A Queen Without Power (Once Upon a Time; Regina/Emma)
TITLE: A Queen Without Power
CHAPTER 9: Pitiful Creatures
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Season one (in its entirety)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: "Perhaps you see something in Regina that nobody else does. A glimmer of something that nobody else has bothered to look for.”
*****
The rest of the day was spent in awkward tension. She and Regina avoided any proximity whatsoever after that hug in the foyer, and Henry either didn’t notice or happily ignored their behavior.
After a painfully-quiet lunch, the three of them went their separate ways. Henry wandered up to his room to look through his fairytale book again (“Gathering intel,” had been his reasoning), Regina closed herself away in her study, which left Emma to her own devices.
She decided to pay another visit to the prince and princess, but this time without the accompaniment of innocent ears. So she got in her Bug and drove off, the magical protection bubble shimmering ever-so-briefly as she passed the threshold of the driveway.
When she got to the loft, she heard the voices of her parents. They were raised, arguing over the top of one another:
“...Because I don’t think it’s going to solve anything, Snow!”
“How can you say that? After everything she’s done to us -- to my father, to others -- how can you even insinuate that we won’t be better off without her?”
“What I’m saying is that we don’t need to resort to her tactics to win! Good always triumphs, you know that. Don’t allow yourself to lose sight of your own values because of her. She’s not worth it.”
“I want her gone, James! I don’t care how it’s done, I just want her gone. I’ll get someone else to take care of it.”
“Like the Huntsman she hired to kill you? Don’t you see, Snow? You’re straying down a darker path instead of thinking of ways to resolve this conflict without resorting to violence!”
Emma raised her brows, knocking softly with the knuckle of her middle finger. “Hello?”
”There is no other way! She cannot be reached by-by.... logic or reason! She cannot be reached by common decency. She got it in her head that the only way to true happiness was through dark magic and abuse of power. So in order to reach her, we need to do the same.”
“I don’t believe that. No. I don’t believe that is a reasonable solution. There must be a way to get through to her. To turn her away from darkness without senselessly killing her.”
“Do you really think it’s senseless, James? After everything? She killed my father. She poisoned me, imprisoned you, and then cursed us all for the last 28 years! Do you really think such a pitiful creature deserves to live?”
Emma had heard enough for the time-being, and gently pushed the door open. “Hello? Guys?”
James and Snow halted mid-argument, the two of them standing on opposite sides of the kitchen island. James turned over his shoulder to look at her while Snow leaned around him. “Emma.”
“Sorry to barge in...” She studied them, feigning ignorance as to what she had just overheard. “Is this a bad time?”
She watched the prince throw a furtive glance at his wife, before turning back to Emma and greeting her properly. “Of course not, my love,” he told her, his hand in the middle of her back as he gestured toward the kitchen table. “Please, come in and have a seat.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, pushing a slice of hair behind her ear. It was still extremely odd to hear ‘David Nolan’ refer to her as ‘my daughter’ or ‘my love.’ Just as it was to hear ‘Mary-Margaret’ occasionally use the term ‘Emma dear.’ She wondered briefly if she would ever get used to the idea of having parents that were roughly in her same age group.
“Two visits in one day,” James commented, a bright smile on his face. “What a pleasant surprise.”
She smiled back, briefly, before it faded. “Yeah, well... I feel like we didn’t really get a chance to talk much about that whole town hall meeting thing with Henry in the room.”
“Ah yes. Well, shall we continue?”
He and Snow White took seats on opposite sides of the table from one another, tension still thick. Emma eyed them briefly, deciding to push past it. “Right. So... Rumplestiltskin told you that Regina was the one that brought magic back to Storybrooke.”
“Correct,” Snow nodded.
She looked to the prince next. “And you said he mentioned that she might be using it to make a new curse.”
“Yes. One much more powerful than the last.”
“So... what’s his plan? What does he think we should do?”
“Well,” Snow glanced at her husband briefly before turning back to Emma. “He believes the best solution is to kill Regina.”
“Yes,” James jumped in, “And I believe that won’t solve anything.”
Snow White tilted her head, a warning in her tone. “James...”
“I... kinda agree,” Emma cringed, looking to her mother for a reaction.
Her eyes were wide. “What?” Glimpsing between the two of them, she hissed, “How can you even say that?”
Emma shrugged. “Because I don’t think Regina is the one to worry about in this case.”
“Why wouldn’t she be?” Snow threw her hands up briefly and let them land on the tabletop loudly. “She’s the reason we’re all here, the reason why none of us have been able to be happy for the last twenty-eight years. How is she suddenly no longer a threat?”
“Because I would bet you she’s well aware that she’s outnumbered.”
Snow huffed, folding her arms. “Knowing Regina, she’d probably just see that as a fun challenge.”
Emma sighed, deciding to try a different tack. “Okay... did either of you ever consider the possibility that what Rumplestiltskin told you might not be the truth?”
That gave them pause. The prince and princess looked at one another, almost holding a silent conversation with their eyes. Then, Snow turned back to her. “He... was truthful when he told us you would break the curse.”
Emma raised her brows. “So that means you’re gonna take everything else he says as gospel? Come on.”
“Snow...” James glanced at her through his lashes. “She has a point. He is known for lies and trickery.”
“In order to get what he wants,” she explained, head inclined quizzically. “But what would he get out of lying to us about Regina?”
“How about the chance to go after her himself? And the rest of you right along with her?” she offered, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms.
The two of them exchanged another look. Confusion knit the princess’ brow, but still she turned to her daughter with an interest in her tone. “Go on...”
“From everything I’ve read in Henry’s book, it seems like he only ever looks out for himself. It’s all about the power. And here, Regina took his power away. So he needs to outdo what she’s done in order to show her who’s really the most powerful.”
"So you think he released magic, and told us it was Regina?"
She nodded. "I think that's a very real possibility."
“But how would he have done that if she took his power away?”
Emma sighed. “Before the curse broke... before all of you guys remembered who you were... I went with Regina to see him. Henry was dying and we needed his help. He gave me your sword,” she glanced to James, “and told me about a vial of magic that came over with all of you when she cursed you. It was a potion he made from strands of your hair.”
“Ours?” Snow questioned.
Emma nodded. “True love, he said. Because it’s the most powerful magic of all.”
Realization appeared to dawn on Snow White’s face. “That was why he wanted my hair.”
“And mine,” the prince jumped in.
“Right. He must have known it would make this... ‘true love’ potion or whatever. The point is, he essentially gave me a quest. To get that potion from its hiding place. It was in a golden egg--”
“Inside a dragon,” James finished, looking stunned. “I-I...did that for him, a lifetime ago.”
“Well, he wanted me to go get it back. So Regina and I went to the library. Underneath was some sort of... dungeon thing.” She looked to the prince. “She brought the dragon over with her. Apparently it used to be a friend of hers--”
“Maleficent,” James murmured. “I remember.”
Snow White watched this all with curiosity as Emma went on.
“So I went down there with your sword to get that stupid egg, all because he told Regina and I that it was the only way to save Henry.” She shook her head, eyes on the table as she murmured to herself, “Regina told me not to trust him. She was right. It was a lie. He tricked us both. He tied Regina up... bound her to a chair and taped her mouth shut... and then when he got the egg from me, he left us both. He wanted that magic just for him.”
She held Snow’s gaze as she hammered in the final point. “But I was so wrapped up hating Regina for what she’d done, that I failed to see that Rumplestiltskin lied to us. That he tricked us, to help himself. Because that’s what he does.”
The prince and princess exchanged a long look, silent contemplation on Snow White’s face while James seemed to silently plead with her to consider the argument she’d just been presented with. “Snow...” he murmured.
Slowly, she looked up and met Emma’s eyes. Her voice was quiet, still contemplative and laced with a hint of confusion as she asked, “Regina helped you, when Henry was ill? And she warned you about Rumplestiltskin?”
Emma nodded, hopeful that her mother was catching on. “Yes. Yes, she did.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would she do that?”
“Because she loves Henry. Because she wanted to save him as much as I did.”
“But...” Snow shook her head. “If not for her, then Henry would never have--”
“I know,” she cut her off, closing her eyes. “I know.” Lifting her head, she met her eyes once more. “But I was with her when she saw what had happened to him. I was with her right up until the time the curse broke. And I’m telling you... something changed in her. I don’t know what, but something did.”
“Where is she now?” the prince asked, touching her forearm gently. “Do you know?”
Emma met his eyes and searched them. They were a copy of her own. After a moment, she swallowed and shook her head, holding his gaze as she lied, “No. I don’t know where she is.”
He held her gaze a moment longer, and then nodded, “Okay,” looking to Snow next.
“So what do we do about Rumplestiltskin then? How will we know if he’s lying to us?”
Emma took a breath, not wanting to reveal how much she knew about the situation, otherwise it would give away the fact that Regina had been her source. “Keep an eye on him,” she told them. “Work with him, plan with him, but whatever you do, do not trust him. He doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”
*****
Once the sun had gone down, Emma bid her parents goodbye, and the prince offered to walk her to her car while Snow White stayed behind, intent on cleaning up after their supper.
They walked down the halls slowly, throwing glances at each other every so often. “You didn’t have to walk me out,” Emma commented.
“I know,” he replied. “I wanted to speak with you alone for a moment.”
She turned to face him once they had reached her car, brows furrowed. “About what?”
“About where Regina is.”
“But I told you, I don’t--”
“I’m aware of what you told me, Emma.” With a gentle smile, the prince cocked his head, leaning against the side of her car. “But I much prefer the truth.”
She sighed, exhaling a rueful smile. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she shuffled her feet and glanced up at him sheepishly. “Guess this is what sucks about having parents, huh? They know when you’re lying.”
He smirked. “I suppose so.” He looked down and, after a moment, he asked her softly, “Do you really believe something changed in her?”
She thought back to the look of devastation on Regina’s face when they returned to the hospital -- when Henry had been pronounced dead. “Yeah, I do.” She shook her head, almost looking through the sidewalk as she glanced over everything that had happened leading up to and following the curse breaking. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I just--”
“You feel it,” he offered, meeting her eyes.
“Yeah.” She chuckled softly. “Weird, huh?”
“Well, the two of you went through an ordeal together. It may have been orchestrated by her, but it affected her as much as it did you. That doesn’t count for nothing in terms of intuition.”
“Right.” She leaned against the car beside him, hands still in her pockets. After a long moment of silence, she looked over at him. “Tell me who Daniel is.”
“Yes, I... gave that some thought since this morning. I, uh...” He shook his head. “I don’t feel it’s my place to tell you about him. You could try asking your mother. She believes that what Regina went through with Daniel is why she became who she is now. Why she resorted to dark magic and misdeeds. And why she has such a vendetta against your mother.”
“Oh.” At a loss for anything else to say, Emma merely looked down at the sidewalk again.
“Do you believe there’s a chance that we could somehow... get through to Regina? Help her find the person she used to be before all this started?”
“Maybe.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I’d like to think so. Hope so, I mean.” Then she furrowed her brows at that. Why did she think that? And why did it suddenly matter to her whether Regina ‘turned good’ or not? “I don’t know why, though.”
She looked over at the prince, who merely smiled at her as he straightened up. “Perhaps you see something in Regina that nobody else does. A glimmer of something that nobody else has bothered to look for.” He shrugged. “Perhaps your role of ‘savior’ still remains, even though the curse has broken.”
Emma eyed him. “So you think I might have to ‘save’ Regina.”
“Or perhaps just remind her of who she used to be. Remind her that there’s a better path to take. Particularly if what you said is correct, and that Rumplestiltskin is truly the one to fear.”
He dropped a kiss to her forehead and then headed back toward the apartment building. Emma watched him for just a moment before she called after him, “Why do you care so much?”
“What?” He spun to face her.
She took a step forward, shaking her head. “I don’t understand. Regina made life hell for you.” She gestured toward the building, indicating Snow White. “For both of you. Why do you care about turning her around?”
“Because I believe that everyone deserves happiness. Even a creature as pitiful as Regina.” The prince left it at that, throwing a look at her over his shoulder before he disappeared into the building.
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}
CHAPTER 9: Pitiful Creatures
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Season one (in its entirety)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: "Perhaps you see something in Regina that nobody else does. A glimmer of something that nobody else has bothered to look for.”
*****
The rest of the day was spent in awkward tension. She and Regina avoided any proximity whatsoever after that hug in the foyer, and Henry either didn’t notice or happily ignored their behavior.
After a painfully-quiet lunch, the three of them went their separate ways. Henry wandered up to his room to look through his fairytale book again (“Gathering intel,” had been his reasoning), Regina closed herself away in her study, which left Emma to her own devices.
She decided to pay another visit to the prince and princess, but this time without the accompaniment of innocent ears. So she got in her Bug and drove off, the magical protection bubble shimmering ever-so-briefly as she passed the threshold of the driveway.
When she got to the loft, she heard the voices of her parents. They were raised, arguing over the top of one another:
“...Because I don’t think it’s going to solve anything, Snow!”
“How can you say that? After everything she’s done to us -- to my father, to others -- how can you even insinuate that we won’t be better off without her?”
“What I’m saying is that we don’t need to resort to her tactics to win! Good always triumphs, you know that. Don’t allow yourself to lose sight of your own values because of her. She’s not worth it.”
“I want her gone, James! I don’t care how it’s done, I just want her gone. I’ll get someone else to take care of it.”
“Like the Huntsman she hired to kill you? Don’t you see, Snow? You’re straying down a darker path instead of thinking of ways to resolve this conflict without resorting to violence!”
Emma raised her brows, knocking softly with the knuckle of her middle finger. “Hello?”
”There is no other way! She cannot be reached by-by.... logic or reason! She cannot be reached by common decency. She got it in her head that the only way to true happiness was through dark magic and abuse of power. So in order to reach her, we need to do the same.”
“I don’t believe that. No. I don’t believe that is a reasonable solution. There must be a way to get through to her. To turn her away from darkness without senselessly killing her.”
“Do you really think it’s senseless, James? After everything? She killed my father. She poisoned me, imprisoned you, and then cursed us all for the last 28 years! Do you really think such a pitiful creature deserves to live?”
Emma had heard enough for the time-being, and gently pushed the door open. “Hello? Guys?”
James and Snow halted mid-argument, the two of them standing on opposite sides of the kitchen island. James turned over his shoulder to look at her while Snow leaned around him. “Emma.”
“Sorry to barge in...” She studied them, feigning ignorance as to what she had just overheard. “Is this a bad time?”
She watched the prince throw a furtive glance at his wife, before turning back to Emma and greeting her properly. “Of course not, my love,” he told her, his hand in the middle of her back as he gestured toward the kitchen table. “Please, come in and have a seat.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, pushing a slice of hair behind her ear. It was still extremely odd to hear ‘David Nolan’ refer to her as ‘my daughter’ or ‘my love.’ Just as it was to hear ‘Mary-Margaret’ occasionally use the term ‘Emma dear.’ She wondered briefly if she would ever get used to the idea of having parents that were roughly in her same age group.
“Two visits in one day,” James commented, a bright smile on his face. “What a pleasant surprise.”
She smiled back, briefly, before it faded. “Yeah, well... I feel like we didn’t really get a chance to talk much about that whole town hall meeting thing with Henry in the room.”
“Ah yes. Well, shall we continue?”
He and Snow White took seats on opposite sides of the table from one another, tension still thick. Emma eyed them briefly, deciding to push past it. “Right. So... Rumplestiltskin told you that Regina was the one that brought magic back to Storybrooke.”
“Correct,” Snow nodded.
She looked to the prince next. “And you said he mentioned that she might be using it to make a new curse.”
“Yes. One much more powerful than the last.”
“So... what’s his plan? What does he think we should do?”
“Well,” Snow glanced at her husband briefly before turning back to Emma. “He believes the best solution is to kill Regina.”
“Yes,” James jumped in, “And I believe that won’t solve anything.”
Snow White tilted her head, a warning in her tone. “James...”
“I... kinda agree,” Emma cringed, looking to her mother for a reaction.
Her eyes were wide. “What?” Glimpsing between the two of them, she hissed, “How can you even say that?”
Emma shrugged. “Because I don’t think Regina is the one to worry about in this case.”
“Why wouldn’t she be?” Snow threw her hands up briefly and let them land on the tabletop loudly. “She’s the reason we’re all here, the reason why none of us have been able to be happy for the last twenty-eight years. How is she suddenly no longer a threat?”
“Because I would bet you she’s well aware that she’s outnumbered.”
Snow huffed, folding her arms. “Knowing Regina, she’d probably just see that as a fun challenge.”
Emma sighed, deciding to try a different tack. “Okay... did either of you ever consider the possibility that what Rumplestiltskin told you might not be the truth?”
That gave them pause. The prince and princess looked at one another, almost holding a silent conversation with their eyes. Then, Snow turned back to her. “He... was truthful when he told us you would break the curse.”
Emma raised her brows. “So that means you’re gonna take everything else he says as gospel? Come on.”
“Snow...” James glanced at her through his lashes. “She has a point. He is known for lies and trickery.”
“In order to get what he wants,” she explained, head inclined quizzically. “But what would he get out of lying to us about Regina?”
“How about the chance to go after her himself? And the rest of you right along with her?” she offered, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms.
The two of them exchanged another look. Confusion knit the princess’ brow, but still she turned to her daughter with an interest in her tone. “Go on...”
“From everything I’ve read in Henry’s book, it seems like he only ever looks out for himself. It’s all about the power. And here, Regina took his power away. So he needs to outdo what she’s done in order to show her who’s really the most powerful.”
"So you think he released magic, and told us it was Regina?"
She nodded. "I think that's a very real possibility."
“But how would he have done that if she took his power away?”
Emma sighed. “Before the curse broke... before all of you guys remembered who you were... I went with Regina to see him. Henry was dying and we needed his help. He gave me your sword,” she glanced to James, “and told me about a vial of magic that came over with all of you when she cursed you. It was a potion he made from strands of your hair.”
“Ours?” Snow questioned.
Emma nodded. “True love, he said. Because it’s the most powerful magic of all.”
Realization appeared to dawn on Snow White’s face. “That was why he wanted my hair.”
“And mine,” the prince jumped in.
“Right. He must have known it would make this... ‘true love’ potion or whatever. The point is, he essentially gave me a quest. To get that potion from its hiding place. It was in a golden egg--”
“Inside a dragon,” James finished, looking stunned. “I-I...did that for him, a lifetime ago.”
“Well, he wanted me to go get it back. So Regina and I went to the library. Underneath was some sort of... dungeon thing.” She looked to the prince. “She brought the dragon over with her. Apparently it used to be a friend of hers--”
“Maleficent,” James murmured. “I remember.”
Snow White watched this all with curiosity as Emma went on.
“So I went down there with your sword to get that stupid egg, all because he told Regina and I that it was the only way to save Henry.” She shook her head, eyes on the table as she murmured to herself, “Regina told me not to trust him. She was right. It was a lie. He tricked us both. He tied Regina up... bound her to a chair and taped her mouth shut... and then when he got the egg from me, he left us both. He wanted that magic just for him.”
She held Snow’s gaze as she hammered in the final point. “But I was so wrapped up hating Regina for what she’d done, that I failed to see that Rumplestiltskin lied to us. That he tricked us, to help himself. Because that’s what he does.”
The prince and princess exchanged a long look, silent contemplation on Snow White’s face while James seemed to silently plead with her to consider the argument she’d just been presented with. “Snow...” he murmured.
Slowly, she looked up and met Emma’s eyes. Her voice was quiet, still contemplative and laced with a hint of confusion as she asked, “Regina helped you, when Henry was ill? And she warned you about Rumplestiltskin?”
Emma nodded, hopeful that her mother was catching on. “Yes. Yes, she did.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would she do that?”
“Because she loves Henry. Because she wanted to save him as much as I did.”
“But...” Snow shook her head. “If not for her, then Henry would never have--”
“I know,” she cut her off, closing her eyes. “I know.” Lifting her head, she met her eyes once more. “But I was with her when she saw what had happened to him. I was with her right up until the time the curse broke. And I’m telling you... something changed in her. I don’t know what, but something did.”
“Where is she now?” the prince asked, touching her forearm gently. “Do you know?”
Emma met his eyes and searched them. They were a copy of her own. After a moment, she swallowed and shook her head, holding his gaze as she lied, “No. I don’t know where she is.”
He held her gaze a moment longer, and then nodded, “Okay,” looking to Snow next.
“So what do we do about Rumplestiltskin then? How will we know if he’s lying to us?”
Emma took a breath, not wanting to reveal how much she knew about the situation, otherwise it would give away the fact that Regina had been her source. “Keep an eye on him,” she told them. “Work with him, plan with him, but whatever you do, do not trust him. He doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”
*****
Once the sun had gone down, Emma bid her parents goodbye, and the prince offered to walk her to her car while Snow White stayed behind, intent on cleaning up after their supper.
They walked down the halls slowly, throwing glances at each other every so often. “You didn’t have to walk me out,” Emma commented.
“I know,” he replied. “I wanted to speak with you alone for a moment.”
She turned to face him once they had reached her car, brows furrowed. “About what?”
“About where Regina is.”
“But I told you, I don’t--”
“I’m aware of what you told me, Emma.” With a gentle smile, the prince cocked his head, leaning against the side of her car. “But I much prefer the truth.”
She sighed, exhaling a rueful smile. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she shuffled her feet and glanced up at him sheepishly. “Guess this is what sucks about having parents, huh? They know when you’re lying.”
He smirked. “I suppose so.” He looked down and, after a moment, he asked her softly, “Do you really believe something changed in her?”
She thought back to the look of devastation on Regina’s face when they returned to the hospital -- when Henry had been pronounced dead. “Yeah, I do.” She shook her head, almost looking through the sidewalk as she glanced over everything that had happened leading up to and following the curse breaking. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I just--”
“You feel it,” he offered, meeting her eyes.
“Yeah.” She chuckled softly. “Weird, huh?”
“Well, the two of you went through an ordeal together. It may have been orchestrated by her, but it affected her as much as it did you. That doesn’t count for nothing in terms of intuition.”
“Right.” She leaned against the car beside him, hands still in her pockets. After a long moment of silence, she looked over at him. “Tell me who Daniel is.”
“Yes, I... gave that some thought since this morning. I, uh...” He shook his head. “I don’t feel it’s my place to tell you about him. You could try asking your mother. She believes that what Regina went through with Daniel is why she became who she is now. Why she resorted to dark magic and misdeeds. And why she has such a vendetta against your mother.”
“Oh.” At a loss for anything else to say, Emma merely looked down at the sidewalk again.
“Do you believe there’s a chance that we could somehow... get through to Regina? Help her find the person she used to be before all this started?”
“Maybe.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I’d like to think so. Hope so, I mean.” Then she furrowed her brows at that. Why did she think that? And why did it suddenly matter to her whether Regina ‘turned good’ or not? “I don’t know why, though.”
She looked over at the prince, who merely smiled at her as he straightened up. “Perhaps you see something in Regina that nobody else does. A glimmer of something that nobody else has bothered to look for.” He shrugged. “Perhaps your role of ‘savior’ still remains, even though the curse has broken.”
Emma eyed him. “So you think I might have to ‘save’ Regina.”
“Or perhaps just remind her of who she used to be. Remind her that there’s a better path to take. Particularly if what you said is correct, and that Rumplestiltskin is truly the one to fear.”
He dropped a kiss to her forehead and then headed back toward the apartment building. Emma watched him for just a moment before she called after him, “Why do you care so much?”
“What?” He spun to face her.
She took a step forward, shaking her head. “I don’t understand. Regina made life hell for you.” She gestured toward the building, indicating Snow White. “For both of you. Why do you care about turning her around?”
“Because I believe that everyone deserves happiness. Even a creature as pitiful as Regina.” The prince left it at that, throwing a look at her over his shoulder before he disappeared into the building.
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}