A Queen Without Power (Once Upon a Time; Regina/Emma)
TITLE: A Queen Without Power
CHAPTER 6: Bedfellows
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Season 1 (in its entirety)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: She was getting close to something, here, and wanted to continue digging. But she knew that for now, she had pushed too far. Regina had thrown up the walls again.
*****
Regina stood at the open front door, concern on her face. “What happened?”
“Where’s Henry?” Emma asked abruptly, striding purposefully up the walk and past Regina.
Regina frowned in confusion, her body twisting to follow. “He’s asleep.”
“Good.”
The door closed in their wake and without preamble, Emma walked right to the study and poured a bit of scotch in a glass, gulping it down and wincing briefly at the burn it left behind.
“What are you doing?”
“Here,” Emma grumbled, shoving a second tumbler of scotch into Regina’s hands. “You’re gonna need it.”
Regina took a sip, eying her.
Emma took a breath, holding the queen’s gaze as she huffed it out and told her, “He’s got them on his side. All of them.”
Her eyes flashed fire and she looked away, muttering, “I knew it,” while swirling the scotch glass at her side.
Emma watched her pace around the study, every movement graceful... almost calculated. Regina’s eyes were everywhere but on her and she found herself wanting to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling.
She decided to push that fleeting want away with another gulp of scotch.
Finally, Regina spun to face her, one hand on her hip while the other clutched the glass white-knuckled. “Tell me what happened.”
Emma sighed. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Here.” A smile came to her lips, almost catlike, as she stepped close, invading her personal space.
Emma watched her with wide, cautious eyes as Regina reached out and took the glass from her hand, setting it on the nearby table.
“I’d like to do something, Miss Swan. A bit bold, but it might prove helpful.”
She wondered why her heart was slamming in her chest as Regina came even closer. “Uh...” Unfortunately, she was left with only unintelligible words. That scotch was strong. “Alright.”
Another smile curled her lips. “Good.”
She reached out with both hands, looking as though she was going to cup Emma’s face. Emma startled at this, her heart beating double-time as she asked anxiously, “What are you doing?”
But Regina just smiled, as if that would reassure her. “You’ll see.”
Her fingertips touched the sides of her head, just behind her temples. Then Emma felt a warmth and a burst of pressure... like a vise tightening around her head. Like Regina was actually reaching into her head on each side.
She cried out in pain, jaw going slack, and she looked to Regina. A glow reflected from whatever it was she was doing, lighting up her face, and her smile was still catlike.
Emma groaned, closing her eyes as the pressure increased. “Regina... that hurts...”
“Don’t worry, dear, it’ll only be another second,” she cooed, and Emma wondered if that was her ‘evil stepmother’ voice or something else entirely.
And then the pain began to diminish. Her head felt less and less like it was going to cave in, and Regina’s smile turned to one of satisfaction as she pulled her hands from Emma’s head, drawing out a glowing blue ball of energy.
Emma stared at it in disbelief. “What the hell is that?”
Regina didn’t answer. Instead, she kept her eyes on that glowing ball of energy as she made her way over to a round mirror against the far wall. She held the ball up in front of it and then blew at it... like blowing a kiss... and the ball floated on its own toward the mirror.
When it hit the glass, the mirror rippled as if she had dropped a pebble in a pond. Emma stepped up behind Regina and soon they could both see what Emma had seen earlier at City Hall. Every bit of it from her entrance, to Snow and Charming taking the podium, to Rumplestiltskin’s abrupt appearance.
She also saw what had happened when he froze time briefly, and they had their terse exchange. Emma alternated between watching the mirror and watching Regina’s reaction, noticing how her jaw clenched more and more with each passing second.
When it was over, the mirror rippled once more and then returned to normal. Regina stood still, just staring at their reflection while Emma stared at her.
“Did you just... yank a memory out of my head?”
“I borrowed it,” Regina muttered, still looking deep in thought.
Before Emma could question her further, the queen was on the move. Emma couldn’t help but follow, part of her fascinated. “So? Was it helpful?”
“Yes. Yes, it was.”
Emma followed her down into the basement, into a closed-off room, barren except for a cobweb-covered stack of books. “So... so what--”
“You’re right,” she cut her off. “He’s planning something.”
“Well... yeah. Do you know what?”
“No. But whatever it is, it’s going to be something we can’t even fathom. And your precious parents will be playing right into his willing hands.” Cutting her gaze to the side, she seethed through clenched teeth, “Simple fools.”
“Hey,” Emma returned with a frown.
A thought struck her after a beat or two, and she folded her arms. “So, let me ask an obvious question here before you start...” she gestured vaguely toward the books, “Whatever it is you’re about to start.”
“What?” Regina huffed, mirroring her position.
Emma narrowed her eyes briefly. “What do you have against them, anyway?”
Regina rolled her eyes, clenching her jaw again. After a moment it became clear that she wasn’t about to offer up any explanations.
Emma sighed and shrugged. “Fine. I’m gonna drag it out of you eventually.”
“Your ambition is admirable, Miss Swan, but ultimately futile.”
“Look,” she held up her hands. “I’m sure it’s complicated. And it must be something pretty huge for you to want to punish everybody, for almost thirty years, just to get revenge on two people.”
Regina dipped her head, muttering, “One.”
“What?”
She looked up, her brown eyes piercing. “One,” she ground out again, leaning on the stack of books. “One person. I did all of this to get back at your mother. She ruined my life.”
Emma raised her brows, partly surprised she had been offered even that much information. “Okay. What did she do?”
“Forget it.”
“Regina, for God sakes, it’s over!” She raised her voice, throwing her hands up in the air and letting them fall to her sides again. “Whatever happened, you got her back.”
“No I didn’t!”
Emma took a step back, momentarily surprised by the sound of Regina’s voice breaking.
When the queen looked up, it was with tear-filled eyes that she ground out shakily, “She took away my happiness. A kind that I can never have back. But her? She has her happiness again.” She snarled, “Her Charming. So no, I didn’t get her back.”
Emma absorbed that silently for a moment, her eyes bouncing back and forth between Regina’s. Another piece fell into place. She already knew Regina wasn’t completely unfeeling -- she learned as much back at the hospital with Henry’s life hanging in the balance. But it now seemed as though Regina’s vengeful side stemmed from a major loss.
“What did she do to you?” she whispered, attempting to rein in the brief pang of sympathy that swept over her.
But as soon as the mood shift had come on, Regina had it under control. The tears were gone and she flicked her hair out of her eyes with the back of her finger, composed once more. “That’s not important right now,” she said, voice almost overly calm. “Right now, all you need to know is that Rumplestiltskin is planning something. Something that will have no loophole this time. No Savior, no way out.”
Emma searched her eyes. “So what do we do?”
“First things first.”
She raised her eyebrows hopefully. “More drinking?”
Regina suppressed a smirk at that, grabbing one of the larger, leather-bound tomes off the stack and motioning for Emma to follow her. “More protection,” she replied.
“I have a gun.”
“Mm.” She shook her head. “Won’t do you much good up against magic, Miss Swan.”
Emma tilted her head, silently conceding that Regina was right about that much -- the gun hadn’t done a damn thing to slow that dragon down, after all. “So what kind of protection do we need?”
“Well, we need to protect against magic, with magic.”
Regina led her through dark cavernous tunnels in the basement, and Emma had to wonder just how exactly the mayor landed a house with underground catacombs, practically.
“So, some sort of a... protection spell?”
“Now you’re catching on.”
They ended up in a room lit by a single, dangling light bulb, lined on each side with tall shelves of small, square cubbies. In each was an object encased in glass, whether it was a vial, a flask or a bottle. Emma surveyed them all, eying Regina suspiciously. “If you had all this stuff here the whole time, why haven’t you used it before?”
“Without magic, these ingredients are completely useless,” she explained. And then she shrugged. “I just... hung on to them for safekeeping.” She smiled, though the smile was thin and a bit facetious. “Just in case.”
“I see...” Emma continued to glance around warily, hands on her hips. “And, uh, does ‘Mr. Gold’ have this stuff too?”
Regina’s brows flicked upward as she read over one page of her book, her finger tracing down the list of ingredients before she started grabbing at various vials and bottles. “I wouldn’t doubt he has much, much more than this.” Sighing, she pocketed a small vial of some sort of silver liquid as she commented, “He was imbibed with a dark magic that I can’t even begin to understand.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well how did you get your magic?” Emma asked, shifting on her feet and furrowing her brows curiously, hands still on her hips.
She watched Regina’s spine straighten, watched her tense up. A long moment passed in which Emma just watched her back before Regina just barely turned over her shoulder and replied lowly, “My mother.”
“Oh.” Emma frowned. “Well, how did she--”
“That’s enough with the questions for tonight,” Regina cut her off, slamming her hands down on the open pages of the large tome. “Let’s just... focus on the spell.”
Emma agreed, a bit hesitantly, as she kept her eyes cemented on the fallen queen. She was getting close to something, here, and wanted to continue digging. But she knew that for now, she had pushed too far. Regina had thrown up the walls again. So rather than press further, she gave the queen her space, and watched her silently as she gathered ingredients for the spell.
**
When every ingredient was found and thrown together, and Regina had enough time to read over her book of spells, she directed Emma outside. They peered around cautiously and, once they ascertained they were alone, they began.
“Hold out your hand,” Regina told her as they faced each other, and Emma eyed the slight upward tilt at the corners of her lips curiously, though she did as she was told.
She grimaced as Regina emptied the contents of a small vial of liquid into her cupped palm. “Can’t you just do this yourself and I can watch?”
“I’ve never performed this sort of spell before, Miss Swan, so I’d appreciate your assistance.”
She huffed. “Fine.”
Emma watched, then, as the silver liquid in her hand began to glow. It began to turn and spread out slowly, as if being stirred by some unseen force. It glittered as it moved and Emma found herself almost entranced by the sight. It was like staring at a galaxy. “Whoa...”
She felt, without seeing, Regina’s smile as she told her, “Some magic can be quite beautiful.”
Without moving her head, she lifted her eyes to meet Regina’s, watching the smile fade from her face as she added, “And other kinds are... horrific.”
Regina lowered her hand over the glowing, glittering liquid, bringing her fingers together in a closing-flower motion before drawing her hand upward. The liquid seemed to follow the movement, curling and twisting as it stretched upward. Regina’s hand became the direction the liquid followed, and she began to form an arc with it.
“Give me your other hand,” she told her, and Emma obeyed, still almost hypnotized by the motion of the silver liquid.
Regina’s hand was upturned expectantly, and Emma cupped her other palm, laying it in Regina’s hand. She felt Regina grasp it and in an instant, she was assaulted with several flashes -- a young man in a stable, a little girl on a runaway horse, and an older woman in a black cloak holding a glowing red heart in her hand, followed by a young Regina with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Then the flash was gone and Emma gasped and jumped back momentarily, surprised to note that Regina had done the same. They stared at each other wide-eyed for a moment, and then all at once Regina was her composed, stoic self again, instructing her a bit more harshly, “Your hand, Miss Swan.”
Emma was still attempting to get her breathing under control, able to hear her heartbeat in her ears as she again held out her cupped palm. This time, Regina did not touch her, and instead focused on directing the flow of the silver liquid, creating an arc from Emma’s right hand to her left.
Emma kept glimpsing from the liquid to Regina, hoping to get at least a hint as to what had just happened between them, a hint as to what exactly she’d seen in that split-second.
But Regina’s face betrayed nothing, all of her focus on the spell at hand. Ingredients were dropped into, and absorbed by, the silver liquid. It changed colors several times before going back to its original hue.
Soon, the arc was growing. The liquid began to spin so quickly it created a sheer, shimmering bubble around them. With her hands, Regina stretched it taller and taller still, until it reached well over the top of the estate. Then she spread it just as far around the house, until it touched the fences on each side and the sidewalk near the street.
Emma craned her neck, watching the shimmering bubble high over their heads as it encompassed their surroundings. Then, with a flourish of Regina’s hands, the bubble dissipated. The shimmer remained a moment longer and then faded until everything around them had gone back to normal.
Emma glanced down at her hands and saw nothing left. She looked at Regina. “It’s done?”
Regina nodded, once, face drawn and shuttered. “It’s done.”
“How do we know it’s working if we can’t see it?”
Regina smiled briefly, that polished veneer of a smile, then bent down and grabbed a rock from her landscaping. She held it up as if to show Emma it was to be an example, before she threw it toward the street. Just before it reached the sidewalk, a burst of shimmering light surrounded it and seemingly bounced the rock back.
It landed at their feet and Emma looked down at it before meeting Regina’s gaze once more.
She simply quirked an eyebrow, lips pursed. “I’d say it works.” Then she turned and went inside without another word.
Emma remained on the stoop, contemplating everything that had just happened, along with her sanity. She just helped Regina cast a spell. She helped the evil queen cast a spell.
Not only that, but when they touched hands, she got flashes of what could possibly have been memories. It was that thought that got her feet moving again, propelling her toward the door, which she closed behind her.
Regina lingered in her office, pouring herself another drink, and Emma wondered if she would allow her to join in again or if she had truly shut down for the night.
“Goodnight, Miss Swan,” Regina called distantly, and Emma nodded once in understanding.
Yep, she had shut down. So rather than protest, Emma climbed the stairs. She poked her head in to Henry’s room briefly and spotted the pillows and blankets she’d used the night before. Then, she threw a glance over her shoulder, down toward the foyer and the study where Regina remained, before she headed purposefully for the master bedroom.
“Be damned if I’m gonna sleep on the floor again,” she muttered to herself, making herself comfortable in the king sized bed.
She tossed her pants aside and stripped down to her tank top and underwear, her usual bedtime attire. Then she slipped between the silk sheets, sighing at the comfort before settling back against the pillows. As a final bit of ‘payback,’ she grabbed Regina’s silk eye shades from the night table and slipped them on, smiling to herself before turning out the light.
It wasn’t long before she heard Regina’s footfalls on the stairs. She listened to her pause briefly at the top of the stairs... possibly checking on Henry just as she had done... before the footsteps continued toward the master bedroom. She pushed the door open and Emma lifted one side of the eye shades to catch her outline in the doorway.
“And just what do you think you’re doing?”
Smirking, Emma threw Regina’s words from earlier back at her. “We both have to make sacrifices in this unholy alliance. Consider this your turn.”
Regina remained silhouetted by the hall light and folded her arms, confrontational. “If you think I’m going to let you commandeer my bed for the night--”
Emma pushed herself up on one elbow, gesturing to the empty side with her free hand. “There’s a whole other side there for you if you’re not too stubborn.”
Regina was silent, and Emma figured she was receiving quite the death glare. A long moment passed and finally she heard a resigned sigh from the doorway, followed by the sharp click of Regina’s heels on the hardwood floor. She first turned the hall light off, then went to the lamp on the bedside table and flicked it on, fixating that glare straight at Emma. “How do you know I won’t just turn you into a toad in your sleep?”
Emma shrugged. “I don’t.” Then she gestured to her gun, sitting near the bay window with her rumpled clothes. “How do you know I won’t shoot you in your sleep?”
Regina frowned. “I don’t.”
“Exactly. But... we both need to make sure Henry stays safe. So let’s save the killing-each-other-in-our-sleep thing for when we’re not in danger.” She raised her eyebrows. “Deal?”
“Fine.” Regina fluffed the pillows on her side of the bed and disappeared into her walk-in closet for a moment, emerging in long silk pajamas, just a shade or two darker than her sheets. “I suppose we can call that rule number one.”
Emma raised her brows, smirking her amusement. “Was there another I should be aware of?”
“Yes, Miss Swan, there was.” Regina sat down on her side of the bed, pushing the sheet and comforter back before throwing a glare over her shoulder, eyes narrowed sharply. “Don’t hog the covers.”
Emma rolled her eyes, “Yes, Your Majesty,” she returned, and turned on her side facing away, while Regina turned out the light.
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}
CHAPTER 6: Bedfellows
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Season 1 (in its entirety)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: She was getting close to something, here, and wanted to continue digging. But she knew that for now, she had pushed too far. Regina had thrown up the walls again.
*****
Regina stood at the open front door, concern on her face. “What happened?”
“Where’s Henry?” Emma asked abruptly, striding purposefully up the walk and past Regina.
Regina frowned in confusion, her body twisting to follow. “He’s asleep.”
“Good.”
The door closed in their wake and without preamble, Emma walked right to the study and poured a bit of scotch in a glass, gulping it down and wincing briefly at the burn it left behind.
“What are you doing?”
“Here,” Emma grumbled, shoving a second tumbler of scotch into Regina’s hands. “You’re gonna need it.”
Regina took a sip, eying her.
Emma took a breath, holding the queen’s gaze as she huffed it out and told her, “He’s got them on his side. All of them.”
Her eyes flashed fire and she looked away, muttering, “I knew it,” while swirling the scotch glass at her side.
Emma watched her pace around the study, every movement graceful... almost calculated. Regina’s eyes were everywhere but on her and she found herself wanting to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling.
She decided to push that fleeting want away with another gulp of scotch.
Finally, Regina spun to face her, one hand on her hip while the other clutched the glass white-knuckled. “Tell me what happened.”
Emma sighed. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Here.” A smile came to her lips, almost catlike, as she stepped close, invading her personal space.
Emma watched her with wide, cautious eyes as Regina reached out and took the glass from her hand, setting it on the nearby table.
“I’d like to do something, Miss Swan. A bit bold, but it might prove helpful.”
She wondered why her heart was slamming in her chest as Regina came even closer. “Uh...” Unfortunately, she was left with only unintelligible words. That scotch was strong. “Alright.”
Another smile curled her lips. “Good.”
She reached out with both hands, looking as though she was going to cup Emma’s face. Emma startled at this, her heart beating double-time as she asked anxiously, “What are you doing?”
But Regina just smiled, as if that would reassure her. “You’ll see.”
Her fingertips touched the sides of her head, just behind her temples. Then Emma felt a warmth and a burst of pressure... like a vise tightening around her head. Like Regina was actually reaching into her head on each side.
She cried out in pain, jaw going slack, and she looked to Regina. A glow reflected from whatever it was she was doing, lighting up her face, and her smile was still catlike.
Emma groaned, closing her eyes as the pressure increased. “Regina... that hurts...”
“Don’t worry, dear, it’ll only be another second,” she cooed, and Emma wondered if that was her ‘evil stepmother’ voice or something else entirely.
And then the pain began to diminish. Her head felt less and less like it was going to cave in, and Regina’s smile turned to one of satisfaction as she pulled her hands from Emma’s head, drawing out a glowing blue ball of energy.
Emma stared at it in disbelief. “What the hell is that?”
Regina didn’t answer. Instead, she kept her eyes on that glowing ball of energy as she made her way over to a round mirror against the far wall. She held the ball up in front of it and then blew at it... like blowing a kiss... and the ball floated on its own toward the mirror.
When it hit the glass, the mirror rippled as if she had dropped a pebble in a pond. Emma stepped up behind Regina and soon they could both see what Emma had seen earlier at City Hall. Every bit of it from her entrance, to Snow and Charming taking the podium, to Rumplestiltskin’s abrupt appearance.
She also saw what had happened when he froze time briefly, and they had their terse exchange. Emma alternated between watching the mirror and watching Regina’s reaction, noticing how her jaw clenched more and more with each passing second.
When it was over, the mirror rippled once more and then returned to normal. Regina stood still, just staring at their reflection while Emma stared at her.
“Did you just... yank a memory out of my head?”
“I borrowed it,” Regina muttered, still looking deep in thought.
Before Emma could question her further, the queen was on the move. Emma couldn’t help but follow, part of her fascinated. “So? Was it helpful?”
“Yes. Yes, it was.”
Emma followed her down into the basement, into a closed-off room, barren except for a cobweb-covered stack of books. “So... so what--”
“You’re right,” she cut her off. “He’s planning something.”
“Well... yeah. Do you know what?”
“No. But whatever it is, it’s going to be something we can’t even fathom. And your precious parents will be playing right into his willing hands.” Cutting her gaze to the side, she seethed through clenched teeth, “Simple fools.”
“Hey,” Emma returned with a frown.
A thought struck her after a beat or two, and she folded her arms. “So, let me ask an obvious question here before you start...” she gestured vaguely toward the books, “Whatever it is you’re about to start.”
“What?” Regina huffed, mirroring her position.
Emma narrowed her eyes briefly. “What do you have against them, anyway?”
Regina rolled her eyes, clenching her jaw again. After a moment it became clear that she wasn’t about to offer up any explanations.
Emma sighed and shrugged. “Fine. I’m gonna drag it out of you eventually.”
“Your ambition is admirable, Miss Swan, but ultimately futile.”
“Look,” she held up her hands. “I’m sure it’s complicated. And it must be something pretty huge for you to want to punish everybody, for almost thirty years, just to get revenge on two people.”
Regina dipped her head, muttering, “One.”
“What?”
She looked up, her brown eyes piercing. “One,” she ground out again, leaning on the stack of books. “One person. I did all of this to get back at your mother. She ruined my life.”
Emma raised her brows, partly surprised she had been offered even that much information. “Okay. What did she do?”
“Forget it.”
“Regina, for God sakes, it’s over!” She raised her voice, throwing her hands up in the air and letting them fall to her sides again. “Whatever happened, you got her back.”
“No I didn’t!”
Emma took a step back, momentarily surprised by the sound of Regina’s voice breaking.
When the queen looked up, it was with tear-filled eyes that she ground out shakily, “She took away my happiness. A kind that I can never have back. But her? She has her happiness again.” She snarled, “Her Charming. So no, I didn’t get her back.”
Emma absorbed that silently for a moment, her eyes bouncing back and forth between Regina’s. Another piece fell into place. She already knew Regina wasn’t completely unfeeling -- she learned as much back at the hospital with Henry’s life hanging in the balance. But it now seemed as though Regina’s vengeful side stemmed from a major loss.
“What did she do to you?” she whispered, attempting to rein in the brief pang of sympathy that swept over her.
But as soon as the mood shift had come on, Regina had it under control. The tears were gone and she flicked her hair out of her eyes with the back of her finger, composed once more. “That’s not important right now,” she said, voice almost overly calm. “Right now, all you need to know is that Rumplestiltskin is planning something. Something that will have no loophole this time. No Savior, no way out.”
Emma searched her eyes. “So what do we do?”
“First things first.”
She raised her eyebrows hopefully. “More drinking?”
Regina suppressed a smirk at that, grabbing one of the larger, leather-bound tomes off the stack and motioning for Emma to follow her. “More protection,” she replied.
“I have a gun.”
“Mm.” She shook her head. “Won’t do you much good up against magic, Miss Swan.”
Emma tilted her head, silently conceding that Regina was right about that much -- the gun hadn’t done a damn thing to slow that dragon down, after all. “So what kind of protection do we need?”
“Well, we need to protect against magic, with magic.”
Regina led her through dark cavernous tunnels in the basement, and Emma had to wonder just how exactly the mayor landed a house with underground catacombs, practically.
“So, some sort of a... protection spell?”
“Now you’re catching on.”
They ended up in a room lit by a single, dangling light bulb, lined on each side with tall shelves of small, square cubbies. In each was an object encased in glass, whether it was a vial, a flask or a bottle. Emma surveyed them all, eying Regina suspiciously. “If you had all this stuff here the whole time, why haven’t you used it before?”
“Without magic, these ingredients are completely useless,” she explained. And then she shrugged. “I just... hung on to them for safekeeping.” She smiled, though the smile was thin and a bit facetious. “Just in case.”
“I see...” Emma continued to glance around warily, hands on her hips. “And, uh, does ‘Mr. Gold’ have this stuff too?”
Regina’s brows flicked upward as she read over one page of her book, her finger tracing down the list of ingredients before she started grabbing at various vials and bottles. “I wouldn’t doubt he has much, much more than this.” Sighing, she pocketed a small vial of some sort of silver liquid as she commented, “He was imbibed with a dark magic that I can’t even begin to understand.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well how did you get your magic?” Emma asked, shifting on her feet and furrowing her brows curiously, hands still on her hips.
She watched Regina’s spine straighten, watched her tense up. A long moment passed in which Emma just watched her back before Regina just barely turned over her shoulder and replied lowly, “My mother.”
“Oh.” Emma frowned. “Well, how did she--”
“That’s enough with the questions for tonight,” Regina cut her off, slamming her hands down on the open pages of the large tome. “Let’s just... focus on the spell.”
Emma agreed, a bit hesitantly, as she kept her eyes cemented on the fallen queen. She was getting close to something, here, and wanted to continue digging. But she knew that for now, she had pushed too far. Regina had thrown up the walls again. So rather than press further, she gave the queen her space, and watched her silently as she gathered ingredients for the spell.
**
When every ingredient was found and thrown together, and Regina had enough time to read over her book of spells, she directed Emma outside. They peered around cautiously and, once they ascertained they were alone, they began.
“Hold out your hand,” Regina told her as they faced each other, and Emma eyed the slight upward tilt at the corners of her lips curiously, though she did as she was told.
She grimaced as Regina emptied the contents of a small vial of liquid into her cupped palm. “Can’t you just do this yourself and I can watch?”
“I’ve never performed this sort of spell before, Miss Swan, so I’d appreciate your assistance.”
She huffed. “Fine.”
Emma watched, then, as the silver liquid in her hand began to glow. It began to turn and spread out slowly, as if being stirred by some unseen force. It glittered as it moved and Emma found herself almost entranced by the sight. It was like staring at a galaxy. “Whoa...”
She felt, without seeing, Regina’s smile as she told her, “Some magic can be quite beautiful.”
Without moving her head, she lifted her eyes to meet Regina’s, watching the smile fade from her face as she added, “And other kinds are... horrific.”
Regina lowered her hand over the glowing, glittering liquid, bringing her fingers together in a closing-flower motion before drawing her hand upward. The liquid seemed to follow the movement, curling and twisting as it stretched upward. Regina’s hand became the direction the liquid followed, and she began to form an arc with it.
“Give me your other hand,” she told her, and Emma obeyed, still almost hypnotized by the motion of the silver liquid.
Regina’s hand was upturned expectantly, and Emma cupped her other palm, laying it in Regina’s hand. She felt Regina grasp it and in an instant, she was assaulted with several flashes -- a young man in a stable, a little girl on a runaway horse, and an older woman in a black cloak holding a glowing red heart in her hand, followed by a young Regina with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Then the flash was gone and Emma gasped and jumped back momentarily, surprised to note that Regina had done the same. They stared at each other wide-eyed for a moment, and then all at once Regina was her composed, stoic self again, instructing her a bit more harshly, “Your hand, Miss Swan.”
Emma was still attempting to get her breathing under control, able to hear her heartbeat in her ears as she again held out her cupped palm. This time, Regina did not touch her, and instead focused on directing the flow of the silver liquid, creating an arc from Emma’s right hand to her left.
Emma kept glimpsing from the liquid to Regina, hoping to get at least a hint as to what had just happened between them, a hint as to what exactly she’d seen in that split-second.
But Regina’s face betrayed nothing, all of her focus on the spell at hand. Ingredients were dropped into, and absorbed by, the silver liquid. It changed colors several times before going back to its original hue.
Soon, the arc was growing. The liquid began to spin so quickly it created a sheer, shimmering bubble around them. With her hands, Regina stretched it taller and taller still, until it reached well over the top of the estate. Then she spread it just as far around the house, until it touched the fences on each side and the sidewalk near the street.
Emma craned her neck, watching the shimmering bubble high over their heads as it encompassed their surroundings. Then, with a flourish of Regina’s hands, the bubble dissipated. The shimmer remained a moment longer and then faded until everything around them had gone back to normal.
Emma glanced down at her hands and saw nothing left. She looked at Regina. “It’s done?”
Regina nodded, once, face drawn and shuttered. “It’s done.”
“How do we know it’s working if we can’t see it?”
Regina smiled briefly, that polished veneer of a smile, then bent down and grabbed a rock from her landscaping. She held it up as if to show Emma it was to be an example, before she threw it toward the street. Just before it reached the sidewalk, a burst of shimmering light surrounded it and seemingly bounced the rock back.
It landed at their feet and Emma looked down at it before meeting Regina’s gaze once more.
She simply quirked an eyebrow, lips pursed. “I’d say it works.” Then she turned and went inside without another word.
Emma remained on the stoop, contemplating everything that had just happened, along with her sanity. She just helped Regina cast a spell. She helped the evil queen cast a spell.
Not only that, but when they touched hands, she got flashes of what could possibly have been memories. It was that thought that got her feet moving again, propelling her toward the door, which she closed behind her.
Regina lingered in her office, pouring herself another drink, and Emma wondered if she would allow her to join in again or if she had truly shut down for the night.
“Goodnight, Miss Swan,” Regina called distantly, and Emma nodded once in understanding.
Yep, she had shut down. So rather than protest, Emma climbed the stairs. She poked her head in to Henry’s room briefly and spotted the pillows and blankets she’d used the night before. Then, she threw a glance over her shoulder, down toward the foyer and the study where Regina remained, before she headed purposefully for the master bedroom.
“Be damned if I’m gonna sleep on the floor again,” she muttered to herself, making herself comfortable in the king sized bed.
She tossed her pants aside and stripped down to her tank top and underwear, her usual bedtime attire. Then she slipped between the silk sheets, sighing at the comfort before settling back against the pillows. As a final bit of ‘payback,’ she grabbed Regina’s silk eye shades from the night table and slipped them on, smiling to herself before turning out the light.
It wasn’t long before she heard Regina’s footfalls on the stairs. She listened to her pause briefly at the top of the stairs... possibly checking on Henry just as she had done... before the footsteps continued toward the master bedroom. She pushed the door open and Emma lifted one side of the eye shades to catch her outline in the doorway.
“And just what do you think you’re doing?”
Smirking, Emma threw Regina’s words from earlier back at her. “We both have to make sacrifices in this unholy alliance. Consider this your turn.”
Regina remained silhouetted by the hall light and folded her arms, confrontational. “If you think I’m going to let you commandeer my bed for the night--”
Emma pushed herself up on one elbow, gesturing to the empty side with her free hand. “There’s a whole other side there for you if you’re not too stubborn.”
Regina was silent, and Emma figured she was receiving quite the death glare. A long moment passed and finally she heard a resigned sigh from the doorway, followed by the sharp click of Regina’s heels on the hardwood floor. She first turned the hall light off, then went to the lamp on the bedside table and flicked it on, fixating that glare straight at Emma. “How do you know I won’t just turn you into a toad in your sleep?”
Emma shrugged. “I don’t.” Then she gestured to her gun, sitting near the bay window with her rumpled clothes. “How do you know I won’t shoot you in your sleep?”
Regina frowned. “I don’t.”
“Exactly. But... we both need to make sure Henry stays safe. So let’s save the killing-each-other-in-our-sleep thing for when we’re not in danger.” She raised her eyebrows. “Deal?”
“Fine.” Regina fluffed the pillows on her side of the bed and disappeared into her walk-in closet for a moment, emerging in long silk pajamas, just a shade or two darker than her sheets. “I suppose we can call that rule number one.”
Emma raised her brows, smirking her amusement. “Was there another I should be aware of?”
“Yes, Miss Swan, there was.” Regina sat down on her side of the bed, pushing the sheet and comforter back before throwing a glare over her shoulder, eyes narrowed sharply. “Don’t hog the covers.”
Emma rolled her eyes, “Yes, Your Majesty,” she returned, and turned on her side facing away, while Regina turned out the light.
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}