EVERY LITTLE THING ⇀ ( KILLIAN JONES )

FORTY-FOUR

"The wraith." Mary-Margaret uttered, her eyes lighting at the prospect of an idea, "We sent it through a portal. Why can't we do the same thing with the self-destruct?"

Emma stared, unblinking, at her mother, "Because we don't know if it's gonna work?"

"It could." The woman retorted, David coming to stand at her side in a show of his everlasting support.

The saviour hesitated for a moment, as if silently debating their success rate should they commit to this idea, and the absolute devastation that should swallow them whole if they failed. It seemed as if, once again, the fate of everyone rested on her own shoulders, and the decision she faced was a near impossible one.

Finally shaking her head with a pained grimace, she voiced her concern, "It's too risky. No one will go along with it."

Her observation wasn't entirely unfounded. Everyone, save few, seemed hesitant towards the idea. Their silence spoke volumes to the reluctance of the side of good. They could save themselves while they still could, and leave the Evil Queen to crumble in the ruins of their survival.

"Of course they will." Winnie's voice cut through the settling quiet, a sharpness in her tone that was entirely unlike herself, causing a shiver of crawling discomfort along the spines of those within the diner.

Killian watched with unbridled interest, and the smallest hint of concern within the slight frown that tugged at his lips as Winnie sidled up next to Emma, one hand wrapped securely around her son's shoulders as Christopher clung tightly, still, to his mother's waist. "I wouldn't allow Regina to leave you behind, and I won't allow you to abandon her now."

Emma fixed Winnifred with a tearful stare, reaching out and pulling her own son into a tight embrace.

"I don't want him to be alone." Her gaze never wavered, fixated on Winnie, fingers brushing absently through Henry's hair. "I don't want him to grow up the way I did."

"I know." Winnie's features softened, and for a moment, the feeling that had reared its ugly head within her bowed out in a second of quiet understanding. She reached out, catching Emma's free hand gently with her own. "But if you don't try, Emma, if you willingly allow Regina to die today, then what else might he grow up to be?"

Emma, still reluctant in the face of swiftly growing danger, swallowed roughly before delivering one final reminder, "This plan could fail."

"It could," The mother bear stated simply, that great, rageful beast beginning to shift and claw its way up her throat. Though she fought it with every ounce of patience she could muster, it is to be distinctly remembered once again that Winnie was human, and humans were terribly susceptible to vexation. She was strong, through body and will. Yet sometimes, sometimes that just wasn't enough, "Let's make sure it doesn't."

storybrooke maine .

— THE MINES BENEATH STORYBROOKE WERE A DISMAL AND FOOLISH COMPANION, consisting of dark, winding tunnels luring them deeper into the earth. As Emma and Henry lead a determined charge through the boundless poorly illuminated corridors, Winnie kept a tight hold on Christopher's hand as he stumbled alongside her, shaking dust and muck from his hair.

It was eerie and incredibly unsettling, their uneasy heartbeats echoing along the walls of the mines, along with the distant hum of magic thumping and pulsating from further within. The crackling of energy grew louder as they proceeded deeper into the tunnels, until they finally rounded an unassuming corner and came upon the town's newest danger.