A Queen Without Power (Once Upon a Time; Regina/Emma)
TITLE: A Queen Without Power
CHAPTER 24: Vantagepoints
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Series through 2x04 ("The Crocodile")
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: These vast catacombs beneath Storybrooke had been her landfill for the last 28 timeless years. It was where she had chucked the coffin. Maleficent’s scepter. Maleficent herself. Every dirty little secret she hadn’t wanted to hang onto ended up here. So it was only fitting that she be the final throwaway.
*****
Sounds returned to her first: hollow, echoing sounds. Next was taste -- the dryness like cotton in her mouth as her tongue scraped across her lips. And then came smell -- dust, mold, ash and a cornucopia of other scents, like a musty basement. Her limbs ached and she knew that feeling had returned to them, as if they had fallen asleep and gone numb.
“Wakey wakey...”
Regina opened her eyes with a gasp. She looked down to see that her wrists were no longer bound together. Instead, they were each bound to a separate rock on either side of her, the glowing golden rope embedded deep in the stone.
She was cold; everything around her was cold, including the sparkling eyes of the little imp that giggled in front of her. She lunged at him, temporarily forgetting her restraints.
“Glad to see your, ehm... stone-faced resolve has faded,” he taunted her.
“Where the hell have you taken me?”
“You mean you don’t recognize it?” a third voice rang out.
Regina looked up to see Maleficent striding toward her, that vacant, vapid smile in place. “You only just visited me here a few days ago, Reggie darling.”
She threw a glance at her surroundings, still trying to regain her bearings. Sure enough, there was the glass coffin in which she imprisoned Snow, and off in the corner was the darkened elevator shaft and the twisted, crushed remains of the elevator car.
“So this is it,” she addressed Rumplestiltskin, staring him down despite the nagging inner knowledge that she was, for once, completely helpless. “This is where you’ve arranged for my final judgment.”
It was fitting in a way, though she would never give him credit for it. These vast catacombs beneath Storybrooke had been her landfill for the last 28 timeless years. It was where she had chucked the coffin. Maleficent’s scepter. Maleficent herself. Every dirty little secret she hadn’t wanted to hang onto ended up here. So it was only fitting that she be the final throwaway.
“No judgment here, dearie! Just good old-fashioned fun.” As the final syllable left his lips, he wound up like a pitcher and whipped a violet ball of energy at her, hitting her in the abdomen.
Regina gasped, fists clenching against the bindings in pain as she immediately felt the pull -- tiny invisible fingers grasping, clawing at her, pulling her insides out. But they weren’t her insides. She looked down, watching the gathering purple light growing brighter and brighter against her stomach, a long stream of several bolts of lightning connecting her to Rumplestiltskin’s outstretched hand.
Maleficent looked on in what Regina could only think to describe as a mix of awe and glee. She was half surprised the witch hadn’t begun jumping up and down.
She felt tired; exhausted, really. Her limbs ached and it felt like the very breath was being pulled from her body. It seemed to carry on and on, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of begging him to stop. She refused to be the one to say ‘please’ in this situation. He took joy in watching her knuckle under, watching her bend to his whim. He wouldn’t get an ounce of pleasure from it this time.
So she grit her teeth against the pain and thought of her son. She closed her eyes and heard his laugh bouncing around her head, breathless and gasping when she would mercilessly tickle him. She remembered all their times out on the swing, under the stars, the bench rocking beneath them as she stroked his hair and lulled him to sleep. She remembered the way he would smile, just barely hanging on to his consciousness, and tell her on a sigh while snuggling under his blanket, “You’re my favoritest mommy.”
And she remembered the way her heart warmed from his small toddler voice; the way she would dust kisses to his soft temple and freshly-shampooed hair, echoing, “You’re my favoritest son,” and taking joy in the knowledge that it was the last thing he heard as he drifted off to dreamland.
By the time she came back to herself, the pain had stopped. There was no longer anything pulling at her, and she slumped exhaustively onto her knees, the bindings holding her arms up behind her. She dipped her head and caught her breath, an ache still sitting low in her belly.
She lifted her head when she heard his satisfied little giggle, and she glared up at him through her lashes. The glare didn’t last long, however, when she saw the large, glowing purple ball hovering just inches above his upturned palm. And she couldn’t help herself: “What is that?”
“Hmm?” He flicked his brows upward innocently, throwing a glance at the violet ball of energy. “Oh this? Not much. Just a little something to split between the four of us.” With a flutter of his fingers, the ball split into four smaller balls of energy, orbiting around one another above his palm.
Maleficent and Jefferson flanked him on either side, Maleficent looking excited while Jefferson retained his usual expression of indifference. Then, Regina watched as two balls of energy floated up, one heading toward Maleficent while the other floated toward Jefferson.
Happily, Maleficent held out her scepter and the energy was captured within the globe on top. The globe she could have sworn she had broken long ago. The other that had made its way toward Jefferson smoothed into a long line of purple smoke, which Jefferson then inhaled, his eyes flashing violet for a moment before a smirk curled his lips.
Then, there was the third ball of energy; this one rose slowly, hovering in front of Rumplestiltskin’s face. With a smile, he opened his mouth and then closed it around the energy ball. Like plucking a grape from a vine dangling overhead. Regina watched the glow sliding down his throat until it disappeared.
“Whose is the fourth?” she heard herself asking, a bit redundantly. There was no doubt in her mind as to who the final recipient was.
“It’s mine.” A fourth, all-too-familiar voice rang out, and the current three captors stepped aside, making way for their guest.
She stepped up beside Rumplestiltskin and took hold of the last ball of energy, inhaling it just as Jefferson had. As her eyes glowed violet, she smiled malevolently down at Regina.
“Hello, my love,” Cora cooed, without a hint of affection in her tone.
And though Regina was expecting her, it didn’t stop the sensation of her stomach falling past her feet as she returned the greeting. “Mother.”
*****
James had always known that at some point, he would assume the throne. Long ago, he had resigned himself to his fate as a reluctant king, married to Princess Abigail. Then when Snow came along, he envisioned himself as the mighty king that usurped both George and Regina as a means of salvaging the kingdom.
Now, this was his reality -- being a displaced king in a town stuck out of time, straddling his competing impulses: to flee with his family, and to take responsibility for the fate of his people in a quest for glory.
Regina’s abdication left he and Snow in the roles of leader without much time to prepare. They’d only just regained their memories; the urge to take back the kingdom had been far from their minds. And now it was in their hands willingly, something that threw them both for quite a loop.
Regina had changed in ways he never could have anticipated. His initial instinct when the curse broke was to find Regina and restrain her; that she would be eager to unleash magical havoc on the citizens of Storybrooke. Emma’s claim that she had vanished never sat well with him. Snow may have been a willing buyer, and perhaps David Nolan would have been gullible enough to believe, but he, the dragon-slaying replacement prince, knew a lie when he saw one.
He had allowed Emma a few days’ luxury of pretending to believe. Of playing along. But her adamance that Regina was not a threat gave him cause to broach the subject with her privately. And at his first mention of Regina’s name, he saw the shift in his daughter’s features. And though he’d only known her for fleeting moments at birth, and a few chance encounters near the end of the curse, he knew the implication of that brief facial shift.
Emma may not have known at the time, but he did. And now there was no doubt. Now, with his daughter unconscious in the master bedroom from a combination of sleeping pills and excessive crying... there was not a sliver of doubt left within him.
Emma had feelings for Regina. Feelings that he perhaps would never be able to fully understand, but overwhelming feelings nonetheless.
He had to wonder how Snow was coping with all of this. She had been blissfully ignorant for days. Seeing Regina in person again, and seeing that Emma had been protecting her all along, had to have lifted the veil a bit. Not to mention the easy contact between Regina and their daughter -- contact that seemed almost instinctual. Regina’s fingers fluttered and Emma would reach toward them without looking. The two of them had a connection.
And now that Regina had sacrificed herself and left Emma inconsolable, James had to wonder if his wife’s silence was an indication of her processing what was happening, or of her denial.
“I just don’t understand,” he heard her murmur beside him while they sat at the table in the dining room. “I don’t understand why Regina wouldn’t tell Emma about those rules.”
“Because she knew Emma would try to stop her, and I don’t think she wanted her to,” Henry replied. He sat across from them at the table, feet swinging under his chair with a childlike innocence though his expression was somber and downcast. His fingers slid over the shiny surface of the table, drawing indecipherable patterns.
James felt his wife look over at him curiously. “What did she say to you? Before she and Emma went into the portal, I mean.”
The moment came back to him as clearly as if it was happening again:
“James, a word please.”
“Now?” Emma blurted her surprise. “We have to go before this thing closes on us!”
Regina shook her head, telling her, “It won’t go anywhere until we jump in.” Then, she pulled him aside.
“What is so urgent, Regina?”
“You must listen to me. Please. No matter what happens in Wonderland, you must promise me you will do everything in your power to keep Henry and Emma safe.”
“Why? Regina, what--”
“Just promise me.” After reading his hesitation, she tilted her head and her eyes softened. “Please. They’re all I have left.”
And he had searched her eyes back and forth for a long moment, finally nodding and answering, “I promise.”
Then they shook hands and the agreement had been struck. And he watched Regina return to his daughter’s side, the two of them plummeting into the swirling violet chasm beneath them.
“James?”
Snow’s voice drew him from his thoughts, and he looked over at her. She raised her brows expectantly.
To his grandson, he said, “She made me promise to keep you and Emma safe, no matter what happens.”
If possible, Henry looked even more depressed. “Yeah. Because she never planned on coming back.”
Snow nodded to herself, murmuring quietly, “And now Emma has to raise a son on her own. She’s scared. That’s why she was so upset.”
James had all he could do not to close his eyes and sigh in disappointment. Oh Snow...
Instead, he exchanged a look with Henry, who nodded at the newly-appointed queen and agreed, “Yep, that’s probably why.”
“I should go check on her.” She pushed herself up.
Instinctively, James laid a hand over hers. “No. You, um... you should get to town hall. Everyone is confused about what’s going on. You’ll need to reassure them.” Nodding toward their grandson, he told her, “I’ll stay here with Emma and Henry.”
His wife narrowed her eyes at him, scrutinizing, but finally she nodded and relented. “Alright. That’s probably a good idea. As much as I’d like you there with me, you’re right - one of us will need to stay with Henry.”
“Right,” he agreed. “And it’s your father’s kingdom. You should be the one to take the lead.”
Shortly thereafter, Snow White took her leave of them, James and Henry still sitting at the dining room table watching the front door she had just retreated through. He felt his grandson looking at him, and side-eyed him.
“You couldn’t tell her, huh?”
How much did this boy really know? He hadn’t spent much time around him save for the couple of overnight stays at the loft. He seemed perceptive enough, but how much did he really understand about what was going on? “Tell her what?”
Henry tilted his head at him, raising his eyebrows. “I’m eleven, I’m not stupid. My moms love each other.”
Now it was James’ turn to raise his brows. “They do?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “They just don’t know it yet.”
“I see. And you think that’s why Regina surrendered to Rumplestiltskin?”
“That’s part of it, yeah.” He ducked his head, countenance sad once again.
James studied him. “Regina... your mom, I mean... she said something to me before she and Emma went to Wonderland to find you.”
Henry glanced up.
“She said that you and Emma were all she had left.”
“Are you gonna help us save her?”
James swallowed, at war with himself. There was a sliver of doubt still lingering about Regina... and a slight fear that she could revert to her evil ways. But he thought of the way she practically begged him to watch over Emma and Henry... the tremor in her voice when she all but confessed that they were everything to her. And he answered, “Of course I’ll help you save her.”
Trouble was, he didn’t know where to start.
*****
“So this is what you’ve amounted to. Here I thought once you banished me to Wonderland you would rise to true greatness. And what do you do instead? Cast a silly curse that was far too easy to break. With love, of all things.” Cora sneered down at her daughter. “Pathetic.”
“I don’t care, mother,” Regina seethed through clenched teeth, still struggling against the golden bindings despite the knowledge that it was an exercise in futility. “For so long I sought your approval. Your love. I even made the mistake of trying to emulate you. Only to come to the realization that you are the pathetic one.”
“Enough,” Cora commanded, low and stern.
“No. You no longer frighten me. Because I see you for what you truly are. A sad old crone who resorts to stealing hearts because she’s never had one of her own.”
“I said enough!” Outstretching a hand, Cora shot violet lightning at her daughter, sending her into convulsions on the ground.
Regina’s entire body seized, almost as if she’d been hit by a taser, and she grit her teeth against the blinding pain, closing her eyes. This time, the sight of Emma filled her mind’s eye. The way her hair cascaded into her eyes, rich golden curls, when she would look down at her lap as they sat out on the swing. She thought of the way her hand would sweep some of the curls behind her ear, her close-cropped nails picking at imaginary spots on her wine glass.
Her torture ended far earlier than she’d anticipated, Rumplestiltskin stepping forward and laying a hand on Cora’s arm. “Now now, dearie... I don’t believe that’s how I taught you so long ago.”
Cora smiled, the expression devoid of any mirth, as her eyes glinted wickedly. “You’re right, dear Rumple. Perhaps I’ve forgotten. Would you care to show me again?”
He grinned. “I’d be delighted.”
Regina cried out as she was seized by more bolts of violet light, her teeth clattering together as tiny bolts of electricity hummed between them. Tears escaped her eyelids but she refused to let a sob escape, instead closing her eyes once again and trying to lose herself in her memories.
She thought of the look that came across Emma’s features just before she leaned in for that very first kiss. Some mixture of fear and dawning realization before their lips connected. And she remembered the way they had connected - the awkwardness had lasted a mere split-second before instinct took over; instinct and months-worth of repressed tension, fueling the fire between their lips.
She thought of how she could feel Emma’s heart pounding as they sat pressed together on the bench, and how it pounded in time with hers. She remembered the tingling sensation that swept over her body as she realized she wanted things to continue; as she invited Emma to join her in the bedroom. And then there was the emotional turmoil of the ensuing hours -- the rejection she’d faced and Emma’s fumbling excuses. She thought of how the reasonable excuses did nothing to squelch the fire she saw in the sheriff’s eyes, and how she knew that fire was a mirror of her own.
But her memories soon became no match for the torture she was undergoing in reality, a scream ripping forth from her lips as a searing pain shot through her from head to toe. She heard Maleficent’s maniacal giggle, as well as her mother’s approving hum.
“Very nicely done,” she congratulated Rumplestiltskin. “I couldn’t have done better myself.”
Regina slumped over when Rumplestiltskin released her, curling into a ball on the ground and wishing she could somehow soothe her throbbing insides. Her chest heaved in a quest for air and tears flowed freely down her face, though she refused to cry. A slow clicking of heels came closer, and she looked up when she felt someone towering over her.
Cora quirked a brow and asked her, “Had enough yet, darling?”
So Regina steeled her courage and ground out, “Not even close,” before she was assailed with more searing waves of electric pain.
*****
“You really think the answer could be here somewhere?” James asked, sitting beside his grandson at the foot of his twin bed.
Henry shrugged, the large leather-bound ‘Once Upon a Time’ book across his lap. “Couldn’t hurt to look.”
Together, they paged through story after story. James saw his own laid out in front of him -- the son of a shepherd, propositioned by a powerful king to replace his slain son. His quest to find true happiness despite his arranged marriage, and his chance encounter with a refugee princess named Snow White.
He saw Ruby’s story and Graham’s -- the huntsman who helped him escape Regina. He read of the dwarves and the fairies, and saw the illustrations of Regina and her stable boy, Daniel. Finally Henry landed on the story of Rumplestiltskin, a coward abandoned by his wife when she fell in love with a pirate captain. A cowardly man who then sought unending power and ignored the consequences.
“Wait, here it is,” he murmured, pressing a finger to the open book to forestall Henry turning the page. He leaned closer to the page, scanning both the text and the illustration.
There was mention of a dagger... a magical dagger that gave power to the person who wielded it. More specifically, the person who killed the person in possession of it. However, the story was not as detailed as he would have liked. “I need to know more about this dagger,” he said aloud, pointing to the illustration of the shiny kris that bore the name of ‘Rumplestiltskin.’
“I think I know someone that could help us,” Henry told him. “But we’d have to leave Emma for a little bit.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“I think so. But I haven’t seen him since the curse broke.”
James drew in a breath and sighed it out, knowing they didn’t have many options. “Well... I guess that’s a start.” Throwing a glance out the door and down the hall, toward where Emma still laid unconscious in the master bedroom, he told his grandson, “We’d better hurry,” as he pulled him up by the collar and led him out of the house.
*****
Regina gasped, seized by the throat and lifted off her feet. Her eyes stared into the cold depths of Jefferson’s as he clenched his jaw and tightened his grip around her. The magic he’d ingested had given him strength of an almost superhuman quality. She clawed at his hands, but he never flinched.
She heard his voice, just barely over her gagging. “Do you have any idea what it’s like, Regina? To be ripped from your child? To promise them you’ll be back shortly and then never see them again?” He smirked. “It’s like suffocating. Choking. Like having every breath stolen from your body. Then when you finally get to see them again... and you see them in a new family, with no memory of who you are...”
He dropped her abruptly and she cried out as she fell several feet to the ground.
"It's like being dropped on your ass."
She felt her rib crack once again... practically in the same place it had cracked when she and Emma were in the elevator car. Her bones ached and she felt her skin bruising already from Jefferson’s grip. Her breath was slow to return and she slumped over a nearby stone, knowing she wouldn’t be offered much time to regain her bearings before the next round of torture was to begin.
She threw a glare up at Maleficent as the witch crouched beside her. “And what do you have in store for me?”
Maleficent pouted. “Oh, Reggie...” She swept a hand through Regina’s hair and cooed, “Darling, I don’t want to hurt you. You’re one of my dearest friends.”
She was exhausted from the torture. So exhausted she couldn’t even bring herself to lift her head and glare. But Maleficent slid her hand gently under Regina’s chin and lifted, allowing them to meet eyes. Regina did her best to glare, though she was certain it came out as nothing more than a pained wince. “Then why are you here?”
Maleficent shrugged, expression full of nonchalance. “I was promised a show. Not to mention....” She swept her scepter down toward her, focusing Regina’s gaze on the swirling violet smoke within the globe on top. As she passed her hand over it, a flame lit within the glass globe. And she smiled, finishing the thought, “I wanted my fire back.”
Regina let out a breath when Maleficent swiftly dropped her chin, getting to her feet and plucking the globe from the top of her scepter. “When your little princess ran me through with her daddy’s sword, she took my fire away. So when Rumple promised I could get it back, I jumped at the chance to strike a deal with him. And now... now it’s mine once more.”
Regina watched as she ran the globe over and over between her hands, contact juggling before the globe began to lift itself in the air. Maleficent giggled, the sound echoing in the underground caverns before smoke consumed her. Regina blinked several times in succession as the smoke got in her eyes, stealing her breath and making her cough. The ground shook beneath her and she knew what was coming.
And sure enough once the smoke cleared, Maleficent had taken to her other form, perched high on some of the stone bluffs etched into Storybrooke’s underbelly. She breathed into a hollow chasm, filling it with fire and lava, and Regina threw up an arm to shield her eyes as ash and cinders swirled around her.
“Alright, dearie!” Rumplestiltskin appeared from behind the rocks, gleeful smile in place as he clapped his hands, twice. As he did, the golden bindings disappeared and Regina was released, looking up at him in surprise. His smile remained as he told her in a whisper, “Time to run,” and Regina took off, able to feel Maleficent advancing behind her.
She knew that, in her human form, Maleficent may have felt some twisted lingering sense of loyalty... but as a dragon, she would know nothing but the urge to kill. So she launched herself at a wall and hurriedly sought out footholds, making her way up the side of one of the cliffs.
But she knew Maleficent would be too fast. She felt a pull on the back of her jacket and she was airborne, smoke and fire singeing the cuffs of her pants as she slammed against stone on the other side of the cavern. The wind knocked out of her upon impact and she just barely gasped as she slid down the side of the wall, crumpling on the floor. She felt the first trickling of blood at her left nostril, and more at the corner of her mouth, as she rested her cheek on the ground.
She overheard her mother saying something to Rumplestiltskin, but the darkness was already closing in on her as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Her breath was thready and erratic. She felt blood at the back of her throat as she let all of her muscles go limp, the name sliding from her lips like a final prayer.
“Emma...”
*****
Her eyes snapped open, the ceiling filling her field of vision. Her heart thudded in her ears and she had heard her name just as loudly as if it was uttered beside her. “Regina,” she breathed, and began to push herself up.
Her arms shook as she braced herself, and she kept going despite her swimming head and bleary eyes. “Regina...”
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her back.
Her eyes were sliding closed again but she reached out to swing at whoever had a hold on her. She just narrowly missed a chin and heard a male chuckle.
“Emma, Emma... easy.”
“No. No... Regina...”
A hand slid through her hair and she felt an instant sensation of calm, though she wasn’t certain why. And then she heard a small voice. “It’s okay.”
“Henry?” She forced her eyes open again, attempting once more to push herself up.
With him sat her father... David Nolan, Prince James, whoever... on the edge of the bed. His hands remained on her shoulders, forcing her to lean back against the headboard.
“It’s alright,” he assured her. “We’re going to save Regina. It will all be okay.”
“How?”
“We found some help,” Henry told her.
As her eyes swam into focus, she followed their gaze to the doorway of the master bedroom... or more specifically, to who was leaning against the doorway regarding her.
“August?”
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}
CHAPTER 24: Vantagepoints
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Series through 2x04 ("The Crocodile")
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: These vast catacombs beneath Storybrooke had been her landfill for the last 28 timeless years. It was where she had chucked the coffin. Maleficent’s scepter. Maleficent herself. Every dirty little secret she hadn’t wanted to hang onto ended up here. So it was only fitting that she be the final throwaway.
*****
Sounds returned to her first: hollow, echoing sounds. Next was taste -- the dryness like cotton in her mouth as her tongue scraped across her lips. And then came smell -- dust, mold, ash and a cornucopia of other scents, like a musty basement. Her limbs ached and she knew that feeling had returned to them, as if they had fallen asleep and gone numb.
“Wakey wakey...”
Regina opened her eyes with a gasp. She looked down to see that her wrists were no longer bound together. Instead, they were each bound to a separate rock on either side of her, the glowing golden rope embedded deep in the stone.
She was cold; everything around her was cold, including the sparkling eyes of the little imp that giggled in front of her. She lunged at him, temporarily forgetting her restraints.
“Glad to see your, ehm... stone-faced resolve has faded,” he taunted her.
“Where the hell have you taken me?”
“You mean you don’t recognize it?” a third voice rang out.
Regina looked up to see Maleficent striding toward her, that vacant, vapid smile in place. “You only just visited me here a few days ago, Reggie darling.”
She threw a glance at her surroundings, still trying to regain her bearings. Sure enough, there was the glass coffin in which she imprisoned Snow, and off in the corner was the darkened elevator shaft and the twisted, crushed remains of the elevator car.
“So this is it,” she addressed Rumplestiltskin, staring him down despite the nagging inner knowledge that she was, for once, completely helpless. “This is where you’ve arranged for my final judgment.”
It was fitting in a way, though she would never give him credit for it. These vast catacombs beneath Storybrooke had been her landfill for the last 28 timeless years. It was where she had chucked the coffin. Maleficent’s scepter. Maleficent herself. Every dirty little secret she hadn’t wanted to hang onto ended up here. So it was only fitting that she be the final throwaway.
“No judgment here, dearie! Just good old-fashioned fun.” As the final syllable left his lips, he wound up like a pitcher and whipped a violet ball of energy at her, hitting her in the abdomen.
Regina gasped, fists clenching against the bindings in pain as she immediately felt the pull -- tiny invisible fingers grasping, clawing at her, pulling her insides out. But they weren’t her insides. She looked down, watching the gathering purple light growing brighter and brighter against her stomach, a long stream of several bolts of lightning connecting her to Rumplestiltskin’s outstretched hand.
Maleficent looked on in what Regina could only think to describe as a mix of awe and glee. She was half surprised the witch hadn’t begun jumping up and down.
She felt tired; exhausted, really. Her limbs ached and it felt like the very breath was being pulled from her body. It seemed to carry on and on, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of begging him to stop. She refused to be the one to say ‘please’ in this situation. He took joy in watching her knuckle under, watching her bend to his whim. He wouldn’t get an ounce of pleasure from it this time.
So she grit her teeth against the pain and thought of her son. She closed her eyes and heard his laugh bouncing around her head, breathless and gasping when she would mercilessly tickle him. She remembered all their times out on the swing, under the stars, the bench rocking beneath them as she stroked his hair and lulled him to sleep. She remembered the way he would smile, just barely hanging on to his consciousness, and tell her on a sigh while snuggling under his blanket, “You’re my favoritest mommy.”
And she remembered the way her heart warmed from his small toddler voice; the way she would dust kisses to his soft temple and freshly-shampooed hair, echoing, “You’re my favoritest son,” and taking joy in the knowledge that it was the last thing he heard as he drifted off to dreamland.
By the time she came back to herself, the pain had stopped. There was no longer anything pulling at her, and she slumped exhaustively onto her knees, the bindings holding her arms up behind her. She dipped her head and caught her breath, an ache still sitting low in her belly.
She lifted her head when she heard his satisfied little giggle, and she glared up at him through her lashes. The glare didn’t last long, however, when she saw the large, glowing purple ball hovering just inches above his upturned palm. And she couldn’t help herself: “What is that?”
“Hmm?” He flicked his brows upward innocently, throwing a glance at the violet ball of energy. “Oh this? Not much. Just a little something to split between the four of us.” With a flutter of his fingers, the ball split into four smaller balls of energy, orbiting around one another above his palm.
Maleficent and Jefferson flanked him on either side, Maleficent looking excited while Jefferson retained his usual expression of indifference. Then, Regina watched as two balls of energy floated up, one heading toward Maleficent while the other floated toward Jefferson.
Happily, Maleficent held out her scepter and the energy was captured within the globe on top. The globe she could have sworn she had broken long ago. The other that had made its way toward Jefferson smoothed into a long line of purple smoke, which Jefferson then inhaled, his eyes flashing violet for a moment before a smirk curled his lips.
Then, there was the third ball of energy; this one rose slowly, hovering in front of Rumplestiltskin’s face. With a smile, he opened his mouth and then closed it around the energy ball. Like plucking a grape from a vine dangling overhead. Regina watched the glow sliding down his throat until it disappeared.
“Whose is the fourth?” she heard herself asking, a bit redundantly. There was no doubt in her mind as to who the final recipient was.
“It’s mine.” A fourth, all-too-familiar voice rang out, and the current three captors stepped aside, making way for their guest.
She stepped up beside Rumplestiltskin and took hold of the last ball of energy, inhaling it just as Jefferson had. As her eyes glowed violet, she smiled malevolently down at Regina.
“Hello, my love,” Cora cooed, without a hint of affection in her tone.
And though Regina was expecting her, it didn’t stop the sensation of her stomach falling past her feet as she returned the greeting. “Mother.”
*****
James had always known that at some point, he would assume the throne. Long ago, he had resigned himself to his fate as a reluctant king, married to Princess Abigail. Then when Snow came along, he envisioned himself as the mighty king that usurped both George and Regina as a means of salvaging the kingdom.
Now, this was his reality -- being a displaced king in a town stuck out of time, straddling his competing impulses: to flee with his family, and to take responsibility for the fate of his people in a quest for glory.
Regina’s abdication left he and Snow in the roles of leader without much time to prepare. They’d only just regained their memories; the urge to take back the kingdom had been far from their minds. And now it was in their hands willingly, something that threw them both for quite a loop.
Regina had changed in ways he never could have anticipated. His initial instinct when the curse broke was to find Regina and restrain her; that she would be eager to unleash magical havoc on the citizens of Storybrooke. Emma’s claim that she had vanished never sat well with him. Snow may have been a willing buyer, and perhaps David Nolan would have been gullible enough to believe, but he, the dragon-slaying replacement prince, knew a lie when he saw one.
He had allowed Emma a few days’ luxury of pretending to believe. Of playing along. But her adamance that Regina was not a threat gave him cause to broach the subject with her privately. And at his first mention of Regina’s name, he saw the shift in his daughter’s features. And though he’d only known her for fleeting moments at birth, and a few chance encounters near the end of the curse, he knew the implication of that brief facial shift.
Emma may not have known at the time, but he did. And now there was no doubt. Now, with his daughter unconscious in the master bedroom from a combination of sleeping pills and excessive crying... there was not a sliver of doubt left within him.
Emma had feelings for Regina. Feelings that he perhaps would never be able to fully understand, but overwhelming feelings nonetheless.
He had to wonder how Snow was coping with all of this. She had been blissfully ignorant for days. Seeing Regina in person again, and seeing that Emma had been protecting her all along, had to have lifted the veil a bit. Not to mention the easy contact between Regina and their daughter -- contact that seemed almost instinctual. Regina’s fingers fluttered and Emma would reach toward them without looking. The two of them had a connection.
And now that Regina had sacrificed herself and left Emma inconsolable, James had to wonder if his wife’s silence was an indication of her processing what was happening, or of her denial.
“I just don’t understand,” he heard her murmur beside him while they sat at the table in the dining room. “I don’t understand why Regina wouldn’t tell Emma about those rules.”
“Because she knew Emma would try to stop her, and I don’t think she wanted her to,” Henry replied. He sat across from them at the table, feet swinging under his chair with a childlike innocence though his expression was somber and downcast. His fingers slid over the shiny surface of the table, drawing indecipherable patterns.
James felt his wife look over at him curiously. “What did she say to you? Before she and Emma went into the portal, I mean.”
The moment came back to him as clearly as if it was happening again:
“James, a word please.”
“Now?” Emma blurted her surprise. “We have to go before this thing closes on us!”
Regina shook her head, telling her, “It won’t go anywhere until we jump in.” Then, she pulled him aside.
“What is so urgent, Regina?”
“You must listen to me. Please. No matter what happens in Wonderland, you must promise me you will do everything in your power to keep Henry and Emma safe.”
“Why? Regina, what--”
“Just promise me.” After reading his hesitation, she tilted her head and her eyes softened. “Please. They’re all I have left.”
And he had searched her eyes back and forth for a long moment, finally nodding and answering, “I promise.”
Then they shook hands and the agreement had been struck. And he watched Regina return to his daughter’s side, the two of them plummeting into the swirling violet chasm beneath them.
“James?”
Snow’s voice drew him from his thoughts, and he looked over at her. She raised her brows expectantly.
To his grandson, he said, “She made me promise to keep you and Emma safe, no matter what happens.”
If possible, Henry looked even more depressed. “Yeah. Because she never planned on coming back.”
Snow nodded to herself, murmuring quietly, “And now Emma has to raise a son on her own. She’s scared. That’s why she was so upset.”
James had all he could do not to close his eyes and sigh in disappointment. Oh Snow...
Instead, he exchanged a look with Henry, who nodded at the newly-appointed queen and agreed, “Yep, that’s probably why.”
“I should go check on her.” She pushed herself up.
Instinctively, James laid a hand over hers. “No. You, um... you should get to town hall. Everyone is confused about what’s going on. You’ll need to reassure them.” Nodding toward their grandson, he told her, “I’ll stay here with Emma and Henry.”
His wife narrowed her eyes at him, scrutinizing, but finally she nodded and relented. “Alright. That’s probably a good idea. As much as I’d like you there with me, you’re right - one of us will need to stay with Henry.”
“Right,” he agreed. “And it’s your father’s kingdom. You should be the one to take the lead.”
Shortly thereafter, Snow White took her leave of them, James and Henry still sitting at the dining room table watching the front door she had just retreated through. He felt his grandson looking at him, and side-eyed him.
“You couldn’t tell her, huh?”
How much did this boy really know? He hadn’t spent much time around him save for the couple of overnight stays at the loft. He seemed perceptive enough, but how much did he really understand about what was going on? “Tell her what?”
Henry tilted his head at him, raising his eyebrows. “I’m eleven, I’m not stupid. My moms love each other.”
Now it was James’ turn to raise his brows. “They do?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “They just don’t know it yet.”
“I see. And you think that’s why Regina surrendered to Rumplestiltskin?”
“That’s part of it, yeah.” He ducked his head, countenance sad once again.
James studied him. “Regina... your mom, I mean... she said something to me before she and Emma went to Wonderland to find you.”
Henry glanced up.
“She said that you and Emma were all she had left.”
“Are you gonna help us save her?”
James swallowed, at war with himself. There was a sliver of doubt still lingering about Regina... and a slight fear that she could revert to her evil ways. But he thought of the way she practically begged him to watch over Emma and Henry... the tremor in her voice when she all but confessed that they were everything to her. And he answered, “Of course I’ll help you save her.”
Trouble was, he didn’t know where to start.
*****
“So this is what you’ve amounted to. Here I thought once you banished me to Wonderland you would rise to true greatness. And what do you do instead? Cast a silly curse that was far too easy to break. With love, of all things.” Cora sneered down at her daughter. “Pathetic.”
“I don’t care, mother,” Regina seethed through clenched teeth, still struggling against the golden bindings despite the knowledge that it was an exercise in futility. “For so long I sought your approval. Your love. I even made the mistake of trying to emulate you. Only to come to the realization that you are the pathetic one.”
“Enough,” Cora commanded, low and stern.
“No. You no longer frighten me. Because I see you for what you truly are. A sad old crone who resorts to stealing hearts because she’s never had one of her own.”
“I said enough!” Outstretching a hand, Cora shot violet lightning at her daughter, sending her into convulsions on the ground.
Regina’s entire body seized, almost as if she’d been hit by a taser, and she grit her teeth against the blinding pain, closing her eyes. This time, the sight of Emma filled her mind’s eye. The way her hair cascaded into her eyes, rich golden curls, when she would look down at her lap as they sat out on the swing. She thought of the way her hand would sweep some of the curls behind her ear, her close-cropped nails picking at imaginary spots on her wine glass.
Her torture ended far earlier than she’d anticipated, Rumplestiltskin stepping forward and laying a hand on Cora’s arm. “Now now, dearie... I don’t believe that’s how I taught you so long ago.”
Cora smiled, the expression devoid of any mirth, as her eyes glinted wickedly. “You’re right, dear Rumple. Perhaps I’ve forgotten. Would you care to show me again?”
He grinned. “I’d be delighted.”
Regina cried out as she was seized by more bolts of violet light, her teeth clattering together as tiny bolts of electricity hummed between them. Tears escaped her eyelids but she refused to let a sob escape, instead closing her eyes once again and trying to lose herself in her memories.
She thought of the look that came across Emma’s features just before she leaned in for that very first kiss. Some mixture of fear and dawning realization before their lips connected. And she remembered the way they had connected - the awkwardness had lasted a mere split-second before instinct took over; instinct and months-worth of repressed tension, fueling the fire between their lips.
She thought of how she could feel Emma’s heart pounding as they sat pressed together on the bench, and how it pounded in time with hers. She remembered the tingling sensation that swept over her body as she realized she wanted things to continue; as she invited Emma to join her in the bedroom. And then there was the emotional turmoil of the ensuing hours -- the rejection she’d faced and Emma’s fumbling excuses. She thought of how the reasonable excuses did nothing to squelch the fire she saw in the sheriff’s eyes, and how she knew that fire was a mirror of her own.
But her memories soon became no match for the torture she was undergoing in reality, a scream ripping forth from her lips as a searing pain shot through her from head to toe. She heard Maleficent’s maniacal giggle, as well as her mother’s approving hum.
“Very nicely done,” she congratulated Rumplestiltskin. “I couldn’t have done better myself.”
Regina slumped over when Rumplestiltskin released her, curling into a ball on the ground and wishing she could somehow soothe her throbbing insides. Her chest heaved in a quest for air and tears flowed freely down her face, though she refused to cry. A slow clicking of heels came closer, and she looked up when she felt someone towering over her.
Cora quirked a brow and asked her, “Had enough yet, darling?”
So Regina steeled her courage and ground out, “Not even close,” before she was assailed with more searing waves of electric pain.
*****
“You really think the answer could be here somewhere?” James asked, sitting beside his grandson at the foot of his twin bed.
Henry shrugged, the large leather-bound ‘Once Upon a Time’ book across his lap. “Couldn’t hurt to look.”
Together, they paged through story after story. James saw his own laid out in front of him -- the son of a shepherd, propositioned by a powerful king to replace his slain son. His quest to find true happiness despite his arranged marriage, and his chance encounter with a refugee princess named Snow White.
He saw Ruby’s story and Graham’s -- the huntsman who helped him escape Regina. He read of the dwarves and the fairies, and saw the illustrations of Regina and her stable boy, Daniel. Finally Henry landed on the story of Rumplestiltskin, a coward abandoned by his wife when she fell in love with a pirate captain. A cowardly man who then sought unending power and ignored the consequences.
“Wait, here it is,” he murmured, pressing a finger to the open book to forestall Henry turning the page. He leaned closer to the page, scanning both the text and the illustration.
There was mention of a dagger... a magical dagger that gave power to the person who wielded it. More specifically, the person who killed the person in possession of it. However, the story was not as detailed as he would have liked. “I need to know more about this dagger,” he said aloud, pointing to the illustration of the shiny kris that bore the name of ‘Rumplestiltskin.’
“I think I know someone that could help us,” Henry told him. “But we’d have to leave Emma for a little bit.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“I think so. But I haven’t seen him since the curse broke.”
James drew in a breath and sighed it out, knowing they didn’t have many options. “Well... I guess that’s a start.” Throwing a glance out the door and down the hall, toward where Emma still laid unconscious in the master bedroom, he told his grandson, “We’d better hurry,” as he pulled him up by the collar and led him out of the house.
*****
Regina gasped, seized by the throat and lifted off her feet. Her eyes stared into the cold depths of Jefferson’s as he clenched his jaw and tightened his grip around her. The magic he’d ingested had given him strength of an almost superhuman quality. She clawed at his hands, but he never flinched.
She heard his voice, just barely over her gagging. “Do you have any idea what it’s like, Regina? To be ripped from your child? To promise them you’ll be back shortly and then never see them again?” He smirked. “It’s like suffocating. Choking. Like having every breath stolen from your body. Then when you finally get to see them again... and you see them in a new family, with no memory of who you are...”
He dropped her abruptly and she cried out as she fell several feet to the ground.
"It's like being dropped on your ass."
She felt her rib crack once again... practically in the same place it had cracked when she and Emma were in the elevator car. Her bones ached and she felt her skin bruising already from Jefferson’s grip. Her breath was slow to return and she slumped over a nearby stone, knowing she wouldn’t be offered much time to regain her bearings before the next round of torture was to begin.
She threw a glare up at Maleficent as the witch crouched beside her. “And what do you have in store for me?”
Maleficent pouted. “Oh, Reggie...” She swept a hand through Regina’s hair and cooed, “Darling, I don’t want to hurt you. You’re one of my dearest friends.”
She was exhausted from the torture. So exhausted she couldn’t even bring herself to lift her head and glare. But Maleficent slid her hand gently under Regina’s chin and lifted, allowing them to meet eyes. Regina did her best to glare, though she was certain it came out as nothing more than a pained wince. “Then why are you here?”
Maleficent shrugged, expression full of nonchalance. “I was promised a show. Not to mention....” She swept her scepter down toward her, focusing Regina’s gaze on the swirling violet smoke within the globe on top. As she passed her hand over it, a flame lit within the glass globe. And she smiled, finishing the thought, “I wanted my fire back.”
Regina let out a breath when Maleficent swiftly dropped her chin, getting to her feet and plucking the globe from the top of her scepter. “When your little princess ran me through with her daddy’s sword, she took my fire away. So when Rumple promised I could get it back, I jumped at the chance to strike a deal with him. And now... now it’s mine once more.”
Regina watched as she ran the globe over and over between her hands, contact juggling before the globe began to lift itself in the air. Maleficent giggled, the sound echoing in the underground caverns before smoke consumed her. Regina blinked several times in succession as the smoke got in her eyes, stealing her breath and making her cough. The ground shook beneath her and she knew what was coming.
And sure enough once the smoke cleared, Maleficent had taken to her other form, perched high on some of the stone bluffs etched into Storybrooke’s underbelly. She breathed into a hollow chasm, filling it with fire and lava, and Regina threw up an arm to shield her eyes as ash and cinders swirled around her.
“Alright, dearie!” Rumplestiltskin appeared from behind the rocks, gleeful smile in place as he clapped his hands, twice. As he did, the golden bindings disappeared and Regina was released, looking up at him in surprise. His smile remained as he told her in a whisper, “Time to run,” and Regina took off, able to feel Maleficent advancing behind her.
She knew that, in her human form, Maleficent may have felt some twisted lingering sense of loyalty... but as a dragon, she would know nothing but the urge to kill. So she launched herself at a wall and hurriedly sought out footholds, making her way up the side of one of the cliffs.
But she knew Maleficent would be too fast. She felt a pull on the back of her jacket and she was airborne, smoke and fire singeing the cuffs of her pants as she slammed against stone on the other side of the cavern. The wind knocked out of her upon impact and she just barely gasped as she slid down the side of the wall, crumpling on the floor. She felt the first trickling of blood at her left nostril, and more at the corner of her mouth, as she rested her cheek on the ground.
She overheard her mother saying something to Rumplestiltskin, but the darkness was already closing in on her as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Her breath was thready and erratic. She felt blood at the back of her throat as she let all of her muscles go limp, the name sliding from her lips like a final prayer.
“Emma...”
*****
Her eyes snapped open, the ceiling filling her field of vision. Her heart thudded in her ears and she had heard her name just as loudly as if it was uttered beside her. “Regina,” she breathed, and began to push herself up.
Her arms shook as she braced herself, and she kept going despite her swimming head and bleary eyes. “Regina...”
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her back.
Her eyes were sliding closed again but she reached out to swing at whoever had a hold on her. She just narrowly missed a chin and heard a male chuckle.
“Emma, Emma... easy.”
“No. No... Regina...”
A hand slid through her hair and she felt an instant sensation of calm, though she wasn’t certain why. And then she heard a small voice. “It’s okay.”
“Henry?” She forced her eyes open again, attempting once more to push herself up.
With him sat her father... David Nolan, Prince James, whoever... on the edge of the bed. His hands remained on her shoulders, forcing her to lean back against the headboard.
“It’s alright,” he assured her. “We’re going to save Regina. It will all be okay.”
“How?”
“We found some help,” Henry told her.
As her eyes swam into focus, she followed their gaze to the doorway of the master bedroom... or more specifically, to who was leaning against the doorway regarding her.
“August?”
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}