I Trusted You (Peter Pan)

Chapter 9

Which is why, when Cassandra tried to dash for the stairs, Emma shoved her palm outwards. A glowing ball of white, fired at Cassandra's legs, locking them into place.

Emma turned away from the trapped girl and kneeled next to Henry. "How is he?" She asked Regina, who hadn't taken her eyes off their son.

"You're going to be all right, Henry." She soothed her unconscious son, not answering the woman beside her. "We're gonna get you home." She waved her hand over Henry's body. "This preservation spell can keep him in this condition for a while longer. Buy us time to get to P-"

She stopped as she heard the near-silent sounds of a struggle. Light huffs of breath. Regina whipped her head towards the noise. Her eyes lay upon the form stood by the exit. Cassandra's torso was twisting and turning as she banged against various parts of her legs with her fists. Not questioning who froze the girl, Regina jumped to her feet and marched towards her.

"Regina!" Emma yelled as the woman curled her fingers, standing in front of the girl who now clawed at her own throat.

"Where is he!" She boomed. All Cassandra responded with were whispering breaths as she tried to fight the invisible hands strangling her. "Tell me!" She tightened her fist and Cassandra wheezed in pain.

"Regina, stop!" Emma raced to her friend, leaving Neal to watch over Henry. "She can't tell us anything if she can't breathe!"

Regina turned to Emma, her hold still strong. "She's the reason he's dead." Her voice cracked and tears pricked her eyes.

"No. Pan is." Emma said carefully. "Every second we spend hurting her, is one second further from finding Pan, and saving Henry." Emma sighed in relief as Regina's hand dropped to her side, breaking both the spells, and Cassandra hit the hard ground.

Bending down, Emma nudged her daughter's shoulders, rolling her face-up. "And she's unconscious. Brilliant."

"Don't you get at me like that." Regina growled. "I'm the only one doing anything!"

"Well you just knocked out our best lead so-"

"Do you think she was just going to help us that easily? I'm sorry for trying to save my son."

"Our son. I want to save him too believe it or not. I know how you feel but-"

"You have no idea what I feel." Regina jabbed. "You have your parents. You have this-" She gestured to Neal trying to find the right word. "-person; a pirate who pines for you. You have everything and yet you claim to know what I feel?" Tear began pricking again. "All I have is Henry and I'm not about to lose him because he is everything."

"You're right." Emma said softly, surprising the tearful woman. "I don't know what you feel. So, what do you want to do? You want to run the show? Run it. How do we save Henry?"

"I don't know." Regina mumbled, defeated. She waved her hand towards the sleeping body of Cassandra, and she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Where'd you send her?" Emma asked.

"Back to camp. They'll make sure she stays there when she wakes up."

"What happens if we find Pan?" Neal worried. "He was powerful enough before without Henry's heart. I-I don't know if we can hurt him."

Something on Emma's sword caught Regina's eye. She smiled as an idea came to her. "Yes, we can. Look." The others looked to where she was pointing. A small trail of blood pooled on the blade. "You nicked him. He can bleed. We can hurt him. And if we can hurt him, we can kill him." In the place of Regina, stood the Evil Queen, smiling her malicious grin.