Disclaimer: I do not own Once or any affiliated characters

A/N: I haven't written anything in quite a while but suddenly felt inspired and this is what my fingers ended up typing out. Hope you enjoy.

She hadn't meant for her sacrifice to be proof of her love, but it was hard to deny it after all had been said and done. She had taken on the Darkness for someone who could have likely handled it better since experience creates resistance. Yet, when they were out there on that street and the Darkness was eating away Regina's soul, Emma was acting before she could weigh out all the reasons why she was about to do a really stupid thing.

Reason and logic hadn't really mattered at the time. All that had mattered was not letting Regina's soul be devoured. She hadn't thought about her parents, her lover, or her son who would likely assume her sacrifice was part of a hero complex that had been ordained upon her by a curse. To them, her very stupid thing would be written off and used as reason to embark on another quest.

Yet, there had been one person in the crowd who had been looking in her eyes as she absorbed the Darkness. Regina had not backed away. She had not looked at Emma like her heroism was a thing simply etched in stone. She had looked at Emma like she was happening upon a secret that would undoubtedly leave scars upon their world.

And then, Emma had been whisked away by a shadow and then consumed by it. She had awoken at the edge of the woods, but she didn't awake alone and cold like every start of an evil fairy tale began. Instead, she had awoken in a warm embrace surrounded by familiar magic. As her eyes fluttered open, she knew better than to be surprised that Regina was holding her with the Dark One's dagger resting on the ground next to them.

A part of her had wanted to reach out and grab hold of the dagger. A part of her knew that she needed it so that she couldn't be controlled, but there was still a part of her that was only human. There was a part that knew the dagger could not belong to her. It needed to belong to Regina. It needed to be with the person who understood more about falling apart and being pieced back together than anyone else in this silly little town full of dragons, witches, princes, and queens.

"You silly little girl," Regina whispered as Emma's eyes met hers. "You stupid, silly little girl."

"Stupid is as stupid does," Emma replied, her voice scratchy and raw. Her throat felt as if she had been screaming, and she supposed that she might have been. She remembered little of what had happened after the darkness had taken her.

Regina didn't laugh. She didn't grin in a knowing way that spoke to her underlying love of Emma's let it all go to Hell attitude. Instead, her eyes slid shut and she softly asked, "Do you know what you've done, Swan?"

Emma tried to pull away from Regina's hold, but the grip tightened so that there was no escape. So while Regina's words had Emma second guessing her choices, Regina's hold let her know that everything was already forgiven. "I couldn't watch you become the Dark One," Emma confessed. "Not after I already had to watch you die."

"You let it take you from me," Regina's voice was as raw as Emma's. Perhaps, they had both been screaming.

Emma's shaking hand rose to Regina's face so that her fingers could graze across the other woman's cheek. "Hey." As soon as the soft word left her, Regina's eyes were pulled open. "It kind of looks like you found me."

And then it came, the hint of a laugh falling from the tearstained lips of the Queen. "I guess not even the Dark One can take away the optimism bred into a Charming."

"Damn right," Emma declared, her conviction mostly fabricated.

Regina didn't buy into Emma's bravado, but she knew they both needed the routine of their banter so chose not to highlight their false levity. She loosened her grip and aided Emma in rolling up off of the ground. Once they were standing, they looked at each other and then quickly away.

Emma stuffed her hands in the front pockets of her jeans and looked around at the darkness that surrounded them. She didn't know what else to say and hadn't yet taken stock of all the changes made to her since she had taken on the Dark One's shadow. She felt kind of different, but didn't feel like she had suddenly become an entirely different person. Her thoughts came to her differently, as if muddled and tainted but not unclear. She could tell right from wrong—knew the inherent difference between them. Her moral compass hadn't disappeared. It was still a part of her, still guiding her.

"So…" Emma said through a sigh. "I guess this means a curse on both our houses."

Eyes narrowed and her jaw tightened. Regina knew that it wouldn't take long for the Dark One to show itself. She knew that Emma's words had not been a threat, but she also understood that the words were not Emma's alone. "It's best you behave yourself, old friend," she warned. "Defeat is dancing around you."

A dark thrill ran across Emma's skin. She knew that she shouldn't delight in the challenge, but she couldn't help but being overwhelmed. She had never before had to control darkness, not to the extent that she needed to control it now. "You've always been at your most beautiful when you're angry," she couldn't help but say. "You are glorious even when you sickeningly delight in the glory of your White Knight."

Regina raised her brow and stared imperiously at the newly minted Dark One. "Perhaps we should establish some ground rules if we are to remain…pleasant until you are cast out back to the depths of whatever dark oblivion you come from."

"You control the dagger." Emma motioned towards the dagger that still laid benevolently on the ground between them. "I think that is enough."

"Am I to believe that you are going to let me keep it?" Regina asked, as she desperately tried to find the lie resting beneath the blatant truth.

Emma's hands fell from her pockets. She stepped towards Regina and then reached over to grab onto the other woman's arms. "You were my motivation, Regina. I'm not trying to cure my spinelessness like Rumpelstiltskin. All I want to do is protect you, against everything and everyone." At her words, Emma's magic swirled between them. It was no longer white and no longer pure.

"And that's it?" Regina knew better than to believe altruistic declarations spoken from a Dark One's lips. "You protect my happiness and leave everyone else alone?"

"I am your happiness, Regina," Emma quickly corrected.

A humorless laugh fell from the depths of Regina's soul. "Then it's my freewill you're claiming?"

Emma brought Regina's right hand to cover her heart. "Your soul is a part of mine. It belongs to me, and as long as I have it I'll be sated."

"And Robin?" Regina can't help but ask. "What will you do to him?"

"Nothing, as long as he understands things." Emma promised. "I'm not a murderer."

It was a true sentiment. Emma wasn't a murderer, nor did she want to be. She didn't even really want to start her relationship with Regina in such a barbaric way, but there was a right and a wrong. She knew the difference between them. And, Regina being by her side is what was right no matter what the cost might be to achieve it.

Regina could feel Emma's beating heart pound a steady beat against the fingers of the hand Emma had captured. "And Henry?"

"He is your son, and no harm will come to him." Emma spoke with conviction, though she knew that some part of what she had said was jumbled and wrong.

"We will still try to remove the Dark One from you," Regina promised. "That doesn't go away just because you believe love has somehow found the way."

Emma pressed further into Regina's hand. "That's okay with me."

Regina captured and held onto Emma's gaze that had become speckled with darkness. "There were easier ways than this to tell me that you're in love with me, Emma."

A smirk fell across the former Savior's face. "I don't think there was any other way you'd believe me. Not with Hook and Robin in the way."

"Maybe not," Regina conceded, "but my goodness, Emma. This is a mess."

Another step closer and Emma was just a breath apart from Regina. "It's our mess."

Regina dipped her gaze. "I swear, Emma, you're the only person in existence that can take my freewill and offer me my happy ending in the same instance."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Emma proclaimed before she dipped down and captured Regina's lips with her own. She let the gentle pressure of her lips drive Regina into action. She didn't want to push too hard, and didn't want it to seem like she was forcing something that wasn't meant to be.

It took only the slightest of moments before Regina fell into the kiss and began to explore Emma's love and all that it had to offer both in its goodness and darkness. She allowed herself to get lost in it. Let her magic mingle with Emma's in ways that tainted and purified them both.

When they pulled apart, Regina reached up and brushed her fingertips to her lips. They hadn't been physically transformed, but they felt different. She felt a lot like she had just taken a sip of poison and a drink of wine, and she couldn't help but want more.

"We will be happy," Emma promised. "No more putting them before us. No more striving for redemption. Just happiness, Regina. We deserve that."

Regina sighed. She couldn't find the strength to fight against Emma's promises. She didn't want to.

"We are the Knight and the Queen, Regina," Emma declared. "No one can take our happiness again."

Why, Regina silently wondered, did she fall in love with Emma Swan? Why did her happiness have to become temptation to her darkness? What made her so damn important to always be tested and tried?

"You'll never suffer again," Emma continued. "Neither of us will."

Someday, Regina was convinced, Emma's promises would be real. They wouldn't be driven by an ancient evil that held onto Emma's soul.

"We'll live forever together, just you and me."

Already, Regina missed Emma. "Of course we will, dear," she finally replied. "Of course." She reached out her hand and clasped onto Emma's. "But first we'll need to get home. We can't stay in the woods."

Emma looked around as if she were just once again realizing that they were miles away from town. "Oh yeah, sure." She stumbled over her words since she had been so abruptly torn from her almost maniacal rant.

"Tomorrow we can let your parents and Hook know that you'll be staying with me from now on. Henry can stay with your parents while you get settled in." With her free hand Regina reached out and summoned the Dark One's dagger to her.

Something felt wrong about Henry being away, but the emotion driving her malcontent was too far removed for Emma to protest Regina's decision. "Makes sense," she instead agreed. "I wouldn't want him getting hurt from misunderstanding the situation."

Regina's steps faltered, but she quickly caught herself. "Henry understands True Love," she said. "I don't see him causing any distress."

"That's true," Emma haplessly nodded. "The Kid does have the heart of the Truest Believer."

They walked in silence for a few moments before Emma unexpectedly mentioned, "I'll miss him while he's away."

Regina swallowed a thick ball of pain caught in her throat. Emma was still Emma…but not.

"Do you think," Emma began to ask but then seemed to think it was better left unasked before finishing her question.

"He'll always love you," Regina intuited the thing Emma wished to know. It was the same question she asked herself every time she did something she thought Henry wouldn't like.

Emma nodded but said nothing else. Their silence remained until they reached Regina's home and settled in. Neither spoke again until they were laying opposite each other on Regina's bed, eyes heavy from the too long day.

"Heartache and rage," Emma confessed in the darkness. "That's mostly all I feel."

Regina remained silent and waited for Emma to finish voicing her rambling thoughts, afraid that if she spoke too soon then her Emma would disappear again and would be replaced with the new darkness.

"Everything I thought that healed, is open and raw. All there is, is hurt and hate…and somewhere buried inside of all of that is some spec of love, and I know that's you, Regina. So…don't leave, okay?" Emma sounded more woman falling apart than the Dark One. She was weak and vulnerable and she was speaking to the one person she hoped would never let go.

"Hey," Regina whispered as she reached out and gathered Emma's hand in her own. "I'll never leave you, Emma."

Emma nodded once and then curled her body around Regina's. She would keep Regina close. It was what she wanted and it was what the Dark One wanted. She would hold on until the Dark One was driven away or until it killed her. No matter her fate, Emma knew that Regina would go on. Regina would have happiness. It was a promise that Emma Swan and the Dark One would be sure to keep.