Title: Destiny Is The Rabbit Hole (20/20)

Author: Maggiemerc

Rating: T

Characters: Swan Queen

Spoilers: Veers from canon after the third episode of season 2.

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own them. All the lady loving would be hella canon if I did.

Summary: Henry begging Regina to rescue Snow White and Emma from the Enchanted Forest in the season 2 premiere sets the formerly evil queen on a quest that takes her from the mountains of the Middle Kingdom to the pirate lair of a serial killer and straight into conflict with her own villain, the Queen of Hearts.

Author's Note: This is it! The end of Part One, and I would very much characterize it as a PART and not a book. This is not a standalone tale, you will NOT be satisfied with the ending (well maybe a little), it DOES end on a massive cliffhanger.

But the next part is such a major, major shift that it felt kind of weird not to split it up. So yes things continue in "Toxic is the Unyielding Love" and the plot will probably be pretty apparent from the final moments of this chapter.

As for last chapter HOLY HELL thank you for the tremendous response! I was in awe of the feedback you all left and am truly humbled by it. Now on with the show…

Chapter Twenty

The mist falling made a sound. Like snow on leaves. Droplets of red, many too small for the naked eye, came to rest on the deck so softly and so loudly all at once.

The gasps of the sleeping princess and her warrior woman, the sharp inhalation of the pirate, even the beat of the sea against the boat were all drowned out by the fall of mist.

And by the heavy breathing of a woman forever changed.

Emma had witnessed it, the part of Regina she tried very hard to control, the part of her that loved the pain inflicted and the misery exacted. She thrived on it, almost as much as she did the touch of her son.

Or even a look of understanding from the woman behind her.

Who was still panting. Her hand was on Regina's arm and she could feel the blood coursing through Emma. The rise and fall of a chest. The pulse moved by panic.

Regina though, was not breathing. The air was inert in her lungs. The heart motionless in her chest. That panting. That rainfall of a dead man's blood. Those were the only sounds.

Those and the thoughts in her head.

She'd felt her magic return down below. Watching the pain alight on Snow's face had been a balm and the flow of power had seared through Regina with a force unmatched. She'd then slipped the moribund woman into a deep and healing sleep and crept up the steps to the deck to find horror awaiting her. She found the woman who dared trust her pale and dying on polished wood and the bastard who'd interrupted everything looming gleefully over her.

It hadn't been a snap inside of her. Just…a loosening of bindings she'd kept in place ever since Henry had come into her life. And each moment she'd allowed more of her basest self to be bared she felt more and more power. And pleasure. She'd forgotten the joy of making another dance. Forgotten how sumptuous it felt to twist words on her tongue and loosen barbs too morbid for polite company. All the little things she'd missed about herself coalesced into something massive and terrifying that had not consumed her, but exposed her.

It was not the truth of her that shocked the words from her mouth.

No, she knew who she was. She knew what she was. She'd accepted it years ago, when she first put peasants to the sword in her hunger for Snow's head. She would never say it aloud but she was a villain and so very, very good at it. Good at playing that Evil Queen.

That was not the problem.

The problem was the woman behind her. The woman who had been dying on the ship deck. Emma had let loose the villain. Broken the shackles around her and unleashed her on Bluebeard. Just by being there…being hurt…dying.

That was all that was needed.

Regina had annihilated a man for nearly killing Emma Swan. And that truth was more painful than any other.

####

Regina's hand was still extended. The curl of her lips was something between a snarl and a smile. Emma could see teeth. See the rise and fall of Regina's chest. Feel the excitement racing through the other woman.

She could feel the magic fade.

Her mouth was hung open and the air tasted like copper.

"So…Bluebeard…" Hook ventured.

The Evil Queen glanced over her shoulder. "Dead unless some witch of my capabilities collects every particle of him I've scattered over the land." Her quick smile was feral. "And they do it before that immortality spell runs out."

"That would be impossible," Mulan said.

"Precisely."

"He's dead then," Aurora determined.

"Quite."

"You tortured him," Emma stated. She could still hear his muted scream. See his lips tearing around the thread that kept them closed.

"I did no worse than he did to me."

"Yeah but he brought you back to life."

"A mistake I do not plan to make."

"He was a monster," Mulan said matter of factly. Like that justified it.

"You put a monster down. You don't—it was like you were playing with your food."

Regina shrugged and looked down to inspect her fingers. "I'll admit to enjoying myself a bit. It's like stretching ones legs."

"Again, doesn't usually involve murder."

"Emma…" Aurora dared.

But a chastising look from Regina silenced the girl. "You were prepared to kill him just a few hours ago. I did what we both wanted."

"You're not supposed to enjoy taking a life."

"I quite like it," Hook opined.

Of all the—she grimaced, "Can we maybe talk about this somewhere where we don't have an audience of your biggest fans."

"I'm not a fan," Aurora was quick to say.

"I only admire her technique," Mulan quipped.

"I'm with warrior woman," Hook agreed.

"Great, I'm on a boat full of sociopaths. Where's Mary Margaret? She'll agree with me."

"Resting."

Okay. That gave Emma pause. Regina was awfully fast with that update, and failing to provide any of the little insults she usually lobbed Mary Margaret's way. Emma narrowed her eyes.

"Regina…"

"Oh she's alive," Regina said testily with a cross of her arms. "I had to heal her mind. So she's sleeping."

"If you lobotomized her—"

"I'm not saying it didn't cross my mind, because the image of Snow in such a state is amusing, but healing the mind is delicate, and usually requires a great deal of magical objects that are in short supply on a pirate's ship. A deep restorative sleep does the same thing. It also takes longer."

As explanations went Regina's came across as sincere. Emma still scoffed though. Then she huffed down the stairs to get away from all the crazies and check in on her m—Mary Margaret.

And Mary Margaret was indeed resting. Her eyes were closed and her color had returned. That pained look that had been tattooed on her face last time Emma had looked at her had disappeared.

She took a seat on the mattress next to her and carefully reached out to touch her. She was neither warm with a fever or cool like death. Just. Normal.

"See," Regina said from the stairs, "Alive and well."

Emma ignored the pride in Regina's voice, "How long will she be out?"

"Another hour of sleep. After that she'll be weak for about a day. So no archery, horseback riding or condescension for at least twenty-four hours."

Emma rolled her eyes.

"But she will heal."

"I guess I should thank you." Regina shrugged coyly. "But after what happened upstairs I'm finding it really frickin' hard."

Regina sort of froze. "Excuse me?"

"You used me."

"To stop a mad man."

"You used me Regina. That's not going to happen again. Ever."

They glared at one another, Emma on the bed and Regina standing near the door. She braced herself for an argument. Regina would outline all the reasons why she'd sucked the magic out of Emma like she was a battery and then demand Emma agree.

But Regina nodded instead. Accepted what Emma had declared. She turned to start back at the steps, pausing briefly to say, simply, "You were dying. So I did what needed to be done."

That was it.

She darted quickly back up the stairs, her shoes loud on the wooden steps. The door creaked open and closed again and Emma was once more left alone with a sleeping best friend and her own thoughts.

How could Regina save her life and stop the bad guy and still unsettle Emma so deeply? Why, damn it, was the most unsettling part that justification?

Why would Emma being hurt warrant…the brutality Regina inflicted?

And why…did it feel almost flattering?

####

Hook was high up in the ropes, messing about with them and being very nautically inclined. "Lover's tiff," he teasingly called down when Regina reappeared above deck.

She waved her arm as she walked beneath him and the ropes came alive, promptly attacking the captain. He grunted and dug his hook into the mast to keep from falling while he used his hand to wrestle the ropes back under control.

"Lovely chat," he yelled after her.

Mulan and her little princess were up on the bridge, leaning over the side and staring at the two horses sunning on the beach.

"They found you," Mulan observed.

"They did."

Aurora asked, "Are they coming with us?"

Us?

Oh. Of course. They were supposed to be joining them on the trip to Storybrooke. The girl wanted to see her mothers again, and the warrior woman had vowed to protect her. Two more bodies to squeeze through a portal only powerful enough to fit three.

"Yes," she said with a smile. "I'm rather fond of them. I was thinking I might teach my son to ride on them." As long as biology didn't win out and he ended up being as "skilled" on a horse as Emma. She didn't need her son breaking his neck.

"But we still have my mother to deal with. As long as she has the compass she can find a way to get through."

Aurora cocked her head to the side, "Can you use a spell to find her?"

"I doubt I need to. She would need a very particular kind of magic to use the wardrobe ashes. There's a lake between kingdoms. The waters in it have restorative properties. It's the only place she could hope to accomplish her task."

Hook landed heavily on the deck behind them and tossed the last few ropes carelessly off his shoulder. "So I suppose we set sail for your lake then? Then to this other land?"

"Yes," she made certain no trace of her intended deception showed on her face. "Then we all go to Storybrooke."

####

Their lips met in a searing kiss. It curled her toes, electrified her skin. Where hands went fire formed. Gasps and sighs were the music of their affair. Hands in hair. Teeth nipping at flesh.

But it was more than the physical. What bloomed between them was spiritual.

"Don't—" was caught between kiss-bruised lips.

"Please—" begging from a wicked tongue.

Her hand crept up to lay flat between breasts. And there it was. A locket identical to her own. Seeming to tug her into the morass of that embrace. That relationship. That thing that should be so desperately foreign.

"How…" she whispered between kisses, "how do you have this?"

But her lover would not answer. The kisses shared were apocalyptic. Ending her world and offering nothing in return.

She pulled back. "What is this?" She wrapped her hand around the locket.

Eyes like onyx. Eyes warm as the summer sun. They watched her mournfully. "The future Emma."

That voice.

Her eyes seemed to open. Knowing filtering into her mind like light slowing rising over the horizon.

"A future destroyed."

It wasn't anyone she'd ever kissed before. But the lips were so familiar. As was the skin, cool beneath her fingers. Those eyes.

"For love."

That voice.

Emma stepped back. The veil fell away.

It was Regina standing before her. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright and achingly desperate.

####

Emma popped up off the bed like it was on fire. Partly because she was on—oh god her nipples! She quickly crossed her arms over her chest to hide all the diamond cutting hardness going on and glanced down at Mary Margaret, who was slowly coming to.

That was…did she have a sex dream while taking a nap with her mom?

About Regina?

Of all the fucked up and horrible and awful things that had happened since she'd come to the land indoor plumbing forgot that may have taken the cake.

And what the hell was that dream anyways?

Sex dreams weren't unusual. Hell before she'd known one of them was her dad and it was DISGUSTING she'd had a very pleasant dream involving her, Ruby, David, Graham and a whole mess of bronzing oil.

But Regina? Regina was actually worse that David. She hadn't known she was related to him and he was nice to look at, talk to, and generally share time with. Regina was the spawn of Satan and a big jerk and the worst and damned if she hadn't looked broken in the dream.

She shuddered again. Like a dead man was walking on her grave or whatever the hell it was. Gross. Repugnant. Disgusting.

Would her nipples EVER return to normal?!

"Emma?"

Thank God for Mary Margaret. Her voice was more effective then a cold shower in Siberia. She groggily sat up in bed holding her head in her hands.

"You look like you went on quite the bender."

"I don't really drink," she said matter of factly, and because of course Snow White would be a teetotaler. "What happened?"

"You got knocked out. Regina healed you."

Mary Margaret's eyes bulged practically out of her skull, "Regina?!" She quickly started patting herself down.

"Um, what are you doing?"

"Looking for curses or bombs or—"

"Oh come on she's not that ba—" Her own feelings on the matter and Mary Margaret's knowing look stopped her from finishing the sentence. "Okay, but she probably didn't."

Another knowing look.

"Seriously. She was too busy saving up all the evil to dismember Bluebeard at a molecular level."

"What? Bluebeard's dead?"

She shrugged, "Pretty much."

Mary Margaret held both of her hands out, as if to keep herself stable. "Is the boat moving?"

Emma tried to concentrate on what it would feel like if that were the case. If she thought about it it did feel like they were doing more than rocking in place. "Maybe?"

Mary Margaret pegged her with a very judgey mom look. "You don't know?"

"We weren't when I went to sleep!"

"You went to sleep?"

"Well, it has been a long couple of days." She explained. "And you slept too."

"Because I had a skull fracture!"

That magic had healed! Emma didn't actually say that. She was pretty sure it wouldn't go ever well. Also even as she got more and more inundated with the magic stuff it still felt silly to talk about.

Like "Oh hey Mary Margaret Regina healed your brain with her mind." How did one actually verbalize the mechanics of that? And if Regina could heal Mary Margaret what else could she do? Could she heal bigger stuff? AIDS? Cancer? Jesus, she could open a clinic at the edge of town and make a flipping fortune.

Someone shows up to dissect her? Wave of her hand and more mist people.

Mary Margaret snapped, "Emma," she said sharply.

"I'm sure it's fine," she ventured.

Mary Margaret rolled her eyes, immediately winced and then tried to scoot out of the bed. Only pretty slowly because the needing to rest thing Regina had mentioned was very real.

"Why can't I—"

Emma hopped over to the bed and took Mary Margaret's arm, slinging it over her shoulder and helping her up gently. "Regina said the healing would take time. You'd need rest."

"I need a nap to end all naps," she muttered, "but I'm not sleeping as long as Regina and Hook are walking around unguarded."

Emma carefully supported her and led her up the stairs. They both had to shade their eyes when they came up, the sun was blinding and seemed to be shining directly down the stair and into their faces.

When their eyesight returned to normal Emma may have shouted, dropped Mary Margaret and leapt back about a million feet. The giant horse she'd accidentally come face to face with stared calmly.

"Why is there a horse!"

The other one's head popped up from behind some boxes and stared as well.

"Why are there horses!"

"I wasn't just going to abandon two perfectly good horses was I," Regina asked. She came around the boxes, patting the giant one—what she call him—Gauvin? On the neck.

Mary Margaret, having been helped up by Aurora, rubbed at her neck and eyed Regina, "You actually care about the horses?"

"Horses aren't likely to betray you."

"Something we can agree on."

These two were worse than divorcees. "Where the hell are we going?"

"To stop Cora," Regina said, like of course.

"And that's…?"

"At a lake with magical properties. Your mother should know it well. It's where she was married."

Mary Margaret gasped, "You knew?"

Then Regina honest to god evil villain laughed. "Of course dear. Your little woodland creature friends wouldn't shut up about it."

"They would never tell you."

"Not without duress."

"You tortured squirrels?!"

"No." The wind against the sails was loud. "Two stags and a rabbit. But it did tenderize the meat quite nicely."

"Of all the disgusting, amoral—"

"Okay," Emma said quickly, before the two of them could launch into another fight, "Enough about Regina being so evil she tortured innoncent woodland creatures. Do we actually have a plan when we get to honeymoon lake?"

"Yes," Regina said, suddenly grim, "Don't die."

"I was looking for something a little more thought out."

"I'm sorry. Dodge the fireballs and don't die. It's a melee between you idiots, me, and my mother. How complicated could it possibly be on your end?"

"Well excuse me, your majesty. I'm just remembering the big fat failure that's been every other single plan you've come up with."

"Cora can't take us all on at once," Mulan said, finally chiming in. "She fled last time, remember? With my sword and Regina's magic, and the element of surprise we'll undoubtedly have it will not be difficult."

Emma really hoped so.

####

Regina was faced with a dilemma.

She had to keep her mother out of Storybrooke.

She had to get herself and Emma and Snow back to Storybrooke.

She had to keep Hook and the other two away from the portal.

But without letting Emma or Snow know.

When the three of them made it through it had to look like a fluke. Not like she'd planned it. If they knew she'd planned it she'd then be stuck dealing with those two and their recriminations. And they'd certainly tell Henry too. Then he'd be angry. Emma would be angry. And Regina would be back nearly at square one.

Part one of her plan was simple enough. She suggested they take the ship to Storybrooke to transport the horses.

So Mulan suggested that Aurora stay with the horses and out of harm's way.

Regina suggested Hook stay as well, so Aurora didn't steal the ship.

The joke didn't work. Hook, being the smartest fool among them, declined. "Wouldn't want you accidentally leaving without me," he said.

Still. One down.

Two to go.

"How exactly do we steal the compass," Emma asked. She was offering a hand, helping her mother over a log. Emma's suggested Snow stay on the ship with Aurora. But thankfully Snow had rejected the suggestion—eyeing Regina and saying she wasn't taking her eyes off of her.

"You distract her, I get close enough to take it."

"As long as it's not difficult," Snow said sarcastically.

"If you'd like to get close to the woman who can rip your heart out, by all means Snow. Do so."

"I did before. When we fought her up in the Giant's land."

"You did," Mulan asked in surprise.

"And I'm still alive."

Yes. She was. Questions for another day. "And you also don't have the compass," Regina noted.

"Okay you two," Emma warned, again.

"Yes. Please." That voice— There was a flash of purple smoke and suddenly her mother was standing before them, her held tilted to the side and a wry smile spread across her lips. "No fighting children."

Regina's dilemma grew.

The plan changed.

####

"Mother!"

Regina was frozen to the spot. Emma backed Mary Margaret up so she could lean against a tree and drew her sword. Hook and Mulan did as well.

"What is this dear? Did you bring them to me to kill them?"

"To stop you," Regina choked out.

This wasn't…good. Emma could see it in Regina's body language. That wasn't a woman prepared to stop Cora by any means necessary. That was a terrified woman. Almost a child.

Cora laughed. It was the joy of a boozey foster mom. The ones that made the system look bad. The ones that treated kids like meal tickets and laughed at the power they wielded and the power the kids were denied.

"Really? All I want to do is be with you dear."

Emma edged closer to Regina. "How'd you find us?"

"I have my ways," she supplied coyly.

"Mother," Regina said, her voice still shaky, "Just give us the compass."

"No, Regina. Give me the shoes."

Regina grabbed the satchel she wore. "I can't do that."

"Yes, you can. Give them to me. Then you and I will kill these idiots and be on our way. To your home. To Henry."

Regina. She seemed to waver.

Cora pressed her advantage before Emma could intervene. "Rumpelstiltskin is there too, isn't here dear? Together we can punish him."

Regina took a step closer to Emma. "For what?"

"Why for using you my darling."

"Y—you knew?"

Emma frowned. Knew? Knew what?

Cora blinked.

Ha! Whatever the hell they were talking about it had apparently caused the bitch to step in it. Regina was vibrating with anger suddenly. Cora shook her head. "Enough of this Regina." She held her hand out impatiently, "Give me the shoes and let's be on our way."

Oh yeah. Really, really stepped in it.

Emma felt the tug of magic as Regina drew it towards her. It buffeted Emma, but wasn't drawn from her—like Regina was half remembering Emma's statement on the boat.

The fire flared blindingly in Regina's hand and then launched across the forest and straight into Cora. The ensuing explosion was catastrophic. Everyone was blown back. Trees shattered. Splinters bit into Emma's flesh. Her sword was wrenched from her hand and her body slammed painfully against a the thick trunk of a tree. Somewhere behind her she heard Mary Margaret cry out.

When the dust settled only Regina and Cora were still standing. They were untouched. Cora's hand was extended and flickered with power—from a shield or something. Regina was panting and already drawing another gale of magic.

"Enough," Cora snapped.

The magic still flickering in her hand suddenly flickered around Regina, binding her. Cora stalked towards her. "I don't have time for tantrums today. And I will take the—"

An arrow flew out of the tree, stopping centimeters from Cora, caught in her magic. She glared and turned just in time to stop another arrow.

Emma squinted and saw the shadow of Mulan dart through the greenery. Emma took the opportunity to charge Cora. Without a sword she wasn't really sure what she could do—but Regina had said "distraction" and Emma was certain she was that.

But Cora waved her hand and Emma flew back again.

"Your friends are irritating," she told Regina. "Let's do something about them."

A short column of purple smoke appeared beside her. When it disappeared a chest lay there: wide open and filled with boxes that glowed red with unnatural light. She waved to the boxes. They all popped open, revealing beating hearts. Groans. Horrible, unsettling, zombie-like groans, emanated from the forest.

Branches cracked as something rushed towards them.

And then.

The zombies came.

####

Damn it.

Rage. Rage and cunning were what always defeated her mother.

And it had to be the most vicious kind of rage.

Behind her Snow was trying to stand and Hook and Mulan and Emma were in a pitched battle with twenty some-odd zombies that had raced across the land at superhuman speeds. Their feet bled from their quick journeys, but the moaning emanating from deep within their chest were from the agony inflicted on them in death. A death that had turned their skin ashey. Rot had set in like oozing sores on the exposed parts of them.

Her mother had killed them once and kept the corpses to use as tools.

Through the thin blue veil of magic holding Regina's hands at her sides she could see her mother watch the battle with pride.

Rage.

Not awe at her mother's magic. She needed…

Rage.

Because of Daniel and the old wound of his death.

Rage.

Because her mother married Henry—a man too weak to protect his daughter.

Rage.

For ever slap and terrible word.

Rage.

For what she would do to Henry.

Rage.

For the plans she spoiled now.

Snow White couldn't die—not today—not after everything Regina had sacrificed to keep her alive. Emma could not die either.

Not the woman who dared to trust.

"It will be out of your hands," her mother clarified, like teaching a child. "No one in your little town will know what happened here today."

But Regina would know. She'd know she let Emma Swan die.

Rage.

It bubbled. Boiled. Burned so hot Regina might have cried out. But she gritted her teeth and let it course through her veins. Let it pick and pull at the magic binding her.

Another explosion grew inside of her, and Regina let it come.

####

Having avoided ever being caught in a real explosion before Emma was now getting picked up and thrown across the forest in her second one in half an hour. She landed next to Mary Margaret. She was breathing heavily and leaning on a sword covered in the blackened blood of the dead.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Cora?"

Through the smoke they could see the brief flashes of flame as the two sorceresses fought. Each flash illuminating their dark shadows like figures in a Chinese shadow play.

"I think," she swallowed, "she and Regina are having a moment."

"Apparently."

She couldn't see Mulan or Hook through all the dust and smoke, just hear their swords clanging and the sick sound of blades being buried in flesh.

There was a loud crack at the center of the maelstrom and Regina came stumbling out of it. She looked around, shading her eyes and squinting to peer through the smoke. When she finally saw them she had to scramble over fallen branches and groaning bodies to reach them.

"Are you all right," she asked in a rush.

"Yeah, what—"

Regina took Emma's hand in her own and dragged her away from the battle. "There's no time. Come on," she said urgently.

Emma reached back for Mary Margaret and the three rushed through the brush as fast as a weakened Mary Margaret could.

"What's going on?"

"I think I've given us enough time."

"For what?"

Regina glanced over her shoulder but kept moving, "She plans to kill you both."

"Yeah we noticed—"

"I can't let that happen Emma."

"Wait, what?" She came to a stop, dirt kicking up with the abruptness of it. Mary Margaret sagged against her and panted. Emma tightened her hold but directed her attention to Regina. "What the hell do you mean?"

"I have to get you both out of here. Now."

"But Mulan. Hook. Aurora's on the ship."

"And the portal will stay open as long as I will it. But you two have to go through first. We'll be right behind you."

It wasn't right. "No. No. Regina, we're not leaving you."

"You don't have a choice."

She'd pulled the silver slippers from her satchel and held them up in her hand. Her eyes glowed purple. A prophetic wind, chilled like it had raced off a snowy bank, blew around them. The shoes disappeared into a bright, sparkly purple dust. It was caught up in the wind, whirled around and around until a funnel was formed.

It tugged suddenly at Mary Margaret and with a cry she was yanked from Emma's grip and disappeared through the portal.

"Wha—"

The glow faded from Regina's eyes and she came closer, "You have to go now Emma."

"No."

"You two will be safe—"

"And you? You can't fight your mother alone."

Regina reached out from Emma's hand. For once even with the potent magic racing through the other woman it wasn't cold. "And I can't fight her while protecting you."

"I have magic."

Why…why did Regina then smile like that? Like a mother entertaining a child. "I know."

"And Mulan's sword. It can fight magic. And Hook—"

Her words were cut off. Her protests silenced. Regina stepped so close that their bodies touched, from their thighs straight up to their lips. She'd been kissed. She'd kissed. She'd worked her wiles and she'd been seduced. But Regina devoured. Consumed every part of Emma with a caress that seared with something that couldn't be lust. It was magic. Or some awful other unquantifiable matter. It surged through the kiss. Through Emma.

And as quick and shattering as it was it ended just as abruptly. "I'll be right behind you," Regina said with a voice thickened by…by what had just been stolen and shared and given. Hands pushed Emma away before she could protest.

And other hands grabbed at her. Tugging on her clothes. Her hair. Her everything. The purple funnel of magic whirled around her and the last thing she saw was Regina. Suddenly stalwart. Calm. A titan, it seemed, as Emma shrank away and grew smaller and smaller until she was nothing.

Then she was being caught by Mary Margaret who groaned loudly. "Hold on," she shouted.

Emma started to flail and her legs struck something solid.

"What—where the hell—!"

"The well," Mary Margaret said through gritted teeth.

They pushed and pulled and after a great deal of sweat and strain managed to climb their way up and out of the well and into the sweetest smelling air of Emma's life.

She'd never known faint whiffs of diesel from the road could smell so wonderful.

They both collapsed and looked up at the sky, blue and perfectly normal. Mary Margaret reached for Emma and they held hands. Peaceful. So peaceful she could almost forget Regina and the kiss and the terror she'd seen just briefly before.

"We…made…it," Mary Margaret said. "Regina?"

"She said they'd be right behind us. But Cora—"

Mary Margaret closed her eyes, "If Regina said she'd survive fighting her mother, she will."

Emma laughed. Maybe at that. Maybe at the sound of familiar bugs, and the distant hum of cars on streets.

"What?"

"We're finally home."

Mary Margaret laughed too. "Yes. We are." She squeezed Emma's hand. "Together."

For a moment it looked like Mary Margaret might cry, and Emma got that distinct maternal feeling she often did when Mary Margaret looked at her that way. She closed her eyes to shy away from it.

And they both just rested. Wordlessly agreeing to wait.

After what seemed like ages a hand appeared over the edge of the well. Then the top of a head. A bruised and dirty Regina pulled herself up with a grimace.

Emma darted back over to the well and helped her over.

"The others?"

Regina shook her head, "They didn't make it. My m—Cora stopped them. She was unleashing hell. I couldn't—" She closed her eyes in genuine agony.

Mary Margaret sat up, suddenly more awake than she'd been since her injury, "And the compass?"

Regina reached into her satchel and drew it out, "I managed to grab it before I escaped."

"So…"

"So," Regina said with a bittersweet smile, "We're finally home."

####

It wouldn't be a lie.

Simply an omission of truth.

They would ask about Mulan and the others and Regina would look very sad and tell them they didn't make it. Everyone would be quiet a moment. There'd be mourning. Then they'd move on.

Maybe it would be so upsetting Emma wouldn't even ask about the kiss.

The stupid, wretched kiss. An accident.

Regina had needed to distract Emma and truthfully she had been so caught up in playing the part of a sacrificial hero she'd just leaned in. And Emma had reciprocated.

And it had been—no! It was nothing. It was an accident. It was hormones. Or emotions. Or something more than the promises it had whispered.

"Oh my darling," her mother said from behind her, "what touching theater."

She squared her shoulders and turned to face her. "You saw."

"I did. Did you really send them away to protect them?"

Yes.

"The portal only has enough power for three."

Her mother smiled knowingly, "And this way when you come through alone they can think tragedy struck your new friends."

"Right."

"You could just kill me. The dust from the wardrobe would be enough to get you all through. It would be very triumphant for you."

She frowned. "I can't do that Mother."

"I know." Her mother smiled. "I heard you Regina. What did you say that day in my tomb? 'I am your weakness.' So, dear. Tell me, what is your plan now?"

Regina took a deep breath, "Offer you a trade."

Her mother raised an eyebrow, her curiosity piqued. "You for this little town you've created?"

"No. You let me go and I give you immortality." She pulled the peach from her satchel. It felt heavy in her hand. As if all the magic and potential of it weighed it down.

"Why would I want that?"

"Because as I am your weakness, power is yours. And this is power, Mother. More than you could ever hope to have in Storybrooke."

"And you. Would I ever see you again?"

"You'd have thousands of years to find a way. Or thousands of years to build an empire that could span across every world."

"But Storybrooke."

Regina took a step closer to her mother, the peach still held out as offering. "Storybrooke is cut off from all other worlds. There's no way to it. But it wouldn't matter Mother. With your power you could have the whole rest of the universe if you choose."

Her mother closed the space between them and reached out to stroke Regina's cheek. She flinched and her mother paused, then proceeded. Her hand was soft. Years as the Queen of Hearts and wife of the fifth prince had smoothed away the callouses formed as a miller's daughter.

"But I wouldn't have you my darling."

Her mother had always chosen power. Always. It was the dragon she chased as Regina chased family. Love. She'd never expected her to say something so bold. To say something so true.

"You are what I want Regina. You and Henry and a kingdom all our own. Where they bow to us." Her mother's eyes were bright with emotion.

Regina closed her own. "But Storybrooke isn't a kingdom."

"I know my child." Something in her voice. She opened her eyes and found her mother suddenly steely-gazed again. "But it will be. Ours."

"No. Mother, I can't—"

Her words were cut off by the sharp blade that slipped between her ribs. Her legs gave out as her mother pulled the blade from Regina's side. She caught the peach easily in one hand and gently helped Regina to the ground with the other.

"I know you can't," Cora cooed. "Somehow, despite all the odds, you have some sense of foolish honor ingrained in you. Which is why I will go before you my dear. I will build our kingdom. And in time. You will find me."

She couldn't form the words of a healing spell. Every time she tried to grasp it it turned to mist in her mind. She could only form words of contention. "They'll stop you. As soon as you appear—"

Her mother put a single finger on Regina's lips and it alone was enough to silence her. "Oh I know my darling. So," her voice changed. She changed. "It won't be me they see."

It was a mirror looking back at her. Herself, bruised and bloodied and covered in soot and dirt. But with a smile too malicious to be her own.

Her mother, dressed as her, stood. She walked slowly towards the portal home, pocketing the peach and becoming Regina more and more with every step.

"I will build us Paradise, Regina. And when you find us again, you will want for nothing."

She tried to reach for her mother with her magic. One last gasp at averting catastrophe.

But it was all too late. Her mother disappeared through the portal.

The world started to disappear too. The creep of unconsciousness clawed at Regina, dragging her down into the abyss. There lay despair. Hopelessness. And the bliss of nothing.

TO BE CONTINUED IN "Toxic is the Unyielding Love."