Shaya

Chapter 19 - A broken heart can never heal

" Shaya!" Regina cried out, running to her. She kneeled next to her, calling her name again and again, taking her face in her hands and trying to move it, but it was inert. Shaya looked so fragile now, with the pale, delicate face between her hands, her eyes closed. " No! Please, Shaya, please..." Regina tried to reanimate her. With all her forces, for many minutes, she tried, crying. But Rapunzel didn't move. " Please! Shaya..." She gently slapped her face, but nothing happened. Regina crumbled on her, hugging her body, crying on the side of her face. " I'm sorry..." she sobbed " I'm so sorry..." Regina caressed her face, looking at it. Even in that moment she was beautiful. She followed the straight line of her nose, then the soft one of her lips. She had to try.
" Forgive me." she whispered on her lips before pressing hers on them. She didn't know for how much she stayed that way. She just waited, but nothing happened. She gave off a desperate cry, hitting a fist on the ground. She looked at her again under the veil of her tears. It couldn't be true. She wanted to save her! She did it to save her! She couldn't be... But there was still one hope left. She furiously rolled up her right sleeve, and put her trembling hand on Rapunzel's chest. " Please Shaya, don't surrender..." Regina pushed, and quickly reached for her heart. She ripped it off. She almost chocked when she saw it. It was dark, very dark, but a single lighter spot right in the center of it. It was opaque now, not bright as the last time. But wasn't it the thing that had left her open-mouthed: there was a gash that almost teared the heart in two.
Regina felt about to faint. She looked back at Shaya's face, a blurred pale oval beyond her tears. The former Queen felt all of her strength flow away.
She did break her heart.

" Emma, Emma wait!"
" Something happened to Regina, mom, I have to go!"
" You're still weak, Em..."
" David help me stand up instead of saying bullshit."
" Sounds like a contradiction..." he murmured, but finally helping her. Snow handed her her blue leather jacket with a resigned face.
" Emma..."
" Let's go."
Emma walked out of the room, trying to ignore the dizzinesses. Her head was as a big balloon full of cement, but she clearly felt the pain in her heart, so she had to go. If Regina was... No, she wasn't. If she concentrated she could still feel that thin thread that connected them. She was alive, but she wasn't okay. They had to hurry.
Fortunately Henry was with Granny, and Mary Margaret had refused to leave her, sending Grumpy to find Rapunzel. Rapunzel... where could she be? Maybe the Lost Boys had used her to catch Regina. Perhaps she was the one with the " something more" inside. Aaargh, stupid Swan! How could she not think of it?
Emma followed her parents into David's car. He switched it on. " Where?"
Emma froze. She had no idea of where to go. " I don't know."
Mary Margaret turned on the seat to watch her. David was looking at her from the rear-view mirror. Emma gazed at her mother. The teacher sighed.
" Okay. Em, try to concentrate. Perhaps you can feel something."
Emma nodded one, unconvinced, and closed her eyes. She imagined a dark place, with a bright, red spot at the center. That was her heart, she thought. No. Hers was white. And that wasn't simple imagination. She just knew it, as she knew that that one wasn't her heart, but Regina's. Black and red dancing light. She stretched her hand to touch it, and when she did it a shock run through her arm straight to her heart. Suddenly everything became white light. She blinked, blinded. After a bit, dark green silhouettes began to appear. Emma blinked again and again until her sight cleared. She was in a forest. Storybrooke's forest. She watched at her right, seeing a brook, and a little lake. The spring, she suddenly knew, even if she'd never been there.
Emma made a step back, and she was back in the car. She blinked, focusing her mother. She was calling her name.
" Emma? Emma, can you hear me?"
" What? Yes, yes..." she muttered. She had a furry tongue, and she felt as if she had just ascended a mountain. " In the forest... The spring! Tell me that you know where it is..." she added, hopeful. Her mother frowned, but nodded. David had already started up the car.
" How do you know...?" he asked, giving her a glance in the mirror.
" I..." Emma had to stop to yawn. She was weary. " I have no fucking idea. Guess I was in Regina's mind. I just saw the forest, then the spring, and I knew that it was the spring even if I don't fucking know that that is the damn spring."
Mary Margaret stretched a hand to her, rubbing her leg, the only part of her that she could reach from the front seat. Emma felt immediately better.
" Don't worry, it isn't far. We'll be there in fifteen minutes. "
" If I could materialize from the fog as Gold and Regina we'd be there right now."
Mary Margaret looked disappointedly at her. " All magic comes with a price, Emma."
" It would be better if it'd come with a prize."
Mary Margaret's disappoint grew. " Emma..."
She sneered. " Sorry."
" Don't do it."
" What?"
" That grin."
" Why?"
" It's... It's Regina's, not yours. "
Emma did it again. Mary Margaret rolled her eyes and turned. " Get out of her head, it changes you."
Emma shook her head. Maybe Regina was right: Snow would have killed her. " I don't feel changed, just tired."
" Em, I'm your mother. Believe me if I say that it changes you."
Emma snorted. " You're just conditional on what I said to you."
Mary Margaret suddenly turned again to watch her. " Shouldn't I be? My daughter is going to fuse her mind with a cruel woman, the one who tried to kill me I'd add, and I should keep calm?"
Emma chuckled and opened her mouth to answer, but her mother's groan stopped her. The Savior arched her eyebrows.
" What now?"
" You just did it! You just..." Mary Margaret turned, shaking her head, a hand on her forehead. Emma watched questioningly her father, but he narrowed his eyes.
" Well, Em..." He stopped the car next to the corner of the forest. Regina's Mercedes was right in front of them. " That was quite an Evil Queen's chuckle, actually."
Emma snorted again and got out of the car. She had to lean on it for a while. Really, she was exhausted.
" Em, why don't you wait in the car? We can..."
" No, mom, I can do it, don't worry. I just need a minute. "
Mary Margaret reluctantly nodded. David took the gun.
" When you wanna go..." he said, taking a look around. Emma nodded. Yes, go. Hoping that she wouldn't faint in the middle of the forest or, worse, in front of the Lost Boys. She sighed, beginning to walk. Her father preceded her, and Snow was behind her, a knife in her hand. She was protected. What a good feeling.
They found Regina in short time. They heard her cry from distance, so they ran to her. When they reached her, they all paralyzed.
" Rapunzel!" Mary Margaret cried out, running to the body lying on the ground, lifeless. Regina was kneeled beside her, bent on herself. She astonishingly watched Mary try to reanimate Rapunzel. " What have you done to her?! Why did you kill her?" her mother cried, pointing the knife towards Regina.
The former Queen stayed still though, her eyes fixed on the body of the warrior, weeping. Her pain reached Emma in intense waves, leaving her breathless. She walked to them.
" Mom, let her..." she murmured, but her voice broke. She had locked gaze with Regina. Emma fell on her knees next to her, overwhelmed by her desperation. She began to cry, too.
" Save her." Regina whispered with harsh voice. She handed her something she was keeping with both hands as if it was the most precious and delicate thing of the world. Emma chocked when she realized its nature. Snow yelled.
Emma helplessly watched Regina. " I don't know how..."
Regina paled. " Please..."
Emma watched the heart. It was... broken? Was it possible? She put a shivering hand on it. It was lukewarm. It was a horrible sensation, to actually touch a heart, but she had to do it. She had to try, even if she was tired and didn't have an idea of what to do. " Close your eyes." came the broken voice of the former Queen. Perhaps she knew what to do. Emma squeezed her eyes.
" Clear your mind."
" Emma don't listen to her!"
Emma ignored her mother, and tried to concentrate. She imagined the black place, as she did before. There was no light there. It was cold, and empty.
" No, Emma. You can't reach her now..." Regina's voice was interrupted by a sob. She then sniffed and continued. " Find me. " She slightly touched her hand with a finger, and there was like a weak flash in the darkness. " I know you're tired, but you can do it. Come on, Miss Swan. You're good in tracking people."
Emma smiled keeping her eyes shut, knowing that Regina was doing the same. She then focused on her, and found the golden line between their minds. She followed it, and a slight, red light appeared on the horizon of the darkness. She ran to it. Regina's heart was again in front of her. She felt her impatience, and her own. She touched it.
Emma opened her eyes, and she saw herself, kneeled in front of her. Her eyes were opened, and bright. They emitted a white light, slightly green on the center, in correspondence of her irises.
" Regina, am I..."
" You're in my body, Emma. Now, let me guide you. "
Two voices from the same mouth. Emma felt a pressure on her right hand. She let it free, and it lifted, our of her control, and put the hand above the heart, covering it.
" Emma, I can't do it alone. We have to heal it. You have to do it."
" How should I...?"
" Wish it. Wish it with all of your strength, because your her last hope, Savior. "
Emma felt Regina's pain again. It was unbearable.
She watched Rapunzel. She had saved Henry, she had almost died for this. She had saved her mother, also. And she was a good person, and a friend. She wanted her to live. Rapunzel deserved to live.
Emma felt as if a fluid warmth was running through her veins. She watched her arms, Regina's arms, and saw that her veins were actually bright, as if liquid light was running through them. That warm light flowed to their hands, and filled them with bright dancing shades. It lasted a few seconds, but with each moment that passed Emma was more tired, as if the flow was taking her forces with it.
Regina moved her right hand when the light disappeared. The heart was healed, but a deep scar crossed it. Emma felt Regina's regret as a stab wound. She stepped back, somehow, and she was in her body again, breathless.
She watched the former Queen. Her eyes were fixed on the heart. It looked as if she was waiting for something.
One, two, three seconds. Nothing happened. Regina franticly alternated the gaze between the heart and the body.
" Come on! Come on..." she was murmuring between her teeth.
Emma watched her trying to hold the tears, trying not to fall into pieces. She was about to stretch a hand toward her shoulder when the brunette suddenly moved.
Regina crawled next to Rapunzel's face. She bent over it, and kissed her. She stayed that way enough to make Emma realize what she was watching.
So she was right, she did it: she actually broke her heart. It was possible.
Regina broke the kiss, and leaned back on her knees. She looked at the heart in her hand, then glanced down, letting the arm fall on Rapunzel's body. She sighed, shivering.
" I'm so sorry, Shaya... " she whispered, eying her face. " I tried... I just wanted to keep you safe... from me." she said crushing Emma's heart, even because she was still feeling her pain.
" You killed her." Her mother's voice awakened Emma. She looked at her: Snow was weeping, but she was furious.
" Mom..."
David glanced at her, but Snow ignored her.
" I love her." Regina answered, annihilated. Emma moaned, making all of them watch her: she aimed at Rapunzel's heart as, exactly when Regina had spoken, it had begun emitting a weak light. It was incredible!
Regina goggled at it, and took it with both hand again, treating it as if it was the thinnest gold foil. She moved her face closer to it. " I love you." she whispered with trembling voice. The light seemed to explode from the heart. Rapunzel suddenly opened her eyes and rose set, taking a breath as if she had held it till that moment. Emma had the time to see the two of them gaze at each other, their eyes glittering with tears in the heart's light, before fainting.