A Queen Without Power (Once Upon a Time; Regina/Emma)
TITLE: A Queen Without Power
CHAPTER 25: Bottled Truth
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Season one (in its entirety) and through 2x04 "The Crocodile"
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: Regina was badly beaten. Bruises marred her once flawless skin. Dried blood had crusted at the corner of her mouth, on her cheekbone and temple. And the way she cradled her ribs left Emma with no doubt that she had a broken bone or two.
*****
“So... that’s what you’ve missed,” Emma concluded, cradling the mug of hot cocoa in her hands.
The bench swing rocked gently, creaking woodenly as she and August sat side-by-side, staring out at Regina’s revived honeycrisp tree. August nodded, eyes focused somewhere in the distance thoughtfully.
“Well. That’s a... lot to take in,” he replied, after a long moment of silence had passed.
Emma chuckled, just barely. “I suppose it’s a pretty huge shift from where you and I left off.”
“Yeah, that’s for sure. We went from you wanting to destroy Regina... to wanting to rescue her and keep her from being destroyed. Yeah I’d say that’s a bit of an attitude change.”
“August, look... I know this is a little, um,” she furrowed her brows, struggling for the right term and coming up with nothing better than, “Weird, but--”
“Hey, hey.” His hand gently patted her knee, and he nudged her good-naturedly. “Listen, if there’s one thing I retained from the fairytale world, it’s that love trumps all. And that love can sometimes come about in extraordinary circumstances, when we least expect it.”
“Love.” The term made her heart skip wildly, though it also induced a bit of nausea. She tucked her hair behind her ear, keeping her gaze on her hot cocoa, watching the sprinkle of cinnamon swirl in the liquid as she murmured, “I-I don’t... I don’t know that it’s love necessarily.”
When she didn’t get a response, she looked up to find August regarding her crookedly, his eyes narrowed in skepticism. “Really.”
She nodded. “Yeah, really. I mean, I-I care about Regina for sure. And, we obviously share this... connection, but--”
“Come on, Emma,” he sighed. “After everything you’ve just told me... after everything you’ve gone through since the curse broke... do you still need me to convince you of what’s right in front of your face?”
She furrowed her brows. “What?”
“From what Henry told me, you were damn-near comatose when you came back from Wonderland without Regina.”
“Well, it was kind of a shock,” she reasoned.
August gave her a sideways smirk -- the kind that grated on her, like he knew something she didn’t. “Alright,” he relented, holding up his hands and standing up. “If you really don’t think you feel anything other than ‘care’ for Regina, that’s fine. You’ll come around.”
She rolled her eyes, following him inside. “There’s nothing to ‘come around’ to. I should know better than anyone how I feel.”
“Okay,” he brushed her off, and she felt for a moment as if he were her smug older brother, a slight urge to punch him in the shoulder assailing her briefly before he changed the subject. “So, you are in need of a way to defeat Rumplestiltskin.”
“Yes.”
The two of them joined James and Henry in the dining room, the four of them seated around the table to discuss specifics. Henry pulled out his book and passed it to August, who smiled at him. “Thanks, kid. Now...” he flipped through the pages, folding the book open on an illustration of a dagger. “There is a surefire way to take him down, but I don’t know that you’re gonna be all that keen on it.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
August held her gaze as he told her softly, “Because you’re going to have to kill him.”
*****
Regina’s head pounded; so much so that she could barely lift herself up. Her cheek remained pressed to the stone she was slumped against, her breath coming in thready draws of air. She felt woozy, her vision blurry. Her skin was hard where the blood had dried -- some at the corner of her mouth, a bit on her cheekbone, and some at her temple. Her body was bruised and beaten, and she felt certain that more than one bone had been broken in the midst of her torture.
But she was powerless. Her magic had been ripped from inside of her and distributed among her foes. So she laid helpless -- a queen without power. But then again, she wasn’t even a queen anymore. She was nothing.
Then she felt hands on her face. On her neck, on her arms, gently lifting her and encouraging her to sit. “Regina...”
The whisper was familiar, though she couldn’t place it. She tried to force her eyes to focus, but focus wouldn’t come. “Who’s there?” she croaked, dried blood at the back of her throat causing her to rasp.
“It’s me.”
A pair of kind blue eyes hovered in her field of vision, “Daniel?!” and she thought perhaps she had already died.
He smiled at her and tilted his head... her stable boy, her Daniel, crouched in front of her with his hands gripping hers. “I’ve missed you,” he told her, eyes traveling over her face.
She exhaled, a teary smile making its way across her features. She reached for him, but her hands were too weak. “Daniel, I’ve missed you as well.”
“You’re in pain. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Yes. Yes I am.”
“You shouldn’t have to suffer any longer.”
She choked back a sob. “No I shouldn’t.”
“Then let go.”
That seemed to drag her back to reality. “What?”
“Let go, Regina. There’s nothing left for you here, and they won’t let you leave in one piece. It’s time to let go.”
“Daniel...”
“Just think of it. The two of us, together... forever... finally. We’ll get to have everything we never got to have. We’ll feel everything we never got to feel.” He reached out and laid a hand over her heart. “We can have everything if you just let yourself go.”
She swallowed her cries, finally mustering enough strength to reach for him. Her hand skirted along his jawline, feeling the smoothness and reveling in his smile. “My Daniel...”
He grasped both her hands once more, dipping his head to kiss them. “Come with me, Regina. We’ll be so happy.”
She tilted her head, squeezing his hands tight as she whispered sadly, “You were all I ever wanted...”
“I know.”
“Everything I did -- everything I became -- was because I lost you. Because she took you away from me.”
“I know, my love. But you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I’m right here. You and I can be together. Just let go.”
Regina swallowed hard, searching his eyes. “I can’t.”
His face fell, and his grip slackened. “Why not? I thought I was all you ever wanted.”
“And you were.” Leaning in close, she squeezed his hands again and whispered, “Were.”
Daniel just stared at her.
“I’m so sorry, Daniel. I loved you so much...” She choked back another sob. “So much that losing you changed me into somebody I didn’t recognize. I punished so many over your death. So many that I lost sight of myself.”
“I can remind you of who you are.”
Regina closed her eyes briefly, a tear escaping each lid as she whispered, “Somebody already has.” When she opened her eyes, her resolve had returned, and she told him strongly, “And I’m not ready to leave her.”
“Her?” He frowned. “But--”
“You’ve only seen the good in me, Daniel. You would be so appalled if you knew all that I’ve done. She does -- she knows. She’s seen the good and the bad in me and she pushes me to be better, to overcome all the darkness in my past.” She shook her head. “I can’t leave her. Or my son. I’ve got a beautiful son, Daniel. I wouldn’t be half as strong as I am now without him. I can’t just leave him behind. I’m so sorry. I have to keep fighting. For both of them.” Leaning in, she captured his gaze again. “But you’re right about letting go. I do need to let go. I need to let go of you.” She looked down at the hand she was holding, bringing it up to her lips and pressing a kiss to it, closing her eyes as she whispered, “Goodbye, Daniel.”
Daniel dipped his head sadly, and he began to vanish before her eyes. Regina tried to squeeze his hands, but he was already dissipating into smoke in front of her. “Daniel? Daniel!”
“Oh this is just pathetic.” Cora strolled up to her, brushing away the remnants of smoke from Daniel’s brief appearance. Casting a sharp look over her shoulder, she leveled Rumplestiltskin with her glare. “I thought you said that would work.”
“I believe I underestimated the, uh... connections she has here in Storybrooke.”
Regina glared up at her mother. “You did that?”
“Of course I did,” she spat. “I’m getting tired of this game.”
“Then why don’t you just kill me, mother.” Regina curled her lip in a sneer.
Cora responded by tilting her head, smiling an unkind, loveless smile. “Now darling, I would never do that. You’re my daughter.”
Instead, Cora snapped her fingers, and a block of ice appeared. Regina stumbled to her feet, no longer bound now that she was no longer a threat. The top of the block slid off, revealing rippling water beneath. A pool of sorts, encased in ice.
She looked up at her mother. “What’s that?”
“That, my dear, is your tomb. Which you will willingly climb into.”
“I thought you said you weren’t going to kill me, mother.”
“Oh this won’t kill you. Not quickly, anyway. No, death will be years and years away for you. This will allow you plenty of time to... ruminate... over your life’s decisions. Over all the ways you’ve disappointed me.” Cora curled her lip in disgust. “I just wanted you to rise to greatness. Was that too much to ask?”
Spinning away, she strode toward where Rumplestiltskin was perched, on a high ledge, with Maleficent in her dragon form high above them and Jefferson looking on in an almost bored fashion. “I wanted you to make something of yourself. And of course your bumbling father was no help.”
Regina grit her teeth, clenching her aching fists at her side. “You leave him out of this.”
“Why, darling? Sore subject? I can’t imagine why -- it’s not as if he tried to step in at any point, to stick up for you. He was and always had been nothing but a coward. I only chose him as a husband because I knew that with him, I could do as I pleased.”
“Stop,” she ground out.
“Stop?” Cora smiled. “I’ve barely begun.”
*****
Emma paced back and forth at the head of the table, anxiously biting her lower lip. August, Henry and James sat at the table, watching her.
“Emma,” August called to her. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” she huffed, planting one hand on her hip. “I don’t know, I just... I need a minute to think.”
“You’ve had like ten of those in a row now,” Henry commented, wincing just a bit.
“I know. I’m sorry.” She shook her head, turning to August. “I don’t think I can kill anyone. Even him.”
“Even if he’s already killed Regina?” James quirked an eyebrow at his daughter.
“He hasn’t,” she told him, still pacing. “I can tell.”
Henry furrowed his brows in confusion at that. “How?”
Because her heart was infused with Regina’s blood. Its solid, steady beating let her know that life still flowed through her counterpart.
“I just can,” she finally answered her son. After another moment’s thought, she strode quickly for the foyer, listening to the three men scramble after her, anxious to see what she was doing.
She stopped in front of the small oval mirror and waved her hand across it, closing her eyes and wishing to see Regina. When she opened them, a smoke was clearing from inside the mirror... and suddenly there she was.
“Regina!” she gasped, part of her wanting to pick the mirror up and hug it close.
Regina was badly beaten. Bruises marred her once flawless skin. Dried blood had crusted at the corner of her mouth, on her cheekbone and temple. And the way she cradled her ribs left Emma with no doubt that she had a broken bone or two.
Instinctively, she reached out and touched the mirror, her finger skating over the image of Regina’s dark hair.
“What have they done to her?” her father asked, stepping up beside her.
“They tortured her.”
She saw an older woman with dark hair -- undoubtedly Regina’s mother, striding toward her with a self-satisfied smirk curling her lips. She turned to Rumplestiltskin and nodded. “It’s time.”
Emma’s heart seized in her throat. “Time. Time for what? What the hell are you gonna do to her?”
“Can they hear you?” August asked, behind her.
Emma came back to herself and sighed in defeat, telling him, “No. They can’t.”
But Regina had to feel her... right?
**
“Emma,” Regina breathed, able to sense her in the beats of her heart. Luckily, the sound skirted just along the edges of her mother’s and Rumplestiltskin’s hearing, and they carried on their taunting.
“Your father was such a simple fool,” Cora chuckled.
“Stop,” she growled, giving her mother a murderous glance through her lashes.
“Why, darling? The guilt too much for you?” Cora advanced with a smile. “Your father was the only one who loved you. And you murdered him, for what? A silly curse that was broken with love. Ironic, isn’t it?” She shrugged. “But then again, I suppose he didn’t even love you enough to stop me when I was at my best.” She sighed wistfully. “I can almost hear him now: ‘Cora, stop. Cora, you’re hurting her. Cora, please put her down, she’s our daughter.’” She laughed, shaking her head. “Simple, simple fool.”
Regina’s heart thudded in her chest as Rumplestiltskin stood at her mother’s side, both of them grinning at her maliciously. She’d had enough of their games. “Whatever you’re going to do, just do it. This fanfare’s getting just a little annoying.”
“You’re right, darling,” Cora cooed. Then, she nodded to Rumplestiltskin.
“Just like I showed you, eh dearie?” he asked her, then lunged forward.
Regina cried out as his hand plunged inside her chest. She felt her heart beating an odd rhythm and knew all at once what her mother had planned.
His fingers closed around the fragile organ and Regina felt something rip inside of her. Before she knew it, her heart was glowing in his hand.
**
“NO!” Emma screamed, grabbing the mirror off the wall.
August and her father reached for her, struggled against her grip as she heard Henry burst into tears.
“They’re going to kill her!” he yelled tearfully.
She reached for him, pressing him against her as he cried, while August recovered the mirror and replaced it on the wall, the image now gone.
Her breath was thready and her chest ached. As if her own heart was being ripped from her body. And as she held her son close, she felt him trembling and knew what had to be done.
Looking up through her lashes, still trying to keep her breathing steady, she practically growled at August, “Take me to that dagger.”
**
Regina gasped, slumping against a tall stone as she watched Rumplestiltskin turn her glowing heart in his hand, a high-pitched giggle leaving his lips. “Splendid! Now...” he gave the organ a squeeze as he hissed, “Get in.”
He nodded toward the icy tomb and Regina’s body lurched forward of its own volition, under his complete control. Her mother watched on with a malevolent smile, lowly congratulating Rumplestiltskin for his efforts.
“It’s all going according to plan,” she murmured, hands clasped in front of her. “Once we gather the hearts of the new King and Queen, not to mention their sniveling daughter and grandson, we can share complete control of all the realms.”
Regina tried to fight against the movement of her limbs as her arms and legs lowered her into the enchanted pool of ice, but it was of no use. Luckily, she had just enough strength to catch what her mother had missed: the murderous look from Rumplestiltskin to Cora.
The cool water lapped around her frame and she shivered. She didn't become wet, however. Merely cold. The water was enchanted, and chilled her body though it kept her dry. Rumplestiltskin squeezed her heart again and she gasped, lowering herself further and further.
She was on her back and the water filled her field of vision, though she could still see through it clearly as if looking through glass. Above her, she watched her mother hold open one of her trademark velvet-lined boxes. Rumplestiltskin placed her heart inside and Cora clasped it shut.
As she heard the ice block being dragged over the top of the tomb, as she watched herself be buried, she heard her mother’s low chuckle. And the final thing she heard was Rumplestiltskin’s taunting tone:
“Long live the queen.”
*****
Emma shivered, feeling suddenly cold despite the general warmth in the air as they made their way to the pawn shop. Street lamps flickered and scattered newspapers drifted down the road. There wasn’t a soul in sight save for she or August, and Emma wondered if perhaps her mother had directed everyone underground until the battle was over. She wondered if her father had done the same with himself and Henry.
“I won’t come back without her, okay?” she had promised him, hugging him close just before they left.
Henry had nodded, but had been too distraught from seeing Regina’s heart ripped from her chest to say anything. He merely clung to the prince as she and August took off.
The sound of breaking glass jarred her back to reality and she spun to see August breaking one of the small panes of glass in the pawn shop door. “What the hell are you doing?” she whispered.
“I don’t have a key. Do you?”
“No.”
He rolled his eyes. “You pick the weirdest damn times to take the moral high ground.”
“Temporary lapse in judgment. Just get me in there.”
“You got it.” With a swift flick of the wrist, the door was unlocked and swung open easily.
They decided to forego the lights, not wanting to draw attention to themselves on the off-chance that someone was out and about that evening, and instead opted for flashlights. The beams swept over the various counters and shelves in the pawn shop, though nothing revealed the dagger.
“He wouldn’t have it in plain sight,” August reasoned, leap-frogging over the counter and heading for the back office.
Emma continued to rifle through drawers and cabinets in the main store area, listening to the sounds of shattering glass and shuffling papers. Then, all noise stopped. She glanced up. “August?”
She heard his boots on the tile floor and soon he had emerged, pushing back the curtain with a smile. “I believe this is what you’re looking for.”
He held out a kris to her with a golden, ornate hilt. Across the blade was emblazoned the name ‘Rumplestiltskin.’ It shone in the light of the moon that came in through the windows.
Emma took it, hefting it in her hand. “So this is it, huh?”
He nodded. “That’s it. That’s how you’re gonna slay the beast.”
*****
They returned to the estate briefly to fill Henry and James in on what they had found. When they arrived, it was to see the two of them as well as Snow White, waiting for them in the dining room.
“There you are!” Henry leapt off his chair, seemingly back in his old spirits, and he launched himself at Emma’s midsection.
She caught him, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah. We found what we needed.”
“You found the dagger?” Snow White asked, she and James rising and joining them in the foyer.
August nodded. “Yep. So now Emma can take him down.”
She raised her brows. “Me? I can’t do this by myself! I need you!”
He shook his head. “No you don’t. You’re the savior, remember?”
Henry looked up at her with a smile. “I know you can do it. But before you go...” He ran back to the dining room and grabbed a small jar off the table, bringing it to her. “You might need this.”
“What is it?” She asked, staring at the sparkling fuchsia liquid in the jar.
“I made it myself!” he announced proudly.
“But what is it?” She lifted her eyes to her parents, noting how her father seemed cautiously optimistic, while her mother... her mother just looked shocked.
Snow White glanced up at her, telling her softly, “We think it might be that... ‘true love’ potion that Rumplestiltskin released.”
Emma furrowed her brows, looking to her son. “Where did you find this?”
James shook his head. “He didn’t find it. He made it.”
Her stomach lurched. “How?” She turned the jar over in her hand, two strands of hair coiled around one another in the center.
He shrugged. “I just used a strand of your hair...”
With a meaningful, still shell-shocked look to her daughter, Snow finished, “The other strand was Regina’s.”
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}
CHAPTER 25: Bottled Truth
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Season one (in its entirety) and through 2x04 "The Crocodile"
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: Regina was badly beaten. Bruises marred her once flawless skin. Dried blood had crusted at the corner of her mouth, on her cheekbone and temple. And the way she cradled her ribs left Emma with no doubt that she had a broken bone or two.
*****
“So... that’s what you’ve missed,” Emma concluded, cradling the mug of hot cocoa in her hands.
The bench swing rocked gently, creaking woodenly as she and August sat side-by-side, staring out at Regina’s revived honeycrisp tree. August nodded, eyes focused somewhere in the distance thoughtfully.
“Well. That’s a... lot to take in,” he replied, after a long moment of silence had passed.
Emma chuckled, just barely. “I suppose it’s a pretty huge shift from where you and I left off.”
“Yeah, that’s for sure. We went from you wanting to destroy Regina... to wanting to rescue her and keep her from being destroyed. Yeah I’d say that’s a bit of an attitude change.”
“August, look... I know this is a little, um,” she furrowed her brows, struggling for the right term and coming up with nothing better than, “Weird, but--”
“Hey, hey.” His hand gently patted her knee, and he nudged her good-naturedly. “Listen, if there’s one thing I retained from the fairytale world, it’s that love trumps all. And that love can sometimes come about in extraordinary circumstances, when we least expect it.”
“Love.” The term made her heart skip wildly, though it also induced a bit of nausea. She tucked her hair behind her ear, keeping her gaze on her hot cocoa, watching the sprinkle of cinnamon swirl in the liquid as she murmured, “I-I don’t... I don’t know that it’s love necessarily.”
When she didn’t get a response, she looked up to find August regarding her crookedly, his eyes narrowed in skepticism. “Really.”
She nodded. “Yeah, really. I mean, I-I care about Regina for sure. And, we obviously share this... connection, but--”
“Come on, Emma,” he sighed. “After everything you’ve just told me... after everything you’ve gone through since the curse broke... do you still need me to convince you of what’s right in front of your face?”
She furrowed her brows. “What?”
“From what Henry told me, you were damn-near comatose when you came back from Wonderland without Regina.”
“Well, it was kind of a shock,” she reasoned.
August gave her a sideways smirk -- the kind that grated on her, like he knew something she didn’t. “Alright,” he relented, holding up his hands and standing up. “If you really don’t think you feel anything other than ‘care’ for Regina, that’s fine. You’ll come around.”
She rolled her eyes, following him inside. “There’s nothing to ‘come around’ to. I should know better than anyone how I feel.”
“Okay,” he brushed her off, and she felt for a moment as if he were her smug older brother, a slight urge to punch him in the shoulder assailing her briefly before he changed the subject. “So, you are in need of a way to defeat Rumplestiltskin.”
“Yes.”
The two of them joined James and Henry in the dining room, the four of them seated around the table to discuss specifics. Henry pulled out his book and passed it to August, who smiled at him. “Thanks, kid. Now...” he flipped through the pages, folding the book open on an illustration of a dagger. “There is a surefire way to take him down, but I don’t know that you’re gonna be all that keen on it.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
August held her gaze as he told her softly, “Because you’re going to have to kill him.”
*****
Regina’s head pounded; so much so that she could barely lift herself up. Her cheek remained pressed to the stone she was slumped against, her breath coming in thready draws of air. She felt woozy, her vision blurry. Her skin was hard where the blood had dried -- some at the corner of her mouth, a bit on her cheekbone, and some at her temple. Her body was bruised and beaten, and she felt certain that more than one bone had been broken in the midst of her torture.
But she was powerless. Her magic had been ripped from inside of her and distributed among her foes. So she laid helpless -- a queen without power. But then again, she wasn’t even a queen anymore. She was nothing.
Then she felt hands on her face. On her neck, on her arms, gently lifting her and encouraging her to sit. “Regina...”
The whisper was familiar, though she couldn’t place it. She tried to force her eyes to focus, but focus wouldn’t come. “Who’s there?” she croaked, dried blood at the back of her throat causing her to rasp.
“It’s me.”
A pair of kind blue eyes hovered in her field of vision, “Daniel?!” and she thought perhaps she had already died.
He smiled at her and tilted his head... her stable boy, her Daniel, crouched in front of her with his hands gripping hers. “I’ve missed you,” he told her, eyes traveling over her face.
She exhaled, a teary smile making its way across her features. She reached for him, but her hands were too weak. “Daniel, I’ve missed you as well.”
“You’re in pain. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Yes. Yes I am.”
“You shouldn’t have to suffer any longer.”
She choked back a sob. “No I shouldn’t.”
“Then let go.”
That seemed to drag her back to reality. “What?”
“Let go, Regina. There’s nothing left for you here, and they won’t let you leave in one piece. It’s time to let go.”
“Daniel...”
“Just think of it. The two of us, together... forever... finally. We’ll get to have everything we never got to have. We’ll feel everything we never got to feel.” He reached out and laid a hand over her heart. “We can have everything if you just let yourself go.”
She swallowed her cries, finally mustering enough strength to reach for him. Her hand skirted along his jawline, feeling the smoothness and reveling in his smile. “My Daniel...”
He grasped both her hands once more, dipping his head to kiss them. “Come with me, Regina. We’ll be so happy.”
She tilted her head, squeezing his hands tight as she whispered sadly, “You were all I ever wanted...”
“I know.”
“Everything I did -- everything I became -- was because I lost you. Because she took you away from me.”
“I know, my love. But you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I’m right here. You and I can be together. Just let go.”
Regina swallowed hard, searching his eyes. “I can’t.”
His face fell, and his grip slackened. “Why not? I thought I was all you ever wanted.”
“And you were.” Leaning in close, she squeezed his hands again and whispered, “Were.”
Daniel just stared at her.
“I’m so sorry, Daniel. I loved you so much...” She choked back another sob. “So much that losing you changed me into somebody I didn’t recognize. I punished so many over your death. So many that I lost sight of myself.”
“I can remind you of who you are.”
Regina closed her eyes briefly, a tear escaping each lid as she whispered, “Somebody already has.” When she opened her eyes, her resolve had returned, and she told him strongly, “And I’m not ready to leave her.”
“Her?” He frowned. “But--”
“You’ve only seen the good in me, Daniel. You would be so appalled if you knew all that I’ve done. She does -- she knows. She’s seen the good and the bad in me and she pushes me to be better, to overcome all the darkness in my past.” She shook her head. “I can’t leave her. Or my son. I’ve got a beautiful son, Daniel. I wouldn’t be half as strong as I am now without him. I can’t just leave him behind. I’m so sorry. I have to keep fighting. For both of them.” Leaning in, she captured his gaze again. “But you’re right about letting go. I do need to let go. I need to let go of you.” She looked down at the hand she was holding, bringing it up to her lips and pressing a kiss to it, closing her eyes as she whispered, “Goodbye, Daniel.”
Daniel dipped his head sadly, and he began to vanish before her eyes. Regina tried to squeeze his hands, but he was already dissipating into smoke in front of her. “Daniel? Daniel!”
“Oh this is just pathetic.” Cora strolled up to her, brushing away the remnants of smoke from Daniel’s brief appearance. Casting a sharp look over her shoulder, she leveled Rumplestiltskin with her glare. “I thought you said that would work.”
“I believe I underestimated the, uh... connections she has here in Storybrooke.”
Regina glared up at her mother. “You did that?”
“Of course I did,” she spat. “I’m getting tired of this game.”
“Then why don’t you just kill me, mother.” Regina curled her lip in a sneer.
Cora responded by tilting her head, smiling an unkind, loveless smile. “Now darling, I would never do that. You’re my daughter.”
Instead, Cora snapped her fingers, and a block of ice appeared. Regina stumbled to her feet, no longer bound now that she was no longer a threat. The top of the block slid off, revealing rippling water beneath. A pool of sorts, encased in ice.
She looked up at her mother. “What’s that?”
“That, my dear, is your tomb. Which you will willingly climb into.”
“I thought you said you weren’t going to kill me, mother.”
“Oh this won’t kill you. Not quickly, anyway. No, death will be years and years away for you. This will allow you plenty of time to... ruminate... over your life’s decisions. Over all the ways you’ve disappointed me.” Cora curled her lip in disgust. “I just wanted you to rise to greatness. Was that too much to ask?”
Spinning away, she strode toward where Rumplestiltskin was perched, on a high ledge, with Maleficent in her dragon form high above them and Jefferson looking on in an almost bored fashion. “I wanted you to make something of yourself. And of course your bumbling father was no help.”
Regina grit her teeth, clenching her aching fists at her side. “You leave him out of this.”
“Why, darling? Sore subject? I can’t imagine why -- it’s not as if he tried to step in at any point, to stick up for you. He was and always had been nothing but a coward. I only chose him as a husband because I knew that with him, I could do as I pleased.”
“Stop,” she ground out.
“Stop?” Cora smiled. “I’ve barely begun.”
*****
Emma paced back and forth at the head of the table, anxiously biting her lower lip. August, Henry and James sat at the table, watching her.
“Emma,” August called to her. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” she huffed, planting one hand on her hip. “I don’t know, I just... I need a minute to think.”
“You’ve had like ten of those in a row now,” Henry commented, wincing just a bit.
“I know. I’m sorry.” She shook her head, turning to August. “I don’t think I can kill anyone. Even him.”
“Even if he’s already killed Regina?” James quirked an eyebrow at his daughter.
“He hasn’t,” she told him, still pacing. “I can tell.”
Henry furrowed his brows in confusion at that. “How?”
Because her heart was infused with Regina’s blood. Its solid, steady beating let her know that life still flowed through her counterpart.
“I just can,” she finally answered her son. After another moment’s thought, she strode quickly for the foyer, listening to the three men scramble after her, anxious to see what she was doing.
She stopped in front of the small oval mirror and waved her hand across it, closing her eyes and wishing to see Regina. When she opened them, a smoke was clearing from inside the mirror... and suddenly there she was.
“Regina!” she gasped, part of her wanting to pick the mirror up and hug it close.
Regina was badly beaten. Bruises marred her once flawless skin. Dried blood had crusted at the corner of her mouth, on her cheekbone and temple. And the way she cradled her ribs left Emma with no doubt that she had a broken bone or two.
Instinctively, she reached out and touched the mirror, her finger skating over the image of Regina’s dark hair.
“What have they done to her?” her father asked, stepping up beside her.
“They tortured her.”
She saw an older woman with dark hair -- undoubtedly Regina’s mother, striding toward her with a self-satisfied smirk curling her lips. She turned to Rumplestiltskin and nodded. “It’s time.”
Emma’s heart seized in her throat. “Time. Time for what? What the hell are you gonna do to her?”
“Can they hear you?” August asked, behind her.
Emma came back to herself and sighed in defeat, telling him, “No. They can’t.”
But Regina had to feel her... right?
**
“Emma,” Regina breathed, able to sense her in the beats of her heart. Luckily, the sound skirted just along the edges of her mother’s and Rumplestiltskin’s hearing, and they carried on their taunting.
“Your father was such a simple fool,” Cora chuckled.
“Stop,” she growled, giving her mother a murderous glance through her lashes.
“Why, darling? The guilt too much for you?” Cora advanced with a smile. “Your father was the only one who loved you. And you murdered him, for what? A silly curse that was broken with love. Ironic, isn’t it?” She shrugged. “But then again, I suppose he didn’t even love you enough to stop me when I was at my best.” She sighed wistfully. “I can almost hear him now: ‘Cora, stop. Cora, you’re hurting her. Cora, please put her down, she’s our daughter.’” She laughed, shaking her head. “Simple, simple fool.”
Regina’s heart thudded in her chest as Rumplestiltskin stood at her mother’s side, both of them grinning at her maliciously. She’d had enough of their games. “Whatever you’re going to do, just do it. This fanfare’s getting just a little annoying.”
“You’re right, darling,” Cora cooed. Then, she nodded to Rumplestiltskin.
“Just like I showed you, eh dearie?” he asked her, then lunged forward.
Regina cried out as his hand plunged inside her chest. She felt her heart beating an odd rhythm and knew all at once what her mother had planned.
His fingers closed around the fragile organ and Regina felt something rip inside of her. Before she knew it, her heart was glowing in his hand.
**
“NO!” Emma screamed, grabbing the mirror off the wall.
August and her father reached for her, struggled against her grip as she heard Henry burst into tears.
“They’re going to kill her!” he yelled tearfully.
She reached for him, pressing him against her as he cried, while August recovered the mirror and replaced it on the wall, the image now gone.
Her breath was thready and her chest ached. As if her own heart was being ripped from her body. And as she held her son close, she felt him trembling and knew what had to be done.
Looking up through her lashes, still trying to keep her breathing steady, she practically growled at August, “Take me to that dagger.”
**
Regina gasped, slumping against a tall stone as she watched Rumplestiltskin turn her glowing heart in his hand, a high-pitched giggle leaving his lips. “Splendid! Now...” he gave the organ a squeeze as he hissed, “Get in.”
He nodded toward the icy tomb and Regina’s body lurched forward of its own volition, under his complete control. Her mother watched on with a malevolent smile, lowly congratulating Rumplestiltskin for his efforts.
“It’s all going according to plan,” she murmured, hands clasped in front of her. “Once we gather the hearts of the new King and Queen, not to mention their sniveling daughter and grandson, we can share complete control of all the realms.”
Regina tried to fight against the movement of her limbs as her arms and legs lowered her into the enchanted pool of ice, but it was of no use. Luckily, she had just enough strength to catch what her mother had missed: the murderous look from Rumplestiltskin to Cora.
The cool water lapped around her frame and she shivered. She didn't become wet, however. Merely cold. The water was enchanted, and chilled her body though it kept her dry. Rumplestiltskin squeezed her heart again and she gasped, lowering herself further and further.
She was on her back and the water filled her field of vision, though she could still see through it clearly as if looking through glass. Above her, she watched her mother hold open one of her trademark velvet-lined boxes. Rumplestiltskin placed her heart inside and Cora clasped it shut.
As she heard the ice block being dragged over the top of the tomb, as she watched herself be buried, she heard her mother’s low chuckle. And the final thing she heard was Rumplestiltskin’s taunting tone:
“Long live the queen.”
*****
Emma shivered, feeling suddenly cold despite the general warmth in the air as they made their way to the pawn shop. Street lamps flickered and scattered newspapers drifted down the road. There wasn’t a soul in sight save for she or August, and Emma wondered if perhaps her mother had directed everyone underground until the battle was over. She wondered if her father had done the same with himself and Henry.
“I won’t come back without her, okay?” she had promised him, hugging him close just before they left.
Henry had nodded, but had been too distraught from seeing Regina’s heart ripped from her chest to say anything. He merely clung to the prince as she and August took off.
The sound of breaking glass jarred her back to reality and she spun to see August breaking one of the small panes of glass in the pawn shop door. “What the hell are you doing?” she whispered.
“I don’t have a key. Do you?”
“No.”
He rolled his eyes. “You pick the weirdest damn times to take the moral high ground.”
“Temporary lapse in judgment. Just get me in there.”
“You got it.” With a swift flick of the wrist, the door was unlocked and swung open easily.
They decided to forego the lights, not wanting to draw attention to themselves on the off-chance that someone was out and about that evening, and instead opted for flashlights. The beams swept over the various counters and shelves in the pawn shop, though nothing revealed the dagger.
“He wouldn’t have it in plain sight,” August reasoned, leap-frogging over the counter and heading for the back office.
Emma continued to rifle through drawers and cabinets in the main store area, listening to the sounds of shattering glass and shuffling papers. Then, all noise stopped. She glanced up. “August?”
She heard his boots on the tile floor and soon he had emerged, pushing back the curtain with a smile. “I believe this is what you’re looking for.”
He held out a kris to her with a golden, ornate hilt. Across the blade was emblazoned the name ‘Rumplestiltskin.’ It shone in the light of the moon that came in through the windows.
Emma took it, hefting it in her hand. “So this is it, huh?”
He nodded. “That’s it. That’s how you’re gonna slay the beast.”
*****
They returned to the estate briefly to fill Henry and James in on what they had found. When they arrived, it was to see the two of them as well as Snow White, waiting for them in the dining room.
“There you are!” Henry leapt off his chair, seemingly back in his old spirits, and he launched himself at Emma’s midsection.
She caught him, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah. We found what we needed.”
“You found the dagger?” Snow White asked, she and James rising and joining them in the foyer.
August nodded. “Yep. So now Emma can take him down.”
She raised her brows. “Me? I can’t do this by myself! I need you!”
He shook his head. “No you don’t. You’re the savior, remember?”
Henry looked up at her with a smile. “I know you can do it. But before you go...” He ran back to the dining room and grabbed a small jar off the table, bringing it to her. “You might need this.”
“What is it?” She asked, staring at the sparkling fuchsia liquid in the jar.
“I made it myself!” he announced proudly.
“But what is it?” She lifted her eyes to her parents, noting how her father seemed cautiously optimistic, while her mother... her mother just looked shocked.
Snow White glanced up at her, telling her softly, “We think it might be that... ‘true love’ potion that Rumplestiltskin released.”
Emma furrowed her brows, looking to her son. “Where did you find this?”
James shook his head. “He didn’t find it. He made it.”
Her stomach lurched. “How?” She turned the jar over in her hand, two strands of hair coiled around one another in the center.
He shrugged. “I just used a strand of your hair...”
With a meaningful, still shell-shocked look to her daughter, Snow finished, “The other strand was Regina’s.”
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}