Although the clone was looking worse and worse, bleeding from several wounds in her face and arms and looking so bruised and battered a normal human wouldn't be able to stay conscious, let alone stand or run anywhere, if anything, her energy seemed to be increasing together with her frustration. She wasn't talking anymore, only growling and screeching incoherent, garbled sounds.

By the time a glowing green spot finally appeared in the sky, Emma was sweating profusely, flinching and staggering every time the shield was hit. Tink landed a safe distance away, eyes flitting between the two Emma's.

"Which one?" she yelled, body ready to pounce. "The one outside, right?"

"Yes," Regina confirmed and took a step closer to her– to the real Emma. "Do whatever you're supposed to do, quickly."

Tink nodded and jumped off into the air, diving towards the clone who paid her no mind. When she was just above her, Tink opened her fist and threw a handful of fairy dust on the clone who immediately looked up, snarling at the fairy. Before she could do anything else though, blue magic surrounded and immobilized her.

"You took fairy dust from Blue?" Regina said incredulously, staring at the clone and then at Tink.

Rolling her eyes, Tink landed and shrugged off her wings. "I got it from Blue. I can be very persuasive." Her expression grew serious. "I'm not sure how long this will work on her, so we'll have to act quickly."

"Do you have a plan?" Regina asked, not comforted by Tink's grim look.

Tink hesitated, glancing at the clone who was furiously trying to get out of her bondage. "No. I talked to Blue. She didn't explicitly say there wasn't any way to get rid of it, she just said she'd never heard of anything like it. The combination of your magics makes this pretty much unheard of, even by someone like the Blue Fairy."

"What about light magic?" Emma blurted out. "You've only tried to absorb it with your own dark magic, right?" she asked Regina. "I could try absorbing it with light magic. Maybe it won't hurt you then."

Throwing a spiteful look at the furious clone, Regina agreed. "Do it."

Emma stepped away from Regina, raising her hands towards the clone. "Here goes," she muttered and closed her eyes, her face scrunching up in concentration. Beams of light shot out of her hands, hitting the clone who shrieked and writhed. For a few seconds, it looked like it was working, the clone's feet starting to shimmer and disappear, but then another beam of light, slightly tinted purple, shot out from the clone and hit Regina in the chest, throwing her to the ground.

"S-stop, Emma," Regina could only whimper as immense pain surged through her exhausted body.

A string of curses flew out of Emma's mouth as she immediately cut off her magic and hurried to kneel at Regina's side, pulling her into her arms almost instinctively. "Fuck, I'm so sorry. I didn't think it would... I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"It's fine," Regina shakily sighed, although it really wasn't. Her body felt like it was on the verge of collapsing completely and their last idea on how to get rid of the parasite that lived off of her magic had just failed completely. Things were not fine at all. "That's that, I suppose," she muttered with a emotionless chuckle.

"No. I won't let you die," Emma insisted firmly, pulling Regina closer to her.

"Why?" Regina turned to look Emma in the eyes with an almost accusing expression. "You keep saying that. Why won't you let me die? Why am I suddenly so important? Is it because of Henry, because he needs his mother?"

Emma swallowed thickly. "You were always important, Regina. You still are, no matter what you feel about me or anyone else. I won't let you go because – yes – it's the right thing to do, and I won't let you go because of Henry, but also because I'm too selfish to let you go." She gave her a wry smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I guess I'm more like my clone than I thought. I don't want anyone to take you away."

Scoffing, Regina stood up – her legs barely able to support her – and brushed off the dust from her pants. "You're nothing like her, Emma, we both know that," she huffed without even realizing that she'd used her first name.

"Regina," Tink said with a thoughtful look at her, "what do you feel when you look at the clone?"

"What, why?" Regina nearly sneered at her. "Is there a reason you're suddenly channeling your inner cricket?"

"I may have an idea. Just work with me here. What do you feel when you look at her?"

Regina rolled her eyes but, for once, did as she was told and let her eyes linger on the frantic clone. Sensing she was being watched by the object of her affections, the clone stopped her fighting for a moment, meeting Regina's gaze. "I see someone who only cares for herself, takes what she wants without a thought about anyone else. I see someone who thinks she's entitled to whatever it is she wants and who doesn't understand when it isn't provided to her." A faint, cruel smile curled up her lips. "I see traces of Leopold." Her smile faded away and she pressed her lips together into a thin line. "I see my mother. And myself, from many years ago." Suddenly aware of how much of herself she was showing, she asked, "is that to your satisfaction, Doctor?"

"More or less," Tink nodded, looking more and more excited. "Do you trust the clone?"

Regina stared at her as if she had just asked if the Blue Fairy and Captain Hook really were the same person. "Of course not. Are you insane?"

"Do you trust Emma?"

"I–" She faltered, her eyes flitting between the three women as she searched her mind frantically for an answer. "I don't know."

"You still blame her for bringing Marian back, don't you?"

"Well–"

"Even though you told me that part of you wanted to pick a partner yourself, without having it forced on you by fate or pixie dust." She narrowed her eyes at Regina who was looking more confused by the minute. "In fact, you said that you weren't even sure that you would've chosen any differently if you had been there in her place in the past."

"I didn't–"

"Would you really have watched your past self kill a woman if you could have prevented it?" Tink pressed on.

"I– I–" She wanted so badly to say yes, to be the person she'd always been. There was safety in knowing herself, but Tink's question just showed how little she actually knew. "I don't know," she finally breathed. "I hope I would have, for the timeline's sake... but I don't know. I'm not sure I could've seen that again, seen how I was back then."

Tink shot a quick glance to Emma who'd watched the exchange, silent and eyes large as saucers. "The clone was created from your anger towards Emma, right? What if the reason it's still here is because you still haven't let it go?"

"I'm not angry with Emma!" Regina retorted. "Not anymore, at least. I don't feel anything." Even as she said the word, they sounded hollow, fake.

"Bullshit," Emma cut in, crossing her arms. "That's a load of crap and you know it. At the very least, you still blame me for bringing back Marian." She tilted her head and gave Regina a look that dared her to deny it. "Or are you telling me you've forgiven me?"

"I..." She felt like squirming under the two women's gazes. She didn't hate Emma, she certainly wasn't angry with Emma anymore, but could she actually forgive her for taking away her purported happy ending, even if the result wasn't as bad as it could have been? "I don't know!" she snapped.

"You know what?" Emma closed the distance between them, dipping her head to meet Regina's eyes. "I think you have forgiven me. I think you even feel something for me – maybe just friendship, I don't know – but I think you're so used to holding on to your grudges and your hate, that letting it go feels wrong, feels too easy." She smiled, a tired chuckle escaping her lips. "But I'm not my clone, so I'm not going to tell you how you feel. If you think I'm dead wrong, just say it."

Looking into those soft, green eyes, Regina couldn't bring herself to object. Emma knew her too well, pulling down her carefully constructed walls around her heart as if they were made of wet paper. It was amazing how someone who so often seemed like an airhead, stumbling about in life until she accidentally did something useful, could read her so easily. Perhaps they really were more similar than she'd thought.

"And really, no matter what, even though I'm probably going to fuck something up again, I will spend the rest of my life to fix this, Regina, to fix us, whatever that is." She took Regina's hand, squeezing it gently. "I don't care if it's together with you or not – or, well, I do care, but that doesn't really matter – but I'm going to do it anyway. I want to see you happy. With me or without me, doesn't matter. As long as you're happy." She smiled despite the sadness in her eyes, a single tear making its way down her pale cheek. "So please forgive me, Regina. I'll make it up to you for the rest of my life."

Tears were streaming down Regina's face as she could only stare back at Emma, absorbing the loving words she'd just heard. It was more than anyone had ever done for her, more than what anyone had ever told her, and it tore down the last of her walls. She felt as if Emma was holding her heart in her palm, and maybe that wasn't so far from the truth?

Leaning forward, she rested her forehead on Emma's shoulder, taking a deep, shaky breath. She did feel something for Emma. She felt something strong, something she hadn't felt since Daniel and something she didn't think she'd ever feel again, despite his urging for her to love again. She felt safe, warm and loved, never wanting to be away from her again.

"Emma," she breathed, pulling her head back to look into those mesmerizing eyes again. "I..." She couldn't put words to her feelings; they were too new and too unexplored. But she did know one thing. "I forgive you," she whispered and leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on Emma's lips.

As their lips met, warm and loving magic surged through her body. When they pulled back, they stood quietly for a moment, both women staring at each other, taking in what had just happened.

"That was..." Emma began but never finished and Regina nodded in agreement.

"I suppose it was." She couldn't hold back a soft smile. "I don't mind."

Emma's whole posture visibly relaxed in relief. "I thought– with you, you know, fate–"

"Fate didn't choose you, Emma." Regina reached up and cupped her cheek. "I chose you."

Emma just beamed, leaning into her touch.

A screech pulled them abruptly apart and they turned towards the clone, ready for another fight. But the clone was still frozen and was now also slowly disappearing, from her feet and upwards. She was struggling against her bonds, anger and fear mixing in her eyes. When her shoulders and head was the only thing left, she finally stopped her struggles, hanging her head briefly before raising it again to gaze at Regina.

"I," she clone begun, fear and confusion warring for power, "you were supposed to be mine." She paused as her shoulders ceased to be. Just as her neck was disappearing, she spoke again. "I don't understand." And then she was gone.

Regina let out the breath she'd been holding, feeling how some of the strength the clone had taken slowly returned.

"That's... that's it, right?" Emma asked, looking between Regina and Tink. "It's gone?"

"We can't be sure," Regina replied tiredly, "but I highly doubt it will return. I... I think Tink was right."

Tink's beaming smile was enough to light half the town. "I wasn't sure it would work, but I've never been happier to be right. I'm happy for you two."

"Thanks," Emma mumbled, carefully bringing her arm around Regina's waist. "So. Do we, um, talk, or what?" she asked Regina.

"No." At Emma's confused expression, she chuckled softly. "No, what I want now is to go home with you and Henry and rest, without a care in the world," she explained, mirroring Emma's words from earlier. "There will be plenty of time to talk."

Emma hummed in delight as Regina pulled her in for another loving kiss. "That sounds like a plan. Let's go home."