Hi Readers, this will start off with a lot of dialogue from "Enter the Dragon" But I defiantly mashed a few of it due to the writers admission that Regina and "Maleficent" had a past. I do not have a Beta but definitely let me know if you would like to be one, I would be so grateful.!
Characters are defiantly not mine…. Thanks to ABC.
This is going to be a long story and so far I have drafted 12 chapters… but I need to keep editing! Reviews would be great! Much love!
…..
Regina heard the pounding of footsteps entering the library and stepped out from a row of books, arms raised in agitation- Typical.
"I said, we needed to meet covertly -and now I see you brought the entire Charming softball team AND their Pirate Mascot?". Regina shot them a look of utter distaste and irritation. The words were not spoken with half as much malice, as they would have been in the years past.
"Regina! We were worried about you" Snow breathed a sigh of relief.
Regina side-eyed Snow, "Then worry quickly, I can't be seen with all of you."
Emma took a step forward, "Regina, listen to me." She said breathlessly, as she often did when they were in close proximity, as though no one else was in the room, no one else could hear them.
"This woman, this… this dragon, she's dangerous and you don't know the first thing about going up against her, or her power."
"I know exactly who Maleficent is" Regina deadpanned. "better than most" she mused, " The Author, gratefully glossed over that part of my life.."
Emma's voice came back in barely a whisper, "you, you knew her?"
Regina rolled her eyes "Really Emma? Your astuteness surpasses you." Her tone dripping with sarcasm. She sighed, regretting the venom she had directed at the doey eyed blonde, "Yes, I knew her"
Regina's eyes then looked down toward her hands, interlaced against her abdomen. A mechanism for times she felt too uncomfortable to afford anyone eye contact. – Emma picked up on this and eyed her with suspicion. She knew all of Regina's 'Tells'.
"Lets just say,…Maleficent and I were…" Searching for the word, spinning her ring around a slender finger. "she and I were…. well acquainted. …."
Snow cleared her throat blushing, "Well acquainted Regina?"
The brunettes brown eyes met Emma's green, then flitted away.
Emma cast her eyes down to the floor, trying to hide her confusion, or something else- jealousy?
Regina cleared her throat, straightened her lapels, and continued "And, I know what she wants"
Hook sniggered "..or ,who she wants ".
"Is there not a village somewhere that needs plundering, Captain?" Regina Leered
Snow looked at Hook with the same eyes that her cursed self, would have given a student "Hook, nows not the time" She turned back to her former step-mother, "well, what is it they want Regina?".
The brunette looked back at Snow and sighed. "They want the Author and the power to find him".
Emmas brow furrowed and Regina continued, " They want to change their fate, shift the entire balance so that villains win and heroes loose. They think that is the only way to get their happy ending. By destroying yours."
Emma noted the choice of the word 'yours'. Regina had done enough by now to know she was a hero, just as much as they were. Humble didn't suit the stoicism of her Majesty.
Emma asked, " do you think they can find him?"
"They are going to use Pinocchio "Regina replied "…Use him to find out how he was able to change the book, and rewrite the stories"
"August" Emma gasped. "but he doesn't know anything, he lost his memory. You questioned him yourself Regina"
"You don't think I told them that already?" Regina hissed and then calmed and continued, "According to Mal, I didn't do it with enough ….force."
Emma noted the shortening of Maleficents name. Wondering what had transpired between the two in the past.
Im lucky if I don't get Miss Swanned half the time and she gets Mal?
She felt a sting of protectiveness and jealousy.
What is wrong with me, why does this affect me so much. ?
"Theyre gonna bloody torture him" Hook surmised. Breaking Emma from her trance.
"Thanks for the clarification, Pirate" Regina drawled and was about to continue her belittling but David interjected, "How will they torture him, …using magic?" He asked.
Regina nodded solemnly "yes, dark magic. The worst kind".
Snow broke the silence first, "Wait" she countered, "What if we strip them of their magic, we can do that right?"
Regina threw her a withering look, "Do you even hear yourself before you speak?" She spat, "Magic doesn't work like that". Regina rolled her eyes, "I swear, it's like deliberating Math with a monkey!"
"Regina we are just trying to help, is it possible at all?" Emma asked, trying to defuse the situation.
Regina sighed loudly. "Nothing I can think of will strip their magic."
Snow asked, "What about an enchanted bracelet, I've heard of those being used?"
"They don't exactly sell those things at your average jeweller" Regina replied "besides, you think they will just slap them on, willingly?" She rolled her eyes "No, there is nothing I can think of. Nothing short of pushing them across the town line ." She paused " Unless…"
Regina trailed of, something, a memory of her mother and their turbulent past came floating back to her mind.
"What is it Regina? What are you thinking?" Emma said pulling her back from her thoughts. "I can help. Let me help you. I can help with stripping their powers, and I have experience of going undercover. Bail bonds girl remember.!? Emmas lips curled at the corner
There it was. That half smile that Regina always found so endearing. It reminded her of that first day on her lawn. 'You're Henrys birth mother?' -'Hi'. It was that smile that snapped her from her fears and anger that was surging through her in that moment. That moment all those years ago. That smile, prevented her from banishing Swan from whence she came and instead, beckoned her in for a drink. Its always had that effect on her. That half smile. That shy smile. Emma's smile.
Breaking from her thoughts, Regina regained her composure forcing herself back to the present.
"In this situation Miss Swan, I have more experience" She said "And you dear, have the finesse of a bulldozer. You can't help me."
She knew she had hurt Emma by resorting back to the use of formalities. However, she needed to distance herself from these thoughts of Emmas smile. Or just Emma period. The musings had always existed, but since Neverland, they were becoming more and more frequent the closer the two were getting. Last names were a defence for the former Queen. Yet, when she looked at Emma, she saw she was wounded, and she regretted saying anything at all.
Emma's green eyes narrowed and she broke the distance, striding toward Regina, grabbing her arm in the process. "Regina can I talk to you in the other room!?" She turned back to the others and glared, "Alone, please?"
Memories came flooding back, to all the times she asked Regina she needed to talk to her in private.
This is what they did. They always had a connection, always handled there intensity in private. An unspoken spark that ignited in proximity. Whether it was fighting, battle preparation or just blazing, eye contact. For these moments, there was an unspoken agreement and desire to be alone. This was their language, their song. A song that only they knew the lyrics to. They had their own private dance, that fluctuated between intense aggression and an underlying but, equally intense passion.
Emma closed the door and drove herself into Regina's personal space. Brown orbs stared into green. Breaths were hot against each other.
"Regina" Emma hissed, "you can throw your insults and snarks at me, all. You. want. But, I am sick of you putting up walls around yourself and not letting anyone in. Whatever you were thinking about out there, you need to share and WE can figure this out, together".
Regina glared back, eyes flickering wildly from one green orb to the other and her voice dropped to a low growl, " In case you're forgetting, Swan. There is no WE, there's just ME. All I have is Henry. I don't have family, friends or pirates fighting for my attention. There. Is. No. we"
"No Regina, you have my parents too. Differences were forgotten quite some time ago. And god, you even have Hook rallying to defend you." Emma whirred. "But me, you and Henry…we are family." She paused. " I don't want anything to happen to you, I can't allow it" . Emma's voice started strong but ended in a whisper. Cracked and broken.
Regina swallowed and looked down to see Emma biting her lip and she swallowed again.
Fixing the mask, she scoffed, "You don't want anything to happen to me because, you fear how Henry would react!" she seethed, "You fear having to explain my demise to our SON! Therefore Miss Swan, your little speech, has nothing to do with your fear of losing me personally, but fear of having to have an ACTUAL, adult conversation with Henry! So, do not, insult me!"
Emma's eyes drifted to Regina's lips. "You're wrong" She whispered.
"What?" Regina croaked
Emma, dared to look back into her dark eyes, when her own green were close to tears.
"I said you're wrong." Her voice throaty and almost inaudible.
" This isn't about Henry." She looked back down, "We've come so far Regina and I… I honestly don't know how I would fit into this life, this role.. if… if you weren't by my side. Henry needs you, yes." She looked back up at Regina's dark eyes, that had softened at her words with a sheen of moisture. She stared at them in the most emotionally, intense stare they had ever held, and whispered
"But Regina, I need you…more"
A soft gasp escaped Regina's lips as her mouth fell open. She looked into Emmas evergreen eyes, the blondes expression so incredibly earnest, and something fluttered in Reginas stomach that was not fear or anger. Their bodies so close together, eyes almost wet with moisture, breathes hot against one another, eyes darting towards lips and back up again.
The way Regina looked at her now, was familiar. They always stared too long, fought too hard, always orbited too close, as if there was a gravitational pull. But the brunettes eyes had darkened into lust.
They could hear two heart beats, racing faster than they should be.
Emma whispered, staring at Reginas lips "promise to let me in… I need you to let me in?" voice thick with arousal that she couldn't hide, didn't want to hide.
Regina nodded, "I, l, promise" she breathed. Her tongue flicked out to moisten her lips .
Emma moved closer, lips almost touching. Regina didn't pull back, but her breathing shallowed and she felt something low. Something she had felt many times with the blonde, but this time it felt like her heartbeat was pulsating between her legs. Emma parted her lips, noses almost touching..-
The door flew open.
-" Emma!- We've been here too long we shou- oh!"
Snows mouth fell as she entered the room and saw the proximity of the two women. Her daughter and her former enemy , In what looked like a moment of- no – can't be. Her jaw dropped further.
Regina cleared her throat and pushed Emma back from their reverie.
She started smoothing off the non-existent dirt on her blazer, regaining her regal stance and stoic stature. "You should close your mouth dear." She sneered at Snow, "I doubt you would appreciate the flies that would no doubt swarm around the usual dribble that befalls it."
Snow stuttered " Did I… uhm.. Im sorry I was wondering…uh….do we have a plan?" She looked at both women.
Regina rolled her eyes "I have to go" and with that, the dark haired beauty disappeared in a cloud of purple mist. Leaving behind a blonde with a racing pulse, and a pixie haired brunette who was dumbfounded in her wake.
