Chapter 21: The End

How did I get here? Dani thinks to herself. Looking around, she sees that she's standing on top of the toll bridge.

All I wanted was to belong.

000

An hour earlier:
Dani lays in the Charming's bed rolling her eyes because of the adults fighting around her.

"Isn't there a way to stop the diamond?" Cora asks.

Regina solemnly shakes her head. "Not once it's activated."

Unfortunately timed, the room begins to shake.

"What was that?" David asks.

"The diamond was activated," Regina answers with a sigh.

"What's going to happen to me?" Henry asks.

"You were born here, so you'll live," Regina answers with extreme regret pooling in her eyes.

"But what about everyone else? I'll be alone!" Henry says, raising his voice in a panic.

"Not going to happen, kid. Regina, fix this!" Emma yells in frustration.

"I can't," Regina hopelessly shouts back. "There's no way."

"Well find it! You got us into this mess; it's your fault!" Emma barks.

"Stop! I just lost my dad, I don't want to lose anyone else!" Henry shouts, bringing everyone to their senses.

"He's right," Mary Margaret says.

Knowing her mother is right, Emma begins to direct everyone through this emergency. "Mary Margaret, take Daniel and Henry make sure everyone is ready to go. David, take Hook to help stop Greg. Regina and I will try to buy us time and stop the diamond,"

"I'll take the girls into town," Cora says.

As everyone begins to leave, Regina stands, grabs Henry's arm, and pulls him in front of her.

"Henry, before you go, I'm sorry for what's happened. I tried to be the person you wanted to me be and I failed, but I won't leave you alone. Just know that I love you," Regina says wholeheartedly as she looks her son in the eyes.

"I love you, too," Henry says.

Regina pulls her son into a tight, snug hug, one she hopes he will remember once she's not around.

After mother and son depart and split their separate ways, Cora turns toward her granddaughters only to find that Daniela has disappeared again.

000

On their way down to the mines Regina hears one of her children calling her name.

"Mama!" Lucia shouts after her mother.

"Lucia, what is it?" Regina says as she jogs toward her daughter, meeting her halfway. "I thought you were with-"

"It's Dani. I used our twinsense to find her." Looking her mother in the eyes she says, "She's in trouble."

000

Dani looks off at the horizon as the town starts quaking. Soon enough, the bridge she's standing on starts vibrating. And then she's shaking, too.

This is it. Dani thinks as she move to step off the edge of the bridge.

"Daniela!" Regina yells, taking her daughter by surprise.

Dani looks around and finds her mother standing below her on the ground in front of the bridge.

"Mama? What are you doing here?"

"The question is what are you doing here?" Regina asks.

"I can't take it anymore!" Dani yells.

"What do you mean, Dani? Here let me help you," Regina offers as she makes her way to the bottom of the bridge.

"It's too late!" Dani shouts as tears build in her eyes. "The damage is done! You were never there for me! You were never my mother!"

About a third of the way up the bridge, Regina stops in her tracks at her daughters words.

"I'm here for you now," Regina says, hoping it will be enough to sooth her daughter.

"Where were you all those years I was locked in that tower? That woman abused me every chance she got! You are my mother! You were supposed to protect me!" Dani shouts through her tears.

"I know that now, and believe me, sweetie, it boils my blood, but back then, I thought you were dead. If I would've know in the slightest you were still alive, I would have come and gotten you right away," Regina says as she slowly passes the halfway point up the bridge, hoping her daughter will understand her words. But then she mentally kicks herself because how could that ever be of comfort?

"Even now?! You love Lucia and Henry more! I was just an accident," Dani says with as much anger as she can while holding back her sobs.

"Dani, come down," Regina calmly says, now standing about ten feet from her daughter.

"No! You were never there for me!" Dani bellows.

"I was there when you kicked for the first time," Regina softly says as she steps closer and gains her daughter's attention. "You needed me so much even then; I could tell because you would always kick the same spot." Regina giggles softly at the memory. "I was there when I cried the first time I held you in my arms. I was there when you needed to play with my fingers to be comforted. I know I wasn't there all those years you endured abuse, but I was there in spirit to comfort you and hold you," Regina reaches out and grabs her daughter's hand, softly rubbing her thumb over her knuckles.

Dani feels comforted almost immediately and takes a step backwards.

"I know I missed out on a lot, but let me be here for you now, Daniela. Please let me make it up to you. Please, sweetheart. I love you."

Dani slowly turns to face her mother. Her expression softens as her mother's words soak in.

"Mommy?" Dani shakily says as her sobs wrack through her body.

Regina opens her arms and welcomes her daughter into her embrace as she releases tears of her own. They stay like this, comforted in each other's arms, until suddenly, the ground begins to shake again.

"Dani, go with Lucia and Cora to Granny's. I'll be there as soon as I can. Ms. Swan and I need to take care of something," Regina says as she reluctantly pulls out of their embrace and cups her daughter's face in her hands.

"But mama-"

"Go, I promise I'll be back," Regina reassures, trying so hard not to let Dani hear the doubt behind her promise.

000

After making sure that her daughter obeys her and goes with her grandmother, Regina poofs herself to the entrance of the mines, where Emma should be by now.

"Feels like the air is suffocating," Emma note as they make their way through the mine shafts.

"It's not the air, it's magic," Regina says.

"There it is!" Regina says as they turn a corner and spot the floating, glowing diamond. "If I can just slow it down-"

"Yeah, then we can head to Granny's and get the hell out of here," Emma says. She stops and faces Regina when she doesn't hear a response.

"Stopping the device, it's going to require all the strength I have," Regina says.

"You're not coming with us." Emma states, realizing what Regina is telling her. "When you said goodbye to Henry, you were really saying goodbye, weren't you?"

"He knows I love him. I sent him-," Regina begins to say as reassurance to both Emma and herself.

"No, Regina, There's got to be another way," Emma protests.

"You were right. Everything that happened here, it's my fault. I created this device; it's only fitting it takes my life," Regina says.

"What about Henry? What about your daughters? And Daniel? What am I supposed to tell them?" Emma desperately questions.

Regina looks down as she thinks of the right words to hopefully comfort her love and her children with.

"Tell them it wasn't too late for me to do the right thing. Everyone looks at me as the Evil Queen, including my son. Let me die as Regina."

Realizing that she can't change Regina's mind, Emma begins to leave.

I can't just let her die!

"Regina, wait!" she says while turning around only to see that Regina has begun using her magic to stop the diamond.

000

Everyone else in Storybrooke has been waiting in Granny's. The air lingers of panic and fear, especially when Emma comes in without Regina.

"Where's Mom?" Henry asks immediately. Daniela and Lucia step up behind Henry waiting for the sheriff to tell them where their mother is.

"I'm sorry, she's not coming back," Emma says as gentle, yet stern as she can. Though she feels awful for having to tell these three kids that they're going to lose their mother, she can't help but feel a little happy that she'll get to raise Henry herself.

"What?!" Lucia and Dani yell at the same time.

"You can't just leave her down there!" Dani shouts.

"It's her choice, there's no other way," Emma informs them.

"The wraith!" Mary Margaret exclaims. Seeing everyone stare at her in question, she continues. "We sent it through a portal. Why can't we do the same thing with the self-destruct?" Mary Margaret questions.

"We don't know it will work," Emma protests, not wanting everyone in town to die if it fails.

"It could," Mary Margaret says.

"It's too risky. Nobody will go along with it," Emma says frustratingly.

"Yes, we will because it's the right thing to do," Archie says, speaking for the town. "Snow White and the Prince have led us before and we've always come out victorious. So who's willing to let them lead again?" Archie says, earning a bunch of nods and agreements in response.

"Thank you, Archie," Mary Margaret says.

"This is what we will do," David confirms.

"I know we haven't had much of a chance at being parents, but give us this one. It's not too late," Mary Margaret says, facing her daughter.

"Alright. Well, we need to get the bean and act now if we want this to work," Emma says, dismissing the town from the restaurant.

Mary Margaret grabs her daughter's arm, keeping her from leaving with the other citizens.

"Emma, we almost killed her mother," Mary Margaret says to her daughter in regards to the woman who is currently risking her life for everyone.

"You did that because you had to," Emma defends.

"I did it because it was easy." Mary Margaret corrects. "There were other paths I wish this family had taken. Please let us, because if we don't, we will be building a future on Regina's blood."

"Okay, let's go then," Emma says, following her mother out of the diner.

"Let's go!" Dani says to her family when she sees the gang heading toward the field of growing beans.

000

Meanwhile, in the mines, Regina is perched right behind the diamond with her hands on either side of it, forcing all of her magic, all of her energy, into stopping it.

"What are you doing here?!" Regina exclaims in concern when she sees her family and the Charmings come around the corner.

"You were willing to die to save us, that makes you a hero," Henry says, earning a touched and sad smile from Regina.

Mary Margaret takes out the one bean they could salvage from their destroyed crops. Tossing it right under the diamond, she grabs her family and steps back.

Nothing happens. The bean sparks, but that's about it.

Everyone just stares at the bean in utter defeat.

"I'm- I'm so sorry," Mary Margaret manages to mutter in total shame and disbelief.

"I appreciate you trying, but now everyone-," Regina stops short, now wanting to state the inevitable, especially to her family.

Lucia and Dani run up to their mother and hold onto her as much as they can without blocking her work with the diamond, wrapping their arms around her middle and resting their heads on her chest.

"At least we'll be together," Dani sniffles.

Regina tries to hold back her sobs as she rests her face in between the top of her daughters' heads. Daniel comes over and places his hand on his lover's back and kisses her temple gently. Leaving the Charming family hug, Henry approaches Regina.

"I love you, Henry. I only wish I was strong enough to stop this."

Seeing his mother breaking down, he joins the growing Mills group hug.

"I'm just not," Regina sobs.

"You did all you could, darling," Cora says as she places a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"You may not be strong enough," Emma says, approaching the diamond as she rolls up her sleeves. "But maybe we are."

The force of both women's magic used together blasts everyone against the wall. As everyone slowly gets themselves up and checks on their loved ones, Emma says, "We did it!"

Looking to see the diamond lying on the ground like a helpless stone, Regina sighs, "Yes we did."

Regina reaches out for her girls, gathering them in her arms, but this time for a triumphant embrace of relief.

"Hey, kid, let's get out of here," Emma smiles as she calls for her son, only there's no response. "Kid?"

Regina walks toward the front of the group in a panic when she notices that her son is gone. "Henry?" She shouts.

As everyone makes their way toward the entrance to the mines in search of the boy, David spots something. Henry's broken backpack.

000

"Let me go!"

Henry attempts to squirm his way out of the man and woman's tight grasp as they lug him down toward the docks.

"You guys lost! They stopped the diamond," Henry says, trying to get them to stop their plan.

"We realized something far more important than magic," Greg says, chuckling when he realizes that the boy still thinks he cares about destroying the town. When he sees the confused look the Henry's face, he says, "You."

As the three come upon the edge of the longest dock, and the Charmings and Mills come into view, Tamara throws a bean out into the water. A portal quickly expands in the water, causing a whirlpool and taking in Henry and his captures as they jump off of the dock.

000

It had been decided, after Hook revealed that he had saved one last bean, and coincidentally had his ship in this realm, who will go after Henry and who needs to stay and run the town.

"Where will you go?" Dani solemnly asks when her mother tells her that she must go bring Henry home.

"I don't know," Regina says, stroking her daughter's head. "Gold says he has a way to figure out where Henry is."

Giving her daughter one last hug, she sends her to stand by her mother and tells her that Lucia will be right over once she bids her farewell.

Regina approaches her other daughter and gives her a hug. As she's about to tell her of the plan, Daniel (who has no idea what happened earlier with Dani yet) says, "Lucia, you go with your mother and keep her company."

"Daniel," Regina says in a warning tone as she is about to tell him what happened at the bridge and that she doesn't think Dani should be the one to stay behind.

Right as she begins to speak, she sees a puff of magic out of the corner of her eye. Dani has over heard and poofed herself away.

Hearing his love sigh in defeat, Daniel puts his arms around Regina and reassures, "She'll be okay; I'll make sure of it."

After giving her love a tender goodbye kiss, Regina gets ready to tell him what happened earlier so he will be prepared to talk to Dani for her. "Daniel-"

"Regina, come on!" Emma calls from the boat. "If we want to catch up to them, we've got to leave now!"

Sighing in defeat, Regina kisses Daniel once more, grabs her daughter's hand, and joins Emma, Mary Margaret, David, Hook, and Mr. Gold on board.

And they're off to Neverland.

The End

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