The Way

Chapter Twenty-Four

Daniel Colter stumbled from the door to Gold's Pawn Shop with a small bag over his shoulder, his legs wobbling and not quite working the way they used to. His breaths were raspy and congested, and each one sent waves of pain through him. He'd been brought back to the land of the living twice now—once had been quite enough—but this time it was different. This time he was whole. This time he had a chance to live again—and with the woman he had loved so very long again and whom he knew still loved him. Gold had promised him as much.

But, as he knew all too well, all magic came with a price, and the magic Gold had utilized to return Daniel for the second time hadn't come cheap. In order to live out his revived life, Daniel had a task to complete. And, now that his soul had been severed from the heart of the Savior, he could complete it with flying colors. In the bag over his shoulder beat a recently mended heart. His hand slipped inside his worn brown jacket and tightened on the handle of the solid gold blade Rumplestiltskin had given him.

Soon, Daniel Colter would kill Emma Swan.

"Regina?"

The soft rumble of Emma's voice so close to her ear confused the former queen at first for, in her groggy, barely-wakeful state of mind, she had briefly forgotten what had occurred the evening before. She lifted her head just so until the sharpness returned to her and she remembered where she was. Where they were. What they had done. Heat burst onto her face and she immediately groaned and muttered, "Oh, God," while pulling the covers over her naked body—and her head.

"Regina...I feel funny."

Knowing full well that she must look like an overly embarrassed child, Regina poked her face out from under the covers and looked at Emma who was lying on her back staring at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, Emma. I didn't want you to feel awkward about this whole thing."

But the blonde was shaking her head even before Regina finished the sentence.

"That's not what I mean."

Now, concern began to rise in the pit of Regina's stomach. She sat up, keeping the blankets up far enough to conceal her chest and noticing that Emma, too, was covered. The brown eyes studied the Sheriff's form, and almost immediately she knew something was wrong. Something in her own chest felt very off. Emma's voice broke the silence.

"It's like I'm being tugged in two different directions. Like I have...like..."

When the blonde trailed off, Regina quickly rotated, left the bed to retrieve her bath robe, slipped it on, and then returned to the opposite side of the mattress to help Emma into a sitting position.

"Like what, dear? What do you feel?" She tried to keep the worry from her voice, but judging by Emma's frown, she had failed quite miserably.

"It feels like I have two heartbeats."

Regina's legs gave way and she sank onto the mattress beside her lover. As she spoke her next words, their eyes connected in a mutual nervousness that neither was happy to experience.

"And I feel as though I only have half a heartbeat."

Regina felt Emma's hand wrap around her wrist, the sensation sudden, but notably weak.

"What is this Regina? Is this magic's way of saying we haven't done enough? Or that it just...didn't work?"

The brunette only shook her head.

"I don't know, Miss Swan. But I'm fairly certain this doesn't bode well."

"I don't understand!" Snow White declared in exasperation as she stood in the kitchen of the loft with her daughter, her husband, her grandson, and Regina. "You're telling me...the two of you...you're...together? Like...actually together?! But that the reason you're together is because you thought not being together would mean the death of you both? Is that what's going on here?!"

Emma sat staring at her mother from one of the chairs at the table, her chin resting on one hand in an exemplary display of precisely how stupid she thought the woman to be right then. Regina, meanwhile, standing by the door, flexed her fingers as though it was taking all her self-control to curb the creation of one of her trademark fireballs. Henry just looked as though he wanted to disappear into the nearest pit and never come out, clearly embarrassed by the discussion at hand. David came to set his hand on Snow White's shoulder to comfort her.

"Let's concern ourselves with the more important matter at hand right now, Snow," he issued in his soft voice, smiling faintly and restraining a smile when he saw Henry mouth a silent "thank you" to him from across the room. "Regina and Emma are not well, and none of us understand why."

"I think that part's pretty simple," Snow retorted in her snappish way that so often irritated Regina. "Regina splitting her heart wasn't good enough. Now we need to find a way to undo it."

But Regina was shaking her head, and though Emma would have joined her, the double heartbeat she was experiencing was wreaking havoc on her system. Her eyes fluttered for a moment as a wave of pain swept over her, and she set her forehead onto the table while she listened to them argue.

"There is no way to undo something as permanent as a split," Regina declared, and Emma felt somewhat reassured by the firmness of the older woman's tone. Inwardly, she didn't wantthere to be a way to undo it. She was proud to share the woman's heart, and she didn't want that to change. "This is something more. There's magic at work here the likes of which evenI have never conceived of. But, it's affecting us both, and we need help. Quickly."

Abruptly Emma sat up and witnessed her father take two swift steps to catch Regina under the armpit when her knees inexplicably gave out. Her hand shot to her chest and rubbed.

"What is it? What are you feeling Regina?" Snow asked, now seeming to have gotten over her initial anger at the once-queen and allowing her motherly instincts to take over.

"It feels like my heart is only beating once when it should be beating twice."

Emma winced as her own chest pinched.

"And mine feels like it's beating twice when it should only be beating once," the blonde said.

David looked at them all and then offered his own suggestion, rather timidly.

"Could Daniel...could his soul still be present in Emma's body, Regina? Could a trace of her own heart still be there, causing problems?"

Suddenly Snow chimed in.

"Are we certain Cora is dead? Could she have done something with the remains of Emma's heart?" Her voice was heightening in pitch the more she worried. Nevertheless, David quickly brushed her off.

"You can't bring a person's heart back after something like that," he said brusquely.

The Sheriff looked around just in time to lock eyes with Regina, who seemed to have had a breakthrough. The older woman cleared her throat.

"Actually," she whispered softly, "You can. It's very hard, though. Very taxing on the individual who completes the task. Cora wouldn't have been able to handle something like this. But, with the right motivation...it can be done. And, to reform the heart of a person who has already taken in the heart of another...for a person to have two hearts...it is a very bad thing indeed."

"But...who would do such a thing besides Cora?" Snow asked.

Regina glanced back to Emma again, and the blonde felt her stomach tighten in anxiety.

"The only person in this world with enough power and motivation to do it."

Emma's forehead thunked back to the surface of the table, and she uttered a muffled statement that sent chills through her body as she said it.

"Gold."