Rumplestilstkin exited the pawn shop, locking the door behind him. He looked at his right: the battle was raging under the clock tower, somewhere in the middle of the thick, magic mist. He smirked, proud of his creature, then serenely walked away, aiming at Pan's so said " hidden" refuge in the woods.
He found himself thinking about Belle, forcedly asleep in their house. He couldn't risk her life, not now that he had found her again. He was sure that he would have died in Neverland, and he probably would have, if Shaya hadn't helped them. He was powerful, but the prophecy was clear. He had been very lucky to find Shaya in Neverland, and, moved by an unusual sense of sharing, he had told her, that morning on the island, when he had took a walk with the warrior while the others were still sleeping. He had told her everything about the prophecy, and she had laughed on it and asked him if he wanted to come back to that Storybrooke. He had nodded, and she had said that, if Rumplestiltskin wanted to do something, then not even destiny could stop him. And he had never felt so grateful with someone. Well, except for Belle. A warm sensation had raised in his chest, something close to love, yet it wasn't it. And in that moment he had understood, even though it was more like remembering something, that she was his friend. His only friend. And she fixed things, and people. And that day she had fixed him. From that morning on he knew that he would have seen Belle again. Not that he could stop being afraid that it wouldn't happen, that was impossible, but he had hoped that he would have looked again in those bright, gorgeous, smiling blue eyes.
Exactly the opposite he could think about a couple of hostile dark-green eyes.
All because of a certain woman, the same woman who froze as she saw him, appearing from behind a low hill, smirking at her. She was standing in the middle of a little camp, filled with tents made of woods, ferns and moss, open-mouthed. She held a gun in her right hand, and she suddenly aimed it at him.
" Don't move!" she intimated, but her voice was shaking, as her body. Rumplestiltskin pursed his lips and opened his arms, dropping the cane.
" Why, dearie? I'm just an unarmed man, can't you see?" he asked with a smile, lifting his brows. Tamara swallowed, tightening the grab in the gun.
" You're the Dark One, you yourself are a weapon." she said between her teeth. She was terrorized, and Rumple felt his eyes glitter at that awareness.
He gave a nod. " Well then..." he stepped forward, descending the hill.
" Stay still!" Tamara warned him, but he ignored her, going on speaking.
" ...if you're so informed about me, you should know..."
" Rumplestiltskin, stay still or I shot, I swear!"
" ... that poor damage a gun can make me..."
" Mr. Gold!"
Tamara's gun was pushed against Rumple's chest by now but, when she pulled the trigger, nothing happened. The Dark One smiled.
" ... dearie."
Tamara pulled and pulled the trigger again, uselessly. Rumplestiltskin tilted his head, the raised a hand, closed in a fist. When he opened it, the bullets shined in his palm.
" Yet I thought you were fast shooting, Tamara."
The woman looked at him in horror, then tried to walk back, but she stumbled on what was left of a campfire, falling on her back.
" Please, Mr. Gold, please, I didn't mean to..."
" Actually, I guess you did, dearie..." he interrupted her, dropping the bullets. They fell before her feet, hitting a stone, startling her.
Tamara tried to shrank form him. " N-no, please, I was forced to shot him..."
" Forced?" the Dark One angrily asked, gritting his teeth. He raised a hand, and his cane flew to it. He grabbed it, stepping forward, and quickly pushed it against Tamara's throat, stopping her going back. The woman grasped the cane, trying to move it, trying to breathe, but Rumplestiltskin was stronger, and held it where it was.
" Forced, uh?" he repeated, leaning forward, making her goggle in pain, careful not to kill her yet. " That's not what Emma has told me."
Tamara opened her mouth trying to speak, but Rumplestiltskin shook his head with a devilish chuckle.
" Oh, no, dearie. You may have fooled Bae with your lies, but I won't listen to your falsehoods a second more."
He slightly waved his free hand, and the bullets lifted in the air, making Tamara widen her eyes. She frantically shook her head, crying, trying to escape, but the Dark One's magic held her on the ground. The bullets slowly flew towards her body, and soon they were pressing against her belly and chest, making her moan in pain, the only sound she could emit with the cane pressed against her throat. Rumplestiltskin moved the free hand forward, and the bullets entered the skin, digging through her flesh, causing her suffocated screams. No bullet touched her heart.
She passed out before that the bullets could kill her, much to the Dark One's disappoint.
He left her there, walking away with an old ballad he thought he didn't remember in his head. Yet he used to sing it to Regina in her cradle to put her to sleep, when Henry wasn't around.
No love thy heart shall wit
Ruth maiden
Darkness' bride
But thou and I
Thou and I
For his heart she'll take
And thy will die
But thou and I
Thou and I
For his heart she'll take
Her wrath to slake
But thou and I
Thou and I
Red spark in the dark
No reign under a broken heart
But thou and I
Thou and I
Your voice, the vengeance
The darkness' brilliance
And thou and I
Thou and I
Thy life I seize
My wrath to appease
So thou and I
Thou and I
" Where is he?"
Regina looked around, but Finnegan wasn't in sight. Cruella was playing the flute, but the werewolf seemed not to answer to her call. And it was impossible. He had to come there, just as any other werewolf.
" Cruella..." Regina lowly said, glaring at her. The Slayer showed her her teeth.
" It's not my fault, your Majesty, he must have found a way to..."
" Well play that damn flute louder then!"
Cruella hissed at her, but then closed her lips around the bone and began playing the flute again.
Regina glanced at Shaya, who looked worried just as she was. The battle had ended, the road was covered in the bodies of the Lost Boys. Only one was missing. Two, counting Tamara, but if she knew Rumplestiltskin, and she knew him, she was already dead.
None of them had died instead. Hook and Charming were seriously injured, and Charming was to become a werewolf, but, let alone a deep tiredness, all of the others were fine. Mostly Snow White, who wasn't even tired, with Regina's disappointment. They were all gathered under the clock tower, waiting for the last survivor to come up. Regina had found herself quite surprised: they had put her in the middle of the little crowd, totally protected, together with Emma. It was logical, yes, because them two were the ones who had worked the hardest, yet she didn't expect it. Except for Whale, who had taken David and Hook to the hospital after that she had stopped the pirate's bleeding, her army was protecting her. And her army was composed by Shaya, and that was okay, but there were also Cruella, back to back with her, Widow Lucas, Red Riding Hood, (Snow's best friend, for God's sake!), the Seven freaking Dwarves, Archie, who was mysteriously unharmed, and above all Snow White. The princess was right before her, turned back, ready to throw her last arrow.
All of them looked and looked around while the music streamed through the air, now free from the mist, but Finnegan wasn't showing.
Regina was quivering for the tension. None was safe with the werewolf around, even more seen that, evidently, he had a plan.
" Maybe he just ran away..." Emma tried to suggest, but Regina shrugged off her try with a grouchy gesture.
" Sure, because he wouldn't revenge his brothers, don't you think? He's so forgiving..."
Emma glared at her. " Hey, just because you're hella vindictive it doesn't mean that he has to be, too!"
Regina rolled her eyes. " The fact that he wants to kill me slowly because I didn't kill Cruella more than thirty years ago tells you something?"
Emma opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, and finally clenched it. Regina gave a nod of satisfaction and turned to watch the road again. But Emma wasn't done with her conjectures.
" Maybe we scared him. We got to kill Steven and Robert, after all..."
Regina repressed a sigh. " Finnegan doesn't get scared. He gets angry."
There was a brief yet heavy silence that followed her words, enough to make Regina turn to look Emma in the eyes.
" What?" the brunette harshly asked her. The Savior blinked, but glanced down and shook her head.
" Nothing. You're right, he's probably around, waiting for us to drop our guard." she muttered, looking away.
Regina nodded, pursuing her lips. " Why so embarrassed, Emma, you can even say it, I don't bite. "
The Savior looked at her in confusion. Fake confusion. Regina repressed a smile.
" What?"
" That I'm right because I'm like him."
" You're nothing like him."
Regina had just had the time to say the sentence that Shaya had intervened. She was turned back, guarding her left side, her longsword that quietly shined in the morning light.
Regina gave a smirk, even though she couldn't see it.
" You don't know him."
Shaya shrugged.
" I know you."
Regina clearly felt her heart skip a beat, or two. She wanted to say something, she really wanted it, but her tongue was like a stone, heavy and inert. She really couldn't get used to that faith in her.
Emma gave her a nudge, catching her attention, then began to gesticulate with animosity, repeatedly pointing Shaya out to her.
" Say something" she mouthed, still indicating the warrior.
Regina arched an eyebrow. You look like a turkey trying a foxtrot, you know, Miss Swan?
The blonde's face fell together with her shoulders. Regina slightly shook her head in disapproval, pursuing her lips.
Yet you should quite remember that you can use magic.
And you look like a cold-hearted bitch with a super-duper-cute girlfriend, Mills. Emma thought narrowing her eyes in a mute challenge.
Regina couldn't help swallowing and immediately worryingly gazing at Shaya. She looked relaxed, to be one who expected to be attacked by a werewolf in moments. Maybe she didn't expect an answer. She knew her, after all. She exposed her thoughts to Emma, who rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
Goddamit, Regina! Did you expect that answer? No, you didn't, but wasn't it cute?
The former Queen thought about it. She would say it had been heartwarming more than cute, but the concept was the same: she had to answer, even though now it looked to be a little late to do it.
It's never too late, don't worry. Emma murmured in her head, making her look at her: her thoughts were dark, blue. Neal's face flashed in Regina's mind like in Emma's. The Savior glanced down, pale. Regina didn't even realize that she had put a hand on the blonde's shoulder, gently squeezing it. Emma looked at her with an astonished face, and only in that moment the brunette realized what she was doing. She embarrassedly took off the hand and looked away, swallowing.
" You'll get over it." she said, obstinately looking at the empty road beyond Snow's shoulder, making everyone glance at her, as anyone had spoken for a while until she did. She saw Emma weakly nod out of the corner of her eye. A sudden memory of Daniel, of the last time she had seen him, invaded her mind. A far pain, slight as it had never been, lightly touched her heart. She widened her eyes in surprise: every single time she had thought of him an unbearable pain had crunched her heart, and shattered her mind. Every single time. She had never found relief, or felt that distant sense of nostalgia, painful, yes, yet sweet, as a simple memory of good past time, as if he was still there. She still missed him, but... Regina gazed at Shaya.
Then love again...
Three words. Regina smiled. She knew the answer now.
" I love you."
That unforeseen voice startled her. Let alone what it had expressed. Shaya suddenly turned to look at Regina. It wasn't the right circumstance to make her move, was it? She accidentally crossed Snow's angry stare while turning, so she glanced at her. The Princess looked away, pretending to stretch her neck. Shaya's attention came back to her love with a sneer. Just the day after, on a certain book, she had found out a thing.
" Apple of my eye..." she said, not hiding her amusement. Regina at first furrowed her brow, then her eyes shined bright and she visibly stifled a laughter. Shaya had to use all of her skills not to laugh, seen Snow White's furious glare at her. " ... for how I can appreciate your words, this is not the right moment for us to share our reciprocal sentiments, and you know it well. I'm saying this because, if you wouldn't accomplish my request to postpone that much desired exchange of words, I could easily get distracted and so be unable to protect your person from that iniquitous creature that I find hard to call werewolf."
Regina couldn't hide a smile, and Shaya didn't want to hide everything she was feeling, that almost uncontainable mix of emotions, so intense and beautiful that she felt like if she could explode in a moment. So she let her eyes show it, and, judging by her face, she knew that Regina had seen. But still the warrior was worried, she couldn't allow herself another distraction. Finnegan was enough to kill them all, seen that Cruella's magic didn't seem to work on him. They were exhausted, unlike him, who didn't fight until then.
Shaya gave Regina a last glance before turning. She rubbed her eyes, then focused again on the buildings in front of her. Shops, for the most part. And there was none there. Not even on the roof, she had watched it all along. On the roof...
Shaya suddenly turned, looking at the clock tower. Her heart skipped a beat. A dark silhouette was on the roof above their head, half-hidden behind the tower. The werewolf was crouched on the rooftop of the library, a hand on the wall of the tower, the pointed ears pricked towards them, his dark-brown fur slightly moving with the light wind, shining in the morning sun. He noticed her stare, and bared his fangs.
" Ruuun!" Shaya shouted, already pushing Regina and Emma away. A moment of panic after everyone understood what was happening and began to run away, but Finnegan was already mid-air. Cruella, who had stayed there standing, furiously playing the flute while the others were still trying to get the situation, had now dropped the apparently useless instruments and had jumped, her mouth opened in a growl, not different from Finnegan's, trying to reach the werewolf before he could touch the ground. They were about to collide when the werewolf stretched a hand and threw something to the Slayer. Something silver sparkled around Cruella, then she disappeared. Finnegan did a complex twisting to avoid the pixie dust and gracefully landed on the asphalt. He then moved a foot and seemed to smash a bug.
Shaya saw Snow cover her mouth with her hand, in shock, at the corner of her eyes.
The warrior glanced at the group while Finnegan turned to look at them. They were frightened, they didn't know what to do. For a moment Shaya met Regina's scared gaze, and it was enough. She turned, put herself before all of them and whirled her sword.
" Formation!" she barked, locking gaze with the werewolf. He was slowly walking towards them. Shaya clenched her jaws. She glanced behind her shoulder: they had obeyed. She turned with a nod.
" Snow!" she said.
An arrow was shot, but Finnegan avoided it.
" Granny!"
Three darts flew towards the werewolf in rapid succession, yet none of them wounded the hybrid. He was getting closer.
Shaya groaned. She tightened the grip on the sword.
" Back!" she commanded, but she stayed still where she was. Finnegan was ten steps away.
" Not without you." Regina steadily objected, throwing fire at the werewolf. He barely noted it, just like Robert, even though the fur on his chest was burning.
Shaya locked gaze with her and time suddenly slowed down as any other sound but their breaths disappeared. The warrior looked in those dark eyes. Determination and fury made them shine and darkened them at the same time. Shaya lost herself in that stare for the infinite time of a heartbeat, then swallowed and ran at the werewolf.
" No! Shaya!"
Regina's scream caused a shiver to run fast and violent through Emma's spine. The Savior helplessly watched the warrior run at the werewolf, twice as tall as she was, his claws already stretched towards Rapunzel, his chops opened while he jumped, ready to tear her to pieces. But he stopped mid-air. Emma saw a movement at her left, and the werewolf was pulled down by an invisible force and violently crashed against a car. Emma gazed at Regina: she was panting, but a sneer tensed her lips. She moved again her hands, and the werewolf was lifted in the air again, then thrown down again, and again, and again, unless the former Mayor faltered, exhausted, and Emma had to hold her up.
Rapunzel, who had been standing in the middle of the road, staring at Finnegan while he was tossed around, immediately got close to the wounded werewolf and raised her sword. Emma glanced at Regina, but in the same moment the brunette goggled and stretched a hand, screaming: " No!"
Emma turned just in time to see Rapunzel hit a car, shattering its window and denting the door. She then fell down on her belly, immobile.
Finnegan stood up, even though it was evident that he could barely do it. He probably had all of his bones broken, yet he was rapidly healing.
It all happened too quickly: Emma couldn't hold Regina: she pushed her away in the haste to run to Rapunzel, but she was slow doing it, and Finnegan intercepted her. The werewolf hit the former Queen with his claws, laying her flat. It was then that Emma felt it: the power streamed through her veins from her heart, making her heartbeat and breath accelerate, and at the same time taking the air out of her body, as if that enormous pressure that she was feeling was suffocating her from the inside. Emma knew that there was only one thing that she could do: let it go.
The Savior raised her hands towards the werewolf, who was lifting a hand, ready to administer Regina the coup de grâce. A blast of pure light hit Finnegan, making her squint for the intensity of the light.
Emma had never felt so free: the feeling of the power streaming through her body and her hands, flowing in the air, releasing her from that burden that was her contained, immense power, now she knew it. She had been a fool. She had tried to hold the ocean into a glass, plugging it with her hand. The water had always filtered, but now...
The Savior slowly closed her hands. The light gradually decreased while the flow was becoming fainter. She had to stop, her energies were blowing over. When the light disappeared, leaving only the sun's, which now seemed weak confronted to it, there was nothing left where Finnegan was standing a few moments before.
The silence lasted exactly thirty seconds, so deep that Emma heard the clicks of the clock tower's cogs beat the time. Then Archie's voice made her blink and turn.
" Emma, come here! She needs your help!"
The Savior ran where Regina was lying on the ground. Archie was kneeled next to her, pressing his hands against her belly. There was blood, much blood. Emma fell on her knees next to the brunette, specular to Archie's position.
Regina was white on her face, and her breath was irregular. As Emma fell down, she grabbed her hand.
" Emma..." she whispered, coughing then. A stain of blood mixed with the lipstick.
The Savior bent forward, holding back the tears.
" Sshhh, shut the fuck up, Regina! Don't waste energies..."
Regina gave a weak smirk between two broken breaths.
" Tell Henry that I love him..."
" You'll tell him, idiot! Tell me how to save you, instead! "
Regina wasn't listening. She moved her head, stretching her neck, watching something behind her, over Emma. The Savior turned. Rapunzel was a step away, still unconscious, but she was breathing. The blonde stared again at the brunette.
" She's fine, for God's sake! You're not!"
The former Mayor locked gaze with her again, but her stare was dull, far.
" Tell her, too..." she muttered. Her body began to shake slightly, her breaths became even shorter.
" Regina." Emma called her. She leaned a hand on her face, but the brunette didn't react. Inside her chest, it was like if someone was slowly pulling her soul out of her. But it wasn't her soul, it was the link between her and Regina, and it was becoming thinner and thinner.
" Regina!" Emma shouted slapping her, but she didn't move. The tears began to flow away as the energy out of her, out of Regina.
" No!"
The desperate, scraping cry startled Emma. Rapunzel rushed next to her, taking Regina's face between her hands, weeping. " Regina, Regina open your eyes! Look at me! Please, Regina... " the warrior franticly said, her voice lowering with each word. She looked at the wounds, four bleeding gashes, visible even under Archie's hands, then repeatedly blinked and desperately looked at Emma.
" You can do it! Emma, please, concentrate! You must save her!"
The Savior was speechless. She didn't know what to do. Rapunzel was wrong. She couldn't do it.
" I don't know how..." she murmured.
" You don't need the knowledge! You're not like us! You don't use magic, you are magic! Please, Emma... please... try..."
Emma gazed down at the dying woman. Regina never looked vulnerable, so seeing her in that condition, feeling her so distant and faint, made something click inside Emma. She put her hands above Archie's, sensing the warm blood wet her skin, and motioned for him to move his hands. She quickly pressed against the wounds, the blood that streamed through her fingers, and closed her eyes.
" Come on..." she murmured, squeezing her eyes in the effort to push out of her what lasted of her power." Come on, Regina... I know you're here, hold on... help me..."
A wave of magic ran through her hands as a weak light flashed in her mind. Emma felt Regina's presence in her heart and grabbed that sensation, letting her energy flow towards the woman, ignoring the dizziness that was beginning to a make her falter.
Emma felt as if the flow of magic was beginning to decrease, becoming intermittent, irregular, weak. She forced herself to keep her eyes shut, to see again that darkness and that faint spot of dark light that Regina's heart was, but the sounds around her were coming back, and the darkness was stained with sun rays.
Emma opened her eyes.
She found herself leaning against someone next to her, Ruby, she found out, who was holding her, impeding her to crumple to the ground. The Savior was totally strengthless. She could barely keep her eyes open.
" Regina..." she slurred, uselessly trying to focus the brunette.
" You stopped her bleeding, Em." Ruby said, rubbing her shoulder as to comfort her. Ruby said something else, but her voice faded away with the light as Emma passed out.
Emma's head fell dropped against her shoulder. " Em?" Red called her, moving the blonde a bit.
" Emma?" Snow worryingly called her. Red looked at her friend.
" She's fine, Snow. She's just sleeping."
" The hell she's sleeping! She fainted!" Snow growled, angrily looking at Regina. Ruby did, too, but she couldn't stare at the immobile body. Rapunzel caught her attention: she was bent over the brunette, holding her hand, caressing her face, whispering in her ear desperate words between the sobs. She was shaking, and she looked totally overwrought, unable to think, let alone to act.
Ruby looked at Snow again. She somehow felt her stare, and locked gaze with her. Behind that cold, angry look, there was pity in her eyes. Ruby slightly smiled at her, innerly relieved. She thought she had lost her friend but, no, Snow was still there. She was just angry.
" Let's move her to the hospital." Red said with a nod towards Regina. " Victor will take care of her."
She moved, motioning to Archie to carry Emma for her. The shrink moved to do it, but Snow's steady voice stopped him.
" No." she said. She locked gaze with Ruby again. There was anger in those eyes, sadness, and resignation. Ruby swallowed hard while a cold fear rushed through her spine.
" Snow, she'll die if we don't hurry up..."
Snow White's stare stayed firm while the silence thickened as everyone waited for her decision.
" Rumplestilstskin!" she loudly said, startling everyone. She then gave a quick, tensed smile towards Ruby, while a dark fog forewarned of the Dark One's coming.
" She'll die if we move her. Emma stopped the bleeding, but the wounds are still deep. We'd risk to reopen them before we get her to the hospital." she quickly explained.
While she was talking, Rumplestiltskin had materialized next to her. He immediately saw Regina and her wounds. The Dark One clenched his jaws, paling. Ruby lifted her brows in surprise. She really didn't know that he was attached to her. He waved a hand while speaking, and the wounds disappeared.
" Who did this to her?"
Ruby heard Snow answer him, but she was all eyes on the former Queen. Rapunzel franticly looked at the smooth belly, visible under the teared armor, then stared at Regina's face, rubbing her cheek with her thumb, not even breathing while she waited for her to open her eyes. Ruby felt her eyes fill with tears. She had never seen someone look at someone else that way, as if Rapunzel could only breath if Regina was looking at her, and she was desperately and yet hopefully waiting for her to notice it and open her eyes and save her from suffocating.
And Regina opened her eyes.
" Shaya..." she murmured in a feeble voice, staring at the warrior with a confused face.
Rapunzel couldn't hold a smile, and pressed her lips against Regina's, crying.
" I'm here." Ruby, and probably only her, heard her answer. " It's fine, my love, don't worry. You're fine..." the warrior's voice broke, and she began crying uncontrollably again, next to Regina's face, her forehead leaning on the ground.
Regina moved a trembling hand and gently leaned it on Rapunzel's nape, turning her head as to be able to look at her.
" Hey, I'm fine..." she whispered, rubbing the blonde's neck. She then moved her hand on her cheek, evidently trying to make her turn to look at her, but Rapunzel just passed an arm under her shoulders and partially raised her to hug her, hiding her face against the brunette's shoulder.
At the sight of Regina's smile, Ruby had to cover her mouth with a hand to manage to stifle a sob. She didn't even know why she was feeling that moved by that scene, but she felt about to explode. Maybe it was because of Rapunzel. For what she had been through to come to that moment. She had understood that woman from the first time she had seen her, and since that day she knew that she lived for Regina. So, seeing the former Queen correspond her love, her devotion, maybe it was that that was filling her chest with that bomb of emotions. She was happy for her, as she'd been happy for Snow when she had married David. Yes, she had felt the same that day, after all. But Snow was her best friend, practically her sister, it was normal to feel that way. She had barely talked thrice with Rapunzel. Nah, but she knew her, and she admired her. Her bravery, her strength, her ability to smile and make everyone smile, even the Evil Queen, even the Dark One. Rapunzel was a friend, and she was damn happy for her, and there was absolutely nothing strange with it. She was kissing her True Love, they all had won a war, fighting together, protecting each other, and they were all alive. Everything was fine. Then why did she want to cry so hard?