Henry was terrified. He wanted to be with Emma, yes, but this wasn't how it was supposed to happen. He was in his pajamas, for god's sake. He didn't even have his book.
The inside of the bug was silent, with Emma glancing over at Henry occasionally but mostly just focusing on the road. Henry sat silently in the passenger's seat, watching the trees go by and playing with the sleeve of his pjs.
His heart began to beat faster as the large green sign came into the range of the headlights.
Emma leaned forward and squinted. There was the sign, "Leaving Storybrooke", that she'd passed earlier tonight, but there was something else, something shifting, something she couldn't quite make out.
She slammed on the brakes as the purple mist solidified into, well, Regina.
Henry's eyes grew wide as his heart threatened to beat out of his chest. Somehow, his mom was standing next to the sign, leaning on it casually, almost teasingly. But at the same time it wasn't his mom. Her hair was much longer, dark curls cascading over her shoulder. Her makeup was dramatic, the black and purple accentuating her beauty but also radiating a dark sort of power and almost playful self-assuredness. The black cape with purple accents that trailed the ground, the skin-tight dark purple pants, the shoes that must have a heel of at least five inches… none seemed like anything Madame Mayor would ever own. Let alone the black corset that left little to the imagination.
Emma, swallowing her fear, got out of the bug. She took a few steps forward and paused, waiting for this… apparition to make the first move.
She stepped forward gracefully, regally, her cloak just trailing the ground. Her lips held a playful smirk that made Henry fear for Emma's safety. She stopped just a foot in front of Emma.
"Regina?" the blonde breathed, eyes wide.
She tutted. "Sheriff Swan, please, show some respect. Use my title." The way her eyes flitted to Henry, stock still in the car, as she said 'sheriff' clearly mocked the kidnapping attempt.
"Madame Mayor?"
Emma started as the woman leaned back her head and laughed, a full, throaty laugh that made her feel almost ridiculed. "Do I really resemble a mayor to you?"
Emma's eyes flitted from the heavy makeup down to the black ribbon tight around her neck that moved as she laughed and further down to the incredible cleavage on display. Her eyes widened further as they flew back up to her face, comprehension flooding her features. The woman's dangerous smile grew as she anticipated what was to some.
"Queen." Emma looked just as surprised as Henry felt as she said it.
"I'd prefer 'your majesty' but I suppose that works. Though I am a bit hurt that you didn't bow." The Queen pouted.
"What… How?" Emma sputtered.
The pout vanished from the queen's lips as her face took on a snarl. "Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a woman who thought she finally had a chance at her own happy ending." She turned to Henry. "She adopted a son, whom she loved with all her heart. But one day he turned on her. He began hating her." She turned back to Emma. "He found his real mom in a land far, far away and brought her here. The Savior, her son called her, did nothing but make her life a living hell." Emma gulped as the Queen took a step closer and she found herself looking up into the face so full of contempt and unbridled hate only a few inches from her. "But this woman still had hope that maybe someday her son would grow to love her again, maybe someday she would know the love of a family she'd been denied for so long. Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing, you know. But one night the radio her son didn't know she had crackled to life, and she went to the window and watched as her own son abandoned her without a second thought, as The Savior stole the very last of her hope. The very last of her will to live."
Henry stole out of the car, eyes wide, heart pounding, and hid on the other side of the hood as the two women.
"So she decided on a snack." Emma's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The Queen smiled. "She had a nice, crisp apple.
Laced with arsenic."
Henry's heart stopped. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. She… she was still his mom. What had he done?
Emma's mouth hung open in shock. She felt she should say something, but no words came. Her heart pounded in her ears as she realized that in kidnapping Henry she had killed Regina, and flaming remorse flooded her veins and seared her heart.
The Queen smiled a twisted smile that drove a knife of fear into both Emma and Henry.
"I should've done this the day you showed up in Storybrooke." Emma gasped as she felt a hand penetrate her chest, grab her heart, and wrench it out of her. Fear overwhelmed her as she watched it beat, glowing, in the Queen's hand. "I should've stolen your heart before you crushed hers."
Emma stared into cold, furious eyes for a split second before she fell to the ground in agony. She cried out, clutching her chest, as her heart was slowly crushed to dust.
Too late, Henry rushed to her side. "Emma! Emma, no!" he sobbed, sinking to the ground, wrapping his small arms around her, gently brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Emma, please no! No, you have to stay! Emma!"
The Queen crouched down to his level. "So many tears for her, yet none for Regina?" She tossed the handful of dust over mother and son.
Henry glared at her, his eyes full of anguish. "Why have you done this, mother?" he cried.
The cold, sharp pain of a buried memory struck the Queen's heart, but she chose to ignore it. "Oh I'm not your mummy, deary. She's dead, remember? She killed herself. You killed her." She cackled, standing up.
Henry could feel the ground quaking as the trees around them began to spin. The sign faded, as did the bug. The paved road became dirt. Henry clung to Emma's limp form as her clothes transformed into a simple white gown beneath his hands.
"You've done it, Henry. Congratulations. You've broken the curse, you and Emma. Are you happy?"
He looked up, eyes red, face shining with tears, as a cloud of purple quickly dissipated.
His cry, pained beyond his years, anguished, regretful, mournful, echoed throughout the Enchanted Forrest.