A Queen Without Power (Once Upon a Time; Regina/Emma)
TITLE: A Queen Without Power
CHAPTER 23: Heart of Stone
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Series through 2.03 ("Lady of the Lake")
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: "It's the only way."
*****
Emma’s heart had fallen before the words had even left Regina’s lips. As if it knew. But her heart always had been 3 steps ahead of her brain. It had wrapped itself firmly around Regina in such a short span of time, and her brain had yet to make a valid attempt to do the same.
If someone were to ask her to analyze Regina Mills, she wouldn’t know where to start. She was a half-closed book still, a partial mystery. And yet her heart knew Regina’s instincts; its beats recognized the shifts in her moods and deciphered her motives long before a word could be spoken. Her blood pressure rose and fell in tandem with these shifts in mood and motive; it flowed through her veins with an intrinsic knowledge of the enigma beside her.
But that intrinsic, blood-deep knowledge did nothing to ease the dramatic drop felt in her heart and her stomach when Regina offered herself up to the enemy.
She heard Henry sputter, “You?” in confusion while her vision tunneled.
And the little imp commandeering the Wonderland throne merely tilted his head, interest piqued and eyes twinkling.
Regina stepped forward, eyes still on Rumplestiltskin. “You allow me to trade places with Henry and you’ve got me. The one person you’ve been dying to kill, completely at your mercy.”
“Oh, dearie.” He tsked, shaking his head in a pitying manner. “I never wanted to kill you. I still have no desire to do so.” His smile spread slowly as he taunted her softly, “What I’ve been saving for you will make death seem a tropical vacation.”
Another drop of the heart and Emma clamped her hand around Regina’s wrist, hard, hoping the desperation hadn’t yet reached her eyes. “Regina... no. You can’t.”
Regina turned to her with sadness laid heavily in the coffee-brown depths of her eyes. “I have to. It’s the only way.”
An eerie little giggle bubbled up from Rumpelstiltskin. He templed his hands together, eyes still set on Regina. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”
“Tell me what?” She looked to Regina, not caring in the slightest if Rumplestiltskin was toying with her.
Regina turned to her, eyes downcast as if ashamed. “The hat... the portal that we took to came here... it has rules.”
She glimpsed sidelong at Rumplestiltskin, asking with dread, “Like what?”
Henry jumped in before Regina could, his tone almost sad. “Only the same number of people going in can come out.”
Emma turned to Regina, eyes wide. “So... the two of us came in...”
She nodded, finishing the thought for her. “And only two can leave.” Sighing, she shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Emma. I couldn’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because. You would know exactly what I was up to and would try to put a stop to it. But I knew that this is how things have to be.” Tears came to her eyes, a light sheen, as she whispered, “It’s the only way.”
“Why are you doing this?” Emma whispered back desperately, able to feel the tears stinging her own eyes.
“Because of me,” Henry spoke up, still struggling against the golden restraints. “Because she wants me to know how much she loves me.” A bit more emphatically, he raised his voice and told her, “But I already know! I already know, Mom! And you don’t have to do this, please don’t do this, he’ll do terrible things to you!”
Tears spilled onto Regina’s cheeks at hearing Henry’s plaintive protests, but she forged on. “Better he do them to me, than to you. My mind is made up. This is how it must be. You’ll go back with Emma, and she’ll take care of you.”
“Well?” Rumplestiltskin, temporarily forgotten by the three in turmoil, held up his hands in a pseudo-shrug, each elbow braced on one arm of the throne. “You know I need to hear the magic word, dearie. Do we have a deal? You’re at my mercy, in exchange for your son?”
Regina swallowed hard and Emma watched her eyes settle on Henry, big and round and full of remorse. She closed them and more tears scudded down her cheeks. And when they opened again, they were on Rumplestiltskin, determination lighting the browns as she answered lowly, “Deal.”
He giggled, clapping excitedly, “Excellent!” and as he did so, the bindings vanished from Henry’s wrists and instead appeared around Regina’s.
As soon as he was freed, Henry launched himself at his foster mother, his arms around her waist holding tight. Emma could only stare, her body growing numb as she watched the goodbye taking place before her.
Regina lifted her bound wrists glowing gold, ruffling her son’s hair and holding him close as best she could. In a voice pregnant with pent-up sobs, she told him shakily, “You must believe how much I love you, Henry. How much I’ve always loved you. You took up my entire heart the first time I held you. Please believe that.”
“I do. I believe you,” he told her, still clutching her waist tightly. He looked up at her, begging, “Please don’t do this!”
Swallowing hard, it looked as though she forced herself to ignore her son’s plea, instead turning to Emma. “I know you’ll get him home safe. I know you’ll take good care of him.”
“Please....” Emma struggled to hang on to the last threads of her emotions, the tears in her eyes threatening to spill over. “You can’t leave us.” Softer, in nothing more than a crippled whisper, she confessed, “I don’t think I can do this without you.”
“I must. And you can, I know you can.” Regina reached up, the golden restraints almost blinding in their brightness as she grasped Emma’s chin between her thumb and forefinger, meeting her eyes. “You trusted me. Now I’m trusting you. Take care of our son.”
Emma grasped the hand that held her chin and brought it down to her side, clasping tightly. She searched Regina’s eyes, wondering if it would be the last time.
“Emma...”
She lifted her eyes once more, watching another hard swallow make its way down Regina’s throat, disappearing at her collarbone.
“There’s something I want to tell you.”
From the throne, Rumplestiltskin rolled his eyes, sighing, “While this is all very touching, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask for silence.” And with a flourish of his wrist, he turned Regina to stone.
“NO!” The cry exploded from Emma’s lips before her brain could fully wrap itself around what had just happened. Whereas a split second before it had been warm flesh she grasped, now it was cold, gray stone. Carefully, she extracted her fingers, already feeling as though her blood was no longer flowing through her body -- as if it were as solid as Regina now was.
“Mom?” Henry stepped back, his eyes large and round as he regarded the monolithic statue.
She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t even move. Had she been paralyzed as well?
“Best run along, dearies,” Rumplestiltskin taunted them, rising from the throne and making his way toward the stone replacement of the former queen.
“Emma.” Henry grabbed at her, tugged on her sleeve, but her eyes remained cemented on Regina. “Emma!”
His voice jolted her back to reality and she looked down at him as he tried to drag her away.
“We need to go!”
But didn’t he understand that she couldn’t move? Rumplestiltskin had cast a spell on her as well, though not of the same severity.
“Hurry!” Then he gave her as hard a shove as his 10-year-old arms could manage and Emma felt her limbs move.
She stumbled, and looked down at her feet as if from somewhere outside of herself. She could move. It wasn’t magic that had left her momentarily paralyzed. It was something else entirely.
“Don’t worry, dear Princess. I’ll take good care of your beloved,” he teased, and then made a sweeping flourish to each side as he added, “We all will.”
She was about to ask him to elaborate, but then he didn’t need to. Out from behind the tall throne stepped Jefferson, wearing a self-satisfied smirk. And then a low growl, almost a snuff, drew her eyes upward where she saw the dragon -- Maleficent -- hovering in the air above them, tiny wings flapping as smoke billowed from the beast’s nostrils.
Jefferson stepped up to the stony version of Regina, scrutinizing her with a soft smile as if inspecting a sculpture. “We’ll make sure to show her the same amount of care and attention she showed to us.”
And then she felt herself splintered in two, part of her digging in and staying grounded right where she was, while the other part of her wanted to grab Henry and take off. “Lay a finger on her and you’ll be sorry.”
“Oooh,” Jefferson chuckled, nonplussed by the threat. “You’re about as scary as the little man, here.” He gestured to Henry.
Henry glared, squeezing Emma’s hand to the point she thought he’d crush her bones. “Let’s go. Come on!”
And Emma, her maternal protectiveness taking the wheel, took off with her son, back through the makeshift archways Regina had blasted into the maze of hedges. Down into a valley and up a hill they went until they reached the gigantic toadstool, though this time the caterpillar was nowhere to be found.
“How do we get back in there?” Henry asked, and Emma pulled him forward, unable to muster enough speech to answer.
Her limbs felt like they were no longer connected to her body. Her head was swimming and vision hazy... which wasn’t helped when they were drawn back through the spinning violet portal. The magical wind whipped around her and Emma felt it steal all the breath from her body.
By the time they had been dumped back onto the tile floor in the foyer, she was catatonic. She registered no pain from hitting the floor even though a shudder ran through her bones.
She felt strong hands grabbing her, lifting her up while she clung to Henry’s hand.
“Emma?” Brown hair and concerned brown eyes swam in front of her and she swayed.
Another hand caught her around the waist, holding her up and she heard voices echoing in her head.
“Emma, are you alright? What happened?”
“What’s wrong with her? Did something happen to her? Emma, say something!”
Fingers snapped in front of her face and she attempted to focus on the motion, only to have her eyes focus on a spot far off in the distance.
“She’s not responding. Henry, what happened?”
“I think... I think she’s in shock.”
The voices continued to echo, bouncing around every corner of her head. She heard her son explaining what had happened to him when he had been abducted by Jefferson. Heard him mention something about another portal, and how he had been held captive at the palace of the Queen of Hearts.
The voices got further and further off, more muffled as if she was losing her hearing. She continued to stare at that one spot in the distance, wondering if she was paralyzed again. She told herself to move her hand, but her body was too exhausted, too numb to comply with her internal demand.
Finally, her hearing cleared enough that she was able to make out two words, in her father’s voice:
“Where’s Regina?”
And she exploded in tears.
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}
CHAPTER 23: Heart of Stone
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Series through 2.03 ("Lady of the Lake")
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: "It's the only way."
*****
Emma’s heart had fallen before the words had even left Regina’s lips. As if it knew. But her heart always had been 3 steps ahead of her brain. It had wrapped itself firmly around Regina in such a short span of time, and her brain had yet to make a valid attempt to do the same.
If someone were to ask her to analyze Regina Mills, she wouldn’t know where to start. She was a half-closed book still, a partial mystery. And yet her heart knew Regina’s instincts; its beats recognized the shifts in her moods and deciphered her motives long before a word could be spoken. Her blood pressure rose and fell in tandem with these shifts in mood and motive; it flowed through her veins with an intrinsic knowledge of the enigma beside her.
But that intrinsic, blood-deep knowledge did nothing to ease the dramatic drop felt in her heart and her stomach when Regina offered herself up to the enemy.
She heard Henry sputter, “You?” in confusion while her vision tunneled.
And the little imp commandeering the Wonderland throne merely tilted his head, interest piqued and eyes twinkling.
Regina stepped forward, eyes still on Rumplestiltskin. “You allow me to trade places with Henry and you’ve got me. The one person you’ve been dying to kill, completely at your mercy.”
“Oh, dearie.” He tsked, shaking his head in a pitying manner. “I never wanted to kill you. I still have no desire to do so.” His smile spread slowly as he taunted her softly, “What I’ve been saving for you will make death seem a tropical vacation.”
Another drop of the heart and Emma clamped her hand around Regina’s wrist, hard, hoping the desperation hadn’t yet reached her eyes. “Regina... no. You can’t.”
Regina turned to her with sadness laid heavily in the coffee-brown depths of her eyes. “I have to. It’s the only way.”
An eerie little giggle bubbled up from Rumpelstiltskin. He templed his hands together, eyes still set on Regina. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”
“Tell me what?” She looked to Regina, not caring in the slightest if Rumplestiltskin was toying with her.
Regina turned to her, eyes downcast as if ashamed. “The hat... the portal that we took to came here... it has rules.”
She glimpsed sidelong at Rumplestiltskin, asking with dread, “Like what?”
Henry jumped in before Regina could, his tone almost sad. “Only the same number of people going in can come out.”
Emma turned to Regina, eyes wide. “So... the two of us came in...”
She nodded, finishing the thought for her. “And only two can leave.” Sighing, she shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Emma. I couldn’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because. You would know exactly what I was up to and would try to put a stop to it. But I knew that this is how things have to be.” Tears came to her eyes, a light sheen, as she whispered, “It’s the only way.”
“Why are you doing this?” Emma whispered back desperately, able to feel the tears stinging her own eyes.
“Because of me,” Henry spoke up, still struggling against the golden restraints. “Because she wants me to know how much she loves me.” A bit more emphatically, he raised his voice and told her, “But I already know! I already know, Mom! And you don’t have to do this, please don’t do this, he’ll do terrible things to you!”
Tears spilled onto Regina’s cheeks at hearing Henry’s plaintive protests, but she forged on. “Better he do them to me, than to you. My mind is made up. This is how it must be. You’ll go back with Emma, and she’ll take care of you.”
“Well?” Rumplestiltskin, temporarily forgotten by the three in turmoil, held up his hands in a pseudo-shrug, each elbow braced on one arm of the throne. “You know I need to hear the magic word, dearie. Do we have a deal? You’re at my mercy, in exchange for your son?”
Regina swallowed hard and Emma watched her eyes settle on Henry, big and round and full of remorse. She closed them and more tears scudded down her cheeks. And when they opened again, they were on Rumplestiltskin, determination lighting the browns as she answered lowly, “Deal.”
He giggled, clapping excitedly, “Excellent!” and as he did so, the bindings vanished from Henry’s wrists and instead appeared around Regina’s.
As soon as he was freed, Henry launched himself at his foster mother, his arms around her waist holding tight. Emma could only stare, her body growing numb as she watched the goodbye taking place before her.
Regina lifted her bound wrists glowing gold, ruffling her son’s hair and holding him close as best she could. In a voice pregnant with pent-up sobs, she told him shakily, “You must believe how much I love you, Henry. How much I’ve always loved you. You took up my entire heart the first time I held you. Please believe that.”
“I do. I believe you,” he told her, still clutching her waist tightly. He looked up at her, begging, “Please don’t do this!”
Swallowing hard, it looked as though she forced herself to ignore her son’s plea, instead turning to Emma. “I know you’ll get him home safe. I know you’ll take good care of him.”
“Please....” Emma struggled to hang on to the last threads of her emotions, the tears in her eyes threatening to spill over. “You can’t leave us.” Softer, in nothing more than a crippled whisper, she confessed, “I don’t think I can do this without you.”
“I must. And you can, I know you can.” Regina reached up, the golden restraints almost blinding in their brightness as she grasped Emma’s chin between her thumb and forefinger, meeting her eyes. “You trusted me. Now I’m trusting you. Take care of our son.”
Emma grasped the hand that held her chin and brought it down to her side, clasping tightly. She searched Regina’s eyes, wondering if it would be the last time.
“Emma...”
She lifted her eyes once more, watching another hard swallow make its way down Regina’s throat, disappearing at her collarbone.
“There’s something I want to tell you.”
From the throne, Rumplestiltskin rolled his eyes, sighing, “While this is all very touching, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask for silence.” And with a flourish of his wrist, he turned Regina to stone.
“NO!” The cry exploded from Emma’s lips before her brain could fully wrap itself around what had just happened. Whereas a split second before it had been warm flesh she grasped, now it was cold, gray stone. Carefully, she extracted her fingers, already feeling as though her blood was no longer flowing through her body -- as if it were as solid as Regina now was.
“Mom?” Henry stepped back, his eyes large and round as he regarded the monolithic statue.
She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t even move. Had she been paralyzed as well?
“Best run along, dearies,” Rumplestiltskin taunted them, rising from the throne and making his way toward the stone replacement of the former queen.
“Emma.” Henry grabbed at her, tugged on her sleeve, but her eyes remained cemented on Regina. “Emma!”
His voice jolted her back to reality and she looked down at him as he tried to drag her away.
“We need to go!”
But didn’t he understand that she couldn’t move? Rumplestiltskin had cast a spell on her as well, though not of the same severity.
“Hurry!” Then he gave her as hard a shove as his 10-year-old arms could manage and Emma felt her limbs move.
She stumbled, and looked down at her feet as if from somewhere outside of herself. She could move. It wasn’t magic that had left her momentarily paralyzed. It was something else entirely.
“Don’t worry, dear Princess. I’ll take good care of your beloved,” he teased, and then made a sweeping flourish to each side as he added, “We all will.”
She was about to ask him to elaborate, but then he didn’t need to. Out from behind the tall throne stepped Jefferson, wearing a self-satisfied smirk. And then a low growl, almost a snuff, drew her eyes upward where she saw the dragon -- Maleficent -- hovering in the air above them, tiny wings flapping as smoke billowed from the beast’s nostrils.
Jefferson stepped up to the stony version of Regina, scrutinizing her with a soft smile as if inspecting a sculpture. “We’ll make sure to show her the same amount of care and attention she showed to us.”
And then she felt herself splintered in two, part of her digging in and staying grounded right where she was, while the other part of her wanted to grab Henry and take off. “Lay a finger on her and you’ll be sorry.”
“Oooh,” Jefferson chuckled, nonplussed by the threat. “You’re about as scary as the little man, here.” He gestured to Henry.
Henry glared, squeezing Emma’s hand to the point she thought he’d crush her bones. “Let’s go. Come on!”
And Emma, her maternal protectiveness taking the wheel, took off with her son, back through the makeshift archways Regina had blasted into the maze of hedges. Down into a valley and up a hill they went until they reached the gigantic toadstool, though this time the caterpillar was nowhere to be found.
“How do we get back in there?” Henry asked, and Emma pulled him forward, unable to muster enough speech to answer.
Her limbs felt like they were no longer connected to her body. Her head was swimming and vision hazy... which wasn’t helped when they were drawn back through the spinning violet portal. The magical wind whipped around her and Emma felt it steal all the breath from her body.
By the time they had been dumped back onto the tile floor in the foyer, she was catatonic. She registered no pain from hitting the floor even though a shudder ran through her bones.
She felt strong hands grabbing her, lifting her up while she clung to Henry’s hand.
“Emma?” Brown hair and concerned brown eyes swam in front of her and she swayed.
Another hand caught her around the waist, holding her up and she heard voices echoing in her head.
“Emma, are you alright? What happened?”
“What’s wrong with her? Did something happen to her? Emma, say something!”
Fingers snapped in front of her face and she attempted to focus on the motion, only to have her eyes focus on a spot far off in the distance.
“She’s not responding. Henry, what happened?”
“I think... I think she’s in shock.”
The voices continued to echo, bouncing around every corner of her head. She heard her son explaining what had happened to him when he had been abducted by Jefferson. Heard him mention something about another portal, and how he had been held captive at the palace of the Queen of Hearts.
The voices got further and further off, more muffled as if she was losing her hearing. She continued to stare at that one spot in the distance, wondering if she was paralyzed again. She told herself to move her hand, but her body was too exhausted, too numb to comply with her internal demand.
Finally, her hearing cleared enough that she was able to make out two words, in her father’s voice:
“Where’s Regina?”
And she exploded in tears.
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}