaneously pushing her back against the wall. The backside of her right forearm is pressed hard against her stepdaughters throat as her left hand pinned the armed hand to a pipe. “You weak, pathetic little bitch! Do you think this is what I wanted? This life?!” Her elbow rears back only to swiftly jut forward, hitting Snow squarely below the right eye before pinning her back down by the throat. Blood instantly surging from the younger woman's nose. “I have suffered for so long, totally alone, and ....honestly, Snow... no one lives forever. No one was ever meant to.” She aggressively knees Snow in the ribs, allowing her to rip the gun away as she takes a step back. When Snow looks up she's staring down the barrel of the handgun, she hadn't had time to check the chamber for a round. Her voice abandons her as fear grips her spine in this fraction of hesitation... but then Regina pulls the trigger... click... the gun is empty. Tears stream down Snow face as she drags in a heavy gasp in relief, sliding down the wall as she dropped to the wet floor. Confused, Regina looks at the gun, tipping it to see the full magazine was missing. “Oh well. Time we were on our way.” With a shrug moves away, heading up the stairs for the control room. Cloudy hazel eyes watch her leave, spying the master tablet still sitting on the top step where it had been left. Snow looks down at her hand holding the ammo clip she had removed at the last second, realizing exactly just how close she had come to being killed as death was still roaming the ship. She painfully wipes her bloodied and bruised face with the back of her hand as she pulls herself to her feet....

Regina enters the control room, making sure to close and lock the bulkhead behind her before moving over to check the submarines systems. The lights dim and flicker again as cold droplets fall from the ceiling now and again. Deeper, they had to deeper... down to the very bottom if they had to. Regina watches the computer screen in front of her, number and lights flashing as warnings before she's on the move again; on towards the side of the hull. One by one she adjusts the valves, turning them further to the danger zone as water drips from her hair. The flashing on the screen intensifies, the submarine creaking under the pressure of the new depths. "That's more like it" she says happily to herself as she slides back into the swivel chair at the desk in front of the monitors. But before she can prime the engines she hears a noise of something powering down. She frantically looks around, spotting the little ribbon attached to an air vent as it comes to a stop... the shutters of the vent mechanically close shut. "No.. no, no no..." She spins out of the chair and hurries around to air vents, pulling and prying at them as she tries to shove a finger nail underneath them. "Come on...no!" Regina moves to the door and tries to turn the large wheel to escape but it won’t turn. She begins to pull harder, nearly hanging all of her weight off it but it just won't budge. As she darts for the computer and types in a few overriding commands, a new warning in flashing yellow and red pops on the screen:

****CONTROL LOCKED****

The monitor is frozen, it won't do anything she commands of it. In the corner of the screen she watches as the CO2 and oxygen levels change... the CO2 was rapidly rising as the oxygen was quickly vanishing from the small room. "What in the-..." She doesn't understand how this is happening but she knows she has to get out. She rushes back to the door to try again, banging on the metal as she looks through the glass porthole. Snow steps into her line of view on the otherside as if she had been hiding along the side of the door panel. In her hand is the submarine's master tablet, the thing that controlled the whole ship. She bangs again, pulling at the bulkhead's wheel harder. "Don't do this, Snow!" She begs with her step-daughter but the woman looks through the glass porthole with a determined look on her face, almost as if she was looking straight through her even though they had locked eyes. There's tears building up in both of their gazes but still the younger woman doesn't budge, even as the tears roll down her cheek. She searches Regina's face, looking for an ounce of something or someone she recognized but her Regina was gone, nowhere to be found. "Please! You can't do this! Please, Snow!"

Regina scrambles back to the monitor for the last time, seeing the CO2 level has now become critical. She slams down commands again in a last ditch effort. "NO! NO!" Now she becomes wild as she desperately tries to get out. Pulling and grabbing at the pipes overhead, hoping that one of them will give way, hoping one of them is for oxygen and she can flood the room with air once again. "Snow!...Let me out! PLEASE!" Snow continues to watch in silence as she makes one more adjustment on the tablet. This is what Regina had asked of her, wasn't it?... and though Snow was fully against it, her hand had been forced. There was no other way, this was their best chance.

The end had come. What thin air had been present was now gone. Regina screams for Snow again as she collapses backwards gasping for air, struggling to get back up but it is no use; there's no breath she can find to take. As her vision begins to fade she casts one final glance towards the door, her last breath being drawn between her lips as Snow watches through the little round window.

Snow's free hand grips at the cold metal of the bulkhead, feeling as if she was taking her own last breath right alongside the other woman. And when Regina's chest doesn't rise with another breath the panic hits her full force of what she'd just done. Murderer. She turns her attention back to the tablet, resetting the controls and oxygen levels... the airlock vents reopen at full blast before she unlocks the door on her side. With all her might, she yanks the heavy door open and drags in the large medical bag and AED unit from the lab. There Regina lays on the floor, eyes fixed with her lips slightly parted... she's dead. Before Snow can reach over to her, the partially-translucent parasite comes slithering out of Regina's left ear along with a bloody mix of spinal fluid. It glides away, inching along the side of her body in search of its next host. Snow backs away, her shoulders running into the side of the hull behind her as she frantically looks around for some sort of weapon to smash the bastard. That's when she spots it: one of the hoses running alongside the wall labeled 'LN2' in bright yellow sits next to her leg. She takes a fraction of a second to weigh the consequence of her next action, figuring there was a fifty-fifty shot that what she was about to do would kill her but she'd rather die with Regina than survive without her. With a swift kick to the hose she thankfully knocks the nozzle loose rather than cracking it. Yanking it up in her hands she pulls back the lever and sprays liquid nitrogen at the snake-like parasite, deep-freezing it instantly. She pants with a shaky breath, half expecting the thing to start moving again but when it doesn't she turns her attention back to the real task at hand.

Snow makes a hard drop to her knees, pulling an ambu mask out the medical bag and puts it over Regina's nose and mouth, squeezing the bulb to pump air into her lungs. "I've got you, honey, you're going to be alright. Just hold on..."  After a couple deep but quick pumps she turns back to the bag and pulls the electrical shock pads, hooking them up to the AED unit before completely ripping the front of Regina's shirt open to expose her jet black matte bra; the button popping off in every direction. "Stay with me, stay with me..." She slaps the cold pad against the woman's tan skin, one atop the left side of her chest and the other on her side along her left ribs. She quickly follows the directions and hits the button, delivering a shock to the woman's heart. The panic and frustration only grows when the little screen showed no heart rate and the automated voice tells her to resume CPR for another two minutes. "Don't do this, Regina!" She gives a couple of pumps to her stepmother's chest with a breath or two before fumbling back, frantically tearing through the medical bag until she finds her Hail Mary... a clear brown vial with the word epinephrine written across the side, the lettering in fire engine red. She loads up a syringe with the stuff and injects it into Regina's vein, giving another few pumps to her chest before checking for a pulse. "No, no, no, no... please come back to me!" She starts digging again until she comes across a larger dosage of adrenaline. She tears off the cap and rears her hand back about to slam the long needle straight into Regina's heart through the chest when a tan hand comes flying up and stops her; the needle point only inches away.

".........thank you, Snow... that'll be quite enough..." Those honey eyes are open and staring straight up at the ceiling as life refills them. She's alive. Snow instantly drops the needle aside as she collapses forward in on herself, her face buried in both her hands as she loudly sobbed her heart out in relief; a sound of her anguish reminiscent of when she had lost Johanna. Regina's right hand shakily reaches up, cradling the back of Snow's head with a soft ruffle through her short hair. With a gentle tug, she guides Snow closer towards her. The younger woman leans into the touch, now pressing her forehead into her stepmother's shoulder and collarbone as her arm looped around her almost bare torso.

----------

Thursday  05:55 AM

The Nautilus quietly hummed across the surface of the ocean as it headed for the port, the engines slowly limping along as sunrise peaked on the horizon. Snow checks the control monitor one last time before heading back to the galley to join Regina. There the Mayor sits at a low table with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She looks like she's absolutely exhausted and she is; dying and coming back to life wasn't an easy walk in the park but she had done it with a little help. She reaches over and picks up the famous hot cocoa with added whiskey, bringing the cup up to her lips and giving a gentle blow before taking a sip. The movement at the doorway causes her to look up, finding Snow with an awfully sober look on her face. "Snow?... Are you alright?"

"You're asking me? What about you?"

"Feeling much more myself, thank you."

There's a span of silence stretching across the room as the two just look at one another, both a little worse for wear. Regina was still pale and the look didn't suit her one bit. Getting her to the galley was a bit of a slow journey too considering how unsteady and weak she still was. Snow on the other hand was sporting a black eye and a possible broken nose, the bloody evidence of their earlier altercation staining the front of her shirt. "I can't believe I did what I did." Snow says as she slides into the chair across from Regina, her head now buried in hands. This was now two counts of murder against her name. Once when she crushed David's heart to enact the Dark Curse and now this; three counts if Cora's name is added into the mix.

"You had to. We both know that thing would never have left me while I was still alive. And as far as deaths go... well, it was... very creative."

At this remark, Snow lifts her head to see one of those warm amber eyes wink at her with a soft smile gracing the lips below. Her pale hands fall away to settle in front of her as she holds her gaze. She'd been through a specific hell that she never wanted to revisit so long as she lived. "Regina?... never, ever , ask me to kill you again."

"It was an impossible decision that had to be made... you did the right thing, Snow. Trust me on that." She reaches over, laying a gentle hand atop a pale one.

Snow covers the hand with her second. "...thank you for trusting me."

"At this point, I'd be a fool if I didn't." She was right after all. They'd both be dead at the bottom of the ocean if Snow hadn't done the unthinkable. But regardless of how successful it had been, it had still left a mark; left a new fear behind, one the hung heavy on Snow's blemished heart. 

"....what you said earlier about me being ready to lead Storybrooke?... you're wrong, I'm not." Her hand twists around so it can hold Regina's firmly. "And I know this because you are destined to lead us for a long time yet to come. You're work isn't done yet."

It's a bit of a surprise for Regina to hear this but not by much. Snow did indeed save her when she just as easily could have left her there to rot, but she didn't because that wasn't how Snow operated. Same thing had happened when Owen held her captive. Snow made her husband stop all pursuits just to make sure Regina could be taken to safety. Sooner or later she's sure there'd come a day she'd be beyond saving, yet so far that hadn't happened but damn had she come close to it. She draws a slow deep breath as she squeezes the hand she held. "My work will never be done... which means that you have to accept the fact that one day you may have to carry on without me."

Snow just stares at her with a look Regina had never seen before, something that she can't put her finger on but it looks a hell of a lot like a horror. "....that may be true, but today is not that day."

"No. Not today." With a gentle smirk, Regina reaches over with her other hand and swipes a rogue tear from Snow's cheek. "Now let's go home. Our family is waiting."

~FIN~