A Queen Without Power (Once Upon a Time; Regina/Emma)
TITLE: A Queen Without Power
CHAPTER 13: Purities and Impurities
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Season one (in its entirety)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: “Heal me,” Regina murmured, and as if in answer, Emma’s hand began to glow.
*****
The tension was palpable between the two adversaries. Emma could practically feel the repressed anger and resentment radiating off her mother in waves. She looked up at Prince James, who appeared to be at a loss for what to do as well. The question was clear in both their expressions -- intervene, or let it be?
“You,” Snow growled, taking another step toward the bubble that separated her from Regina.
“Snow...” James called her cautiously.
But she didn’t heed the warning in his tone, stepping right up to where she had felt the blast, eyes centered on the former queen and teeth clenched. “Take down your shield.”
Emma patted her son’s shoulders, keeping her eyes on her mother as she advised, “Henry, maybe you should go inside.”
“But--”
“Now.”
Grumbling a bit, Henry made his way up the walk and went inside. Emma knew it wouldn’t be long before he would be watching them from his window, but couldn’t bring herself to care that much. Concern for the situation brewing outside outweighed it by far.
She turned to her mother, holding up her hands in supplication. “Look. I think we’re all pretty stressed. A lot has gone on in the last few days, so maybe if we just talk about--”
“Take. Down. The shield,” Snow White ground out, eyes still trained on Regina.
Emma drew in a breath, looking over at Regina. Regina swallowed hard, clearly knowing what was coming and accepting her fate. She nodded, glancing down at her hand as it began to crackle with magic.
Emma couldn’t help but think, Since when did she become such a defeatist?
Then as if she’d spoken the thought out loud, she heard Regina’s voice in her head in answer: Only since I’ve been defeated.
She snapped her head over to look at her, eyes wide. How in the hell...
“Well?” Snow White threw up her arms. “Are you going to do it, or not?”
Regina broke gaze with Emma, turning to her former stepdaughter with a lowered, almost too-calm, voice. “Yes, Snow. One moment.”
Emma watched then, as Regina walked up to the bubble, pressing her hand against it. In an instant, the entire bubble was alight with tiny bursts of lightning, like hairline cracks in a mirror. Then all at once, it dissipated and was gone.
Regina’s defenses were down.
The two of them looked to Snow White, and Emma braced herself for what she knew was coming. The princess wasn’t as vulnerable and fragile as she had been portrayed in movies. No, according to Henry’s book, her mother was pretty damn ferocious.
And right at that moment, watching Snow’s chest heave with adrenaline and anger, it was like watching a volcano about to erupt. She glanced to Prince James, who stood tentatively behind the princess, before everything exploded in activity.
Snow White let out a yell and lunged straight for Regina, grabbing the woman by the throat and knocking her to the ground. James ran forward, “Snow, don’t!” while Emma was left frozen in place, unsure of what to do.
Snow took several swings, splitting open Regina’s lower lip with one punch. “How dare you!” she screamed, tears streaming from her eyes. “You took my father! You poisoned me! Imprisoned my only love! You left us no other choice but to abandon our daughter and then you trapped us here! You framed me for murder, you treacherous, horrible witch!”
Emma and her father dove into the action, attempting to pry the two of them apart. She couldn’t help but notice that Regina wasn’t really swinging back, but attempting to deflect the punches thrown.
Still, she spat back, “You took my one chance at happiness! My Daniel died because of you! Because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut!”
“Regina! Stop! Come on.” Emma reached for her, only to get pushed back by Snow White.
“I was a little girl, Regina! A little girl!”
“Snow! That’s enough!” James tried to get a grip on her, but she kept wrenching her arms from his grasp.
The two women continued to tussle on the ground while Emma and the prince tried hopelessly to separate them. Finally, Emma had had her fill of the display, and she yelled, “ENOUGH!” while stomping her foot.
As she did so, a blast of white light pried Snow White and Regina apart, catapulting them each a few feet. Snow crashed into her husband, the two of them hitting the ground, while Regina fell back and Emma caught her with her arms around her waist.
They exhaled in unison and Emma helped her straighten up, noticing the blood at the corner of her mouth. Regina tossed her hair out of her eyes and composed herself as best she could, while Snow and James got to their feet.
“You used magic...” Snow White murmured.
“Yeah.” She tried not to cringe.
The princess’ eyes turned once more to Regina. “You did this, didn’t you.” It was neither a statement nor a question, and it appeared to throw Regina off momentarily.
“Alright.” Emma physically stepped between them, breaking their gaze. “Before this turns into another barroom brawl, why don’t we go inside and talk.”
Snow White turned up her nose just slightly. “I will not speak to her after all that she’s done.”
“Well then you can sit there and act like a child while the rest of us talk.”
James stepped forward, a hint of a proud smile on his lips as he told his daughter, “Lead the way.”
His wife gaped at him. “Charming...”
And as James followed Regina and Emma into the house, Emma overheard him turning back to the princess and telling her lowly, “This has gone on long enough, Snow. It’s time to put an end to all this madness.”
**
Once they were inside, Emma directed her parents toward the dining room, excusing herself and Regina momentarily while they went upstairs into the master bathroom. Seconds later, Henry came bounding in, looking gleeful. “That was so cool!”
Emma sighed. “Henry, that was not cool.” She reached into a free-standing linen cabinet and pulled out a washcloth, taking it to the sink.
Meanwhile, Regina took a seat on the toilet lid. “Henry, dear, why don’t you go downstairs and keep them company. We’ll be down in a moment.”
“Okay.” He shrugged off their moods and ran down the stairs. He could then be heard congratulating Snow White on her punch.
Emma stifled a chuckle. “Sorry about him. I told him to go inside.”
“He’s a boy,” Regina sighed. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary. Besides, I’m sure in his mind I got what I had coming.”
Emma frowned, looking into the mirror at Regina’s reflection while she wrung out the washcloth. “You don’t believe that, do you?”
Regina made a noise that she couldn’t decipher, some sort of a grunt that was neither affirmative nor dissenting. Then the queen waited not a beat before pressing on. “Well done with the magic, by the way.”
“I didn’t even mean to do it. I just... wanted it to stop.”
“As I said, since it’s in your blood now, it will just be instinct. Almost involuntary, sometimes. Like blinking or breathing.”
Her brows flicked upward. “So I’ll have to learn to control it.”
“You will. With time.”
“Here.” Emma brought her the washcloth, placing it in her hand. “For your lip.”
Regina tilted her head, the barest hint of a smirk appearing. “You know you could just wave your hand and I’d be healed.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Emma smirked back, “But I prefer the tried-and-true method.”
“I see.” Regina took the cloth and dabbed at her split lip, wincing just slightly.
It was then Emma noticed the gash on her temple. “Wow, looks like her ring did a number on you.”
“First-aid supplies are under the sink,” she told her, still lightly pressing the cloth to her lip.
“Thanks.” She returned with the kit a moment later. “You’ve got a lot of band-aids under there.”
Regina hummed a smile. “Henry was a bit accident-prone when he first learned to ride a bicycle. Skinned knees were somewhat of a common occurrence around here.”
Emma felt a short pang to her heart at that comment, though she wasn’t sure why. Sadness over the experiences she never got to have with her own son, or sadness over the experiences Regina treasured and Henry disregarded. It could have been either one.
“Yeah, I was kind of a disaster with bikes when I was a kid, too,” she commented, kneeling in front of the toilet and taking out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide as well as some cotton swabs. “My foster parents never let me have my own, of course, but... sometimes they’d let me ride their other kids’ bikes.”
“I’m sorry,” Regina frowned.
Emma made a face. “About what?” Then, she held up the cotton ball and commented as an aside, “This might sting.”
Regina nodded and let her press it to her temple, hissing slightly. Then, as Emma dabbed at the cut, she felt the queen’s eyes on her. “I’m sorry you grew up in the foster system.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t bad all the time. I made it through.”
“But it’s my fault you never knew your real parents.”
The softness in Regina’s voice gave Emma pause. She pulled back to meet her eyes, searching them. “Do you... feel bad about that?”
Regina held her gaze, taking in a slow breath. “I... think so. Is that bad?”
Emma couldn’t help but smile. “No. That’s a good thing. It’s definitely a good thing.”
After another moment or two of dabbing at Regina’s cut, she went to grab a band-aid, only to have Regina stop her with her hand on her wrist. “No. Wait.”
Off her look, Regina smiled. “I know you prefer the tried-and-true method, but my method can achieve instant results. Give me your hand.” She held out her own.
Emma did so with a skeptical look, watching Regina turn it over so her hand was facing palm-up.
“Heal me,” Regina murmured, and as if in answer, Emma’s hand began to glow.
It was a shimmering, rippling blue, like pool water. She was mesmerized momentarily before lifting it to Regina’s face, cupping the side of her head. As she watched, the cut on Regina’s temple grew smaller and smaller, until all that was left behind was soft, flawless skin.
“Wow,” she murmured. “I can do that?”
Regina nodded. “That’s white magic. Performing it will be of second nature to you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re the product of the most powerful magic there is.” She shrugged one shoulder. “For all intents and purposes, Emma...” She looked up and met her eyes. “You are magic. Pure magic.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. For some reason, that comment made her feel... nice. It was the only way she could think to describe it. It was some warm, ambient feeling in her chest.
And she still had her hand on Regina’s face.
Emma moved to take her hand away when Regina murmured, “My lips.”
“What?” Startled, her eyes snapped to the queen’s.
Regina’s smile was catlike... almost knowing. “Heal them, please.”
“Oh.” Emma exhaled nervously, though she couldn’t pinpoint the reason for her nervousness. So instead she ignored it, watching her thumb as it skated across Regina’s lower lip, healing the split instantly.
She was unprepared, however, for the arc of electricity that seemed to hit them both at the touch. She heard Regina’s soft intake of breath and she lifted her eyes. Regina turned her eyes up to hers, looking at her through her lashes, and Emma felt... something.
It was almost an attraction, as ridiculous as that idea was. Still, she couldn’t quite take her eyes off Regina’s lips. She’d always admired their fullness. Envied it, even.
“Emma...” Regina murmured, and she felt her heart bump into her throat.
“Hmm?” She came out of it to realize she was still stroking Regina’s lower lip with her thumb.
“I think we should get back downstairs.” Her smile was wry and slightly rueful as she added, “Your parents will think I’ve done something terrible to you otherwise.”
Emma yanked her hand back, attempting to get her heartbeat under control, as well as the thoughts racing a mile a minute in her head. What was happening to her? Did Regina feel these strange impulses and emotions as well? And what about the slightly impure thoughts? Where did they come from all of a sudden?
She swallowed. “Right.”
She remained where she was as Regina got to her feet and brushed past. And Emma didn’t miss the almost coy look she received over her shoulder before the queen disappeared down the stairs.
She still wasn’t sure what was happening here, but she was certain Regina held the power to end her sanity.
One way or another.
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}
CHAPTER 13: Purities and Impurities
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: Season one (in its entirety)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: “Heal me,” Regina murmured, and as if in answer, Emma’s hand began to glow.
*****
The tension was palpable between the two adversaries. Emma could practically feel the repressed anger and resentment radiating off her mother in waves. She looked up at Prince James, who appeared to be at a loss for what to do as well. The question was clear in both their expressions -- intervene, or let it be?
“You,” Snow growled, taking another step toward the bubble that separated her from Regina.
“Snow...” James called her cautiously.
But she didn’t heed the warning in his tone, stepping right up to where she had felt the blast, eyes centered on the former queen and teeth clenched. “Take down your shield.”
Emma patted her son’s shoulders, keeping her eyes on her mother as she advised, “Henry, maybe you should go inside.”
“But--”
“Now.”
Grumbling a bit, Henry made his way up the walk and went inside. Emma knew it wouldn’t be long before he would be watching them from his window, but couldn’t bring herself to care that much. Concern for the situation brewing outside outweighed it by far.
She turned to her mother, holding up her hands in supplication. “Look. I think we’re all pretty stressed. A lot has gone on in the last few days, so maybe if we just talk about--”
“Take. Down. The shield,” Snow White ground out, eyes still trained on Regina.
Emma drew in a breath, looking over at Regina. Regina swallowed hard, clearly knowing what was coming and accepting her fate. She nodded, glancing down at her hand as it began to crackle with magic.
Emma couldn’t help but think, Since when did she become such a defeatist?
Then as if she’d spoken the thought out loud, she heard Regina’s voice in her head in answer: Only since I’ve been defeated.
She snapped her head over to look at her, eyes wide. How in the hell...
“Well?” Snow White threw up her arms. “Are you going to do it, or not?”
Regina broke gaze with Emma, turning to her former stepdaughter with a lowered, almost too-calm, voice. “Yes, Snow. One moment.”
Emma watched then, as Regina walked up to the bubble, pressing her hand against it. In an instant, the entire bubble was alight with tiny bursts of lightning, like hairline cracks in a mirror. Then all at once, it dissipated and was gone.
Regina’s defenses were down.
The two of them looked to Snow White, and Emma braced herself for what she knew was coming. The princess wasn’t as vulnerable and fragile as she had been portrayed in movies. No, according to Henry’s book, her mother was pretty damn ferocious.
And right at that moment, watching Snow’s chest heave with adrenaline and anger, it was like watching a volcano about to erupt. She glanced to Prince James, who stood tentatively behind the princess, before everything exploded in activity.
Snow White let out a yell and lunged straight for Regina, grabbing the woman by the throat and knocking her to the ground. James ran forward, “Snow, don’t!” while Emma was left frozen in place, unsure of what to do.
Snow took several swings, splitting open Regina’s lower lip with one punch. “How dare you!” she screamed, tears streaming from her eyes. “You took my father! You poisoned me! Imprisoned my only love! You left us no other choice but to abandon our daughter and then you trapped us here! You framed me for murder, you treacherous, horrible witch!”
Emma and her father dove into the action, attempting to pry the two of them apart. She couldn’t help but notice that Regina wasn’t really swinging back, but attempting to deflect the punches thrown.
Still, she spat back, “You took my one chance at happiness! My Daniel died because of you! Because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut!”
“Regina! Stop! Come on.” Emma reached for her, only to get pushed back by Snow White.
“I was a little girl, Regina! A little girl!”
“Snow! That’s enough!” James tried to get a grip on her, but she kept wrenching her arms from his grasp.
The two women continued to tussle on the ground while Emma and the prince tried hopelessly to separate them. Finally, Emma had had her fill of the display, and she yelled, “ENOUGH!” while stomping her foot.
As she did so, a blast of white light pried Snow White and Regina apart, catapulting them each a few feet. Snow crashed into her husband, the two of them hitting the ground, while Regina fell back and Emma caught her with her arms around her waist.
They exhaled in unison and Emma helped her straighten up, noticing the blood at the corner of her mouth. Regina tossed her hair out of her eyes and composed herself as best she could, while Snow and James got to their feet.
“You used magic...” Snow White murmured.
“Yeah.” She tried not to cringe.
The princess’ eyes turned once more to Regina. “You did this, didn’t you.” It was neither a statement nor a question, and it appeared to throw Regina off momentarily.
“Alright.” Emma physically stepped between them, breaking their gaze. “Before this turns into another barroom brawl, why don’t we go inside and talk.”
Snow White turned up her nose just slightly. “I will not speak to her after all that she’s done.”
“Well then you can sit there and act like a child while the rest of us talk.”
James stepped forward, a hint of a proud smile on his lips as he told his daughter, “Lead the way.”
His wife gaped at him. “Charming...”
And as James followed Regina and Emma into the house, Emma overheard him turning back to the princess and telling her lowly, “This has gone on long enough, Snow. It’s time to put an end to all this madness.”
**
Once they were inside, Emma directed her parents toward the dining room, excusing herself and Regina momentarily while they went upstairs into the master bathroom. Seconds later, Henry came bounding in, looking gleeful. “That was so cool!”
Emma sighed. “Henry, that was not cool.” She reached into a free-standing linen cabinet and pulled out a washcloth, taking it to the sink.
Meanwhile, Regina took a seat on the toilet lid. “Henry, dear, why don’t you go downstairs and keep them company. We’ll be down in a moment.”
“Okay.” He shrugged off their moods and ran down the stairs. He could then be heard congratulating Snow White on her punch.
Emma stifled a chuckle. “Sorry about him. I told him to go inside.”
“He’s a boy,” Regina sighed. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary. Besides, I’m sure in his mind I got what I had coming.”
Emma frowned, looking into the mirror at Regina’s reflection while she wrung out the washcloth. “You don’t believe that, do you?”
Regina made a noise that she couldn’t decipher, some sort of a grunt that was neither affirmative nor dissenting. Then the queen waited not a beat before pressing on. “Well done with the magic, by the way.”
“I didn’t even mean to do it. I just... wanted it to stop.”
“As I said, since it’s in your blood now, it will just be instinct. Almost involuntary, sometimes. Like blinking or breathing.”
Her brows flicked upward. “So I’ll have to learn to control it.”
“You will. With time.”
“Here.” Emma brought her the washcloth, placing it in her hand. “For your lip.”
Regina tilted her head, the barest hint of a smirk appearing. “You know you could just wave your hand and I’d be healed.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Emma smirked back, “But I prefer the tried-and-true method.”
“I see.” Regina took the cloth and dabbed at her split lip, wincing just slightly.
It was then Emma noticed the gash on her temple. “Wow, looks like her ring did a number on you.”
“First-aid supplies are under the sink,” she told her, still lightly pressing the cloth to her lip.
“Thanks.” She returned with the kit a moment later. “You’ve got a lot of band-aids under there.”
Regina hummed a smile. “Henry was a bit accident-prone when he first learned to ride a bicycle. Skinned knees were somewhat of a common occurrence around here.”
Emma felt a short pang to her heart at that comment, though she wasn’t sure why. Sadness over the experiences she never got to have with her own son, or sadness over the experiences Regina treasured and Henry disregarded. It could have been either one.
“Yeah, I was kind of a disaster with bikes when I was a kid, too,” she commented, kneeling in front of the toilet and taking out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide as well as some cotton swabs. “My foster parents never let me have my own, of course, but... sometimes they’d let me ride their other kids’ bikes.”
“I’m sorry,” Regina frowned.
Emma made a face. “About what?” Then, she held up the cotton ball and commented as an aside, “This might sting.”
Regina nodded and let her press it to her temple, hissing slightly. Then, as Emma dabbed at the cut, she felt the queen’s eyes on her. “I’m sorry you grew up in the foster system.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t bad all the time. I made it through.”
“But it’s my fault you never knew your real parents.”
The softness in Regina’s voice gave Emma pause. She pulled back to meet her eyes, searching them. “Do you... feel bad about that?”
Regina held her gaze, taking in a slow breath. “I... think so. Is that bad?”
Emma couldn’t help but smile. “No. That’s a good thing. It’s definitely a good thing.”
After another moment or two of dabbing at Regina’s cut, she went to grab a band-aid, only to have Regina stop her with her hand on her wrist. “No. Wait.”
Off her look, Regina smiled. “I know you prefer the tried-and-true method, but my method can achieve instant results. Give me your hand.” She held out her own.
Emma did so with a skeptical look, watching Regina turn it over so her hand was facing palm-up.
“Heal me,” Regina murmured, and as if in answer, Emma’s hand began to glow.
It was a shimmering, rippling blue, like pool water. She was mesmerized momentarily before lifting it to Regina’s face, cupping the side of her head. As she watched, the cut on Regina’s temple grew smaller and smaller, until all that was left behind was soft, flawless skin.
“Wow,” she murmured. “I can do that?”
Regina nodded. “That’s white magic. Performing it will be of second nature to you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re the product of the most powerful magic there is.” She shrugged one shoulder. “For all intents and purposes, Emma...” She looked up and met her eyes. “You are magic. Pure magic.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. For some reason, that comment made her feel... nice. It was the only way she could think to describe it. It was some warm, ambient feeling in her chest.
And she still had her hand on Regina’s face.
Emma moved to take her hand away when Regina murmured, “My lips.”
“What?” Startled, her eyes snapped to the queen’s.
Regina’s smile was catlike... almost knowing. “Heal them, please.”
“Oh.” Emma exhaled nervously, though she couldn’t pinpoint the reason for her nervousness. So instead she ignored it, watching her thumb as it skated across Regina’s lower lip, healing the split instantly.
She was unprepared, however, for the arc of electricity that seemed to hit them both at the touch. She heard Regina’s soft intake of breath and she lifted her eyes. Regina turned her eyes up to hers, looking at her through her lashes, and Emma felt... something.
It was almost an attraction, as ridiculous as that idea was. Still, she couldn’t quite take her eyes off Regina’s lips. She’d always admired their fullness. Envied it, even.
“Emma...” Regina murmured, and she felt her heart bump into her throat.
“Hmm?” She came out of it to realize she was still stroking Regina’s lower lip with her thumb.
“I think we should get back downstairs.” Her smile was wry and slightly rueful as she added, “Your parents will think I’ve done something terrible to you otherwise.”
Emma yanked her hand back, attempting to get her heartbeat under control, as well as the thoughts racing a mile a minute in her head. What was happening to her? Did Regina feel these strange impulses and emotions as well? And what about the slightly impure thoughts? Where did they come from all of a sudden?
She swallowed. “Right.”
She remained where she was as Regina got to her feet and brushed past. And Emma didn’t miss the almost coy look she received over her shoulder before the queen disappeared down the stairs.
She still wasn’t sure what was happening here, but she was certain Regina held the power to end her sanity.
One way or another.
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}