STORYBROOKE, MAINE, 2018.

First, there's darkness.

Regina feels softness underneath her and is she laying down? She wants to see, but she's unable; for a moment, she forgets how to move. Then, as her senses come colliding back at her all at once in one terrifying moment, her eyelids snap open and she bolts upright into a sitting position, panting as though her lungs would burst.

At first, all she can see is blurriness; muddled colors and dark shapes forming familiar, yet unfamiliar shapes in front of her. Panic rises in her throat as she fervently attempts to remember something--anything. She blinks almost as rapidly as her racing heart to clear her vision, and slowly the pieces of her bedroom form into place around her. Her bedroom. In the mansion.

She thinks hard; the last thing she can remember is saying goodbye at the town line and stopping the curse. What the hell is she doing in her mansion, in Storybrooke? Shouldn't she be on her way to the Enchanted Forest? Her mind snaps to the one thing that she's the most concerned with, and she almost falls off her bed in her haste to leave her room, getting tangled in the blankets. As soon as her bare feet hit the floor, she's rushing down the hall.

"Henry?!" She calls in panic as she rips his bedroom door open. The door flies on its hinges from the power of her swing and bangs against the opposite wall, fully displaying a dark, dusty room that looks as though it hadn't been occupied in years. "Henry!!" She's met with the accusing, cold silence of the abandoned room and, with a shaking hand, she shuts the door. She slides down the wall to sit on the carpeted upstairs hall flooring, and places her head in her hands. As she does so, she feels how short her hair is--wait.

She stares down at her silk pajamas, and runs a hand through her blunt locks once more. How is it that she fully remembers not looking like this what seems like minutes ago? She thinks harder. Castle. Gown. Ogres. Curse.

In a single moment, everything comes flooding back to her. Including David's sacrifice, and as soon as she's about to get changed and check on Snow, she remembers something else--something that had happened in the seconds before the curse had activated.

The Enchanted Forest, a few minutes before.

Deep purple thunderclouds continue to cascade from the cauldron, which Regina is watching as she feels she in entirely un-entitled to witness what what is happening a few feet away from her. She's lost in the smoke, thinking of haunting times long since past from the last time she'd cast this, and, not without a little excitement, thinking of Henry. With this happening, there was a chance, a possibility.....

She's jarred from her musings when Snow's broken voice reaches her ears, calling her name. She adverts her eyes and casts them on the huddled couple on the ground, one alive, one dead.

"Regina," Snow calls out again. Confused, Regina takes a few steps towards them. What's the woman looking for, comfort? Though Regina is prepared to try, her stepdaughter should know she's highly unaccustomed to being the comforting rock in times of need.

"Snow," she replies uncertainly; unsure if whether a hug is in order or something else entirely. She decides to wait for Snow to make touching contact with her first before jumping to any unnecessary conclusions.

"Regina, my heart," the other woman says breathlessly, as if that cleared anything up. Regina fights the urge to cock an eyebrow as she stares at her.

"Your heart."

"Yes, it..Regina, you can split my heart!"

Any trace uncertainty or annoyance felt a moment earlier disappears in a fraction of a second; Regina is fully aware, too much so, of what's going through the other woman's mind. "Snow.."

"Regina, please. Can you? Is it possible?" She demands, and though Regina's temper is arguably short, she's fully able to overlook any traces of losing it in this situation, understanding all too well the sort of agony Snow is in.

"It's...possible. I think he's been dead short enough that such a procedure could work, but.." She pauses before she continues. "You could die. It's too dangerous."

"No, I believe," Snow blurts through a watery sob, though altogether too loudly for where Regina's kneeling in front of them. "I believe that my love is strong enough for both of us."

Regina briefly closes her eyes; this is not something she wants to refuse, seeing as there's a chance it could be successful, but as much as she would have previously hated to admit it, it would crush her to kill Snow White. The procedure is extremely dangerous, and one that Regina has essentially no practice in. But as she stalls, David slips deeper into the pool of the afterlife, and soon it'll be too late; there will be no chance of reviving him even with half a working heart. Her eyes open; her mind is made up. "Alright."

Slowly, she outstretches her arm until she reaches the thick fabric of Snow's ivory cloak. For a moment, she allows herself to think of how long she'd been absolutely dying to be doing what she's about to do right now--plunge her bare hand into Snow White's chest. But now, she'd rather be doing anything but, and it's for entirely, entirely different reasons. She hesitates for one second more, before she inhales sharply and throws her hand deep into her chest. Snow lets out a guttural breath, and Regina's reminded of how painful this is. She closes her hand over the warm, beating heart inches away, then dislocates it, unceremoniously tearing it from her body. Snow doubles over in pain, but as soon as it passes, she quietly lays on the stone cold floor next to her deceased husband.

"Do it."

Regina sighs in resignation, and hurriedly locates the needed spell in the very back of her mind. She recites it inwardly, then, praying she has it right, she sets both hands carefully on the opposite sides of the still-beating heart. She repeats it in her mind, and turns one of her hands. Seconds later, the heart is split in two equal parts. Regina sees that Snow's eyes are now closed, so she hesitates no longer--knowing that each second that passes is one closer to the both of them being dead. She moves so she's straight over them, then at the same time, she pushes a half of Snow's heart into both of their chests.

Nothing happens.

Then Snow opens her eyes. As soon as her senses are returned, she bolts upright and stares at David, who is unmoving and growing paler by the minute. She dares not look at Regina; she doesn't want confirmation that it won't work. She waits.

And waits.

After what feels like hours, but was probably more accurately a few seconds, David takes an extremely sudden gasp of air. Snow doesn't feel the smile that tears across her face. She doesn't acknowledge the tears that fall from her eyes, and she doesn't hear the yell of joy she emits. All she sees is that he's alive.

David blinks rapidly, then as soon as he is able, he sits and embraces his wife. Regina feels a grin sweep across her face as she blinks back her own tears; wondering how she could have ever wanted anything worse for them. As Snow and David cling to each other once more, needing nothing but the warm contact neither thought they would ever feel again, the curse's smoke thoroughly encases them and finishes its job.

Then everything goes dark.

As soon as the vibrant memory exits Regina's mind, she stands from her mansion floor as fast as her legs will allow her. She tests the town magic by turning her hand over herself to change into a sleek pantsuit. To her delight, it works, and using the same hand motion but a different spell, she poofs herself to the door of David and Mary Margaret, or Snow's, apartment.

It's time to figure out how they're going to get Emma and Henry back here, for good. 

---

"Regina?" David opens the apartment's heavy door and stares down at her with a slightly confused expression. Fearing the worse, Regina steps forward.

"Have you to not gotten your memories back yet?" She sighs in slight annoyance; she doesn't feel she has the time to wait until they're fully restored. She wants to get right on topic, namely: Henry. And, Emma. Of course. Her too.

David shakes his head in the negative. "No, our memories are all here. It's just...we're a bit shaken up by the move and...other things," as he speaks, his hand subconsciously reaches up towards his chest, where Snow's other half of her heart is located.

This calms Regina a bit--she can understand that. But, without waiting for an invitation, she steps fully inside the building. "Okay, fine. We need to address the issue over my son."

"And Emma," Snow chimes in from her perch on the bed.

Regina bristles, then nods. "And Emma." She parrots vaguely, her mind elsewhere. It's true that before they'd all gone back to the Enchanted Forest, she and the blonde had become a sort of...friends, but now Regina can't help but harbor some resentment, and, if she didn't know any better, jealousy towards her. After all, Emma had gotten so many years with her son without her, the one who'd really raised him, but still never got the chance to watch him fully grow up. Her heart instantly caves in on itself at that thought--she'd tried not to labor on the fact that Henry would be much older and different now. In her mind, he's twelve. He can fit under her chin and he still calls her mom, and he's still her little prince. No, she won't believe otherwise until he's right in front of her. And even then, she may not.

Seemingly unaware of the very mild conflict unfolding between the two women, David places his hands on his hips. "I don't see why there even has to be a discussion. We're back in their world, it's so easy for us to bring them back here."

Regina would roll her eyes and drag him to hell and back if he hadn't been dead just over twenty minutes ago. "You're forgetting their memories. What do you suggest, that we call them up on the phone and say, 'Hey, it's us, your family! Come back home to a nonexistent town!' I'm sure that would go over smoothly."

"Regina." Snow reprimands from behind her, sensing that she's close to losing her calm.

Regina's shoulders relax and she takes a few deep breaths through her nose. "I apologize."

David holds his hands out in surrender. "No, it's fine, it was a dumb question. I guess I just got carried away with the fact that it's even possible for us to see them again."

Regina lets out a quiet exhale. "You could say that again."

"So what do we do? Do we try to find a way for a memory potion? Even then, how do we get them to come back here?" Snow asks thoughtfully, repeatedly brushing her bangs over her forehead, trying distractedly to become accustomed to her old pixie cut.

"It's not a matter of bringing them here, it's a matter of going there." Regina decides with a smirk. "I'll find out where they are and drive out there."

"And then what?" Snow asks cautiously, praying that Regina won't get carried away.

"I'll get close to them, somehow. Perhaps make friends with Miss Swan? Somehow I'll find a way to bring them back here, though it could take awhile." There's an urgent tone to Regina's voice, one that doesn't go undetected from the couple.

"Regina...I don't know," David begins, eyeing the brunette in front of him. Is it really a good idea to let her go out on her own on such a mission?

"You just have to trust me," she's practically pleading now, and her eyes begin to look glassy; though it could just be a trick of the light. "Please. I have to see Henry."

"It's not a bad plan," David allows, but Snow is picking up his slack immediately.

"Shouldn't we come with you?"

Regina shakes her head firmly. "No. With such a delicate procedure that you two just underwent, it would be unwise for you to travel to a place without magic. Who knows? What if once we cross the town line both of you die from not having full hearts?"

This silences the Charmings. They stare at each other, weighing the options, while Regina continues.

"Besides, I don't think it would be a good idea for all three of us to try to get close to them. That would end up looking suspicious...and I can't trust one or both of you not to slip up and say that she's your daughter."

At this, Snow takes offense, but it seems forced. "Regina! Of course we--"

Regina silences her with one look. "You would have a hard time, and you know it."

"What about you with Henry?" David counters, and Regina hesitates a second before finding a suitable answer.

"I've grown accustomed to pain. This won't be the first time Henry doesn't see me as his mother."

AN: I hope you enjoyed! Sorry this chapter is a bit short, but I want to get all this preamble out of the way so we can get to our SwanQueen! And angsty Regalbeliever of course ;)

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