A Queen Without Power (Once Upon a Time; Regina/Emma)
TITLE: A Queen Without Power
CHAPTER 3: Unseen
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Season one (in its entirety)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: Though they had called a temporary ceasefire, she still couldn’t trust Regina any further than she could throw her. So she’d loaded her gun -- the same one she tried to kill the dragon with -- and turned the safety on before she went up to bed.
*****
“Wake up!”
Emma was startled awake by the urgent hissing in her ear. “What, what is it?” She fumbled through half-open eyes for her safety-locked gun.
After Regina had left her in the study, Emma had finished her scotch while thinking things over. Though they had called a temporary ceasefire, she still couldn’t trust Regina any further than she could throw her. So she’d loaded her gun -- the same one she tried to kill the dragon with -- and turned the safety on before she went up to bed.
She had made a makeshift bed for herself on the floor of Henry’s room out of blankets and a spare pillow. Regina, predictably, hadn’t put forth even the slightest effort to offer her a suitable sleeping arrangement. So she’d had to make do.
“It’s morning.”
“Ugh.” Emma sank back against the floor again, against the pillow, loosening her grip on the gun. “Kid, don’t you sleep in ever? My head’s still spinning from yesterday.” Rather, from the scotch, but Henry didn’t need to know that.
“But she’s up,” he told her, still whispering.
“So?”
The knock on the door was brief before it opened and in walked Regina, clad in a charcoal-gray robe over silk pajamas, all traces of makeup gone. “You’re up,” she addressed Henry.
“Hi.” He waved, though he was eying her as if she’d attack at any moment.
Emma watched her attempt a smile, though it was strained, as she extended a mug to her. “Some coffee, Miss Swan?”
“Thank you.” She blew on the steaming liquid, giving it a quick sniff. Then she glanced up at Regina through her lashes. “Almond?” She reminded herself that cyanide had a similar scent.
The polished veneer was still in place as Regina’s smile grew a bit and she corrected her, “Hazelnut.”
Emma exchanged a glance with her son as she took a sip. Once five seconds had passed and she hadn’t collapsed or begun convulsing, she concluded that the drink wasn’t tainted.
Regina tilted her head at her, as if able to read what was on her mind, and her robe swished as she sat on the foot of Henry’s bed. “I thought we could discuss a plan of action for today,” she said, leaning forward slightly.
“Like an operation?” Henry’s brows raised and his eyes lit. “I already have a name for it. It’s--”
“Henry,” both women chided him with sideways glances, meeting each other’s eyes briefly before averting them and taking simultaneous drinks of coffee.
After a moment, Regina cleared her throat. “You were right yesterday when you said that there would be people out to get me.”
Emma just looked at her expectantly.
“And, while I don’t expect you to shelter me, I would hope you and I could put our heads together to come up with a way of keeping Henry safe through all this.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” she asked, taking another sip of coffee. She hated to admit it, but Regina made a mean cup of coffee. Just strong enough to get rid of any leftover dizziness from the scotch.
“Well first I need to find out what exactly Rumpelstiltskin did to bring the magic back.”
Henry frowned. “But if you leave, won’t people come after you as soon as they see you?”
Regina looked down into her mug. “Yes. Which is precisely why I can’t be seen.”
Emma mirrored her son’s expression of confusion. “Then... how are you gonna go out there without being seen?”
**
“This is ridiculous,” Emma huffed, glancing down at her feet.
A black cat with shiny fur wove between her legs, trotting in front of her. It made no noise, though she heard Regina’s voice in her head: ”I apologize, Miss Swan. If you’re more of a dog person, I can adjust my appearance.”
She rolled her eyes, a hint of a smirk breaking through. “Don’t think it’s gonna matter what you ‘dress up’ as,” she told her, watching as the cat hopped up onto the hood of her Bug. “It’s still ridiculous.”
”Perhaps, but this way I can’t be seen.”
“So it’s better that I look like a complete idiot, talking to a cat?” She raised her eyebrows, opening the passenger side door and waiting for Regina to jump in.
The cat sat up regally in the passenger seat, its nose turned up in the air. ”We both will have to make sacrifices during this unholy alliance, Miss Swan,” she told her haughtily. “Consider this your turn.”
“If you say so,” she sighed, sliding into the driver’s seat. She threw a glance over at the cat and quipped, “Buckle up.”
The cat curled up on the passenger seat, seemingly throwing a glare at her. ”Very funny.”
Emma smirked triumphantly, pulling out of the circular driveway with Henry watching them both from his window. His voice crackled over the walkie-talkie that remained stashed under her dashboard. “Operation Python is a go,” he told them, and she glimpsed at the cat.
Regina just gave a sniff, remaining curled on the passenger seat, as they headed into town.
Once they had turned off Regina’s street, Emma reached over and turned the walkie-talkie off. “So what are we looking for?”
The cat sat up once more, stretching languidly. ”Magic always leaves a trace.”
“Like what?”
”Depends on the spell, honestly.”
Emma huffed, glaring at the black cat as it blinked its large eyes at her. “Wanna vague that up for me a little bit more?”
”What I’m trying to say is that, if it’s a small spell, the trace of it will be nearly undetectable. But for powerful magic like this, it’s bound to leave behind something you can’t miss.”
Emma suddenly ground to a halt, ignoring Regina’s indignant, ”Watch it!” as the cat slid off the seat and onto the floor.
“Like that?” She nodded out the windshield.
The cat hopped up, into her lap this time, bracing its front paws on the steering wheel and following her gaze. In the middle of the street was a bright violet streak. Not quite like paint, but more like a burn. Ash, maybe.
”Yes. Like that.”
The cat’s tail anxiously twitched, flicking Emma’s nose and she made a face, “Ugh, Regina,” shoving it off her lap.
”Sorry.”
Somehow, she got the impression that the queen wasn’t all that sorry. “What do you want me to do?”
”See where it leads.”
“Then sit tight,” she told her, speeding down the road alongside the streak of violet.
**
They were at the edge of Storybrooke, near the woods, when the trail veered off sharply. ”Pull over here,” Regina told her, and Emma swerved, pulling to a stop.
When she unbuckled her belt, she threw a glance at the cat, who was currently staring her down. She tilted her head. “What?”
”Were you doing that intentionally to see if I could fall off the seat again, or are you truly that horrible a driver, Miss Swan?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Just get out of the car.”
She followed the streak into the woods, the cat prancing along at her heels. After what felt like an hour, they found themselves at the well -- the one that August had taken her to not long ago.
A pang hit her -- thoughts of August filled her head and she wondered where he was. Had he come back to life or was he still lying woodenly in his room at Granny’s?
”Would you snap out of it?”
“Huh? Sorry.”
”I asked you to please lift me up so I can look into the well.”
Emma stared at her dubiously. “You’re a cat. Just jump.”
The cat tilted its head, Regina’s tone patronizing. ”If I did that, I could fall, couldn’t I?”
She raised her brows. “Well, sure. Guess I don’t see how that would be a bad thing, though.”
She was certain had Regina in the flesh been standing beside her, she would’ve gotten the death stare. Instead, the cat just flicked its tail. ”Just lift me.”
With a resigned sigh, Emma bent down and scooped the cat into her arms, dropping it unceremoniously on the stone wellhead. When the cat hissed at her, she just smirked.
”This was where he put it,” Regina said after a moment, her tone thoughtful.
“Put what?”
”The vial. The true love potion. This was how he brought magic back.”
Emma frowned, her hands on her hips contemplatively. “Huh.” She glanced down into the well. “August told me a few weeks ago that this well had magical properties.”
The cat jumped down suddenly, heading for the car. ”Let’s go.”
She followed after it, feeling as though she had missed something. “That’s it? You turned yourself into a cat just so we could come all the way out here and look at a dingy old well?”
”I said let’s go, Miss Swan.”
Emma did as she was told and followed the cat back to the car, opening the door to allow it to jump onto the passenger seat again before she went around to the driver’s side. They drove back into town in silence, Emma continually stealing glances at the cat while it sat stiffly on the passenger seat, staring at the dashboard unmoving.
She wanted to question the sudden shift in her behavior, but... honestly, she was more in favor of Regina’s silence. They were halfway back to the mayor’s estate when she spotted a familiar pair walking along the sidewalk. The car screeched to a halt, and again Regina spat an indignant, ”Watch it!” before Emma climbed out of the car.
It was Mary-Margaret and David... or Snow White and Prince Charming, whoever the hell they were today. They spotted her easily, both sets of eyes wide.
“Emma?”
They ran to her, threw their arms around her... and she found herself smiling. The familiarity she’d always felt around Mary-Margaret finally had an explanation, as crazy as it was.
They pulled away, both of them staring in wonder at her. Emma glanced surreptitiously at the car before smiling back at them.
“You saved us,” Snow White murmured, joy all over her face.
The Prince chuckled, still gazing at Emma in wonder as he addressed his wife. “You never doubted she would, Snow.”
“I know, but it seems so long ago...”
Emma just studied these two, these misplaced royals that had been stuck in time for the last twenty-eight years. Her parents. “So you’re back to your old selves.”
“Thanks to you,” the Prince sighed, his arm around Snow White rubbing gently.
“Where have you been?” Snow asked. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you since the curse broke!”
“I, uh, I had to take Henry someplace safe.”
Charming shook his head. “Well, where?”
Emma paused, searching their eyes. “The mayor’s house.”
Immediately, their expressions were filled with alarm, and a bit of repressed anger. “But... Regina, she--”
“She’s gone,” Emma broke in, hoping her parents couldn’t read a lie as easily as she could. “She, uh... she must’ve taken off as soon as the curse broke.”
Snow White’s delicate features settled into a scowl. “I knew it. The coward.”
Emma glanced briefly over her shoulder, spotting the cat poking its head out the window of the car. She made a face briefly, an urgency there that she hoped Regina could still decipher in feline form.
“Well she can’t hide forever,” the Prince reasoned, voice low with certainty.
“You’re right,” Snow agreed, her nod resolute.
Emma watched as a glint hit her mother’s brown eyes, lips quirking in the hint of a smile.
“Don’t worry, Emma dear,” she told her, reaching out and touching Emma’s blonde curls. “Your father and I will find her. And when we do?”
Emma raised her eyebrows, watching the two of them expectantly.
Snow White’s smile was almost wicked as she finished her thought:
“Regina will pay dearly for what she’s done to us all. You can count on that.”
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}
CHAPTER 3: Unseen
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Season one (in its entirety)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: Though they had called a temporary ceasefire, she still couldn’t trust Regina any further than she could throw her. So she’d loaded her gun -- the same one she tried to kill the dragon with -- and turned the safety on before she went up to bed.
*****
“Wake up!”
Emma was startled awake by the urgent hissing in her ear. “What, what is it?” She fumbled through half-open eyes for her safety-locked gun.
After Regina had left her in the study, Emma had finished her scotch while thinking things over. Though they had called a temporary ceasefire, she still couldn’t trust Regina any further than she could throw her. So she’d loaded her gun -- the same one she tried to kill the dragon with -- and turned the safety on before she went up to bed.
She had made a makeshift bed for herself on the floor of Henry’s room out of blankets and a spare pillow. Regina, predictably, hadn’t put forth even the slightest effort to offer her a suitable sleeping arrangement. So she’d had to make do.
“It’s morning.”
“Ugh.” Emma sank back against the floor again, against the pillow, loosening her grip on the gun. “Kid, don’t you sleep in ever? My head’s still spinning from yesterday.” Rather, from the scotch, but Henry didn’t need to know that.
“But she’s up,” he told her, still whispering.
“So?”
The knock on the door was brief before it opened and in walked Regina, clad in a charcoal-gray robe over silk pajamas, all traces of makeup gone. “You’re up,” she addressed Henry.
“Hi.” He waved, though he was eying her as if she’d attack at any moment.
Emma watched her attempt a smile, though it was strained, as she extended a mug to her. “Some coffee, Miss Swan?”
“Thank you.” She blew on the steaming liquid, giving it a quick sniff. Then she glanced up at Regina through her lashes. “Almond?” She reminded herself that cyanide had a similar scent.
The polished veneer was still in place as Regina’s smile grew a bit and she corrected her, “Hazelnut.”
Emma exchanged a glance with her son as she took a sip. Once five seconds had passed and she hadn’t collapsed or begun convulsing, she concluded that the drink wasn’t tainted.
Regina tilted her head at her, as if able to read what was on her mind, and her robe swished as she sat on the foot of Henry’s bed. “I thought we could discuss a plan of action for today,” she said, leaning forward slightly.
“Like an operation?” Henry’s brows raised and his eyes lit. “I already have a name for it. It’s--”
“Henry,” both women chided him with sideways glances, meeting each other’s eyes briefly before averting them and taking simultaneous drinks of coffee.
After a moment, Regina cleared her throat. “You were right yesterday when you said that there would be people out to get me.”
Emma just looked at her expectantly.
“And, while I don’t expect you to shelter me, I would hope you and I could put our heads together to come up with a way of keeping Henry safe through all this.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” she asked, taking another sip of coffee. She hated to admit it, but Regina made a mean cup of coffee. Just strong enough to get rid of any leftover dizziness from the scotch.
“Well first I need to find out what exactly Rumpelstiltskin did to bring the magic back.”
Henry frowned. “But if you leave, won’t people come after you as soon as they see you?”
Regina looked down into her mug. “Yes. Which is precisely why I can’t be seen.”
Emma mirrored her son’s expression of confusion. “Then... how are you gonna go out there without being seen?”
**
“This is ridiculous,” Emma huffed, glancing down at her feet.
A black cat with shiny fur wove between her legs, trotting in front of her. It made no noise, though she heard Regina’s voice in her head: ”I apologize, Miss Swan. If you’re more of a dog person, I can adjust my appearance.”
She rolled her eyes, a hint of a smirk breaking through. “Don’t think it’s gonna matter what you ‘dress up’ as,” she told her, watching as the cat hopped up onto the hood of her Bug. “It’s still ridiculous.”
”Perhaps, but this way I can’t be seen.”
“So it’s better that I look like a complete idiot, talking to a cat?” She raised her eyebrows, opening the passenger side door and waiting for Regina to jump in.
The cat sat up regally in the passenger seat, its nose turned up in the air. ”We both will have to make sacrifices during this unholy alliance, Miss Swan,” she told her haughtily. “Consider this your turn.”
“If you say so,” she sighed, sliding into the driver’s seat. She threw a glance over at the cat and quipped, “Buckle up.”
The cat curled up on the passenger seat, seemingly throwing a glare at her. ”Very funny.”
Emma smirked triumphantly, pulling out of the circular driveway with Henry watching them both from his window. His voice crackled over the walkie-talkie that remained stashed under her dashboard. “Operation Python is a go,” he told them, and she glimpsed at the cat.
Regina just gave a sniff, remaining curled on the passenger seat, as they headed into town.
Once they had turned off Regina’s street, Emma reached over and turned the walkie-talkie off. “So what are we looking for?”
The cat sat up once more, stretching languidly. ”Magic always leaves a trace.”
“Like what?”
”Depends on the spell, honestly.”
Emma huffed, glaring at the black cat as it blinked its large eyes at her. “Wanna vague that up for me a little bit more?”
”What I’m trying to say is that, if it’s a small spell, the trace of it will be nearly undetectable. But for powerful magic like this, it’s bound to leave behind something you can’t miss.”
Emma suddenly ground to a halt, ignoring Regina’s indignant, ”Watch it!” as the cat slid off the seat and onto the floor.
“Like that?” She nodded out the windshield.
The cat hopped up, into her lap this time, bracing its front paws on the steering wheel and following her gaze. In the middle of the street was a bright violet streak. Not quite like paint, but more like a burn. Ash, maybe.
”Yes. Like that.”
The cat’s tail anxiously twitched, flicking Emma’s nose and she made a face, “Ugh, Regina,” shoving it off her lap.
”Sorry.”
Somehow, she got the impression that the queen wasn’t all that sorry. “What do you want me to do?”
”See where it leads.”
“Then sit tight,” she told her, speeding down the road alongside the streak of violet.
**
They were at the edge of Storybrooke, near the woods, when the trail veered off sharply. ”Pull over here,” Regina told her, and Emma swerved, pulling to a stop.
When she unbuckled her belt, she threw a glance at the cat, who was currently staring her down. She tilted her head. “What?”
”Were you doing that intentionally to see if I could fall off the seat again, or are you truly that horrible a driver, Miss Swan?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Just get out of the car.”
She followed the streak into the woods, the cat prancing along at her heels. After what felt like an hour, they found themselves at the well -- the one that August had taken her to not long ago.
A pang hit her -- thoughts of August filled her head and she wondered where he was. Had he come back to life or was he still lying woodenly in his room at Granny’s?
”Would you snap out of it?”
“Huh? Sorry.”
”I asked you to please lift me up so I can look into the well.”
Emma stared at her dubiously. “You’re a cat. Just jump.”
The cat tilted its head, Regina’s tone patronizing. ”If I did that, I could fall, couldn’t I?”
She raised her brows. “Well, sure. Guess I don’t see how that would be a bad thing, though.”
She was certain had Regina in the flesh been standing beside her, she would’ve gotten the death stare. Instead, the cat just flicked its tail. ”Just lift me.”
With a resigned sigh, Emma bent down and scooped the cat into her arms, dropping it unceremoniously on the stone wellhead. When the cat hissed at her, she just smirked.
”This was where he put it,” Regina said after a moment, her tone thoughtful.
“Put what?”
”The vial. The true love potion. This was how he brought magic back.”
Emma frowned, her hands on her hips contemplatively. “Huh.” She glanced down into the well. “August told me a few weeks ago that this well had magical properties.”
The cat jumped down suddenly, heading for the car. ”Let’s go.”
She followed after it, feeling as though she had missed something. “That’s it? You turned yourself into a cat just so we could come all the way out here and look at a dingy old well?”
”I said let’s go, Miss Swan.”
Emma did as she was told and followed the cat back to the car, opening the door to allow it to jump onto the passenger seat again before she went around to the driver’s side. They drove back into town in silence, Emma continually stealing glances at the cat while it sat stiffly on the passenger seat, staring at the dashboard unmoving.
She wanted to question the sudden shift in her behavior, but... honestly, she was more in favor of Regina’s silence. They were halfway back to the mayor’s estate when she spotted a familiar pair walking along the sidewalk. The car screeched to a halt, and again Regina spat an indignant, ”Watch it!” before Emma climbed out of the car.
It was Mary-Margaret and David... or Snow White and Prince Charming, whoever the hell they were today. They spotted her easily, both sets of eyes wide.
“Emma?”
They ran to her, threw their arms around her... and she found herself smiling. The familiarity she’d always felt around Mary-Margaret finally had an explanation, as crazy as it was.
They pulled away, both of them staring in wonder at her. Emma glanced surreptitiously at the car before smiling back at them.
“You saved us,” Snow White murmured, joy all over her face.
The Prince chuckled, still gazing at Emma in wonder as he addressed his wife. “You never doubted she would, Snow.”
“I know, but it seems so long ago...”
Emma just studied these two, these misplaced royals that had been stuck in time for the last twenty-eight years. Her parents. “So you’re back to your old selves.”
“Thanks to you,” the Prince sighed, his arm around Snow White rubbing gently.
“Where have you been?” Snow asked. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you since the curse broke!”
“I, uh, I had to take Henry someplace safe.”
Charming shook his head. “Well, where?”
Emma paused, searching their eyes. “The mayor’s house.”
Immediately, their expressions were filled with alarm, and a bit of repressed anger. “But... Regina, she--”
“She’s gone,” Emma broke in, hoping her parents couldn’t read a lie as easily as she could. “She, uh... she must’ve taken off as soon as the curse broke.”
Snow White’s delicate features settled into a scowl. “I knew it. The coward.”
Emma glanced briefly over her shoulder, spotting the cat poking its head out the window of the car. She made a face briefly, an urgency there that she hoped Regina could still decipher in feline form.
“Well she can’t hide forever,” the Prince reasoned, voice low with certainty.
“You’re right,” Snow agreed, her nod resolute.
Emma watched as a glint hit her mother’s brown eyes, lips quirking in the hint of a smile.
“Don’t worry, Emma dear,” she told her, reaching out and touching Emma’s blonde curls. “Your father and I will find her. And when we do?”
Emma raised her eyebrows, watching the two of them expectantly.
Snow White’s smile was almost wicked as she finished her thought:
“Regina will pay dearly for what she’s done to us all. You can count on that.”
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}