A full round moon began to make its way over the twilight sky, pushing its way into the celestial atmosphere just as the sun dropped over the horizon, waiting until it could rise again in the morn.
The bright light washed the normally quiet streets of Storybrooke in a pale glow. However, this was not like most other nights in the quiet town. Or tonight, instead of the quiet that normally gripped the streets, they were filled with children in costumes, their parents not far behind them as they skipped of towards house after house, bags filled with candy. Many of the houses in Storybrooke were quite decorative, the decoration contest between houses was still a staple of this sacred night even after twenty eight years of a continuous victor, though most houses had a little magical help. And that is where our story starts, on Halloween night where once again the two inhabitants of 108 Mifflin Street were celebrating their win and preparing for a night of festivities. However, this year they had one more person to celebrate with.
"MOM! Tell Emma that she can't be Thor, that I won the bet so I get to be Thor!"
"What, no way kid, you cheated! And besides, I mean, come on. I would totally rock the Thor look with this hair." Emma tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder dramatically. "Seriously kid, you could be Iron Man instead! I'm sure your mom could magic a wicked cool costume for you."
Henry just glared at Emma, knowing that she was right and that being Iron Man would be cooler than Thor, at least to him. But he didn't want to back down just yet.
"Well, I'll only be Iron Man if mom goes with us." He knew that his mother had no intention of going out this evening as she wanted to finish preparing for the party she was hosting when everyone got back from Trick-or-Treating, so he thought he would win.
Emma's eyes narrowed as she took in his smirk. Sneaky bastard. "You know she won't come with us, kid."
"Well, then I guess you'll have to convince her. And I'd hurry if I were you, because it's already dark and if we want to make it to Grandpa Gold's before coming back here, we'd better go." And at that, Henry turned around to put on the rest of his costume, confident that he had won.
Emma turned from him and made her way from Henry's room to the staircase where she headed down into the front hall. From there she could hear the sounds of cursing and the oven door slamming shut. She chuckled to herself. Regina was probably making something elaborate to ensure the party this evening went perfect. It had been Regina's idea to hold a Halloween party at the mansion to bring everyone together since the whole incident with the Snow Queen. Thank goodness the sisters were back in Arendale where they belonged, ruling jointly.
As Emma made her way into the kitchen, she took a quick look around the front hall and was unsurprised to see that Regina had added decorations while she and Henry were upstairs fighting about costumes. Not that the house needed any more decorations, it looked like something out of a Martha Stewart special. It was tastefully grand and spooky yet chic. Totally Regina. Emma went to pass the mirror and table in the hall when she saw the bowl resting a top it. Instead of candy, the brunette had filled it with apples. "Ah hell no." She picked up the bowl and brought it with her into the kitchen.
The sight that greeted her would have been hilarious had it not been the woman in front of her.
Nah, who was she kidding. Its still hilarious.
The normally immaculate kitchen was covered in flour from floor to ceiling. That also included the furious woman within the room. There was smoke coming from the oven and bits of pumpkin seen to have gotten all over the sink. In fact, it looked like a pumpkin threw up in there.
Emma moved towards the flour covered woman and barely stifling her laughter, said, "I didn't know you were going as a ghost, Regina."
The glare sent her way would have made any lesser mortal perish on the spot. As it was, Emma immediately moved over to the other side of the island and set the bowl down, forgotten for the moment. The brunette waved her hands and in the span of a second, the kitchen was back to its normal, pristine self. Even the pumpkin was gone from the sink and the oven stopped issuing smoke. Regina brought her hand up to her now perfectly coiffed hair and tucked an errant strand behind her ear before leaning on the counter, resting on her hands. She looked at Emma whose face still held a smirk, not even bothering to conceal the fact. Regina rolled her eyes at the endearing blonde endearing what? Before bringing herself to her full height and crossing her arms.
"What do you want, Miss Swan? Shouldn't you be getting ready to go out with Henry? I heard him calling for me earlier about someone named Thor. I do hope you're not trying to get out of that bet with him, dear." She smirked at the blush coming up along the blonde's neck as she realized that that was exactly what she had been doing. "Don't forget to get into your costume, dear. Everyone has been dying to see you in a ball gown for, well, quite some time."
Emma grimaced at the thought before speaking. "Okay, well, no. No one wants to see me in a ball gown, okay? Like no one, and secondly, the kid and I made another bet." Regina raised her eyebrow at this but didn't say anything and let the blonde continue. "And it may involve you." At this the blondes grimace turned into another smirk, but this one was filled with mischief. Regina knew not to trust that smirk because she knew she wouldn't like what was coming next.
"Oh, do pray tell how this is going to involve me, dear. I am just dying to know." She narrowed her eyes at Emma, making Emma fully aware of how difficult this was going to be. So, Emma started off simple.
"Have you finished everything you need to do for tonight?"
The shift in topics caught Regina by surprise but she answered, "Well, yes, except the cookies for tonight. I got a little upset when the recipe wouldn't come out right and the result was what you saw just a moment ago." She had a sneaking suspicion as to where this was going. "Why do you want to…"
The blonde's eyes were closed shut in concentration and a white light was surrounding her. She waved her hands over the counter and in a puff of grey smoke there sat a large plate of chocolate chip cookies. She opened her eyes and looked down at the counter top, surprise filling her eyes. She looked back up at Regina with a wide smile.
"Hey, it worked! I didn't think that that would actually work." She picked one up and bit into it, moaning at the taste. "Holy shit, Regina. Not to brag, but these are fantastic." She held the bitten one out to Regina, gesturing for her to take a bite. Regina eyed the cookie in Emma's hand and gave her a look that clearly said, seriously? Then with a slight shrug of her shoulders, she leaned forward and bit out of the cookie. Emma's eyes widened again in surprise as Regina's met hers, dark and filled with mischief. She pulled back from Emma's hand and licked her dark lips, tongue darting out to wipe away a spare crumb. The atmosphere in the room filled with intensity, both women ready to dart across the island and grab the other and…
Neither noticed that Henry had been standing in the doorway, watching the whole exchange. Suddenly, the past few weeks of awkward moments and glances between his mothers made sense. And it was at that moment that Henry started a new operation. And stage one would require great sacrifice on his part, but it was for the good of Operation Hocus Pocus. He stepped into the room and cleared his throat loudly.
"Moms, you ready to go?" He asked politely, doing his best to keep his face a neutral mask, almost mirroring the one his mother normally wore to her budget meetings when she had been mayor. Both of his mothers jumped and quickly busied themselves with anything but looking at one another. Yup, definitely one of those awkward moments.
Regina smoothed imaginary wrinkles in her skirt. "Emma will be with you shortly, Henry."
But Henry was having none of it. "I meant you too, mom. Right ma?" He looked at Emma and made a shooing motion with his hands, directing Emma back to Regina, but Emma was looking at him curiously. Was he really helping her get Regina to go? Henry nodded slightly so Emma spoke up.
"Yeah, Regina, we both want you to come with us! Um, Henry is going as … Iron Man, right?" Henry nodded again, gazing innocently at his brunette mother. But Regina, being Regina, became immediately suspicious.
"Henry, I thought you were going as Thor so that Emma would go in a ball gown. Why the sudden change, hmm?" She put her hands on her hips, expecting her normally imposing stance to at least get one of them to spill. But Henry was made of stronger stuff than that.
"Well, I changed my mind. I think Iron Man would be cooler than Thor, especially if you came with us as Loki, mom. We could be the Avengers!" How he came up with this on the spot, he didn't know, but he was glad that he did. And that his pouty face would sway his brunette mother completely. His blonde mother, however, knew exactly what he was up too. And was impressed.
Regina felt herself give in immediately. "Alright, Henry," she said. "But I don't know about this costume business…." These last few words fell on deaf ears as Henry gave her a quick bone-crushing hug and then sprinted off up stairs, shouting "Thanks mom, I'm going to grab one of my comics so you can poof me a costume." And with that he left his mothers to themselves.
Emma was shaking her head, laughing silently at their kid. Sneaky bastard. However, she couldn't understand why he relinquished her from the bet so easily. And it seemed Regina thought the same thing.
"Miss Swan, I don't know what you too are plotting, but I will tell you right now, that I have no intention of getting into some Loki costume."
Emma pouted. "'Gina, please? It would be so cool if we were all Marvel characters! And we're the totally badass ones, regardless of what Henry says. You have to dress up!" Green eyes pleaded with dark ones, but Regina wasn't giving in without a fight.
"I do not have to do anything, dear. However…" her voice dropped an octave, undeniably sexy and it caused a shiver to travel down Emma's spine. "should you let me put you in a gown for the party this evening, I'll go trick-or-treating as this Loki." She grinned wolfishly, thinking that Emma wouldn't go along with it. But then Emma did what she always did and surprised her.
"Deal." The blonde stuck out her hand, waiting for the brunette to take it, flashing her with a grin of her own.
Regina's eyebrows rose in surprise, but a deal was a deal and so they shook on it. As soon as their hands touched, the room was once again filled with tension. They stood their holding each other's hand for who knows how long before they heard Henry call from upstairs.
"Coming Henry!" called Regina before she swept from the room, leaving a speechless Emma behind.
Henry and Emma were waiting outside the mansion, checking out each other's costumes. Henry's was almost an exact copy of Iron Man's armour, and it looked kick-ass. Emma poofed her own Thor costume herself (Regina had been teaching transformative magic this week) and, for her third try that evening, it looked preally good. It was a bit bulkier than she thought, but as she held Mjölnir in her hands, she knew it was worth it. She totally looked kick-ass. They both looked kick-ass and they knew it.
Finally, Regina made her way out of the house with her version of Loki. Both Emma and Henry felt their jaws drop as they looked at her. Regina fidgeted selfconsciously with her costume as she made her way to the end of the walk way where they were standing.
"Does this look alright? I made a few adjustments to it and I didn't want to where the helmet but…"
"Mom, you look totally awesome!" Henry's face split into a wide grin. Emma face mirrored his.
"Seriously, Regina, you look great." And that she did. Her costume was that of excellent copy from the movies, but as she had said, it was adjusted slightly to fit her figure. Though she kept the helmet off, her hair was up high in an updo and in her left hand was his magic staff. She blushed at Emma's compliment.
"Well, thank you Miss Swa…Emma. You don't look so bad yourself." No, she looked beautiful, thought Regina. Wait, when did I ever put Emma and beautiful in the same thought. Regina shook her head slightly. As she took in Emma again, she realized that Emma looked every inch the savior she was meant to be, even if she was in Asgardian armour.
Henry grabbed both their hand and pulled them toward the sidewalk. "Come on, the nights awasting, lets get candy!" And then he rushed of down the street.
At the word candy, Emma's eyes lit up, something Regina did not fail to notice. "Really, dear? Aren't you a little old to be excited by candy?"
Emma rolled her eyes as they continued walking. "There is no age limit to Halloween, Regina. And I seem to remember that a certain someone has a secret drawer of chocolate hidden in their office, yes?"
Regina pointed looked away. "I have no idea as to what you are referring to Miss Swan."
"Cut the crap Regina. And stop referring to me as Miss Swan. You only use it when I seem to be in some sort of trouble or something."
Regina laughed at that. "Well, then I should always be referring to you as Miss Swan then as you always find a way to get yourself in trouble."
Then it was Emma's turn to laugh. "In this town, trouble usually finds me."
Their conversation was stopped short when they noticed that Henry had stopped at Gold's shop first. They hadn't realized it but they had talked the entire way there. My how time flies when one's having fun, mused Regina.
Henry opened the door to the shop and walked in, followed by his mothers. It was dark in the shop, though the sign said it was open, and the door was unlocked. Emma fumbled around for a light switch.
"Henry," started Regina. "Are you sure Gold said he was going to be here."
"Yeah. Both he and Belle told me that he was going to be here tonight. He said he wanted to see me as he wasn't going to your party tonight."
Regina frowned. "Well," said Henry, "maybe he stepped out for a second?"
"Perhaps." Mused his brunette mother. It was then she took notice of the blondes fumbling around.
"Miss Swan, what the hell are you doing?"
Emma looked up from one of Gold's shelves. "I was looking for a light switch. Its too damn dark in here and I couldn't find one so I was looking for a flashlight."
Regina sighed. "Use your magic, for once dear. Should be simple enough."
Emma looked chastened. "Oh yeah, I kinda forgot about that." It was then that she found a candle. "This should work!" She closed her eyes, concentrating on the candle before her.
It was then that Regina realized what candle Emma had in front of her.
"Emma, no!"
But it was too late as the wick of the candle caught fire. Emma opened her eyes, confused as to why Regina sounded fearful but then she took in the candle's flame.
It was black.
"What the hell?" said Emma as she backed away from the candle and went to stand by Regina who had Henry pulled next to her. "Regina, what kind of candle is that?"
But before Regina could answer, the trio felt the floor start to shake and upheave then, unbalancing them and causing them to fall over one another. Henry ended up crashing into one of the display cases in Gold's shop and brought its contents crashing down on him. One such item was a book, and as the floor stopped shaking and the three of them got their bearings, Henry picked it up and looked at the cover. It was then that he noticed it was LOOKING at him.
The sound of wicked cackling filled the air as Regina grabbed on to both Emma and Henry's arms and dragged them behind front counter. As soon as they knelt behind it, the door to the shop flew open. Standing in the doorway were three women; a curvaceous blonde, a dumpy brunette, and a furiously sinful redhead. Emma looked to Regina to see that she had turned quite pale.
"Regina…?"
But it was Henry who answered the unspoken question, his voice lowered to a whisper in awe.
"Holy shit moms. It's the Sanderson Sisters."
A/n: Happy Halloween! Or whats left of it. I meant to post this this morning but the day got away from me. There will probably only be 3-4 chapters of this but most of us have seen Hocus Pocus, so you can assume how this might go. to those of you who haven't seen Hocus Pocus, you need to pronto. You wont regret it.
This should be completed by the end of this week, so watch for an update soon!