Title: Soulmates

Author: The Evil Guy

Disclaimer: ABC and Disney own Once Upon A Time and all associated characters. Xena: Warrior Princess and all associated characters is owned by Rob Tapert and Renaissance Pictures. This story contains descriptions and allusions to an 'Adult' relationship between two women. If this offends you, you always have the right to exercise your free will, and not read it. Also, considering the crossover, expect at least a little bit of the old ultra-violence. Xena-style of course.

Summary: OUAT-Xena crossover. Regina is poisoned by Zelena after her defeat, but before the Wicked Witch is 'killed' by Gold. The only cure to which is soul magic to recall her past lives and discover who her soulmate is.

Rebirth:

They were in the two-celled Sheriff's office, the closest thing Storybrooke had to a prison, or a dungeon (not counting the psych ward under the hospital as that was a hospital after all). Until they had something better to do with her, this was where they were putting the defeated Wicked Witch, Zelena Mills. She was bundled up beneath all the blankets and sheets the small cell had to offer, sitting on the bed. Regina recognized the symptoms of magic withdrawal, having experienced it once or twice herself. Although, never to this degree.

"Why, Regina?" Zelena asked, sounding as pitiful as she looked. "Why not just… kill me, and put me out of my misery?"

"Because I know why you did, what you did," Regina answered as compassionately as she could. "We're much alike. Our mother, she ruined you too. I know what it's like to not have the life you wanted. The life you feel you deserve." It was remarkable really, she mused, reflecting on how she'd been, not that long ago, and how much it genuinely disgusted her now. She used to think that she hated Snow White. Now, she knows true hatred, as she hates who and what she once was.

"Oh Boo-Hoo!" Zelena mocked her. "You had to be queen! You know nothing. I saw it all; you had everything!"

"Did I?"

She didn't even pause as she recited her 'reason' for becoming the Evil Queen. "So you missed the part where I lost the love of my life."

"Mother did all that for you to achieve greatness!" the redhead said as an excuse.

Shaking her head, Regina said with great pity, "Not long ago, I was a lot like you. I wanted to kill someone who wronged me, and I failed. Had I killed Snow White, I wouldn't be in this world, I wouldn't be with these people, and… I wouldn't have my son, Henry. So no, Zelena, I won't kill you. Instead, I'm going to give you what I got. I'm going to give you a second chance."

Sneering, she asked, "What if I don't want it?"

"Well, that would be a mistake, dear," Regina warned her 'older' sister. "Take it. Use it. Evil isn't born, it's made. And so is good. If I were you," standing, she continued, "I'd consider creating a new destiny. Because if you don't," she reached the bars of the jail cell and showed the 'stick' side of this deal, "I'll be right there to take your heart and crush it!" Threat delivered, she stood back and away from the jail cell.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, holding up Zelena's emerald pendant, "I should put this somewhere safe."

"Oh, Regina," Zelena called as Regina stood and turned to leave. "Dear sister. One last thing?"

"What?" she said, deadpan in both expression and tone.

Normally she might have used magic to move it through the bars and across the distance between them, but then if she had her magic at all she wouldn't have bothered with this option in the first place. That she even had it on her was something of a grand coincidence, as before she'd been put in this jail cell, everything had been going her way. Everything had fallen into place, and the time portal, enabling her to change the past had been seconds from opening when… when what happened, happened. She'd possessed the Dark One's dagger, he'd been no threat, and what's more a weapon that she controlled. The Savior, the only possible threat as a powerful user of Light Magic, had her powers stripped from her with that curse on the pirate's lips. No one else posed any significant threat to her or her plans. Why did she even have such a thing in the first place, let alone in a hidden sleeve in her dress? She could have used it on her mother in the past, she supposed, but the whole point of the exercise was to give herself a better life, a life with her mother, a life that Regina had stolen!

Well, regardless of the reasons as to why she even had this on her in the first place, she had it now, and already in place with the perfect delivery system for her current circumstances. Holding the hollow reed up to her lips, she fired a parting shot, so to speak, before shooting out the poisoned dart.

"Oh nothing, just this!" and she blew.

Regina reacted, but to the wrong thing, and too slowly at that. The tube went flying out of the redhead's hands and Zelena was knocked unconscious, but the dart found its mark in Regina's neck, delivering its poisonous cargo.

"Great," she said dryly to her unconscious sister, holding the poisoned dart up for inspection. "If there was a point to that, consider it a waste. You are never getting this back, and I am done with you. Goodbye. Sis."

-~O~-

Regina had, true to form, tried to hide what had happened to her. She had managed to pull it off with everyone and up until she came face to face with Emma Swan, who somehow took one look at her and dropped everything, her own concerns included, to deal with the Mayor 'being sick or something'. If it weren't so annoying, Regina mused, she might find it endearing.

"Regina, are you alright?" Emma asked, who indeed had taken a single look at the dark haired woman and seen that something was off.

"I'm fine," she snapped, her usual self by all appearances.

"You're pale," Emma countered, coming right up to her. "And sweating. And you look like you're about to faint. You need to sit down."

To everyone's surprise in the Diner, Regina actually allowed the Savior to manhandle her down into one of the nearby chairs, rather than put up any actual fight or protest. That, more than anything else convinced most everyone that the hero of the hour, the reformed Evil Queen, was indeed quite sick.

"Think it's cause she used light magic when she's only supposed to used dark magic?" Grumpy 'quietly' asked one of his brothers.

Emma's glare would have left nothing but a stain of the dwarf if she'd still had her magic, but the effect was the same as he backed down.

"I'm fine, just…" Regina tried to excuse herself, but the poison chose that moment to disorient her, making her feel like she might actually faint.

"Just what?" Henry asked, concerned. "Mom, what happened? Are you gonna be OK?"

"Something tells me that you and my mom are going to be roommates for a while," Emma joked as she took Regina's vitals.

"Do not even joke about that, Miss Swan!" Regina snapped.

"Either way, we've gotta get you to the hospital," Emma said in all seriousness. "How did this happen to you? If Leroy was right…"

"No," Regina shook her head and allowed herself to be carried out of the diner and toward the hospital, or rather the police cruiser Emma would be using to drive her there. "It was Zelena. She shot me with a poisoned dart when I went to visit her in the jail. I just need to identify the poison and put together the cure from my potions stock."

"What makes you think that it is the kind of poison that you can wait on something like that?"

"I… couldn't quite make it to my vault, so I actually came to get a ride from you. A trip to the hospital will just delay things. We need to get to my vault so that I can start brewing an antidote," she said.

"What do you need from there?" Henry spoke up. "I can go grab whatever it is and meet you and Mom at the hospital. They can get started on identifying the poison or whatever, and I'll already have everything you need to start the antidote."

"He's right," Emma said, sitting the Mayor down on the passenger seat of the police cruiser they would be driving.

Reluctantly, and only because she felt that she truly didn't have as much time as she'd thought, she acquiesced and handed over the key to her vault and told him what to bring back with him. Although she only did that after David and Archie volunteered to go with the boy to help with gathering supplies, as well as protect him from several of the more… dangerous items she kept down there. After that, it was a quick ride to the Storybrooke Hospital Emergency Room and an even quicker admittance to her own private hospital room.

Then things became somewhat of a blur as test after test was run on her and the dart, confiscated for its own round of testing. Henry and David brought the supplies she'd requested from her vault, but unfortunately proved to be less than useful for what ailed her, though the multi-poison antidote she'd taken had probably bought her some more time, she was still afflicted by it. Interestingly enough, Emma was always nearby, which meant that Hook was nearby, as was Robin, but the mainstay was the Sheriff. Curious, Regina thought, as she struggled to keep focus on her surroundings.

This poison, whatever it was, it was disorienting and she'd been sweating ever since Emma had brought her into the hospital, and yet she felt like she had the chills. Worse, it was becoming difficult to move, even after taking the panacea.

"What is it, Whale?" Emma demanded. "What kind of poison has that witch used? Do we have the antidote? Do we have to go get some? Is it magical?"

"No," the chief surgeon of Storybrooke General said to interrupt the flood of questions. "It is not magical. The poison and symptoms are straightforward and easily identifiable from her bloodwork. As to the kind of poison, it is called talmic and it is, unfortunately, quite lethal."

"What?"

Regina didn't think she'd ever seen the Sheriff so distraught before, not even when Henry had been in danger. Or rather, not since Henry had been put under the sleeping curse. Quite frankly, she was more surprised at her own reaction. Her son was back in her life, after a year apart and a lengthy period of estrangement prior to that. She was falling in love again, with a man that had proved to be worthy of her in more ways than one. She was a hero and could use Light Magic rather than just the destructive Dark Magic she'd been taught by the Dark One. She should be railing against fate and cursing everyone in sight as she wallowed in self-pity and raged against the world.

Instead, she was calm. She was accepting. She wanted to live, but she was at the same time satisfied with her life, so that if it was her time to go she would not go down screaming and cursing, but rather with her head held high and a smile on her face. Ms. Swan, on the other hand, was obviously not as composed.

"What are our options?" were the first words out of Emma's mouth once she'd processed what Whale had told her.

"There's not much, I'm afraid," he said. "While there are documented cases of individuals surviving talmic poison, there is no standard antidote or treatment option for it. Quite frankly, given what I know and can do, and the resources available here in Storybrooke as compared to the rest of the world, your best option may lie with magic, as much as I abhor having to admit it."

"That's not good enough!" the Sheriff raged at the Chief Surgeon.

"Would you excuse us for a few minutes, Dr. Whale," Regina requested, her voice and throat a bit scratchy from dehydration.

"Of course," he nodded and vacated the room as quickly as he could.

"What are 'our' options, Ms. Swan?" Regina repeated the question while asking another entirely, once Whale had gone.

"Well, you know, we have a son, so, that kind of makes us family so, yeah," Emma stammered a bit before saying more surely. "Our options. Speaking of, what magic cures are there for this… talmic poison?"

"There aren't any," she didn't hesitate in saying.

"Come on, there has got to be something!" she insisted. "And if you don't know about it, maybe Gold will. Or we could go back to your sister, the Wicked Witch. This is her poison, she must have the antidote already. We just need to find it."

"If she did, you would have found it already as I'm sure you've already searched her person and the farmhouse quite thoroughly," Regina interrupted her plans. "By any chance have you found any such antidote as yet?"

"Well… no, but that doesn't mean…!"

"I'm not giving up, Ms. Swan," Regina said. "But I refuse to allow you to waste my now quite precious time. Speaking to Zelena and trying to bargain for the cure to this will get you no where and will waste everyone's time. She wouldn't have poisoned me only to offer the cure just because you asked politely. And the only thing she wants, you can't give to her."

"If it would save your life…" she started to say, but the dark-haired woman cut her off.

"By that, Ms. Swan, I mean that you literally can't give it to her, because you don't have her pendant," Regina said as she held out the emerald in the palm of her hand. "I do. And I won't let you risk everything, just for my life." A swirl of purple smoke appeared and vanished around her hand, taking the pendant with it.

"What did you just do?" the blond whispered, horrified.

"I kept you from wasting time," she replied. "Now see that you don't waste any more."

-~O~-

Rumpelstiltskin was not an ally that Emma typically relied upon, but she felt in these circumstances their goals coincided. Emma needed to get Zelena to talk and give up the antidote to save Regina's life, and Gold wanted to kill the depowered Wicked Witch for what she'd done to him. To be quite honest, she really didn't have a problem with that part, it was merely the fact that he wanted to do it outright and without hesitation-making it murder instead of execution-that kept her from opening the door and letting him right in while she watched with popcorn. As it was, what she was about to do came damn close.

"Gold, I have a deal for you," she said without preamble, walking up to him as he was sitting with his fiance/True Love, Belle at the diner.

"Well, hello to you too, Miss Swan," he said in what most would call a growl of annoyance. "And what deal could you possibly propose that would benefit me at this moment?"

"How would you like to be Zelena's executioner?" she proposed.

Belle gasped and a few other spit-takes and crashing of dishes echoed throughout the diner in the wake of the casually-spoken question. Mr. Gold merely raised an intrigued eyebrow and tilted his head to indicate he was indeed interested.

"I thought heroes didn't kill?" he questioned.

"In the heat of the moment, no, they don't," Emma agreed. "But Zelena, the Wicked Witch, whatever you want to call her, she committed actual crimes, not just did evil stuff because she's a quote/unquote 'villain'. For starters, she kidnapped a baby, she held you captive for months, she impersonated a professional midwife with criminal intent, and she has either murdered or attempted murder against multiple citizens of this town, including but not limited to your son. Any one of those are worth a life imprisonment, and more than a few are federal offenses."

She stopped and let that soak in, not just for the slighted Dark One, but for the rest of the townsfolk listening in. "Now," she quickly continued, "I'm not about to call in the Feds and let her be taken away, but we're not equipped for long-term incarceration of anyone. And the murder, attempted murder, keeping you captive, and kidnapping charges alone would warrant the death penalty, even here in Maine."

"What is it that you are proposing exactly, dearie?" he asked, entirely the Dark One at the moment, 'Gold' or 'Rumplestiltskin' just a mask worn by the embodiment of all darkness.

"Allow us to conduct a trial, according to the laws of this land, and if she is found guilty of even one of the crimes levied against her, she'll be automatically sentenced to death, by your hands," she outlined. "And I doubt very much that even you could get her off of everything I plan on charging her with, if you were so inclined. Only thing that you have to do is exercise a little bit of patience, and maybe enjoy her suffering as she goes through the humiliation of a trial. Either way, wait or don't wait, you'll get to kill her."

"Rumple, no," Belle begged her beloved. "Don't give in to the beast. Be the man that I love, please?"

"Belle," Emma interrupted with a shake of her head. "He is being a man. After what he went through… believe me, wanting to kill the one that does something like that is all too human. And I'm talking about justice here, not revenge. Big difference. He'll be duly deputized and a part of the government dispensing a legal execution, if he agrees to this."

"And what do you get out of this, dearie?" he asked, calmed somewhat by both Belle's pleas and the Sheriff's reasoning.

"Zelena poisoned Regina," Emma stated harshly. "Regina hid her emerald somewhere, and I don't have time to look for it. So, lacking the carrot, I want to go with the stick and get her to give up the antidote."

"You want me to threaten her into giving you the antidote?" he asked, intrigued.

"I'll do the threatening," she answered. "You just stand there and be ready to do the job I'm offering you."

"But…" Belle started, and then shivered at the cold look in Emma's blue/green eyes.

"Make no mistake, Zelena's execution will be legal and done with true justice," the Savior vowed. "The only question is that if she doesn't give up the antidote, I'll have the judge sign off on it and she'll be dead this afternoon instead of a few weeks from now after a lengthy trial."

Gold smiled his crocodile smile.

-~O~-

"You're crazy!" Zelena screamed, backed up into the furthest corner from the front of the jail cell she was trapped in. "I don't deserve this! You can't do this!"

"Give me the antidote and we'll have a nice lengthy trial discussing what you do and don't deserve, and as for what I can and cannot do," Emma stepped up to the bars and gave the redhead a hard glare. "I'm the Sheriff. Which means I am the law in this town. And until a Federal Prosecutor shows up demanding your release into his or her custody, I can do whatever I want with you, so long as it is within the confines of the law. Judge George over here, while not a friend of my family, has no problem signing your death warrant, considering he was turned into one of your flying monkeys for a while. And Gold has already agreed to the deal to be your executioner. The only question is, does he kill you now, or when you're found guilty at trial, I don't know, maybe days, maybe months from now?"

"You can't do this!" Zelena screamed, shaking her head in denial.

"Antidote!" Emma shouted back.

"There… there isn't one," she whimpered fearfully, afraid she was signing her own death warrant with her words, literally! "I… I kept it from a poison extract in Oz! I… I was going to use it on Leopold or Snow White's mother, so that my mother would've become queen! I never brewed or brought the antidote with me, as my… my magic protected me against its effects. No poison could get past my skin…"

Emma's fists clenched tight around the bars and several lights overhead shorted out briefly, while a sparking hum was briefly heard from the metal cage. If she'd been touching it, Zelena was sure that she would've been shocked, if not outright electrocuted. The blond was angry enough that she never even noticed the special effects or put together what it might mean. She just knew one fact that pissed her off more than anything else at the moment.

She wasn't lying.

"What poison?" she growled, her steel-blue eyes glaring out from beneath her bangs, testing her.

"I… I don't re-remember…" she stammered.

Lie.

"Judge?" she turned her back on the prisoner. The Death Row prisoner.

"Wait!" Zelena screamed. "Talmic poison! It paralyzes and then eventually stops the heart! Standard cures and antidotes, even magical ones, only slow it down. Only a cure-all, like water from the Well of Life or Well of Wonders, or a miracle could save her now! I have artifacts, magical shoes that let you travel to other realms, they can take you there and back with just a click of the heels, you can…"

"Enough of this!" Gold interrupted. "Miss Swan, are we doing this or not?

"Not!"

The voice that had spoken came not from Emma, but from the front of the Sheriff's office. Regina, looking weaker than any present had ever seen her, but also fully dressed in her power suit dress from earlier, was standing there, leaning heavily against the wall.

"Regina, what the hell are you doing here?!" Emma screeched, racing over to help her friend, the mother of her son-er, so to speak.

"Keeping you from making a mistake," she said, struggling to remain standing as it was. "One that will haunt you to the end of your days. I can't let you do this, Ms. Swan."

"Do what? Save your life?!" she exclaimed. "How the hell did you even get out of the hospital in this condition? For crying out loud, Regina, you said that it was too far to your vault, it is almost twice the distance to here from the hospital!"

"I was properly motivated, and… what Henry brought me helped, bringing back some of my strength," the sick brunette explained.

"I can help her!" Zelena cried out, begging for her life at this point. "The shoes, I can tell you where they are and all you have to do is get the right miracle cure! Please don't do this!"

"Sheriff Swan?" the Judge snapped, testing to see how his 'granddaughter' would handle things now, to see if she had the strength to carry through on her threats.

"I know full well what those shoes can do," Gold spoke up. "And while they can take you anywhere that you wish to go, they aren't here in Storybrooke. They also can't tell you where to find the Mayor's cure, nor how to get it, as just knowing where it is would only be the first step. She's lying and trying to buy time."

"Ms. Swan," Regina shook her head.

Huffing in annoyance, Emma helped Regina to a seat, and then she turned on Zelena in a fury. Focusing on the witch, she asked, paying extremely close attention to the answer, "No more stalling, Zelena! Is there anything that you have to offer that can save your sister's life? The truth, no stalling or false hope or scavenger hunt!"

Her bottom lip trembling, fully believing that she was about to die, Zelena grasped for any stray hope that she could, only to come back and meet the stone cold stare of the Savior's piercing blue eyes. How did it come to this? How did her life hinge on a lie or the truth, and the gut instinct that the lie would mean her death?

She shook her head, tears spilling, as she answered with a sob, "No. There is nothing. I… I never needed or thought that I would need one. Even… even if I poisoned myself by accident, my…" she bowed her head and mumbled the rest, "... my magic was powerful enough to save me from it."

"You're deluding yourself, dear," Regina said from her seat. "Magic can only do so much, and mine is what is keeping me even conscious at the moment. Having experienced all that you can do with your magic, you would only last about a day longer than I will… than I would," she hastily corrected herself.

"Can your magic save her?" Emma asked again.

Looking up, no longer crying as her hatred and envy came to the forefront once more, she answered more harshly, "No. And even if it could, I wouldn't! I hope she dies suffering! Go ahead and let the Dark One have me, it'll be worth it knowing that she's dying in agony!"

Emma's fists clenched around metal bars of the cell as she screamed out her fury. At the same moment, the lights overhead, and the desk lamps that were actually on, all exploded with showers of sparks shooting out.

She was telling the truth. Yeah, about wanting Regina dead, but unfortunately also about not being able to save her at all.

Turning back around, she saw the three figures looking to her with surprise. Judge George actually looked a bit afraid, but was covering it nicely. Regina was looking at her with… was that worry? Gold, once the surprise had passed, was just giving her another one of his calculating looks.

"We're not doing this, today," she decided. At the sound of Zelena's sigh of relief, she quickly continued. "Judge, set up a date for the arraignment, get her legal counsel and make sure everything is done by the book. Please inform the DA and the prosecution and we'll start gathering evidence and witness statements."

"Wait, what?!" Zelena exclaimed.

"I made a deal, Zelena," Emma said, keeping her back to the woman that she dared to say she genuinely hated. "And unfortunately, killing you now would be a mercy, and if you'd lied to me, I would've done it just because you would prove to be too dangerous to keep alive. You told the truth, so I'm done with you." Turning to face her, anger hardening her features, she concluded, "You're going to be put on trial, and considering that you are guilty, you will then be executed, legally and according to justice, by Rumpelstiltskin. I'll try to make sure it is as humiliating and suffering as I can for you, and if Regina dies… I'm going to help Gold here brainstorm ways to make sure that your end eclipses hers in as far as agony goes."

"Ms. Swan," Regina started to say as the blond helped her to her feet.

"Save it," Emma cut her off. "I'm getting you back to the hospital before you drop dead on me. Gold, like I said, we're not doing this today. And be honest with yourself, which is better? Killing her now, or savoring it and watching as she's humiliated and brought down before you finally get to finish it?"

The pair of women turned to leave before the pawn shop owner could respond.

"You certainly know how to push his buttons, my dear," Regina smirked as she limped out of the Sheriff's office.

"I learned from the best."

-~O~-

"She's crazy!"

"Not the word I would use," Snow commented from her hospital bed, having just finished giving her son his latest meal.

"It's like she doesn't want us to find the antidote!" Emma shouted to counter Snow's comment.

"I'm sure she does, she just doesn't want us to waste time, like you said," Snow countered. "And she was right to stop you from having Zelena summarily executed. There does need to be a trial, give everyone closure and prove that she is no longer a threat. Besides, she's right, we can't give Zelena back her pendant. It would be the wrong thing to do, and there is no guarantee that it would even work. Zelena's plan would have ended up with Regina not being born in the first place, and after she was the one to defeat her this last time, I doubt she'd have much difficulty with letting her die so she could try again."

"She needs Regina's heart, alive and beating," Emma argued.

"And she needs my son, your brother," Snow reminded her, a hard glare in her eyes.

"I… I know that, I, I just, well, I'm taking care of that, I just…" Emma deflated at that and resumed pacing around the small hospital room. The men in the room, David and Henry, were quietly sitting off to the side in the only chairs in said room. Their instincts were wisely telling them to stay out of the way of the two headstrong women, at least until things calmed down or they had something constructive to contribute to the situation.

"There has to be something that we can do!" Emma exclaimed. Unknown to her, and noticed only by Henry, very faint sparks were shooting across her clenched fingers. That was interesting because Emma kept insisting that her magic was still gone and she couldn't use it ever since she'd saved Hook's life thanks to the Wicked Witch's curse.

"There… might be," Henry said, startling himself as much as the rest of them.

"What've you got, kid?" his mother asked, desperate hope shining in her eyes.

"Well, there was a story in the early parts of the book, about… past lives?" he looked to his grandparents, hoping they were familiar with it.

"Oh," Snow's face dropped, while David's fell into a similar shock.

"I remember hearing about that from my mother," David said. "About the first True Loves, and how they met across time. I think that was before even Rumpletstiltskin's time. It was the 'Romeo and Juliet' of the Enchanted Forest, Emma."

"So, they both died in the end?" she asked sarcastically.

"Sort of," he shrugged with a wince.

"They were reborn again and again, each time meeting and falling in love with one another anew. It's a good story. We should sit down and read it…" Snow was saying, but Emma suddenly interrupted.

"Wait, so what about dying and being reborn is going to help Regina now?" the blond snapped.

"Maybe one of her past lives encountered this poison and knows how to beat it?" Henry shrugged. "I only thought of it because you mentioned that bit about Zelena making it so Mom never would've been born. Thing is, if she does have past lives, then she would have been born, or reborn, just not as Cora's daughter."

"Huh, when you put it like that, it really doesn't seem like such a bad idea," Emma remarked. "OK, so how do we go about seeing if Regina has past lives and can remember something like that?"

"The Fairies," all three of them answered. And while it couldn't really happen, Emma wouldn't be the least bit surprised if her new little brother would've added to that if he could speak at all.

"I'll go find Blue, then," the Savior decided and departed to do just that.

-~O~-

The Blue Fairy was fairly easy to find. Talking her into helping the reformed Evil Queen, on the other hand…

"She's the Evil Queen," Blue insisted.

"She saved us, defeated the Wicked Witch, using light magic at that, and she does not deserve to die like this!" Emma defended her. "And be honest, what would it really cost to do this? To see if she has past lives and allow her to remember them to help her in this life?"

"Nothing at all," an angry voice spoke up from behind the arguing pair. They were just outside the diner, so while there wasn't much of an audience, there still was one. Tinkerbell, dressed in a dark green cloak and modern dress, walked up to them and stood next to Emma. "The spell, while requiring a fairy's wand, doesn't even use any dust, merely the target's own magic. She's actually afraid of the consequences of the spell more than anything else."

"Green!" Blue hissed.

"It's Tinkerbell," both Emma and Tink said in unison.

"What consequences?" Emma asked, while staring straight at Blue.

The Blue Fairy frowned and looked a bit mulish for a moment, but finally relented and answered, "Depending upon who she was in her past lives, she could become… far more powerful than anything we have ever seen before. And we've all seen what Regina does with her power. As great a threat as she ever was, she could become something far worse."

"So could I," Emma threatened. "So could you, so could my parents, so could absolutely anybody. The point is she's trying! She's changing, and making the right choices for once in her life! Give her a chance to keep making the right choices. Please?"

She was begging by this point, startling both fairies by her vehement defense on behalf of the reformed Evil Queen, and even surprising herself by just how far she was willing to go for her friend. She briefly mused on the fact of when exactly she and Regina became 'friends' and the answer surprised her. While they'd been enemies, rivals, and other things over the long course of their relationship, Emma still found herself as thinking that she and Regina had been friends from the very beginning. More like 'Frenemies', but still…

"I'll do it," Tinkerbell stated, turning briefly to face Blue, challenging her to forbid her from this course of action.

"Thanks," Emma said before Blue could say anything else. "Let's go, we have no idea how much time she has left."

-~O~-

Tinkerbell took a few moments to explain exactly what was going to happen as she stood at the end of Regina's bed. Emma was to the bedridden mayor's right while Henry sat off to the left. Snow and Charming were in their own hospital room, not letting baby Neal out of their sights.

"This is an ancient spell," the blond fairy explained. "Not to mention this is soul magic, it doesn't get more powerful or potent than this. That having been said, it really isn't much more than a simple cantrip and all it does is allow you to recall your past lives. Sometimes it can reveal who your soulmates are, sometimes it lets you keep or remember a few skills that you knew in a past life, and sometimes…" she trailed off, drawing everyone's attention.

Taking a deep breath, she continued, "And sometimes the past life takes over. Which, in full disclosure, is what Blue was afraid of happening with you, Regina."

"Well, my dear, as bad as I am, do you truly think that I could be worse, especially considering that I am poisoned?" Regina remarked.

"No, but you could be subsumed by the personality of your past life, or lives, whether they be good or evil," Tinkerbell said. "It would be a form of death as everything that you are in this life would no longer exist."

They were silent after that. Regina looked over to her son, and then to the woman at her right. Taking a deep breath, she made a decision. Yes, she was at peace with her life and her death if it was her time. That didn't mean she wouldn't fight to live.

"Do it," she commanded.

Tinkerbell nodded and raised her wand, reissued when she rejoined the ranks of the fairies here in Storybrooke. A few ancient words nobody could pretend to know or understand and a figure-eight swishing wave over Regina's body and moments later the lights in the room flickered briefly before a clear wave of energy settled over Regina and then spread throughout the room. The brunette's eyes rolled up in her head as she passed out.

To either side, both Emma and Henry likewise passed out, the standing blond thankfully falling forward so she was half on the bed and kept from sliding all the way to the ground, as Henry just slumped down in his chair.

"Oh dear…" Tinkerbell said as she looked around the room. "Whoops."

-~O~-

The Distant Past

"You've got to take me with you! Teach me everything you know. You can't keep me here. Xena, I'm not cut out for this village life! I was born to do so much more. I don't belong there, Xena. I'm not the little girl my parents wanted me to be. You wouldn't understand."

"It's not easy proving you're a different person. It's hard to be alone."

"You're not alone."

"Do you ever miss your family?"

"Sometimes. Not as much when I'm with you."

"Thanks for being my family. You're like a sister to me. For me, our friendship binds us closer than blood ever could."

"Don't you leave me! Don't leave me, don't leave me, don't you leave me! Wake up!"

"I pride myself on being your friend and I'm here for you. Always."

"I am Joxer! The Mighty!"

"I need you to fight. Just fight to come back. This world needs you. I need you. I can't lose you again."

"Gabrielle, I'll always be here."

"No one made you who you are. It was always there. Question is who would I be without you?"

"Joxer the Mighty, roams through the countryside, he never needs a place to hide, with Gabby as his sidekick, fighting with her little stick, righting wrongs and singing songs, being mighty all day long… He's Joxer! Joxer, the Mighty!"

"I trusted you and you lied to me."

"Tell me how you feel, right now, nothing about the past, right now!"

"I Hurt Inside! Don't you?"

"Even in death, Gabrielle. I will never leave you."

"GABRIELLE!"

"XENA!"

"You brought out the best in me, Xena. You save me, Xena."

"You're the best thing in my life."

"Gabrielle's soul and mine were destined to be together. I can't let her walk through Hell alone."

"I asked for a sign to show that I was doing the right thing, you showed up."

"Xena, don't let go of me."

"Never."

"Looks like you got your daughter back."

"No, we got our daughter back."

"I love you, I would never hurt you, you know that, don't you?"

"I know."

"Xena and I have a connection. It's stronger than either one of us. We're soulmates."

"He's got the heart of a lion."

"He's an idiot."

"But he's got heart."

"I hear they need a girl with a chakram down in Egypt."

"I'll always love you."

"XENA!"

"GABRIELLE!"

"GABRIELLE!"

-~O~-

All three sat up with a gasp, a name on their lips, though only two said the same name.

Tinkerbell, who'd been standing there worrying for about sixty-nine seconds in total, jumped and very nearly took flight, wings or no wings, pixie dust or no pixie dust. "Are you all, alright?" she asked, concerned. "What happened? I swear, I only focused the spell on Regina, it shouldn't have affected you or Henry, Emma."

"Who… Emma?" the blond mumbled, shaking her head, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

"Gab… Gabby… Gabrielle… My head hurts," Henry moaned, holding his head in the classic pose one assumed when trying not to vomit or pass out.

"It would seem… the spell worked… a little too well..." Regina remarked, still in bed, but her eyes and expression were more active than the other two, calculating, analyzing, remembering, if Tinkerbell had to judge the expressions correctly.

"What happened?" the green-clad blond repeated.

"I… remember," Emma said, finally able to think clearly. Very clearly.

"As do I… my dear," Regina said weakly from the bed.

"Talmic… wait, Xena, that nearly killed you before!" Emma surged to her feet.

"Xena? Her name is Regina, Emma," Tinkerbell 'helpfully' reminded her.

Emma shot the other blond a confused, and annoyed, look before turning her attention back to Regina, commenting off-hand, "Who's Emma?"

"Look, Xena, you beat this before, you said that there was something about having to go under and purge the poison by letting it run its course," Emma/Gabrielle said, grasping the bedridden woman's hands in hers. "Do you remember? Can you still beat this? Please, don't leave me again."

"Not if I... can help it," Regina smiled weakly up at the other woman. "I think... Henry needs your help... more than me... at the moment. I'll hang on, don't worry."

"You always say that," she said with a sad yet bright smile. Tinkerbell was taken aback by the amount of love and pure light shining through in that one look. "You should know by now that I always worry. But I always have faith that you'll come back. We're destined to be together, Xena. We're soulmates."

Tinkerbell gasped aloud, on the verge of fainting.

"Take care of Henry," Regina insisted, practically pushing her away, though very weakly.

Nodding, Emma stepped back and turned her attention to her son. She knelt down next to the teenager and helped him raise his head. For the record, she fully intended on calling him 'Kid' and treating him the same way that she had for his entire life/for the past year, depending on one's point of view. Instead, what came out of her mouth was; "Hey Joxer, how are you doing? Let me know if you're going to hurl, just don't use any of my scrolls to clean up with this time, alright?"

"That was one time," Henry moaned. "And my name is Henry, not Joxer. At least I'm a man this time. Gods, being Annie sucked! And Katya. And Annabelle. And Trixie. Gods, I hate being a woman. Why does my head still hurt?"

"Don't worry about it Joxer, and I'm pretty sure that if you remembered it, you'd say the same thing about being a man if you were a girl this time around," Emma/Gabrielle said. "I'll get you some Tylenol."

"Name's Henry!" he called after her, still holding his head in pain.

"Sure thing, Joxer," she called back.

"OK, what is going on with her?" the boy asked the remaining women.

"Uh, remember what I said about sometimes the old personalities overwhelm your current persona?" Tinkerbell shrugged by way of explanation.

"So how come Mom and me, and let me just say how cool it is that you're my Mom this time around, aren't like that? I mean, I distinctly remember that I'm Henry Mills and… well, everything that has happened in my life. But I can also remember almost everything that happened in almost all my other lives too. And Mom, you seem to be fairly in control and, well… yourself, at the moment. So, why?"

"Ms. Swan has always been very… separated from the truth," Regina answered, her eyes closed as she concentrated on her breathing. "She can see it in others so much clearer, than she can see it in herself. It took her nearly a year to even open herself to the possibility of believing in the Curse. It took a trap and threat of a cave-in to get her to admit her true feelings for your father. And I believe she is still struggling with being back in Storybrooke, as I overheard her say several times that she wished to return to New York City after the current crisis had passed. Without something to ground Emma in the present, Gabrielle took over, as the threat to my life and our connection had a stronger anchor for those memories to latch onto."

"So… what do we do?" he asked, still rubbing his head, but able to manage the pain better now.

"Fortunately, I don't think we have to do much," Tinkerbell said, adding to the conversation. "She recognized you as her son, despite calling you… Joxer?" She shook her head at his shrug and goofy grin. "And she knows about Tylenol and recognizes the place and the situation. She has all her memories, she just thinks of herself as this 'Gabrielle' instead of as 'Emma'. Who, if you don't mind me asking, are you? I mean, who were you, and who is this Gabrielle that Emma believes she is?"

"That is… a long story," Regina sighed. "And one that Ms. Swan… that Gabrielle would be better off telling."

"Hey, I've been known to tell a good story once in a while," Henry commented.

"Without embellishing?" came the deadpan reply.

Shrugging sheepishly, he just gave her that goofy grin again.

"Here you go, Joxer," Gabrielle/Emma said as she came back with a paper cup of water and some white tablets.

"Seriously, Mom, stop calling me that," he said, gratefully accepting the medicine. "My name is Henry. And just because I suddenly have another name, just like everybody else in this town, doesn't mean I want to be known by that name. I'm Henry, here and now. Henry the Heroic."

"Well, Henry or Joxer, it's good to see that some things don't change," Gabrielle/Emma said with a grin.

"And how are you doing, dear?" Regina asked. "Sorting yourself out?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"What is your name?" Tinkerbell asked.

"Gabrielle Swan, Sheriff of Storybrooke, and Xena's soulmate, if that helps you any," she answered the other blond with a huff of annoyance. "I heard you guys from out in the hall. I'm fine and I remember everything just fine. Here, I'll prove it. My parents are Snow White and Prince Charming, aka Mary Margaret and David Nolan. My son is Henry Mills, raised by Regina Mills, after I gave him up for adoption while in prison. You are Tinkerbell, and I'm kind of dating-but-not-really Captain Hook, and apparently Peter Pan was Henry's great-grandfather, until his grandfather, Rumpelstiltskin, killed them both to save us all. Should I go on?"

"What's her name?" she asked, pointing at Regina.

"Xena," was the instant answer.

"Who raised your son?" the fairy questioned, trying to resolve the logic conflict.

"She did," the blond sheriff pointed.

"So, the name of the person that raised Henry, is?" she pressed.

Rolling her eyes, Gabrielle/Emma answered, "Regina Mills."

"Who is?"

"Her," she pointed to the bedridden brunette.

"Who is…?"

"Xena."

Regina rolled her eyes and growled out, "As amusing as this is, Ms. Swan's identity crisis can be better handled outside of my hospital room. Besides, knowing you as I do, Tinkerbell, you're dying to spread the word faster than that dwarf could."

"What word?" Henry and Emma both asked.

"Soulmates," was the simple and straightforward answer.

"I'm gonna go with, 'huh?' here?" Gabrielle/Emma questioned.

"So eloquent," Regina chuckled. "No one would dare to confuse you with the 'Battling Bard of Potodea' with a vocabulary like that, dear."

"Just you wait," she grimaced at the title. "As soon as you're better and out of this hospital, I will get you back for that. But seriously, what is the big deal about us being soulmates? I mean, aside from the obvious of, y'know, us being soulmates."

"Yeah, why is that a big deal?" Henry put forth. "These two have always been soulmates, never apart from each others life, in one way or another, for practically all of time. It is kind of old news after a while."

"Recall, if you will, the story that gave you this idea in the first place?" Tinkerbell reminded them. "The story about the First True Love couple of the Enchanted Forest. How they were True Loves, separated by time and could only be together after they were reborn into the same life time? And the spell I just used, it was what confirmed it for them and allowed them to have their Happy Ending. Since then, the spell has been used many more times, but…"

"But…?" Gabrielle/Emma asked.

"You said 'butt'," Henry cackled.

"Shut up, Joxer," the boy's biological mother snapped with a roll of her eyes.

"I think 'Joxer' is corrupting you, Henry," Regina commented. "You never used to be so crude and immature."

"I'm a teenage boy," he defended himself. They had to acknowledge the point.

"However," Tinkerbell quickly took control of the conversation once more. "Since that first time, it has never revealed genuine soulmates. It allows people to recall their past lives, but very few of those have actually met one another before that lifetime, maybe just once before in their most recent reincarnation. Since that first time, there has never been a confirmed case of True Soulmates being revealed. This is… huge!"

"Uh… how huge are we talking about here?" the Savior asked, suddenly nervous.

-~O~-

"Emma, this is huge!" Snow exclaimed, ecstatic at the news.

"Who is Emma?" Gabrielle/Emma repeated. If she weren't so confused by everybody calling her by a name she didn't recognize, she might be getting annoyed by it, except that every time she heard the name a wave of raw… confusion swept over her.

"What is wrong? What happened to her?" David, currently holding his son, asked.

"Nothing is wrong," she insisted stubbornly.

"We cast a spell," Henry answered his grandparents. "The one to reveal soulmates, from the story?" Seeing them both nod, he continued. "Turns out that Mom and, well, Mom, are soulmates. And Emma's been overtaken by the identity of one of her past lives. She still remembers everything and knows who and what everything and everybody is, she just thinks of herself as 'Gabrielle' rather than 'Emma'."

"What about Regina?" Snow asked. "How is she handling this?"

"She's going to be fine," her daughter insisted. "Xena has survived lots of things, and she's even managed to beat this kind of poison before. She'll be fine."

David and Snow exchanged a look, before they both glanced back at their children and asked at the same time, "Xena?"

"Mom," Henry supplied, hastily correcting, "Regina. Regina and Emma, Xena and Gabrielle. And I was Joxer the Mighty!"

The boy's grandparents were left blinking at that pronouncement as they struggled to come to grips with all these sudden revelations.

"So," Snow said. "Regina… Xena, is going to be fine. That's good! But, what about after she's better, Em… uh, Gabrielle? What are you going to do?"

Now confused for reasons other than the name-game going on, the blond looked to her mother and asked, "What do you mean?"

"You've found your soulmate!" Snow enthused. "What are your plans? How is this going to change your relationship? What about Robin? Or Hook?"

Flushing bright red, Gabrielle/Emma exclaimed, "Mother! Xena and I are not like that! We're friends. And yes, I love her, but, oh by the gods, not like that! I'm not going to marry her! And, as for Killian, I don't know. It's kind of new and I'm not even really sure we're dating. I mean, my last serious relationship was with a flying monkey for crying out loud! Plus, I'm kind of still trying to get over the whole concept of dating the 'Captain Hook', if you know what I mean? And as for Robin, well, that's between him and Xena. Although I certainly can't blame him and I kind of know what he sees in her in the first place."

"You think he's the reincarnation of Autolycus?" Henry suddenly asked.

"Who's Autolycus?" David asked, handing baby Neal back over to his mother.

"The King of Thieves," Gabrielle/Emma answered automatically. "And god, I hope not. Those two never could get along for very long. He'd tease her mercilessly, and then she'd one-up him at every opportunity. At least with Marcus, Hercules and the others there was genuine affection between them. Maybe he's Hercules?"

"Somehow, I doubt that," Henry remarked.

"What are you two talking about? And Henry, how do you know about this? Is all of this in your book?" David asked.

"No, like I said, I was Joxer the Mighty," he grinned goofily. "The same spell that affected my Moms affected me too. I remember all my past lives, same as them. Funny thing is, I'm usually hanging around with them, and yet I'm not considered either of theirs soulmate. Funny how that works, huh?"

"Joxer, that's not funny, and it is not how it works," Gabrielle/Emma said sufferingly.

"Why does she keep calling you that?" David stage-whispered.

"I'm not sure, but I think it is because she recognizes my soul, so to speak, that I used to be 'Joxer', and as she's 'Gabrielle' at the moment, that is who she identifies me as, instinctively. But then again, I'm mostly guessing about that."

"I wonder who she thinks we are?" he asked.

"I am standing right here, y'know," 'she' pointed out. "And I know who you are; you're my father and mother, Prince Charming and Snow White."

"Before we get too far off topic," Snow interrupted. "What are your plans, Em-Gabrielle? What will you do next?"

"Well, once Xena is recovered, I'm going to turn my full attention to the trial and putting that bitch Callisto in the ground for good," she answered.

"Wait, what?!" Henry squeaked. "What does Callisto have to do with anything?!"

"She's the one that poisoned Xena." Gabrielle/Emma answered, straightforward.

"Well, yeah, originally, but…" Henry stopped talking as the gears started to turn. He might have Joxer's memories and a few quirks now, but he was still Henry Mills, genius son of the Mayor of Storybrooke, who saw connections between reality and the truth and believed in fairy tales. "Oh boy. Zelena is Callisto reincarnated, isn't she?"

"Duh," she shrugged.

"Well, that… actually explains quite a lot," he said.

"What? What explains what?" the Charming couple were completely lost.

"Wouldn't Mom have issues with you basically letting Eve be executed?" Henry asked.

"She's not Eve, she's Callisto in the body of her wicked half-sister," Gabrielle/Emma countered. "And she's free to get her the best defense attorney that she can. I'm still the sheriff and she committed a crime against the community that I've sworn to protect. Besides, it's kharma. If she gets reborn as your baby sister or brother, I'll totally forgive her, but right now, I'm going for the maximum, and Gold is eager to provide the execution."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Snow asked with a frown. "Sometimes forgiveness is-"

"Is not deserved and has passed the point where it could be applied in this case," Gabrielle/Emma cut her off. "Death is the only redemption this woman will get. If she showed the slightest bit of remorse, or if she had hesitated even the slightest amount in anything that she's done, I might consider forgiving her and offering her redemption. She has no conscience and is obsessed with whatever envy-driven revenge plot she has put in her mind. She does not deserve the chance redemption would offer. So no, I'm not sure it's a good idea. It is a great idea, and my decision to make."

"Emma…" David whispered, reaching out.

Blinking furiously, the blond shook her head and shot them a confused look, saying, "Who is Emma?"

"You are," he tried, hoping to break through whatever confusion she was experiencing.

"I am Gabrielle," she replied coldly, and then turned and walked away.

"Maybe she just needs to sleep it off?" Henry suggested with a shrug.

-~O~-

Regina flatlined at sundown that evening. She was officially, clinically dead for three minutes and twenty-one seconds. Then she started to breath again, and half the room with her, as her soulmate had been just outside the room when the doctors arrived with the crash cart and been holding her breath for every second that the woman she called Xena had not been breathing. She'd cried and silently begged that she was right, and began thanking and praising the gods anew as the beeping started up again. She awoke with the sun.

The woman calling herself Gabrielle, however, hadn't slept a wink, and the sleep deprivation was starting to show. Fortunately, Regina was quick to resolve that with a simple and short conversation. So to speak.

Sitting up in her bed, recovering quickly now that she had full access to her magic and the poison was purged from her system, the brunette calmly regarded the blue-eyed blond standing before her. Smiling brightly-though her exhaustion was blatantly obvious to everyone-the sheriff moved forward to embrace her recovering soulmate.

"Xena, I knew that-!" before she could get any further, the mayor struck out with her fingers, hitting very specific pressure points on the other woman's body, and moved just as quickly out of the bed so she could catch the crumbling blond.

"And I knew that you'd worry yourself sick," she whispered to the younger woman in her arms. Moving quickly and deftly, she hauled the other half of her soul up onto the bed and fussed for a bit until she was resting comfortably on the hospital bed, though still in her street clothes. Speaking of which, Regina began hunting down her own clothes.

Once properly dressed, she made her way through the hospital to the maternity ward and quickly located the Charming couple, hovering around their infant son, and not letting him out of their sight for an instant. She recalled this period of overprotectiveness from her own times as a mother, though she had yet to give birth to a child of her own in this lifetime, the memories were still there. She imagined that it was rather… enhanced, because of the ordeal the Charming family had undergone recently at the hands of her half-sister, which some part of her recognized as being that of the reincarnation of Callisto/Eve.

Bad circumstances, she mused, as she felt that if she and Zelena had actually had the chance to be true sisters to one another, they would have gotten along quite well. Perhaps they could have even protected each other from their mother's dark influence. Regardless, the past was history, and she needed to start looking toward the future.

"Oh!" Snow squeaked, startled. "Regina. Or is it Xena, now?"

Smiling that fake 'I-want-to-kill-you-or-make-you-suffer-endlessly' smile that she reserved just for Snow White, the reformed Evil Queen replied, "No, I'm still me, still Regina. Although I cannot say that it surprises me of everyone that spell could be cast on, your daughter, who you abandoned through a wardrobe and left on the side of the road, would be the one to lose herself in past life memories and identity. Perhaps rather than teasing me, we should all be looking into ways of grounding Ms. Swan back to her present identity?"

"Well, glad to see that you're feeling better," Charming said sarcastically. "Where is Emma?"

"She hasn't slept in nearly two days," Regina shrugged, standing back to silently observe the newborn infant. "I knocked her unconscious and left her in my bed. She'll be out of it for at least the next six hours, eight if I can help it."

"You put her to sleep?" Snow asked, alarmed.

"No," she corrected, keeping her voice soft and level, and oddly deep. "I knocked her out. Using pressure points. To put it in perspective so even you idiots can understand, it's like the Vulcan neck pinch, except you just put steady pressure here and here while pinching the carotid artery here." She pointed to the various points on her upper chest and neck as she explained it. "Simpler and doesn't require preparation or potions that magic would demand. Also, less unpredictable, as I know from the technique I used she'll be up in six hours at the earliest."

The pair of heroes shot each other a look that only they could properly interpret before turning back to the mayor and Snow asked, "How do you know about pressure points?"

"Please don't let your husband's stupidity or influence on his half of your heart cloud your wits, Miss Blanchard," Regina let out a huff of annoyance and rolled her eyes. "I retain all the memories of all my past lives, the same as Henry and Emma, only I know who I am. I am Regina Mills, and I have quite a bit to keep myself grounded in that fact. I remember Xena, everything she ever did and was, but I am not Xena. For one thing, I have actual decorum."

"You know you're bad mouthing… yourself, right?" David commented.

"And every time you open your mouth, you make yourself look even more like an idiot," she remarked. "What is your point?"

"We're getting off topic here, " Snow held up her hands to forestall any further argument or name-calling. "How can we help Emma? She still knows us and has all her memories. She's still her. Won't this whole name thing resolve itself in just a couple of days?"

"Well of course she's still her," Regina snapped. "Her soul, heart, brain, everything about her is still all her. The problem is that her sense of self, her identity has been subsumed by that of Gabrielle's. The longer it goes on, the more and more she'll behave like Gabrielle rather than Emma. But then, look who I'm conversing with. Of course, you two would love to have Gabrielle as your daughter, as the Savior. No wonder Emma couldn't hold on, she doesn't have anything to anchor her like Henry and I do. And having you two as her parents certainly won't help matters."

"What are you talking about?" Snow asked. Both of them were clearly confused and had little clue as to what she was going on about.

"Gabrielle," Regina's tone and expression shifted as she spoke about a woman long-since-dead, "She's a person that sees the best in people, all people. She lights up the whole world with her goodness and hope. She can change the darkest soul in existence into a paragon of virtue. Her love can change a nation and redeem even the most hopeless of souls." Her expression darkened into one they were far more familiar with associating with the Evil Queen. "So of course you two have no problem with your daughter being more like her rather than being satisfied with the person she has become on her own."

They both looked down, feeling shame, though they could not say why exactly.

"OK, all right," David finally spoke up. "I'm not saying that you're right, or that we want our daughter to change or be anyone other than who she is. But I still don't see what is so bad about this. This will fix itself, right? She'll remember who she is on her own, just with a few extra memories and skills, like you and Henry. Right?"

Regina gave them a dark look, pleased that they finally seemed to be catching on, in only that it would keep her from getting even more frustrated with them. "No. She won't."

"To put it in the proper perspective for you," she explained. "She is in the middle of a psychotic break. Believe me, I know what I am talking about. 'Xena', the actual Xena, once experienced the same thing herself, it is a long story, even if it did work out in the end, she spent a year without any sense of self and created a whole new identity that was not her in the least little bit. I do not want the same thing happening to Emma. Eventually, as she loses whatever hold she still retains of her sense of self, more of 'Gabrielle' will surface and take over. Until the only thing remaining of 'Emma' will be her name on her driver's license. And before you start saying that may not be such a bad thing; Gabrielle had quite a few flaws, but one glaring difference to Emma. Gabrielle is absolutely obsessed with Xena and everything having to do with her hero. To the same degree that the two of you are obsessed with love and hope."

"So, she'll…" Snow seemed to be afraid of the very question she was trying to ask.

"She won't be my slave or anything, if that is what you're afraid of," she quickly allayed those fears. "But she'll make other changes to her lifestyle and lets just say that Gabrielle left her parents and family and home to travel with Xena, after meeting her once and knowing her for less than an hour of time. She very rarely ever visited her home village in the years to follow."

"Right," both Charmings nodded. "So, back to how we can help Emma?"

-~O~-

"Swan?"

Awoken by the name she still knew as her own, she jumped awake and lashed out at the perceived threat. Only for her fist to be caught by a stronger male hand while a stainless steel hook hovered before her eyes.

"Bloody hell, lass," Killian gasped as he rapidly stepped back from her. "Remind me not to stand too close when waking you in the future. How are you feeling, luv?"

"K-Kil-Killian?" the blue-eyed blond blinked and shook her head. "What happened? I was with Xena and then…"

"I think you mean 'Regina' there, luv," he said, stepping forward. "There's been some talk of what happened and what you did to help the Evil Queen."

"Don't call her that!" Gabrielle/Emma snapped. Then she did a double-take at her own reaction. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I snapped like that. Just… she's not that person anymore, so please, don't call her that."

"Fair enough," he nodded, just as surprised at her reaction, and even more so at the following apology. "So, Swan, what is this about you not being able to remember your own name?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, sliding off the hospital bed and getting to her feet. "I know my name, and there is nothing wrong with my memory. I just did what had to be done to save Xena, and she's alive, so it worked. Good guys win and all that. How long have I been out?"

"Before I answer that," Hook stepped closer, into her personal space, "tell me what your name is. Just to put everyone's fears to rest, you understand."

She rolled her eyes at him and shrugged, but didn't actually meet his eyes, or react to his presence the same way she had begun to recently. That lack of reaction worried him somewhat.

"It's Swan," she said. "Gabrielle Swan. Want my middle name too? Now how long have I been out? It was Xena, wasn't it? She knocked me out, probably 'for my own good', or some centaur-piss reason like that. She always does this!"

Frowning, Hook looked down at her and using his good hand, he forced her to look at him. "It's Emma," he told her. "Your name is Emma. Not Gabrielle. And you told me that you don't actually have a 'middle' name. And for the record, yes, Regina said she knocked you out because apparently you haven't slept for the past two days. ... Emma?"

Her expression had transformed into one big mass of confusion and lost helplessness as he'd been talking, but as he called her name, her eyes refocused and she asked the same question she kept asking, that nobody had really answered yet.

"Who is Emma?" she asked, her voice and eyes begging for the answer.

Taking her by the chin, and seeking only to help her, for her sake, not his, Killian Jones answered her question. "She is the woman that I am in love with. She is the reason that I came back. She is the one thing in this whole world that I love more than anything, even life itself. I love you, Emma Swan…"

The confusion cleared up for a few moments, and a shadow crossed her face, before suddenly she blinked and shook her head, pushing him back.

"Stop it," she begged in a crying voice. "I… I know who… I know my name, I, I am, my name is Gabrielle…" Shaking her head, she retreated from him and began to back out of the room. "You are confusing me. Just, stop it, please. I, I need to find Xena."

"Swan, please, don't…" he started to approach her, but she held up a hand, stopping him.

"Stop," she commanded, a very different light shining in her eyes from what he was used to seeing. "Do not tell me what to do. Now, where is Xena?"

"If you mean Regina," he stressed the name, "then she's with your parents. They actually asked me to be here when you woke up. Hoping that I might…"

"That you might what?" she snapped. "Confuse me? Make me doubt myself?"

At least she was starting to sound a bit more like the old Swan he remembered, Hook silently mused to himself. He answered the questions she'd asked regardless. "No, to help give you something to remind yourself of who you are. Of who Emma is. I am in love with you Swan, whether you call yourself Emma or Gabrielle, that doesn't change. I just don't want you to go changing on me right when we're starting to get to know one another."

The confusion returned, and for a moment, a very brief moment, he thought that she might stay and talk to him. Then the moment passed and she walked out of the room with the parting words of, "Just… stay away from me, please?"

"Bloody hell," Captain Hook cursed himself, slumping where he stood.

-~O~-

"Xena!"

They all froze at the cry. So much for Hook, they were all thinking. But then again, it was still too new to be much of an anchor, Regina knew. They needed to remind the woman of exactly who Emma Swan was. There might be a lot of emotional backlash, but in the end it would be better for everyone.

"There you are," Gabrielle/Emma said as she ran up to the group. "What the hell were you thinking? You could have just told me to get some rest or something, you didn't need to knock me out, y'know. What is this? What's going on?"

"Emma," Snow said, stepping forward to begin. "Do you truly not see what is going on? Don't you understand what has happened to you?"

"I…" the blond shook her head, "Who is Emma?"

"My daughter," Snow answered. Regina had told them that when she kept repeating that question, she wasn't just asking because she didn't recognize her own name, rather she was genuinely asking them who Emma even was, to them, to everyone, to herself.

"You found us, you broke the Dark Curse, you brought back everyone's memories and happy endings," she continued in a torrent. "You, Emma, lived with me for nearly a year, in my apartment. We talked about all sorts of things that mothers and daughters probably shouldn't talk about, but we're friends. Emma Swan is my friend, and my daughter. I named you Emma before you were even born, I sewed it into your baby blanket. Your name is Emma."

"I…" Gabrielle/Emma actually swooned, standing there before them. "What… No, I… Xena, why are… Wait, no, Xena is the one to break the Dark Curse. She, she kissed Henry with True Love's kiss, after she saved him from Callisto's attack. Callisto? No, she's dead, Z, Z, Z something. Green Witch? Greenwich Village?" Suddenly her entire demeanor changed and she started talking in a young, enthusiastic voice, her eyes glazed over in memory. "You've got to take me with you! Teach me everything you know. You can't keep me here. Xena, I'm not cut out for this village life! I was born to do so much more. I don't belong there, Xena. I'm not the little girl my parents wanted me to be. You wouldn't understand..."

Then she keeled over on the ground.

"OK, that did not work," Henry pronounced as he and the others raced over to pick his mother up off the floor.

"No, it did not," Regina agreed.

"What just happened?" David shouted, standing back as he placed Emma on a nearby chair so that the others could more easily get to her.

"I underestimated just how disconnected 'Emma' has become," Regina stated, examining her soulmate with the greatest of care. "And just how deeply rooted 'Gabrielle' is. We can't confront her like this again. She just might lose herself entirely and latch onto one of her other lives to further escape whatever it is she's trying to let go of."

"You think… is this my fault?" Henry asked. "Because I wanted to stay in Storybrooke?"

"No," Regina smiled and took her son and quickly squeezed him in a brief hug. "This is not your fault, Henry. I don't think it really is anyone's fault, it just revealed a flaw in our savior here. The only fault to be had would be if we did nothing to help her with it now."

Most everyone in the group looked to the brunette with surprise in their eyes.

"What?" she snapped at the looks.

"Nothing," Snow deflected. "It's just… you've never really been the most… optimistic person, let alone encouraging. And what you said just now, well… That was very encouraging."

"Shut up," the former Evil Queen snapped, a light blush coloring her cheeks.

"... Xena…?" the confused Savior moaned.

"Time to try a different tactic," Regina decided. "I'll try and keep everyone in the loop."

With that said, she raised both arms and snapped her fingers. In tandem with the movement, purple smoke, lighter and brighter than any had seen it looking before, swirled up around the woman's ankles and quickly covered herself and her soulmate, disappearing just as quickly and leaving everyone standing there staring at the empty spot they'd left behind.

"She always was... forceful," Henry remarked, thinking about Xena.

-~O~-

When she came to, she wasn't sure who she was anymore, but at least the headache was (mostly) gone. This time she sensed no hostile presence near her, only a very familiar one. Sitting up slowly, she took the time to take in her surroundings before finally turning to face the only other person in the room.

Though the walls were the same as what she had in her office, the lack of windows and different furniture told her that she was actually in the Evil Queen's Vault, under the cemetery. She'd never actually been in this part of it before, but she knew that there was a 'suite' part of the vault. That was most likely where they were at the moment. Getting up off the couch where she'd been lain, the product of True Love turned to face her soulmate and was momentarily surprised to see her dressed in a slightly different ensemble from normal.

"Xena," Gabrielle/Emma said, stepping closer to the brunette. "What happened?"

"My name," the woman said in a dark and foreboding tone as she turned around, "is Regina. Queen Regina, and you would do well to remember that, my dear."

"What's with the get-up?" she asked.

Regina glanced down at her ensemble, arching one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at her blood red and black corseted gown, slim and tight in the right places, a modern take on some of her less formal dresses she'd worn back in the Enchanted Forest, with a deep, eye-catching neckline, slit up the side to reveal stockinged legs, and embroidered jewels that practically sparkled as she moved. A few rings, necklaces and earrings completed the picture, minus the crown/tiara of course.

"I have no idea what you are referring to," she said, fully embracing the front she'd shown to the world during her years as the 'Evil Queen'. "It is you who is in the wrong attire, my dear."

"I, Xena, what are you talking about? This is what I always wear… right?" she said, fingering her red leather jacket and skinny jeans.

Scoffing, Regina stepped back and directed the young woman's gaze to a nearby mirror. "Look again, my dear. Ask yourself who you are, and see what it is that you should be wearing. These common clothes, or the garb," Regina waved her hands and transferred the conjured clothes she'd prepared beforehand onto Emma's body, switched with the clothes that she was presently wearing, "of an Amazon Princess?"

A swirl of smoke later, Emma stared, wide-eyed, at her reflection. She, her body, was wearing the little green top and knee-length russet colored skirt that Gabrielle was known for. But it was Emma that was wearing it. Reaching up, she ran a hand across her tight abdomen, while the other hand softly caressed her face. Memories, images, impressions, emotions, they all swam through her head, millions of them each in a single moment, but one resounding fact made itself perfectly clear in the wake of the onslaught.

This wasn't right. This wasn't her! Not anymore.

"Change it back."

"Speak up my dear, I cannot hear you," Regina said to the blond amazon's whimper.

"Change it back," she said more clearly. Fists clenched, she continued to stare at the distorted reflection, every muscle in her body suddenly tensing. The lighting around the suite flickered a bit, but nothing that couldn't be explained away by it being an underground bunker with a spotty power supply. As the reformed Evil Queen looked on, the blond's whole body began to tremble. Stepping up behind her, she subtly cast a glamour on the mirror so that, despite her clothes not actually changing, her reflection would show 'Regina' wearing Xena's trademark brown leather armor.

"Change what? Isn't this who you are? Who we are? The Warrior Princess and her Amazon Princess companion?" the brunette challenged, silently hoping and praying that this would work. With Xena, her recovered memories only came when she and Gabrielle were reunited and the Rhinegold had been returned to its original form and to the Rhine Maidens' possession. That was not what was happening here, and 'Regina' and 'Emma' had never been as close as 'Xena' and 'Gabrielle' had been, but then again, who ever could be as close as those two were?

"No," Emma shook her head. Gabrielle frowned and then lashed out and punched the reflection in the mirror, shouting, "CHANGE IT BACK!"

Even as the glass shattered and fell to the floor, Regina unleashed her magic and a swirl of smoke later, she and Emma were both back in their original attire, she a black power suit with three inch heels and a burgundy colored silk blouse, while the blond was back in her red leather jacket and skinny jeans with heeled boots and white work shirt. The mirror was fixed as an after-thought. The no-longer-Evil-Queen stepped back and allowed her soulmate a brief time to collect herself and look at herself in the restored mirror. It seemed to be all the anchor she needed, for the moment.

"That… that wasn't me," she stuttered after the violet mist had faded and Emma Swan in her red jacket and skinny jeans stared back at her reflection.

Regina, after at least a minute or more to give the younger woman the time she needed, stepped up behind her, looking over the blond's shoulder into the mirror at their reflections. "At least you're not so far gone that you can't recognize yourself anymore," she said. "Can you tell me your name?"

"I…" she stopped speaking and looked at the reflection of blond and brunette standing side by side. "I don't understand what is going on. Why am… why… Who is Emma?!" she shouted.

Embracing the female form from behind, Regina whispered into her ear, "Emma Swan is the Savior. Emma is the Sheriff of Storybrooke. Emma, is the mother of my son, Henry. She is kind, compassionate, strong, selfless and despite the whole world being against her at times, she always manages to do the right thing in the end. Emma, you are a good person. A hero. And you've always stood up to me. It always used to get on my nerves, how you'd never bow down, you've never feared me, in fact you always made it a point to stand against me whenever I was in the wrong. When I was doing wrong. Even when I thought I was doing the right things, if it was wrong in any way, you would oppose me and stand there and do your damnedest to try and stop me. You never really did, not without a lot of help, but you'd try."

"I wanted to save you from the darkness," she whispered, as though in a trance.

"Emma," Regina corrected, "wanted to protect her son from a woman that she saw didn't truly love him. She wanted her son to be happy and saw that he wasn't, and saw the evil adopted mother as the one thing keeping him from his happiness. When did you want to save me? Truly save me, not just Henry?"

"I… from the moment I, no, that was…" she trailed off, her eyes shooting back and forth, rolling around as her thoughts raced through memories and emotions. "When… when I learned the truth… about you, I think. What… what your mother, what… Cora did. Before then, I just, I think I wanted to give you the chance that you denied me, with Henry, and then I… and the, the thing with Archie… Archie? No, he's Hanuman. Or is he Eli? I think he's Hanuman…"

"Emma," Regina held her tighter to stop the blathering. "When did you want to save me?"

Looking into her reflected brown eyes, she answered, "Before Neverland. Before we… before I had to face everything and… embrace being the Savior. Before it mattered, but…"

"But after," she sighed and stared back into those sad blue/green eyes, "after my mother was dead. After… I was still a villain."

"But you're not a villain anymore!" Emma shouted, turning in her arms and embracing her right back, refusing to step away or allow her to step away either. "You are a hero, do you hear me, Regina? You broke the curse this time! You used light magic and defeated the Wicked Witch! You spared her after everything that she did and what happened! You stopped me from taking that step to… to…"

"To killing her, legal or not," Regina finished for her. Then she tilted her head and smirked that cocky little smile she got when she'd heard something pleasing. "Did you just call me 'Regina'?"

"I, well, yes, it is your name and…" Emma stopped and started blinking. A lot. "Oh."

"How's the memory, Miss Swan?" she asked, letting her arms drop and stepping back.

Or at least, she tried to.

"Miss Swan, you can let go of me now," Regina snapped.

"Oh," Emma said as she finally stopped blinking, a stunned look settling on her face. "Well, that is… huh."

"What are you going on about? And would you let go of me already?"

Facing the woman in her arms again, the blond seemed to come to herself. No special effects needed, of course. Emma finally let go of Regina and stepped back, saying, "Sorry. Was kind of… lost in thought, I guess."

"I could see that," she snapped. "Now, what was that about? What were you remembering as you… remembered yourself, for lack of a better term?"

"Well, it is kind of fading, a bit, but," Emma shrugged, putting her hands in her jean pockets. "I've been going over everybody in my life and I kind of… recognize who they, well who they were in some of my past lives. Hook, well, he's, believe it or not, I think he's Draco. Or was Draco. As for Henry aka Joxer, he's right, he has been in our lives, in some capacity, for as long as Calisto, aka Eve, aka Zelena has been. Y'know, I didn't think the whole cycle of rebirth thing meant that we literally get reborn into different worlds! How the heck is it that we're both from Fairy Tale land this time around? And yet, still end up in this world?"

"Don't ask me, I'm not in charge of these things," Regina shrugged. "I'm just trying to follow my 'Way', remember?"

"Except, you haven't been, have you?" Emma challenged her.

"I was… am a Queen," she defended herself. "I may have, briefly, adopted the moniker of Evil Queen to help me in maintaining my thrown, but I still follow the way of royalty."

"No, I think you're still hung up on the 'Way' of motherhood, if you ask me," came the response. "Not that there is anything wrong with that, but we've seriously got to figure out what to do with you. Riding around the countryside beating up bandits isn't exactly going to work in this day and age. Though it would probably be a real big hit with your new boyfriend."

"Says the woman reportedly dating Draco?"

"We are not dating!" Emma snapped.

"Well, what about your parents?" Regina allowed the subject to change. "Did you recognize them, yet? I've actually given it some thought, but nothing is coming to mind."

"They're actually new souls, I think," she answered. "Could be reincarnated angels or something. I don't know how this works, but this is the first time I've met 'them', if you know what I mean? Now, Grumpy on the other hand, pretty sure that he's Odysseus. Something about the way that he looks at that fairy… Not to mention there's his boat."

"Good thing he never goes anywhere with it," Regina remarked. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Like… Emma," she answered with a nod. "Thanks for the reminder. I was almost afraid you'd try and start up an argument again, for old times sake."

"Arguments that you always lost," the dark haired woman smirked, hands on her shapely hips.

"Only because you'd always end them by threatening to keep Henry away from me," the blond in tight pants shot back, stepping closer.

"Yes, about that, where are you going to live now that you're back in Storybrooke, to stay? Really, Emma, moving in with your parents, at your age?"

"Well, we do have a lot of time to make up for, if you'll recall?"

"I apologized for all of that, I'll have you know!"

"Yes, and you're forgiven. Mostly. Doesn't change the fact that we've got a lot of time to make up for. Still, you're right, moving in with a couple with a newborn in the house? Not my idea of good family fun. Not a lot of listings in Storybrooke, if I remember correctly from my first time in town. Why, you got an offer on some place?"

"You could," the brunette shrugged, hands still on her hips (a pose that the now-whole Emma recognized more as 'Xena' than 'Regina'), "and only if you wanted to, move into the mansion with me. After all, Henry's room is still there. Exactly the way he left it as a matter of fact. And I do have guest rooms that I've never really done anything with. Besides, it makes sense that both of his 'parents' should live together in the same place. Together with him, I mean,"she quickly amended with a light blush coloring her cheeks.

"Are you asking me to move in with you?" the blond asked, stepping closer.

"It wouldn't be the first time we've been in close living quarters. Well, it would be in this lifetime, but… you know what I mean." Regina said, finally dropping her hands. "I miss him and, knowing what we do about each other now… it changes things. I… I am asking if you and Henry would move in with m-!"

Emma didn't let her finish, surging forward and grabbing the other woman by her face and drawing her in for a deep and passionate and love filled kiss.

Regina struggled and finally managed to break free long enough to gasp out, "Ms. Swan! We're, we are both women, and, and we are not like that this time around! Besides, we've already indulged in that kind of life when we were Harry and Mattie!"

"I think you mean Annie and Mattie," Emma smiled, and then stole another kiss.

"No, stop it!" Regina managed after pulling away again. "We can't do this! You're, you have Hook, and I'm, I actually do care for Robin a great deal. I'm in love with him!"

"And you're my soulmate," Emma shot down and drew her in for a much longer, deeper kiss.

"...If you don't stop doing that, I will teleport us straight to your parents, Miss Swan!" Regina 'threatened'.

"Think they'll want to watch? I never really thought of them as kinky," Emma joked.

"Henry is probably with them."

"He's Joxer," she reminded. "He's definitely going to want to watch."

"Probably hope for another body switch, the pervert," Regina agreed, this time initiating the kiss herself, and evolving it to open-mouthed.

After a minute… or more, of this, Emma was the one to ask between gasping breaths, "We're not stopping. Did you still want us to stop? Or should we, y'know, experiment or whatever?"

"I think," she gasped her reply between kisses, "that, it was, mm, way too soon, for us, to, be, alone together!"

"I agree."

"We should stop."

"I agree."

"We're not...mmm… stopping."

"I agree!"

Fortunately, for more than just their own sake or other people's sanity and love lives, they were interrupted by a loud pounding from the outside door. Turning and looking, one of the mirrors turned two-way and they saw Henry, Charming, Hook and Robin all there in the lower vault area, calling out for the two women.

"Honeymoon's over," Emma sighed in disappointment.

"In more ways than one," Regina said with some mild regret, caressing the blonds tresses. "I love you, Emma. But… not that way. Not in this life. You'll always be my soulmate. My Gabrielle. But… I still have to earn my redemption here, in this life. I hope you'll help me find my Way, and keep to it. Like you always do."

"I always do," Emma agreed, leaning her forehead against her soulmate's. "And I always will."

"Time to face the music," Regina said as she pulled back and prepared to open the secret entrance to the suite.

Smirking, Emma asked, "Don't you want to fix your makeup first?"

-~O~-

"So, you're back to normal?"

The question was asked by her father, but it was clearly the subject on most everyone's minds at the moment.

"Yes, I am back to normal," Emma sighed, exasperated, and more than a little embarrassed. "I am Emma Swan, and she is Regina, not Xena."

"Just curious, who am I?" Henry asked, begging for a compliment.

"Hm, Annie?" she teased him, which he scowled at. "Oh all right, it's Henry the Heroic."

"Yeah, she's back to normal," he pronounced.

"So, uh, back to my original question?" the nursing Snow White changed the subject suddenly.

"Really?" Emma deadpanned. "You want to talk about that now? Here?"

They were in the middle of the diner, the morning after Emma's little identity crisis, the whole Charming clan, plus Evil Queen, minus Gold, meeting for breakfast. It was also to partly celebrate Snow and the baby's release from the hospital. The actual party to celebrate the victory over the Wicked Witch and saving of the 'kingdom' was scheduled for later in the week.

"You've been avoiding me, and this is the first time that I've had a moment to see you since you, well, regained your sense of self," Snow said. "So, what are you and Regina going to do now? Now that you know you are each other's soulmates?"

"Indeed, Swan," Killian spoke up as he sat down next to the Sheriff. "What will you do now? I feel that I, in particular, have a vested interest in this subject, so I would most definitely desire to know the answer."

"I too am curious as to how you will react to this new information," Robin voiced, having come in with and been sat next to Regina for the entire meal thus far.

Regina paused and grabbed Robin by his chin and looked deeply into his eyes. She nodded and smirked and said to Emma, "He's definitely not Autolycus."

"Who is Autolycus?" Robin asked.

"The King of Thieves," Emma, Henry and Regina all answered at once.

"The original 'you' in other words," Emma clarified.

"Ah," Robin nodded. "A bit of a rogue then."

"Let's just say he had a good heart, but the rest of him was all thief," Emma smirked.

"Dare I ask if…" Hook hesitated to finish the question.

"We're not soulmates, but I kind of… recognize you, if you know what I mean?" she shrugged. "Met occasionally, here and there. Last time we actually knew each other, ironically enough, was when I was Gabrielle and Regina was Xena. And don't bother asking who you were. As everyone just spent the past day reminding me, it isn't about who we were, but who we are, in this life. I am Emma, you are Killian, that's all there is to it."

"Here, here," the one-handed pirate cheered the offered toast.

"You're avoiding the question," Snow pointed out.

"Mm, quite brilliantly if I do say so myself," the daughter replied to her mother.

"We're soulmates, Snow," Regina finally answered the question. "We'll always love each other and be in one another's life. Or lives, as the case may be. But neither one of us are homosexual."

"In this lifetime," Emma mumbled into her glass, earning a glare from her soulmate.

"And are in fact currently interested, and invested with other prospects at the moment," she continued as though the Savior hadn't spoken. "The short answer is; we're friends. Beyond that, we're still friends but nothing more, at the moment."

"What of us, and Tinkerbell's trick with the pixie dust?" Robin couldn't help asking.

"He's totally Marcus," Emma decided.

"Swan!" Regina snapped.

"Right, never mind that stuff then," the blond shook her head.

"So, you're just… friends?" Snow asked, sounding part-disappointed, part-relieved. No one could quite be sure which was the larger part.

"It is enough," both women replied to the question.

And yet, everyone in the diner could hear, loud and clear, the unspoken, 'for now...'.

END