"-Are you sure?!"

"-Regina, I DON'T make the rules when it comes to the Price of Magic. As much as I wish I did, and you can't cheat your way out of this one. No matter what, it will TAKE what it's owed. You don't HAVE TO do this though… Just let nature run its course, if this was in the Real World, just outside of Storybrooke? Zelena would've died instantly, the Town's magic is what's keeping her alive. But even that will fade, in an hour. Two at most, she will be gone."

A silent tear ran down her cheek.

"- You don't have to choose right away Regina, but a decision has to be made, soon. I'm sorry" said Riley, putting a sympathetic hand on the former queen's shoulder as they both turned back to stare at Henry who was occupied with his grandparents.

"- Why don't we all break for late lunch?" suggested Snow White, trying to be helpful. "Emma, you have your pager on, the doctors should certainly call us if anything comes up?"

"-Mary Margaret-" the Sheriff started but was interrupted by Regina.

"-I actually think that's a great idea, Granny's?"

Seeing Henry's eyes light up, no one couldn't refuse, even Riley.

At the Diner, Regina made it a point to order her son's favorite meal and a large Hot Chocolate with cinnamon and whipped cream.

"-What's the occasion?" he asked, puzzled as to why she was going through all the trouble after they just ate earlier.

"-I'll tell you later…" she answered with a loving smile and a wink that didn't quite reach her eyes. Snow white raised her eyebrow intrigued, while Emma became suspicious. Waiting to corner Regina after they were finished and getting up from the table.

"-I need to talk to you, now" she whispered, having the woman follow her into the back where the jute box, phones and restrooms were located. "-Alright Regina, what's going on?"

The former mayor who she'd had always been known as a stubborn pillar of strength, suddenly broke down crying.

"-Promise me…Promise me you will take care of him Miss Swan? Whatever your dreams are, continue to include Henry. I love him so much!"

"-What are you talking about?"

"-There is a way for Zelena not to die-"

The sheriff's eyes widened as she gasped "-NO! There HAS TO be another way!"

"-There isn't, I already checked with Riley."

"-No! You can't do this to us, to Henry! He needs you!"

"-I know he does Miss Swan, this is a decision I don't make lightly. But if I don't, Robin will grow up without BOTH her parents"

"-Is that such a bad thing, you could raise her?"

"-Once, I may have thought that a good thing, but what would her father want for his daughter?"

Emma gave out a long-frustrated sigh, "-I don't agree with what you are doing, but I understand it. I'm going to miss you Regina"

"-Me too, Emma"

"-When are you gonna tell Henry and Mary Margaret?"

"-Soon, when we get back to the hospital. There isn't much time left" The Sheriff mutely nodded as they left, catching up with the others.

"-Have you made your choice?" asked Riley quietly when they came to halt outside of Zelena's room.

"-Yes, and I will do it. Besides, this could be the chance that she turns her life around?"

"-It had BETTER be… Again Regina, I am so sorry it had to come to this."

"-So am I, Riley. So am I…"

"-What are you guys talking about?"

"-Snow…" said her stepmother, surprising everyone by giving her a hug. "-I'm glad we finally made peace when we did"

"-Me too," answered Snow White, a little confused.

The former queen shook hands with both David and Killian.

"-Take care of them,"

"-I will," "I will your majesty" they answered puzzled as the rest.

"-Belle," said Regina, coming to stand in front of the bookworm. "-You and I didn't have a good start, but I'm glad I met you and I am truly sorry about our past grievances. Forgive me?"

Belle, now estimated what this was about, having sort of gone through it earlier with Emma.

"-I forgive you Regina, the past is in the Past. All we can do is try to move forward"

"-Yes, it's all we can" she agreed, giving baby Robin one last silent hug and kiss on her forehead. Before shaking hands with Emma

"-Good luck to you Miss Swan," before finally reaching Henry. This was the hard part. Regina embraced her son tightly, "-Thank you Henry, you helped bring me back to the best version of myself. I will be forever grateful, I love you. My little Prince"

"-Mom, what's going on?" he asked, now a little scared.

"- I'm not going to lie to you Henry, I am dying."

"- I know, the Sleeping Curse shorten our lifespan, but we still have time." His mother shook her head,

"-Not for me. Henry, the only way to save Zelena IS for someone to die in her place."

"-NO!" he shouted, "You can't!"

"-I MUST, for Robin. Both Father and Daughter. I love you…" she said with one last kiss to his forehead.

"-NO!" he screamed at the top of his lungs beginning to charge after her as she entered the patient's room with Riley silently casting magic alongside. But was stopped by Emma grabbing him, then David, and Killian. Combining the strength of all three to hold back the struggling teenager.

Quiet tears ran down Regina's cheeks as she heard her son in the background but kept right on walking. Approaching the bed, she reached out to grasp her sister's hand. However, once their skin made contact, "I love you…" was the last thought the former mayor had before blacking out.

"-Regina? Regina? Come on Milady, it's time to wake up."

With great reluctance, her eyes and ears opened to find: "-Daniel!" she instantly got up and ran into his open arms. "-Please, tell me this is REAL…" she begged, breaking their kiss.

"-It is, Robin Hood and I asked to bring you home personally."

"-Robin is here?"

"-Indeed, I am. Your Majesty" said the do-good thief appearing with a horse and a playful bow.

"-I am beyond grateful for what you have just done Regina." She then ran to embrace Robin who hugged her just as fiercely, though not kissing out of respect for her first love.

"-Let's go home..."

Letting out a squeal of delight as Daniel picked her up bridal style and placed her gently on her childhood horse, Regina gazed fondly at her two loves standing side by side. Before turning back to see a distraught Henry, crying over her body.

"-He will be alright Regina," said Robin, grasping her hand in comfort. "Someday, we'll all be together again. In a new home, you just get to go there first…"

A piercing bright light appeared behind them, "-They are calling,"

Daniel steered the horse. Walking towards it before they all began to fade out disappearing completely…

"-Let me go!" Henry hollered,

"-You can let him go now guys, she's gone" Riley announced solemnly.

Snow White was in a state of shock and disbelief as she watched her grandson run to Regina and desperately try to shake her awake. Disbelief then turned into heartbreak as realization set in. Her stepmother was dead. Not because she had died while trying to kill her as the Evil Queen. But out of a loving sacrifice for the child of her true love. "-TRUE LOVE is the most powerful magic Snow…" Regina had told her that first night after they'd met so long ago, when she had caught her and Daniel together in the stable.

"-Bring her back!" Henry angrily snapped at his sister. "-You did the spell, now undo it!"

"-I can't Henry. NO LEGAL spell can bring back the dead, and the ONLY one that does is what Belle and Dad did. You KNOW how well that turned out, and I can guarantee – YOU dying to bring her back. IS NOT what SHE wants for you."

"-The Underworld then!"

"-No Henry, we are not GOING. For two REASONS:

1. – You need someone's BLOOD who died and came back to summon the fairy, Remember? The only people that qualify are "Killian" and "Bobby". And you AIN'T using MY Son.

2.- The Underworld is MEANT for folks with UNFINISHED business. I have a feeling Regina passed straight on through. Because she just took care of it before she died, and truly REDEEMED herself. She died a HERO'S death…"

"-I DON'T CARE! I want her here! And this… WHOLE thing is YOUR FAULT-!"

"-Excuse me?!"

"-YOU STARTED ALL THIS WITH THAT CURSE! I WAS WRONG ABOUT YOU- YOU'RE EVIL?! AND I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" exclaimed her brother, going toe to toe as if she was the "Evil Queen"But the second he turned away as he usually did in these confrontations, he felt himself harshly yanked back by the scruff of his coat and shirt before disappearing in a magic swirl of purple smoke. "-HENRY!" he heard his family yell, but it was too late.

Reappearing in a back alley somewhere, Snow White's Grandson was forced to look into the Pitch-Black dilated pupils of the Dark One, sending shivers up and down his spine.

"-R-Riley?" he now timidly tried to speak but was met with a hard (SMACK!) sending him to the ground. The boy attempted to crawl back away as she advanced on him.

"-Are you scared Henry?"

"-Y-yes," he admitted, shaking as she reached for him again.

"-Not NEARLY frightened ENOUGH… You should be BEYOND the AGE of LEARNING that: You Say The WRONG THING to the WRONG PERSON? It CAN get YOU KILLED! Or WORSE! I know, from personal experience…"

Undoing the buttons on her white shirt to reveal a long penetrating scar from her left earlobe down to her collarbone. Her brother gasped, his eyes glued to the mark as she picked up and set him on his feet.

"-I was eleven," she continued. "Been living with Dad for three years when I was kidnapped by a street drug dealer with ties to Dad's past. I said something stupid like you just did in that hospital, thinking I could walk away too. BIG MISTAKE! I was never the same after that, even when Dad got me back by paying the ransom and we moved out of state."

Henry's face went from green to pale. "-So, what are you going to do to me?"

"-Hopefully, TEACH you something. Leaving behind, a sadder but WISER young man."

"-That's It?"

"-Not quite, I UNDERSTAND that you are grieving right now. My own mother died 14 year ago. Believe Me, I know what that kind of pain feels like! BUT that DOSEN'T give YOU the RIGHT to DISRESPECT me! Or ANYONE for that matter!"

"-I'm Sorry," said Henry, his head bowed, now very humble as silent tears started to flow down his cheeks.

"-Hey, hey…" she said, gently pulling him into her arms for a hug. "I Love You Kiddo, I don't want to anything to happen to you."

"-You love me?"

"-Mmm Hmm, very much." She sighed, "-I also advised your mother, not to go down this path. But she made a CHOICE. Just like Zelena made a choice, but the DIFFERENCE is:

Regina made hers out of LOVE… That's something to be PROUD Of, and I bet you'll never find in any of your storybooks, even your personal one? A better comeuppance for the "Evil Queen" then what you were witnessed to? And… you must remember now, all the good times you've had with her. It helps, also thinking…Well at least me, anyway.

That there's somebody looking out for me up there, and I can't wait see them again when it's my time."

Henry officially broke down into full blown crying at this point. But Riley merely continued to hold her brother close, rubbing his back and encouraging him to let it all out if possible, that she was there for him.

"-You're really good at this," Henry commented once he could speak, his voice a little hoarse.

"-Thanks, I try to be"

"-I'm sorry I called you "Evil" I just-!"

"-Apology accepted, just please be a little more AWARE of your words? It's a SAFETY Issue. NOT just for Kids, but Adults as well…"

"- I promise," he answered, nothing short of a memory potion or natural causes would EVER erase Riley's demonstration from his mind. She had scared him so badly, it became rooted in there.

"-HENRY!" chorused the "Heroes" voice as they charged out the back-metal door to the building behind them, though quickly put on the brakes at the sight of the two siblings hugging.

"-Henry, you alright?" asked Emma quietly.

"-No, I miss her so much! But Riley's been helping me,"

The Sheriff gave a skeptical look, as his sister broke away from their hug.

"-Henry, I have to go now. Will you be okay?"

He nodded, "-Where are you going?"

"-"Wicked" is waking up," she said, vanishing in a puff of smoke…