The Most Resilient Heart.

You're not a villain.

"I think I need to go and talk to her." Emma whispers again. Her voice was small and weak, something she was not used to hearing in herself; something no one was used to hearing from her. 

"No, mum." She looks down at Henry and smiles: he really was all grown up. "I think it should be me to talk to her."

He watches his mum smile and nod. 

***

"Mum!" Regina spins around to see Henry running towards her. She feels a small, weak smile pull at her tear-stained face. 

"Hi Henry." She quickly wipes each eye.

"Mum," He reaches out to her and places his hands on both of her arms pulling her down a little to about his height. "Please, just remember who you are."

Her smile disappears. "I know who I am, Henry. I'm a villain. And no matter how hard I try, I'll never have my happy ending."

"But you're not a villain! You're-" He tries but she shakes her head and places her hands on his arms instead.

"Henry, I have lost so many things... so many things in my life and in the end, I was always right." She stopped looking at him as if she was talking to herself instead. "I have lost so much... and now, I've realised, the only way not to lose anything, is not to have anything in the first place."

He tries to interrupt her again but it was obvious that she had forgotten that she was talking to someone. 

"You have a mother. A real mother. Someone who loves you, who can take care of you so much better than someone like me can..." She stops and her hands fall from his shoulders as she turns her back facing him now. "Because I'm just the Evil Queen."

And then she walked away.

***

"How-" Finally Robin opens his eyes and pushes Marion away. "How are you alive?" He asks with sudden suspicion.

Marion smiles and turns her head towards Emma. "She saved me."

And suddenly Robin wakes up to the real world again. They weren't in the Enchanted Forest. This isn't fifty years ago.  Regina. 

He looks over at Emma. "What did you do?" It was almost the same tone Emma's mother gave her: a quiet, sad one. 

"I don't know..." She still stares at the door wishing that at any moment Regina would enter again with Henry with a smile on her face suddenly forgiving her. It wasn't going to happen and Emma knew it. The door swings open with the ring of the bell again. It rings in her ears as she watches her son, Regina's son, walk in. Alone. 

"Henry?" She races up to him. "Where is she?"

He stares straight ahead as if the whole situation has hurt him as well. "She's gone. I tried... I really did... but she's gone."

Emma pulls him in for a hug and the tremble silently in each other's arms. They didn't know what Regina was going to do next, and they really didn't want to guess.

"Robin?" Marion places a hand on his shoulder and he almost shakes it off before remembering the situation. "What's wrong?"

He turns around to face her, but stares right past her. "I've been such a fool."

Marion still doesn't seem to understand and smiles with her naivity. She places a hand on his cheek but it doesn't change his expression. He doesn't lose the look of emptiness in his eyes and he stands there still unmoved. "I know that you've lived for a long time without me and I know that you've moved on with your life, but if there is one little piece of your heart that still cares for me and our family, can we please try and make it work?"

This time he looks at her. Pangs of pain stab at his heart as he smiles weakly and nods. "We can try..."

... Happy Ending...

CC;)