Author's Note: I don't own anything and if there appears to be an allusion or two to another TV coupling, I don't own them either. Title taken from Kenny Chesney's Better As A Memory. Unbetaed, so all mistakes are mine.

"Listen, some people come back. And I'm one of them." – Jane Timoney, Prime Suspect

01.

The Queen stepped into the room, taking in the destruction her guards had caused. James was lying, bleeding on the floor, and Snow was holding him, crying. Her misery brought a touch of happiness to The Queen's heart but there was something that would bring her even more joy.

"The child?" She asked, waiting for news of the baby girl.

"Gone." Her guards told her, and The Queen felt any amount of happiness she had held disappear.

The child had vanished. Gotten away, as Snow claimed with that sickening smile.

Left.

As the curse swirled around them, The Queen laughed evilly. Her plan was finally coming to fruition. But there was still that ache – that void, as Maleficent had warned – in her soul. The child had left, another in a long line of people who left her behind and ruined her plans.

But this plan would not be ruined. Not even by the child leaving.

And 28 years later, in another time and another place, the child that had left returned unexpectedly, knocking on Regina's door. And although she didn't know who Emma was, Regina felt something inside of her shift at the sight of the woman walking towards her. Walking back to her.

Coming back to her.

02.

The fire raged in front of them as Regina held Emma's wrist. She couldn't move, the pain in her legs was too intense. She could feel the heat from the flames and knew that if Emma didn't help her, she would surely be badly burned, if not killed.

Emma's wrist slipped through her fingers as she moved down the stairs. She was going to leave. Regina's hand acted almost of its own accord, reaching out and clutching Emma's arm like a life line. The blonde turned back, and before she knew it, the traitorous words that belied her biggest fear were slipping from Regina's lips. "You're gonna leave me, aren't you?"

There was a single moment when she saw it on Emma's face – the flash of recognition, of understanding. And then it was gone and Emma yanked her arm away, jumping through the flames and leaving her to burn. A fitting ending for The Evil Queen – to die, left behind by her enemy's daughter, even if she didn't know who Emma was.

The panic was rising up in her throat, choking her more than the smoke could, when suddenly there was a noise, and the fumes from a fire extinguisher covered her. And from out of the smoke came Emma Swan, like the hero Henry claimed her to be, picking her up and helping to carry her to safety.

And even as she picked a fight outside, Regina could feel herself relaxing, the panic gone now that Emma was back beside her.

"Next time I'll just – I'll just – no, you know what, next time I'll do the same thing and the time after that. Because that is what decent human beings do. That's what good people do." Emma spouted as she walked away once again.

But that night, it wasn't the heat of the fire or smell of the smoke that Regina dreamed of. It wasn't Emma's arm slipping through her fingers as the blonde left her, just like everyone else. Instead, it was of the words Emma had said, even as she walked away again. "No, you know what, next time I'll do the same thing and the time after that."

And Regina wasn't afraid. Because Emma Swan had come back.

03.

The fight – as all their fights were – had been spectacular. Angry words were thrown with precision, piercing the hearts of their victims. Emma had made a valiant effort, but in the end, Regina had claimed the victory, cutting far deeper with her words than Emma could ever hope to. Regina had had far more practice in hurting those around her and in hurting herself in the process.

As she climbed into her beat up old VW Bug, Emma thought of Henry's stories and the Evil Queen keeping hearts in boxes and his insistence that Regina had killed Graham by crushing his heart. Regina had surely cut out her heart, that much was true, and she often felt like the older woman was crushing it beneath her palm. Yet she continued to breathe, even when she thought it would be easier if Regina did just kill her and get it over with.

So, Emma put the car into drive and did just that. Henry's words rang in her ear, even as she passed the Storybrooke sign. "You're the only one who can leave."

And then, unbidden as the miles between them grew, Regina's words came into her mind. "You're gonna leave me, aren't you?"

Emma just shook her head and kept driving, right past the city limits. She'd never been good at staying, so why had she thought this time would be any different?

And when her car crossed over the invisible line demarking the edge of Storybrooke, Regina – sitting alone in her office after Emma had stormed out – knew it. The same choking feeling from the fire hit her, along with a sharp jab in her chest – sure signs that Emma Swan had left Storybrooke.

Regina's body seemed to collapse in on itself under the weight of the loss, but she did not cry. She wouldn't allow herself to. To cry was to be weak, and how could she be weak or surprised when she'd been expecting this loss all along?

So she straightened back up and went back about her business, steeling herself even more against Henry's angry silences and Mary Margaret's puppy dog eyes and Ruby's blatant questions. For nearly a week, Regina was a walking statue, made of stone.

Until the night she opened her front door to find Emma Swan standing on her porch. Coming back to her once again.

"I went to California," Emma informed her, hands on her hips, "as far from here as I could get."

Regina didn't even flinch, but Emma knew the words hit their mark anyway. As far away from you as I could get was unspoken, but understood.

"I sat on the beach in Malibu with a drink in my hand and the sun on my face and all I could think of was you. All I could hear was your voice in my head. And it fucking sucked."

Regina's face contorted at the curse, just as Emma knew it would.

"You think I'm gonna leave. You try to force me to leave. And this time – this time it almost worked, Regina." Emma raked a hand through tangled hair as she pushed passed her and moved into the house. "But I'm not letting you do that. I'm not leaving. I came back, damn it. And I'm going to stay. So just stop trying to make me leave!"

Regina said nothing, just captured Emma's lips in a bruising kiss, pushing her against the wall and clutching her damnable leather jacket tightly between her fingers, but the meaning behind it was obvious. Emma could hear the message loud and clear.

"Thank you for coming back to me."

04.

Mary Margaret and David got their memories back at almost exactly the same time. They were all at Regina's for a picnic – something that before Emma's entrance into Storybrooke had been unheard of – when for whatever reason, it all came crashing back to them.

Kathryn, Regina, Emma, and Henry all looked on as the two gasped, their eyes going impossibly wide as the memories flashed before them. Emma knew the signs, she'd seen Graham when he remembered, and her own eyes went wide at the thought.

"They're remembering," she whispered, and both Henry and Regina's heads snapped to look at her.

And it was true, they were remembering. After their initial joyful reunion, they seemed to remember who they were in the presence of and they turned on Regina before she could even fully comprehend what was happening.

"You!" Mary Margaret's voice was filled with hate, something Emma had never heard from her before. "You did this."

David's hand flew to his waist, as though searching for the sword that should have been there, before he moved menacingly toward Regina, grabbing her wrist tightly.

"Hey!" Emma interceded, pushing David away from Regina. "What are you doing?"

And then Mary Margaret and David realized who it was, exactly, that was coming to their enemy's defense. "Emma."

She was pulled into a tight hug in an instant, and she had to almost fight to break free. "What is going on, you guys?" She asked, once she was free of arms around her.

"I'd like to know that, too." Kathryn's voice spoke up, and a look of almost regret passed over David's face.

"Kathryn – I'm so sorry. I just – I remember. I remember everything."

"It's true!" Henry gasped, pulling away from Regina and rushing over to Mary Margaret and David. "It's really true."

"Henry! Oh, Henry, yes, it's true!" Mary Margaret pulled him into a hug, and Emma just looked on, her eyes glancing from them to Regina and back again.

"It's true?" She whispered, trying to wrap her brain around what that meant. She'd believed it, sort of, after Graham –that Regina was evil and Henry was right. But then she'd gotten to know the woman, had fallen in love with her, and any thoughts of the curse being real had flown out the window.

"Yes. Oh, Emma, yes. It's true. You're our daughter." Mary Margaret moved forward towards her, but Emma took a step back, turning to look at Regina standing all alone.

"What?" The word fell from Regina's lips with such surprise that Emma knew then she'd had no idea. She turned to face Regina, who was staring at her with a look she couldn't place on her face.

"It's true?" She repeated the question, searching Regina's face.

The mayor swallowed and lifted her head up high, meeting Emma's eyes as she spoke. "Yes, dear. It's all true."

Hearing the endearment coming from Regina's lips in the same biting tone as it had when she had first come to town, shook Emma even more than the confession did. She could plainly see the defiance in Regina's face, but in her eyes she could see the same look from the mine and the fire. The panic and desperation.

"You're gonna leave me, aren't you?"

"Emma?" Came the voice from behind her, the voice of the mother she'd never gotten to have because of the woman standing in front of her. The woman that she loved.

Everything was too much and she couldn't stay and deal with it. So she did what she'd always done when things got too confusing or hurtful or complicated. She left.

She turned and walked out of the back yard, passed the apple tree that she'd once attacked with a chainsaw, and down the street, ignoring the calls after her and the angry words being spoken.

She walked away without looking back and kept walking until she finally came to Henry's castle. She sat there, staring out at the ocean and trying to piece together her thoughts until she heard someone approach.

"Emma."

She squeezed her eyes shut, because it wasn't the voice she wanted to hear. Then she opened her eyes and turned to face Mary Margaret – her friend. And her mother.

"Emma," Mary Margaret tried again, sitting down beside her and reaching out, tentatively touching her shoulder.

"Where's Henry?" She managed to get out without crying or sounding choked. She'd left the boy behind without a thought because she knew he'd be safe with Regina as he'd always been, but now that she thought about it, she was sure he wouldn't want to be anywhere near her. Damn it.

"James – I mean David – I mean," Mary Margaret shook her head, "David took him back to the house with Kathryn until we got everything sorted. We weren't going to leave him with her."

The venom was there, in her voice again, and Emma couldn't help but physically wince this time.

"Emma? What is it?"

Emma turned to look at her and smiled sadly. "I was just thinking that I really wish that my friend Mary Margaret was here right now and not my mother Snow White."

"Emma, I'm right –" But she stopped in mid-sentence as the words seemed to sink in. "Why do you wish that?"

"Because my friend Mary Margaret wasn't mortal enemies with the woman I'm in – with Regina. In fact, she was almost becoming friends with her. And it'd be so much easier to talk this out and figure it all out with her, like I did with everything else about Regina, than it will ever be with you now."

"Emma, I –"

Emma looked at the woman who had been her friend for the past two years and smiled sadly. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do. It's Regina. I –"

"She's done horrible things." Mary Margaret said softly, as though trying to cushion the blow.

Emma laughed. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't know the things she's done? Henry's told me all about them, the ones the book told him about anyway. And I know the things that she's done here. But –"

"But?"

Emma's eyes met Mary Margaret's, strong and determined. "Did you betray her?"

"Emma." There was a hint of pleading in Mary Margaret's voice, as though begging for Emma to let this drop and continue on with the happily ever after Snow finally thought she was getting.

"Did you?" Emma pushed, needing to know to be able to sort everything out.

Mary Margaret nodded slowly. "Yes. But, I didn't mean to. I never meant to hurt her, Emma."

Emma pushed up from her sitting position, moving around the interior of the castle playground. "Just because your actions aren't meant to hurt someone doesn't mean that they don't."

And Mary Margaret could tell that Emma wasn't just talking about Regina.

"We never wanted to leave you, Emma. It was the only way to –"

"Save me and break the curse, I know." Emma replied. "But that doesn't change the 28 years of my life that I spent alone, without anyone, feeling unloved and abandoned. And I know that I should blame her for that, that it's her fault you had to send me away but –"

"But what, Emma?"

"But I just keep thinking that it all ends up coming back to you." Mary Margaret looked hurt and Emma closed her eyes against the image, continuing on. "I don't know what you did, but I know that it hurt her. It cost her. You know that too, I know you do. And that's why she wanted revenge, that's why she wanted to enact the curse. And maybe if you hadn't –"

"She never would have turned to the dark arts, never would have brought about the curse, and we never would have been separated from you." Mary Margaret said, finally in the tone of voice that Emma was used to hearing from her.

"I love her." Emma confessed quietly, her chin raised up matching Regina's defiant stance from under the apple tree. "And I know that she's expecting me to leave her because of this. Just like everyone else has left her. But I love her and I don't want to leave her."

"Then why did you?" Mary Margaret asked softly.

"Because I couldn't stand there with all of you looking at me." Emma turned to face Mary Margaret again. "Regina Mills isn't the same person as the Evil Queen, just like Mary Margaret Blanchard and Snow White aren't the same. Yes, you're the same person, but – you here is different from you there. And while I will be the first to admit that Regina is deeply flawed, I don't believe she's evil. But you and David – all that you see her as now is the Evil Queen. You don't see Regina anymore. And you expect me to feel the same way, but I don't. And I don't know what to do with that, because if you're my parents and she's your enemy –"

"Emma," Mary Margaret got up and moved to meet her daughter. Her strong, beautiful daughter, who was right about far more things than she knew. "James and I love you, more than anything. And that will never change."

"Even if I'm in love with The Evil Queen? Even if I want to marry her?" Emma questioned, hating the tears in her eyes and the feelings swirling inside of her.

Mary Margaret's face took on a look of shock. "You want to marry Regina?"

"I don't know." Emma confessed, pleased that her mother had referred to the mayor by her name and without the vitriol of before. "I know that I want to be with her. But hell, now that she knows who I am –"

Mary Margaret shook her head. "You're the one who said it already. Regina is not the same person as The Queen. James and I forgot that, and it will take some time – a lot of time – but Emma, you're right. Things are different here. And we need to remember that."

"I don't want to have to choose. But I feel like I'm going to anyway. And there's Henry. This is going to destroy her, if she loses him."

"Losing him won't be the only thing that will destroy her." Mary Margaret said, reaching out and cupping Emma's cheek. "When I gave you to your father that day to take you to the closet, I knew that I might never see you again, but I needed to give you your best chance. And I prayed that you would grow up strong and beautiful and come back for us. And you did. You found us. All of us. Henry is right. You are the savior, the one who will end the curse. But maybe we were wrong about how. Maybe Regina is more like me than I wanted to admit."

Emma's brow furrowed, until she realized what Mary Margaret was getting at. "True love."

"There's nothing more powerful, Emma. In this world, or any other."

Emma grabbed her mother's hands, clinging to them tightly as she looked at her and finally saw her mother and not just her friend. "You won't hate me?"

"Oh, baby, I could never hate you." Mary Margaret promised. "And as for her – 28 years and another world can do a lot. If she truly loves you too, then I can't hate her either."

Emma finally allowed herself to be pulled into a hug and sank into it, feeling not only the comfort of a dear friend, but the love of a mother.

Mary Margaret pulled back. "Now go. I'll deal with your father and Henry. You go do what you need to."

Before she left, Emma looked at her and allowed the words that she hadn't spoken to anyone in twelve years to slip from her lips. "I love you."

Mary Margaret's smile was blinding, but Emma didn't see it as she was already taking off at a run for the mayor's house.

The front door was unlocked, which made the hairs on the back of Emma's neck stand up. Regina never left the doors unlocked. She kept her home just as guarded as she kept her heart.

Swallowing hard and shaking off the feeling of worry, Emma pushed the door open and entered the house, heading straight for the office where she knew Regina would be. And sure enough, she found her, sitting behind her desk, looking every inch the queen that she'd been in the other life.

Tall and regal, with a hardened mask on her face, the only crack being the redness of her eyes and the shaking of her hand as she swallowed what Emma knew was not her first drink of cider, she was still the most beautiful thing Emma had ever seen.

Regina met Emma's gaze head on, her eyes hard and black, reminding Emma of those first few months in Storybrooke, before the fire, when she was only a threat and nothing more to Regina. "Come to finish me off, dear?" Her words were cold and twisted with a viciousness that made Emma want to back away.

She wouldn't though. This wasn't her Regina, and she refused to leave again. She knew what her leaving earlier had already cost Regina and her.

"That depends," she said, moving closer to Regina with every word, "you know who I am now. Are you going to kill me first?"

And though it was only there for a second, Emma saw the flash in her eyes that gave her hope. Her Regina was still there, hiding under the layer of ice to keep her heart safe.

"I'm the child of the woman you hate more than anything. Tell me you don't want to cut out my heart, just like you wanted to cut out hers."

Regina laughed then, a wicked laugh that gave nothing away. "You really are her daughter, aren't you, dear?"

"Yes," Emma admitted, moving even closer to Regina and the desk. "I am. So, what are you going to do about it?"

She reached out and picked up the letter opener from Regina's desk, the one that looked like a dagger. She turned it in her hand before holding it out to the mayor to take.

"So willing to die." Regina took the letter opener and ran the tip of it slowly over Emma's throat. The blonde didn't move.

"Kill me." Emma told her. "It's what you want, isn't it? To make Snow suffer. To hurt her, like she hurt you."

"Shut up." Regina roared. "You know nothing about it."

"I think I do, Regina," Emma spoke softly. "She betrayed you and you hate her for it. But there's a part of you that still cares about her, too. You could've killed her in this world easily. Cut out her heart, just like you wanted to then. But you didn't. Because as much as you try to pretend otherwise, you do have a heart and you do care about people. You still care about her. And you care about Henry."

"Henry. Henry who was so quick and so happy to go away with them." And leave me, Regina didn't say. Emma heard it anyway. "Well, go. Join them. You've found your parents and your child. Go and get your happy ending."

She shook her head. "They're not my happy ending. At least, not all of it." Emma reached out to touch Regina.

"Get out," Regina hissed, shoving Emma away and trying hard to keep her walls in place.

"I'm not leaving." Emma told her firmly.

Regina laughed again. It was bitter this time. "You already left. You always leave."

"You're right. I do." Emma nodded, making sure Regina was looking at her. "I run when things get hard. You know that about me already. You knew that about me from the beginning. I've left you before. But I always come back to you, Regina. You're the only one I've ever come back to. So you can kill me now or you can forgive me and understand that I fucked up, but you're getting my heart either way."

Regina blinked at her words and the mask slipped. She was no longer the Evil Queen, instead just Regina. Emma's Regina. "Emma."

This time when Emma reached out, Regina allowed her touch. "I love you, Regina."

"No." Regina whispered, shaking her head and trying to pull away.

"Regina," Emma said more forcefully, threading her fingers through the brunette's hair and tugging so that she was facing her again. "I love you. And I don't want to have to choose between the family I just found and you – but if I do –"

"Don't." Tears were in Regina's eyes and her voice. "Stop making –"

"This is a promise I can and will keep." Emma cut her off. "Regardless of who you were or who I was or who we are now, I love you, Regina. And I'll keep saying it until you believe me. I'm not leaving you. I'm staying. I love you."

Her last words were whispered against Regina's lips, before she finally pulled the brunette flush against her and held her as she kissed her.

And when they pulled apart, a single tear slipped down Regina's cheek as she looked at Emma. "How can you –"

"Because." Emma shrugged, as though that was that was the answer to everything. "Because I do. Because no matter what else has happened, you're the only thing that I've ever wanted to stay for."

"Your family –"

"My parents will understand. It may take time, but they will understand. And our son will too."

"Our son?" Regina raised an eyebrow at that and Emma finally relaxed enough to laugh.

"Our son. Our family." Emma affirmed.

"Family always finds one another," Regina whispered the words that had been told to her so long ago.

Emma smiled widely. "That's right. It's why Henry found me and why I keep finding my way back to you. We're a family, Regina. Or at least that's what I want to be."

"Family," Regina whispered as she pulled Emma back to her for another kiss, needing to feel the blonde's body against hers, to know that this was real.

And she clutched at Emma, unable to say the words back, even though they were closer to the tip of her tongue than they'd ever been before. But Emma – the daughter of her supposed enemy and the woman she could now admit to herself that she loved – seemed to understand. She didn't push at all.

Instead she held Regina without being asked and whispered the words she needed to hear over and over in her ear.

"I'm not going to leave you, Regina. I'm not going to leave you."

And for the first time, Regina truly allowed herself to believe those words and to believe in Emma Swan.

05.

"Emma, please don't go." It was Henry and not Regina who spoke the words, but she could see them reflected on the mayor's face as well.

"I have to, Henry." She assured him, her voice firm and unwavering.

"No," it was Regina who spoke this time. "You don't have to. Just stay. Just forget the rest."

"We can't let him win, Regina. I won't let him win."

"Then I'll go instead." David offered to his daughter.

"I'll go, too." Mary Margaret agreed. "We've dealt with him before, Emma."

"None of you are going. I'm going." Regina insisted, her voice brooking no argument. "I'm the one who started all this. I should be the one to end it."

"No," Emma shook her head. "It has to be me. You all know that it has to be me. And we're wasting time arguing. I'm going. I'm ending this. And then I'm coming back."

Her eyes met Regina's. "I will come back." She promised again before leaning down to Henry.

"Henry, I need you to stay with your mom, no matter what. She'll keep you safe. She'll protect you." She pulled the boy into a hug. "She loves you, kid, and so do I." She whispered before pulling back and standing up.

She looked at Regina and pulled her into a kiss, pouring everything she had into it. "I'm not leaving you." She murmured against Regina's lips before she moved over to hug her parents.

"Keep them safe. Keep her safe." She asked quietly of them and was relieved to see them both nod.

"I love you." She spoke to all of them before she turned to go.

"Emma!" Regina's call was desperate, the words needing to come out, but Emma ignored it and continued walking. The words died and turned to quiet sobs on Regina's lips.

Henry wrapped his arms around his mother and hugged her tightly.

"You'll tell her when she comes back," Mary Margaret assured softly, reaching out to squeeze Regina's shoulder. It was more, Regina thought, than she deserved. But she took the comfort and prayed to whoever might be listening that they'd keep Emma safe.

Emma went straight for the mine, knowing she would find him there. It was still roped off, but she quickly bypassed the caution tape, her eyes searching for a way in. There was still the shaft, but she knew he wasn't going in that way, so there had to be another entrance.

And there was. Amidst the rubble from the previous collapse, there was a hole just large enough for a person to slip through. Emma checked her belt to be sure her flashlight and gun were there before she slipped through.

As soon as she made it through the entrance, the ground jolted once again and the debris shifted, covering the hole and casting the mine in darkness.

"Miss Swan, so nice of you to join me," the voice floated out of the darkness to her and Emma felt a shiver go down her spine.

Across town, Mary Margaret, David, Regina, and Henry all exchanged looks as the house shook on its foundation.

"The mine!" Henry exclaimed, before taking off at a run.

"Henry! Wait!" They called as they raced after him.

Emma straightened to her full height, her hand going for the gun at her belt.

"Uh, uh, Miss Swan. I don't think you'll be needing that."

There was a quick glint of light before her gun was pulled from her hands by an unseen force and her body was thrown back, hitting the wall of the mine. It felt like she was being pinned there by invisible hands, and Emma struggled against them.

"Gold!" She managed to get out against the phantom hands squeezing her throat. "Show yourself."

With a wicked laugh, Mr. Gold stepped closer, his face coming within an inch of Emma's. "I was wondering when you'd show up, Miss Swan. So nice of you to join me here, when I finally regain my powers."

Gold lifted up his right hand, and even in the darkness, Emma could make out the large, gold dagger. She felt the fear flow through her, but she refused to show it to Gold. She was the savior. She would end the curse, no matter what. That dagger wouldn't stop her.

With a swift movement of his hand, Gold cut the dagger through the air and it was as though the invisible bonds holding Emma were cut as well. She fell to the floor, no longer being held up. She coughed and sputtered, pulling out the flashlight and shining it on Gold.

His face had seemingly transformed. It was turning grayish and there was an evil glint in his eyes that matched the glint coming off the dagger he still held. On it, she could read the word that made everything click in her head. Rumpelstiltskin.

"And it all comes together now, doesn't it Miss Swan?" Gold moved closer to her and lifted his hand, which pulled Emma to her feet as well.

"It's you." Emma shook her head. "You're the Dark One. Not Regina. You're the one who created the curse."

"And you've come to end it, haven't you, dearie?" Gold laughed. "Well?"

Emma charged at him, her arm pulled back ready to punch him. With that same evil laugh, Gold waved his hand and Emma was once again thrown. This time when she struck the wall, more debris fell, covering her. The dust clogged her throat, and she was taken back to the fire for a moment.

You're gonna leave me, aren't you? Regina's voice echoed in her head and gave her the strength to get up and go toward Gold again.

"You're not playing very fair, Gold." She said, still coughing.

"Ah, well, that was never promised, dearie." Gold wielded the dagger again, this time knocking the flashlight from her hand. It hit the ground and went out with a flash, once again allowing darkness to reign in the mine.

But then, suddenly, another light lit up the mine. It was a strong, white glow coming from much farther down in the mine. Emma's eye met the light and she remembered what Henry had said, how he'd insisted that there was something down in the mine. She glanced back at Gold, and then she took off at a run toward the light.

"Ah, ah, Miss Swan!" Gold called, but even as he moved the knife, Emma moved closer to the shaft where the light was, and the magic he used seemed to be reflected back.

"Holy shit." Emma exclaimed as she finally came upon the source of the light. Snow White's coffin laid before her, gleaming gold and white.

She heard Gold coming for her and her eyes took in the coffin, searching for something.

"Ah." Gold's voice reached her ears and she felt his presence behind her. "So you've found it. Your lovely mother's coffin."

"It's been here all along. Henry was right."

"Ah, your boy is very astute. I have him to thank for bringing you here."

"You were the one." Emma said, looking at Gold and thinking of all the things he and Rumpelstiltskin had done. It was always Gold who was evil, always Gold using everyone as pawns. He'd played on everyone's insecurities, everyone's desires, and he'd set about to ruin them all. "You brought Henry to Regina, because you knew who he was."

"Far smarter than your fair mother and your dark lover." Gold laughed. "A worthy opponent finally. I've been waiting."

"You aren't going to win. I'm going to break the curse."

Gold's smile was evil. "Ah, breaking the curse. Are you sure you want to do that, dearie?"

"If it means killing you, then you bet." Emma rushed at him and this time, when he tried to use the dagger, it only made Emma stumble for a second before she hit him.

"You aren't Rumpelstiltskin," she taunted, shoving him against the wall, "at least not entirely. So you might have some of your powers back, but not all of them."

Gold pushed her off, causing her to fall backwards, hitting the coffin. The glass cracked and cut into her skin. She gasped as she felt it digging into her scalp, but she pushed herself up anyway. Blood ran down her face as she looked at Gold.

"A smart girl. I like that about you." Gold advanced on her, once again wielding the dagger, although once again the white light from the coffin seemed to be protecting Emma. "But you should know that all magic comes with a price. And breaking this curse has a high price of its own."

"I'll pay any price if it means giving them their happy endings." She insisted as she came after him, but he was quicker.

He attacked, managing to hit her with enough force that she fell backwards, this time hitting one of the walls of the mine before slumping to the ground with an 'oof'. Gold was over her in a second, his hand over her throat, laughing.

"Come now, Miss Swan, at least fight back. Show that boy of yours that you tried to be his hero and give him that happy ending you believe so much in before I killed you."

"Shut up." Emma hissed, using as much force as she could to jam her knee into Gold's stomach and push him off.

He lay in a crumpled heap for a moment, but when he pulled himself back up, she noticed his face was now entirely grey. The curse was starting to reverse, she realized. He was transforming back into Rumpelstiltskin. Shit!

"I've enjoyed our little game, Miss Swan." He laughed as he moved towards her. "But enough is enough. I've grown tired of you and of your boy and your lover and this whole town. So I'm ending it all now. But don't worry. I'll grant you all your happy ending. You'll all be able to be together… when you're dead."

With one swift motion, he stabbed Emma in the gut with the dagger. The pain took over her entire body and she slumped once more to the ground. Blood poured from the wound, but more than that, there was the pain. The blinding, all encompassing pain that told her that this was no ordinary dagger. As she began to bleed out, with Gold over her, laughing manically, she couldn't help but think that this was not at all the way she'd pictured the final battle playing out.

When she'd thought of it at all, it had always been her leading an army against the dark forces. An epic battle of good and evil, on par with Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. It had never been just her and Gold, in a dark mine, with nothing between them but his powers and a dagger. But then, she supposed that this was truly what Henry had predicted. The fight between the White Knight and the Dark One. The fact that Gold was the Dark One was just something none of them had counted on.

Everything began to blur in her mind as the blood drained out of her body. She thought of the parents she'd just found and the son who had saved her. And she thought of Regina and the promise she had made. She wanted more than anything to keep that promise – to be the one person who finally stayed for Regina.

But now she would be just another in a long line of liars. Because she was going to lose this battle.

"Good loses. Good always loses because Good has to play fair. Evil doesn't." Henry's words came back to her and her brain stuck on one of them.

Fair.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who's the fairest of them all?

You my queen are fair it's true, but Snow White is a thousand times fairer than you.

Snow White.

Suddenly everything came back into sharp relief, and Emma flung her arm out, clawing through the dirt, trying to find purchase on something. And then, finally, it came. Her hand closed around it, and she felt it dig into her skin.

With every ounce of strength that she had left, Emma forced herself into an upright position and lunged forward at Gold who was still laughing evilly. She threw the entire weight of her body behind her as she stabbed Gold through the heart with the glass shard from her mother's coffin. She felt it slice her hand, even as it ripped through his heart and the laughter finally ended as they both tumbled to the ground, covered in dirt and blood.

"Good doesn't always have to play fair," she told him as she leaned over his body, taking in his dying form. She pulled her hand back and the glass shard came with it, still clenched in her fist.

"And now the curse is yours. I've always been good at recognizing a desperate soul." Were Gold's last words, as the blood and life finally flowed out of him.

Emma didn't understand the words, but she reached down with her left hand and pulled the dagger from her side with a hiss of pain. Through her own blood, she could read the word 'Rumpelstiltskin' and she watched, glassy eyed, as it slowly melted away.

She waited for her own name to replace it. For the curse to be hers, as Gold had predicted. But instead, the dagger itself seemed to be melting away. The glow from her mother's coffin increased, even from the shard in her hand, and suddenly the dagger become so hot that she had to drop it.

She didn't have any time to move or react, for as soon as the dagger hit the ground, it exploded with the force of all the evil inside of it.

Henry, David, Regina, and Mary Margaret arrived at the mine just in time to see and feel the explosion that rocked it.

"Emma!" Regina screamed, trying to surge forward, but there were arms around her, holding her, stopping her. As she struggled against them, she knew that she had never hated David more in this life or any other than she did at that moment, as he kept her from Emma.

"Regina, no." He said, but she continued to struggle against him. Emma was in that mine, she knew it with every fiber of her being. She needed to get to her.

"Let me go! Let me go!" She could hear Henry screaming and struggling beside her, and as she looked over and saw him, held tightly in Mary Margaret's arms, she was thankful at least for that. But she felt her son's pain and desperation, and with every bit of strength she could manage, she pushed against David until his arms finally released her.

Regina skidded down the bank and toward what remained of the mine, even as she heard the other three shouting for her. The dirt and gravel stained her clothes and ripped at her skin, but she didn't care. All that mattered now was getting to Emma. Emma, who had promised that she would come back.

"Emma! Emma!" The words were sobs, ripped from Regina's throat, even as she ripped at the ground with her hands. There had to be a way to move this rubble, to get to Emma. She'd go down the mine shaft if she needed to. But she had to get to her.

David was beside her a minute later, trying to restrain her and move her away from the rubble. "Regina, it's too dangerous to be here right now. And we don't even know if she's –"

"Yes, we do!" Regina turned on him with a snarl, her eyes cold and black. David remembered that look from another world and flinched.

"I know she's there. I know! And I'm not going to stand here arguing with you until her oxygen runs out!"

"You really… need to get… a new line… Madam Mayor."

The voice was so faint and strangled that Regina almost didn't believe she'd heard it. But Henry's shout of "Mom!" made her turn and she saw both his and Mary Margaret's gazes locked on something behind her.

Whirling around, Regina caught sight of Emma, moving slowly through the cloud of dust that was still rising from the rubble toward her. The blonde's hair was matted to her forehead with dark patches of dried blood. Her ever present white tank top was stained brown and crimson with dirt and blood. There were gashes and bruises all over the blonde's body and she was barely managing to stand. But she was still the most beautiful thing Regina had ever seen.

"Emma!" The word was a sob and a prayer, a shout and a plea all in one. Regina rushed forward to catch the blonde, who could no longer stand and had started to crumple.

"Emma. Emma." She kept murmuring her name, holding the blonde tightly, even as she took in the injuries.

"What happened, baby?" Mary Margaret asked, as she took in the sight of her daughter cradled in Regina's arms.

"Gold. Rumpel. H-he had the d-dagger." The words were nearly impossible to push past her lips. Her skin was white as a sheet, making the cuts and bruises stand out even more vividly.

Regina ran her hands over Emma's body, stopping to gape in horror at the large wound in her stomach. "Emma, did he stab you? Emma? Emma!"

Emma's eyes opened to take in Regina's face. She couldn't form the words, so she nodded her head instead.

Regina made as though she was going to move, but Emma grabbed her shirt with her left hand and shook her head feebly. "Dead."

"You're sure?" David asked, kneeling beside his daughter. "You're sure he's dead?"

Emma lifted her right hand, the one with the glass shard still clenched in it, covered in blood, but glowing slightly.

Regina recognized it instantly. "Snow's coffin."

"That's what I saw!" Henry exclaimed. "That's what I saw in the mine before."

"Saved me." Emma managed, finally uncurling her fingers and allowing Mary Margaret to pull the glass from her hand.

"You used this on Gold?"

"H-had to e-end the curse. Had to give you your h-happy ending."

"What about the dagger? Emma, the dagger – did it –" Regina panicked, thinking of what might have happened in the mine.

"G-gone. Destroyed. With the curse." Emma looked over at Henry and tried to smile. "J-just like you said, k-kid." She coughed and blood landed on her lips. "Didn't lose. Didn't fight fair."

"She's still bleeding horribly." Mary Margaret fretted, looking at the blood that was still pouring from the wound and soaking Regina's blouse. "We have to get her to a hospital."

David made to pick Emma up, but Regina was already standing, the blonde cradled carefully in her arms. "I've got you." She whispered to Emma as she started to move. "I've got you. Don't worry."

Emma's bloody hand came up to touch Regina's face. "L-love you, 'Gina. I'm s-so sorry."

Her eyelids slid shut and her breathing slowed. "No. Emma. No! Listen to me. Emma! You promised me. You promised, Emma!" Regina sobbed against her hair, the tears sliding down Emma's skin and making tracks in the dirt still caked on her.

"No, please. You're my happy ending. You are. I love you! I love you, Emma!"

They were the last words Emma heard before everything went black.

The next words Emma heard were Regina's as well, although this time they were in a much firmer voice. "I've about had it with you, Miss Swan. If you don't open your eyes this instant, I'll – I'll –"

Emma obliged and opened her eyes.

"Are you threatening me, Madam Mayor?" She managed to get out, although her throat was dry and her voice was raspy.

"Emma!" Her name was called by all of the occupants of the room at once and as her eyes adjusted, she took them all in. Regina was beside her, holding her bandaged hand and looking like she hadn't eaten or slept in days. David and Mary Margaret were to the other side, holding on to each other and looking every inch the worried parents that they were. Henry was at the foot of the bed, his eyes wide as he took in his mother's form.

"Well," Mary Margaret smiled, "it's about time you woke up."

"Yeah," David laughed, "Regina was about to try some of my tricks."

"Oh really?" Emma smiled as she took in Regina's relieved face.

"I would've done anything." She whispered, tracing Emma's face with her fingers.

"I promised you I wouldn't leave you." Emma reminded her, even as her eyes drifted closed again.

"Yeah, and then you went and apologized to me!" Regina allowed the worry and anger that Emma's final words to her had caused out.

Emma forced her eyes back open and smirked softly at the mayor. "Well, I was bleeding all over your shirt."

Instead of the fiery reaction Emma was expecting, Regina broke down into sobs again, pulling Emma close to her. Her hand searched for Emma's heart and gripped the hospital gown over it, feeling the steady beat.

"Hey, hey, I'm okay. I got you. I'm not going anywhere."

"I love you," Regina said against Emma's ear. "I love you so much."

Emma pulled back and smiled widely at Regina. "Well then, kiss me."

And Regina smiled too, a wide smile that spoke of happy endings, as she pulled Emma into a kiss.

They would still have to deal with Emma's recovery and the destruction of the curse and the remaining questions they all had. But Regina was content to push those things away for another day. For now, she intended to just be with Emma and her family – the family that they had somehow created out of the curse, because family always finds one another.

And none of them were going to leave her. They'd seen her at her worst and still they'd all stayed by her side. They loved her and when they said they wouldn't leave, they meant it. And that was truly the only happy ending Regina had ever wanted.