Transcending Realms

Summary: AU. One night while Mayor Regina was working late, FTL warrior Emma, who just learned she has magic, appears. Regina isn't sure what to make of the strange woman who keeps appearing to her like a ghost nor does Emma know what to make of this strange other world, but both are fascinated. As the women grow closer, will Emma decide to join Regina? Can she even find a way to her world?

A/N: When you already have a billion story ideas and an in-progess that you need to finish (oh, say, six months ago) and are taking three online classes over the summer, its very important that you also write a story for the SQBB. On the up side, I did finish off one of my story ideas that's been lying around. On the other hand, over the summer I've gotten about 10 more solid story ideas so its basically an impossible uphill battle. Hope it was worth it ;)

Chapter 1: First Appearance

Regina sighed, rubbing her forehead, as she stared blindly at the paperwork spread out over her desk. She couldn't wait for this project, digitizing as much of city hall's files as they could, to be over. She'd thought putting off the project until Henry was in "big boy" school and she could work more normal hours would help make it less overwhelming.

Technically, she reminded herself, it had. She wouldn't have been able to put in the work hours she currently was if she still had to pick him up from daycare at noon and work from home while watching him, but that didn't mean she hadn't ended up overworking herself.

She knew municipal projects tended to move along at a snail's pace and yet it had been almost two years. At least it was time for heavy lifting—actually doing the work—instead of meetings and compromises and talking various city council members around to the idea. However, that did mean she was only just wrapping up this week's work at 11:00 on a Friday night.

To put it frankly: she needed a drink.

Regina stiffened ever so slightly, it was almost as though a breeze had shifted through the room or a faint sound had been made in the distance and yet she knew it wasn't either of those things. She looked up wearily, expecting to be able to dismiss whatever she thought she sensed and have some cider, only to find a blonde woman standing by her couch.

She stared blankly at the woman who had clearly not entered through the still mostly shut study door, which was only open enough to allow her to hear if Henry needed her, and who appeared to be looking around her study with interest.

Regina glanced around her desk, making sure she hadn't already started drinking, although she hadn't drunk enough to start hallucinating ever, especially since she'd gotten her son. Her empty coffee mug was the only thing there.

Her brown eyes went back to the blonde, meeting green eyes as the woman had moved on to studying her curiously. She supposed she should be doing something. Yelling. Backing away. Demanding answers. But it had been such a long day and this was just not possible so she decided, numb with shock, to see if ignoring the problem would work for the first time in history because she refused to deal with this.

"Hello," the apparition said.

Correction, she was not dealing with this without a stiff drink of cider. Regina held up a finger, as if it was a citizen who wanted to interrupt at a town hall meeting. She walked over to her drink cart and began to pour. She felt the strange woman's gaze roam up her legs, her back, before wandering back down to somewhere around her ass. She took a gulp that was a tad less ladylike than she'd meant for it to be before turning around once more.

"I see you're still here."

"Yup."

"Right."

Silence.

"So…" the woman began, clearly unsure about what to do, but feeling like she should do something. "I figured you'd yell more or something. I mean, I did suddenly appear in…here. Or do strange women normally appear near you?"

"No, they don't," Regina answered, before putting her glass down and striding over to the other woman. Before she could do anything, Regina had thrust her hand through the other woman's stomach. She pulled it back just as quickly and took a step back, staring down at her own hand. "Right. This is just great. Hallucinations."

"Pretty sure I'm not a hallucination," the hallucination commented, rather amused by the reaction.

"Well, how would you know?" Regina said offhand as she went to refill her glass.

The other woman ignored the rhetorical question and looked at the glass with some longing, able to tell it was very high quality alcohol. Regina noticed her stare, "I would offer you some, of course, but I'm afraid it would go right through you." She gave a slight smirk while the blonde rolled her eyes. "If you're not a hallucination, are you a ghost then?"

"Nope," the woman popped the 'p' at the end of the word, a casual smile still on her face as she continued to look at Regina with interest. "Are ghosts a thing that just show up here? Cuz I think you normally have to summon them and stuff."

"No, they aren't. I don't believe in them, personally," Regina replied.

"Okay." The blonde waited another few seconds before she continued talking, "Well, since you asked, I used this rock-spell thing I stole from this dude who kidnapped me. Told me I had magic and that he wanted it, the weirdo. Got away, took some souvenirs. This thing supposedly brings you to your heart's desire or some shit, 'no matter how far away it is', which I'm pretty sure now means across realms."

"Magic," Regina repeated.

"Yeah, or do you not believe in that either?" she added teasingly.

"I don't," Regina replied flatly and Emma's smile faltered. "Magic isn't real."

"Well, it's not common and I certainly didn't think I had any, but it's real—in my world at least. Figured it was here too judging by that magical candle you have there and your lack of a reaction too," she gestured to the desk lamp and herself in turn.

"That's just a lamp," Regina replied.

"Right, well, I don't see any oil or wick and it burns steadily. Seems like magic to me."

"Well, it's not," Regina replied defensively.

"Alright." The woman pulled her hands out of her pockets and held them up defensively. "My bad. My name's Emma, by the way. Emma Swan, soldier and mercenary extraordinaire." She'd hoped introducing herself would prompt the other woman to do the same, but it didn't. She sighed, getting answers from this woman was like pulling teeth. Luckily, Emma liked a challenge, "And you are?"

Regina blinked. "Regina Mills. Owner of this house," she began to list flippantly, if this person was going to spout nonsense so would she. "Ruler of Storybrooke, mother to my son." Suddenly her gaze sharpened, her grip on her glass tightened causing her knuckles to turn white. "How are you here?

"Not sure." Emma's hands were back in her pockets. "Like I said, I'm still new to this 'having magic' thing. Some sort of astral projection I think. Not sure how long it will last. The book that came with this wasn't super big on details."

"Let me see if I'm following you correctly," Regina said. "Your recent timeline went something along the lines of: kidnapped by some man, said man then tells you you have magic—something that is real, but not something you believe you possessed yourself—you then escape with a few unknown items, likely magical in nature, which you next set about playing with, making you appear in my study?"

Emma shrugged, "More or less. And I think I prefer 'testing out' over 'playing with', if we're being honest."

"Right. You're insane."

"Probably," Emma admitted freely.

Regina arranged herself so that she was leaning back against her desk, sipping her cider. "I can't believe you seem so nonchalant about being kidnapped. Does that happen often to you?"

Emma shook her head and gave a sharp smirk, "Normally anyone trying to attack me—for whatever reason—regrets it very quickly." Her face resettled to her obviously typical look of carelessness, "Wasn't prepared for the magic though. Most people don't have any because all the magical objects are all over the place. This man wanted more power or something so he used a spell to find other people with magic so he could try to take it from them. That's how he found me."

"How did you get away?" Regina was intrigued by the woman's story, for she was fairly certain this couldn't be happening.

"It turns out my magic was bound or some shit, probably why I didn't know I had it. He didn't expect that either so he used a lot of energy unbinding it, which weakened him. Then he forgot what most people with magic forget—to look out for a punch to the face. His house was this very creepy tower thing so I wanted to get out of there, but I thought some stuff might be interesting or at least something I could sell."

Regina noticed the omission of what she did to the man after she knocked him out, but decided that she didn't want to know, nor did she care, especially given his penchant for kidnapping and torture. "Anything useful?"

Emma shrugged, "Some books to read to see if I can do anything with my new magic, some gems to sell, and of course, this thing. Came with a spell book that seems like it would actually bring me wherever this is, with the right ritual. At least now I know what the writing meant about this only allowing you to travel halfway."

Regina wasn't really following, mostly due to lingering stress of the day and the fact that nothing about this encounter seemed real, but she nodded anyways. "I see."

Emma looked down at herself, "Not sure how long I can project like this, it was vague. It just said it depended on how much magic you had and I have no idea how much that is." She looked around the room, "Is it nighttime?"

"Yes, I was working late. It must be almost midnight by now."

Emma frowned, "It was mid-afternoon when I started trying to get the spell to work. I wonder if it'll be night in my world when I get back or not."

Regina made a noise of agreement as she debated having another glass. Better not, she decided as she fought a yawn. "Well, I'm exhausted from my day, so I think I'll be heading to bed now. Feel free to," she made a vague gesture to the room, "stay or whatever." Could you give someone permission to stay when they weren't even really here?

Emma opened her mouth to respond when she began to flicker and fade, her image distorting gradually. Emma looked down in surprise, "Well, that feels weird. Looks like I'm almost out of magic for now. I'm sure I'll be back though, this world seems interesting—and so do you, Regina Mills." She winked and before Regina could respond, she vanished leaving only her final words, "Until we meet again."

"Until we meet again," Regina repeated to her empty study.

-/-

A/N: Big thanks to my artists, lrbcn and mysweetcupoftea. You can find them both on tumblr or AO3 under those usernames. Also big thanks to my beta, rubyloveslana tumblr for agreeing to beta for me even though I asked super close to last minute.

I already posted this on Ao3 and will be posting the rest over the next week or two whenever I have the spare time-I'm super busy with coursework-but if you can't wait just check it out over there.

Thanks for reading and any favoriting, following, or reviews you leave!