"It's coming, the curse is coming!" Leroy yelled, running toward them. They turned to see the billowing cloud of Pan's curse coming toward them.

"Can it be stopped?" Neal asked his father.

"I don't know how to stop it, and after what I just did, I don't know that I would have the strength to," Gold answered and then looked at Regina who had been standing there as if in her own little world since she they had helped her up. "Regina, do you have any ideas?"

She continued to stand there, her eyes not seeming to focus on anything at first and then she turned away from them all and took a couple of steps to put some distance between them.

"Regina!" Emma said more urgently. "Is there a way to stop it?"

"Yes," she said barely above a whisper.

"What do we do?"

Regina turned again to look at them, her eyes coming to rest on Henry. "There isn't anything you can do. I am the only one who can stop it."

"At what price?" Emma said immediately. Regina said nothing but turned away once more. Emma came up and grabbed her arm forcing her around. "If there is one thing I have learned about magic, it's that it comes with a price. What is it this time?"

"It's … It's my price to pay," she said. "You will all be safe."

"What about you?" Henry asked.

She smiled at him as he came nearer. "You are going to grow up to be a good man," she said putting her hand on his shoulder. "And you will have your family behind you every step of the way." Her eyes took in those around them – Emma, Snow, Charming, Neal, even Gold.

"You're my family too."

"I couldn't love you more," she said bending down and hugging him. "You remember that Henry. It doesn't matter what people say or think about me, the one thing I did right in my lifetime was you."

She let go of him and backed up.

"Mom," he said.

"Regina," Emma said. "What's going on?"

"I can stop it. That's all the matters. I can do this. The price is my sacrifice. Nobody else will be harmed."

"No!" Henry said coming toward her but she backed away again. "Can't you do something?"

He directed it to her Emma who was so stunned she didn't respond at first just looked at Regina.

"There isn't anything she can do," Regina said, answering for Emma. "I am the only one who has the power to stop it."

"Can't I help?" Emma said. "Like with the failsafe device. Our magic together."

Regina gave her a sad smile. "No, but thanks for being willing. I guess I should expect nothing less from the savior."

"There has to be a way," Henry said. "You can't leave me."

"I don't want to, but I have to. It's way past time I pay for the things I have done. Take care of him." She directed the last part to Emma.

"Wait," Emma said sensing that Regina was about to do something, but before the word was out of her mouth Regina was waving her hands and a moment later her own magic enveloped her and she disappeared.

Regina appeared near the well where Pan's curse was flowing from. She stood there feeling the immense power of it and wondering if she really did have the strength to do this. She knew she had to – she had to do it in order for Henry to be safe.

Her plan was simple. She was going to absorb this curse much like she had the death one that was once placed on this very well. But she knew that this curse was a dozen times more powerful and she couldn't contain that kind of magic. It would rip her apart.

She thought again of Henry. She thought about the first time she held him, the first time he called her mommy, his first day of school and the way he used to look at her – like she was the most amazing thing in the world.

Calling up her magic for the last time she began the process of absorbing it. Almost immediately she felt its raw power enter her body. It was even more powerful than she had been expecting and it drove her to her knees but she kept at it, drawing more and more of it into her. Her insides felt like they were on fire, but she kept going until it was all gone.

She exhaled as her body shook uncontrollably. Every cell in her body was tingling with magic and she knew that she couldn't allow that magic to be released here in Storybrooke. She couldn't risk any consequences of that happening so she scrambled to her feet. She fell more than walked toward the well.

She only had a few moments at the most she guessed. It took all her remaining strength to lift herself up over the edge.

Henry's smiling face entered her mind once more as she let herself fall.

An explosion of magic blew the well apart and a purple beam of light pierced up from the hole that was left – and then it too was gone.

Emma held on to Henry tight as he had tried to run toward where the curse had been. They had all stood there and seen it as it stopped rolling toward them and went back in the direction it came in.

It was when they saw the purple beam of light that Emma's hold on Henry loosened enough for him to take off running. She was right behind him.

They made it to where the well was – where it would be if it was still intact.

"Mom!" Henry yelled looking around. "Mom."

Emma too looked around as did the others she hadn't even noticed had followed them. They spread out, all calling for Regina. Emma moved closer to the well which was nothing more than a deep hole in the ground at this point. She peered in carefully but didn't see anything. Gold appeared beside her.

"She did it," he said. "She stopped it."

"Yes, but where is she?"

"I think we both know the answer to that. She knew what she was doing. It was her choice."

She's gone, Emma thought. How is it possible that she's gone? Regina seemed too formidable to be done in, even by a powerful curse. Emma looked around and saw Henry. He was no longer looking around for his mother or calling out for his mom. He stood off by the trees looking at the destroyed well.

14 months later

Emma was woken up by her phone and she sleepily answered it, "Sheriff Swan."

"Hi sheriff, sorry for waking you," Debbie, the night dispatcher said. "We just got a call from Mrs. Cooperrider. She thinks someone broke into the Mills mansion on Mifflin."

"Regina's place?"

"Yes, her old house, which is why I was calling you."

"Ok, I will check it out. Thanks."

She hung up the phone and started the process of getting dressed. The mansion had sat vacant since Regina's disappearance. She never referred to it as her death, even after Henry had given up on the idea that she was still alive somewhere.

The dispatch knew that if anything happened at the mansion she was to be called. Occasionally kids would dare each other to try and enter the lair of the Evil Queen. It was some sort of macho ritual that someone started. The last group of kids she had caught there, she made sure they would never do it again by threatening them with real jail time since they were 17.

Technically, she supposed, the house belonged to Henry. Or at least it would when he turned 18. When Regina had first destroyed Pan's curse, she had trouble getting him to leave the house. She had spent the night in the guest room there for two months because Henry was sure Regina would reappear at any moment. She felt odd about staying in the house knowing that was Regina's home, but she felt bad about the situation so she allowed it to happen. Then she had to put her foot down with Henry, telling him that they couldn't stay there – she couldn't stay there.

It wasn't her home she told him and she wasn't a replacement for Regina.

In his hurt, he had replied. "You couldn't replace her. She's my mom."

The comment had stung deeply and she had to remind herself that he had said it because he was upset that Regina was gone.

Now her name never came up in conversation.

Emma didn't believe Henry had actually gotten any closure but he pretended like he had. He pretended that it didn't matter that she was gone, but she knew better. It was only three months ago that she had gotten called to the school because Henry had gotten into a fight. When she had been driving there she was sure Henry had not been the aggressor, but she was wrong. He had punched another kid. Neither Henry or the other kid would say why.

Later she got the story from Snow – the other kid had made a reference to the Evil Queen and Henry had assaulted him for it.

She had tried to talk to him about it, but he said it didn't matter. He said his mom was dead and that was it.

After that incident things had returned to "normal" but Emma knew that Henry hadn't really dealt with Regina being gone.

Nor had she.

Living in Regina's house was one thing, but even afterward Emma couldn't help but feel like she had lost out when it came to Regina. They could have been friends. They were starting to become friends she thought. They could have worked things out and both been mothers to Henry. They never got the chance though.

Last week she was out on patrol and wasn't far from the well so she drove out that way. They had built a fence around the remains of the well as a safety precaution. She had no real reason for being there but she had walked up to the fence and looked over into the gaping hole. She didn't know what Regina's last moments were like, but Gold had conjectured that Regina had stopped the curse by absorbing it. He said it would have been too much for her to handle and that the purple beam they had seen was probably the result of the magic destroying her.

Emma didn't want to think about it. She had seen that Regina was determined to save them but she was also scared. The fact there was nothing she could do to help Regina hurt the most. She was Savior after all, shouldn't there have been something she could do.

She had to leave a note on the fridge for Henry in case he woke up and found she was gone. It was the system they had developed for when she got called out to things. She didn't tell him the call was to Regina's house.

Arriving at the mansion, she didn't see anything in the front to give her pause so she walked around to the back. She immediately saw the broken glass in the door and she cautiously approached. She already had her flashlight out and she used it to help open the door wider. It was dark inside as expected and she stepped in. She shone her light around the kitchen where she entered and saw only dirt on the floor as if someone had tracked it in. It led out of the kitchen so she followed it.

There seemed to be only set of dirt tracks. When she got to the stairs she saw the dirt was going up. She pulled out her gun just to be careful. She didn't hear anything that gave her any indication that anyone was up there.

Once on the top floor she saw the door to Regina's room was open. They always kept that door closed when she was staying there and when she stopped in every couple of weeks to check on the place she knew it was always closed. Whoever was in there was not going to be on her good side.

She didn't see anything from the open doorway so she slipped in, checking her blind spots to make sure she wasn't caught off guard. She noticed the door to the bathroom was also open and she couldn't remember if that was normal or not but she didn't need to as she saw more dirt leading that way.

Approaching slowly with her flashlight guiding her and her gun drawn she made to where she could see inside and saw a figure on the floor back against the tub.

"Whoever you are, come out," she ordered.

The person didn't and from what Emma could see it looked like they were trying to shrink even further back against the tub. Emma brought her light up more to see and made out a small figure wearing rags for clothes, their head which had peach fuzz more than hair was down. But what Emma noticed the most was the blood on its hands.

"Whoever you are, stand up."

Nothing but a slight whimpering sound.

"I am Emma Swan, the sheriff here; I need you to stand up."

Nothing.

"Are you hurt?"

Whoever they were, Emma had now stepped close enough to see they were shaking. She wasn't sure if it was from fear or because they were cold. They had pants on that were torn just below the knees and Emma could see the dirty feet and legs. The shirt they were wearing looked to be about two sizes too big for their small frame.

"I am going to turn on the light," Emma said. She put down her flashlight on the sink but kept her gun pointed at the individual as she flicked on the light.

Again she heard a whimpering noise the person tried to push themselves back more as if there was room for them to escape. Their knees were up with their head buried and their arms resting on those knees with their hands out. The blood looked to be partially dry but some of it was still glistening and fresh.

"Are you hurt?" Emma again asked.

She got no answer. She considered her options. "I am going to put away my gun," she said as she holstered it slowly. She put her hands up. "I am not here to hurt you. I just want to make sure you are alright."

As she got closer she could tell more that this was a woman – she had feminine hands and features as far as she could tell. There was bruising on her arms and legs.

Emma got within a step of her. "Are you ok? Are you hurt? Is that blood yours?"

Nothing. She stepped closer and then knelt in front of the obviously scared woman.

"I am not going to hurt you," she said reaching out and touching one of the arms. The woman looked up suddenly and Emma backed up and scrambled to her feet.

"Regina?" she said.