Second Chances at 88 Gigawatts
Based on a World-Reknown tweet by SwanQueenSwen, and an idea by SwanQueenSwen. In a world where Season 1 Emma goes through a portal, meets Regina of S4/5/6/7 and is intrigued by a Regina that actually looks at Emma with love in her eyes...
Well, pretty much this story happens.
Note: My wife also challenged me to get this done in a day and make it around ten pages. She had doubts I could write anything short. Doubts! She acts like I have these epic stories that go on and on. Geez.
Anyway, thank you to Angela for the idea. Hope you all enjoy!
Also, also, also, if you want to come say hi on twitter, it's the same name and everything (hint:mariacomet).
The evil queen won. After years of rehabilitating herself, of learning to love and teaching herself to forgive, it was the other side of her that was victorious.
Regina's other half, the queen, had torn apart Main Street, disintegrating anything she thought would give the people hope. Granny's was a pile of rubble now, as was the library and the clock tower. She was expanding Regina's house on Mifflin street into something "more fitting for royalty." She turned it black as obsidian and created a hill for it to rest on, so she could look down on everything and everyone. Most of the town labored in the mines. Her evil side didn't need money, or diamonds in this case, not when she had magic. It simply amused her. Everyone in Storybrooke now served or sated her in one way or another.
The queen forced Henry to live with her, and gave him lessons on using magic. In general, she tried to unteach the "weakness" she believed Regina and Emma had instilled in him.
As for Regina, her other half had turned her father's crypt into a dungeon, and imprisoned her there. Regina didn't know exactly how long it had been since the queen had marched her down here, excitedly explaining all her plans for the town. Two townspeople, now without hearts, shoved Regina into the back of the cave. Then the queen conjured the iron bars and the locked door of a jail cell.
"Your new cage, dear," her evil twin said.
Regina sighed in frustrated as she completed her daily attempt to tear the anti-magic cuffs from her wrists. It did nothing but rub them raw. She held no hope that she would ever succeed. It was just something to try, to do.
The evil queen kept her fed and sheltered reasonably well. She needed to keep Regina alive and in good health. They were connected; Regina's life, and therefore her physical state of being, impacted the queen.
Emotionally though…
There were two small sconces on the walls, one on the right side and the other on the left. Outside those patches of light, it was dark. Her bed, a cot, was the sole piece of furniture in the room. The only times she saw another soul were twice a day when they brought her meals, when the queen came to gloat, or when Henry managed to sneak down to visit her.
She hadn't seen him in days.
Regina wasn't sure what happened to the Charmings. She was too afraid to ask.
She had failed Henry. She had failed all of them.
Most of all, she had failed Emma.
The worst part of her prison, the crypt where she once concocted all of her most nefarious plans, was that she had a lot of time to think. Her mind had always been agile. She didn't realize, until the evil queen had put her here, that it also could masochistic.
Into her days drifted agonizing daydreams of what might have been. What she might have said or done. How she could have saved Emma. The jagged edge of happiness she walked on while following those paths was addictive. She would close her eyes and fill in as many details as she could, patiently, like the most proficient of torturers. What Emma's skin would feel like. The way her eyes twinkled when she smiled. Words — I love you or thank you or please. The life they might have had with Henry.
If she had ever told Emma how she felt.
Emma was gone. She and Henry were prisoners. Everyone in town had become the queen's plaything. They had lost. She had lost.
She sat on her cot, back against the wall, knees pulled in close to her chest. She could be thankful that she had been wearing a pantsuit the day the queen had imprisoned her. That and a scratchy blanket kept away most of the chill.
She heard the lock on the door of the crypt clack open. Timid steps echoed at the top of the stairs. A few more footfalls, then a pause before rapid movement.
She recognized him immediately even though she couldn't actually see him until he got close the bars. "Henry!" A wide smile spread over her lips. She grasped the bars and immediately his hands closed over hers.
"Mom," his gaze was greedy and longing. Dark circles formed half moons under his eyes. He looked thinner. She didn't think the queen had ever laid a hand on Henry, but living in the world she had made was grinding him down. "Are you okay?"
She shook her head. "You don't have to worry about me. How are you?"
He arched a brow, contesting her statement, but his lips pressed into a grim line. "I stole something from her," he said, "Jefferson's hat." He squeezed his mother's hand. "I'm going to fix everything, Mom. I can get a message to Emma."
"Henry, she's gone," she said quietly, tentatively. She hated to say it out loud, especially to him. "You know she's gone."
"That's why I'm going to go back in time and talk to her. Warn her."
"But...how? That hat doesn't have any magic left."
His words were rushed, both excited and nervous. "Belle gave me something from Gold's shop. She said it could help infuse my magic into the hat. She thinks I can create a portal. It won't last long, maybe fifteen minutes or so. I'm going to go tell Emma what happened so she won't —" His jaw clenched and Regina wished she could wrap her arms around him. "I can save her."
"Sweetheart, magic always comes with a price."
His eyes hardened with bitterness and traced over the bars, following the way they stretched from ground to ceiling. "We've already paid a price. What could be worse than this?"
"No matter how bad this is, you're alive. I want you to be safe. Emma would want you to be safe. If the queen catches you..."
"The dwarves are going to distract her. This will work. You need to trust me, Mom."
"I have always trusted you." Henry laid his head against the bars, and she did the same as their hands clutched at each other.
He laughed shakily. "Shit." Words of chastisement about his language jumped to the tip of her tongue. He gave such a sheepish "Emma" smile, realizing it had slipped out, that she didn't have the heart to say them. "Sorry. I just almost forgot something." He reached into his vest and showed her a heavy iron key. The queen liked him to dress "properly." He usually wore a vest and long coat nowadays.
He pushed the key in the lock and turned it. With a creaking sound, the door to her cell opened. For the first time in weeks, maybe months, she held her little boy. Not so little anymore, a piece of bliss in a dreary world.
"I stole this from her," he said. "Well, Marco did. We're going to make a copy of it if my plan doesn't —" he hugged her harder.
Her throat contracted around too many emotions. She was trying not to cry, not wanting him to feel burdened by it.
"I have to try," he whispered. "I just wanted to tell you to hang on. I wanted you know that I'm going to change things."
Regina drew back, fixing him with a stern expression. "If there's any sign that things aren't going as you planned, if anything unexpected happens, promise me you'll stop." He nodded though she didn't entirely believe him. "Henry," she said, with a faint note of reproach.
He relented, one of his shoulders lifting in a shrug. "Okay, I promise."
"You shouldn't have to do this. You shouldn't have this responsibility."
"None of us should. Between you and me —" he paused and tried to look very serious. "I think this town might be cursed." She played her fingers against the back of his head, almost a ruffle but he had outgrown that.
he would be okay, she told herself, he had to be. A thought occurred to her and she gave a little smile. "So, what's the name of this mission?"
"Operation: 88 Gigawatts."
Her brow furrowed. "What is a gigawatt?"
"You know, Mom, from Back to the Future."
"I'm not sure I've seen that one."
"It's really good."
She nodded and met his eyes. "Maybe one day we'll watch it together...me, you and —" She couldn't quite finish. "The three of us."
She cupped his face, tilted his head down and kissed his forehead. "Be safe."
He left her.
She didn't have the courage to let herself form questions or wishes about second chances.
############################################
It had been the most surreal day of Emma's life. Fairytales were, it turned out, real. Regina Mills, the mayor of Storybrooke, was secretly a psychopathic, curse-wielding, pain-in-the ass, evil queen.
Emma tested the weight of the sword in her hand as she stepped off the elevator. She hadn't had time to process it all. Her parents were Snow White and Prince Charming. She was a savior, sent to this world from another one, so that she could one day break a curse.
Yet the hardest thing, the thought that made her gut tighten so much that it felt hard as stone, was the thought of Henry, pale-faced, lying in a hospital bed. Her son who came to find her and bring her home. Her son who believed in her more than anyone ever had.
Whatever was waiting for her in the tunnels of this mine, it would be easier to face than the slightest thought she might lose her little boy. She didn't understand how people could arrive in your life and so quickly become part of its foundation. She just knew her joy and well-being were now forever tied to his. She didn't know much about being a mother, but she understood what it was to love a son.
Emma took a deep breath and took one step forward.
A circle of spinning light about the size of stop sign formed in front of her. She stepped back uncertainly as it began to grow. And kept growing. When it was seven or eight feet in diameter, the moving wisps of illumination moved to border the edges. Inside, it was black. Like a hole. She didn't understand. Did she have to step through this thing to get to whatever she was supposed to fight? Why was everything in this town so extreme?
She raised the sword, holding it with both hands.
As she eyed the portal, weighing what it required of her, a figure appeared inside it.
"It worked," he said exuberantly.
"Wha..."
"Emma!"
He rushed towards her and Emma stopped his approach, pointing the sword-tip at him. "This is fucked up. You look like my kid. But...not. Are you what I'm supposed to kill? Because that's bullshit. That's total bullshit."
Her day had already overloaded her brain. This...she was losing it.
"Sorry, I forgot how much happened today." He tried again, patiently. "It's me, Henry. Well, it's future-me."
Emma snorted, feeling so stretched to capacity that everything was becoming hysterically comical. It couldn't be. He couldn't be. "Look, kid, I don't know who you are — a figment of my imagination, a clone, an illusion — but my son is in the hospital right now. If you know how to save him, you need to tell me."
"Ma, there's..." He stopped, his eyes welling with tears. "I haven't said that in a long time." He swallowed, and shook his head at himself. "Ma, there's no time. There was a fight with Mr. Gold's son. You didn't use magic. You should have but you didn't. He killed…"
"Gold doesn't have a kid," she argued fiercely, trying to hold fast to whatever facts she could."And I — I don't have magic. I wouldn't know what to do with...I have to go, okay? I have to go save yo —." She closed her eyes. Too much. Fuck. She let her arm and the sword along with it sag back to her side.
He stepped closer. "I hate to do this but I don't have time to convince you. A few things…the first is that this portal closes in about twelve minutes. Only one person can go through, so I have to stay here. Make sure you get back in time. Second," he pushed an iron key in her hand, "open the door." He embraced her quickly, an embrace that Emma didn't have the mental fortitude to resist or return. "Last, Ma…I'm sorry."
With all his strength he shoved her into the portal.
##########################
On the other end of the portal, the first thing she saw was a top hat. It seemed to be the source of the portal and the magic. It reminded her of Frosty the Snowman. She had to hold back a fit of what she assumed were giggles born of hysteria. In front of her were stairs going down.
She shook her head. She should step back through to her side.
Yet the key in her hand was all too real. Heavy. She could see the outline of bars down below. She'd just go and see whatever it was and open the door that bizarro-Henry wanted her to. Maybe this was all part of some bigger test. Or something. She didn't know anymore.
She strode down. "Hello," she called.
She heard a skittering of movement and then into the light, behind the bars, stepped the mayor of Storybrooke.
"Emma?" Regina Mills stood in the cell, her face smudged with dirt, eyes wildly seizing unto Emma.
"Madame Mayor?" The mayor's appearance was so unkempt. Her hair frizzled, a clump hanging over her left eye. Her sleeve had ripped, for God's sake. Emma didn't like it. Despite being furious at what Regina had done to their son, she couldn't help the way her voice softened. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised you're down here."
Regina eyed the sword, brow knit in thought. "Are you about to slay the dragon or fight Gideon?"
Emma's mouth gaped open. "Dragon? There's a dragon? You and Gold sent me to fight a dragon? And who's Gideon? Wait, is that Gold's kid?"
Regina shook her head. She laughed, an uneven, breathless sound, but once again her gaze seemed almost greedy for the sight of Emma. Emma didn't get it. "I guess that answers my question. Henry told me he was going to send you a message. I didn't expect…to see you."
Emma glanced over her shoulder as if the kid might appear just because his name was mentioned. "Was that really Henry? I mean, not that I trust you in any way but...was it?"
"Yes, that was our son."
"Our son?" Emma tilted her head. "Suddenly he's 'our son'."
Regina stepped as close to the bars as she could. "This is the future. It's been years since you first came to Storybrooke. We've been through a lot together. We became friends. It wasn't easy but we did. In some ways you were — are — my best friend."
Emma tried to keep up, she truly did. She just needed to make sure she'd understood one thing first. "The kid — if that was Henry…he lives?"
"He does."
Emma leaned against the wall a moment, resting her sword there. "We, you and I, become friends? But you tried to kill me. You hurt Henry."
Regina bowed her head, hands fidgeting. "Yes. I can't claim to understand why he forgave me or why you did," Regina's voice reached out to her, tender. "I just know you did. I know it changed me."
"He gave me this key." Emma held it up. She pushed it into the lock and pulled the cell door open.
She didn't expect the mayor to move so fast, for slim, muscular arms to surround her. For her own reaction of not pushing her away. One arm rose weakly around Regina, without Emma knowing why.
Regina buried her head into Emma's neck, and her body trembled. Her breathing hitched once, then harder. "I — Emma."
"Hey," Emma said softly. She stroked her thumb against the back of Regina's neck, grazing up and down. "Regina, it's okay." Her shirt grew wet as Regina pressed closer. She'd never had anyone hold her like this. No, not hold. Cradle and clutch at once. It confused her, but she felt that way about everything that had happened today.
"So much has happened. This world is everything you and I fought against." Regina's hands cupped her face as she parted from her. "When you fight Gideon, you have to use magic. He has your father's sword and is standing above you. You have to push him back with magic. I don't know why you...maybe I should been more insistent about your training. You just stood there. If I had arrived a little sooner. Or done something before he froze us. Your father, Hook, Henry, all of us." Her quivering chin tightened and her dark eyes hardened. "Why didn't you defend yourself?"
"Well, I can be kinda stupid." Regina laughed, just a brief one but the momentary temper faded from her face. "You're telling me the truth aren't you? You and I become friends?" Regina lowered her eyes and nodded. Emma straightened in surprise, because Regina Mills didn't ever look cowed. Not ever.
"You've always known when I'm telling the truth, Emma."
Emma felt a click inside her, understanding like a puzzle piece, sliding into place. She did know. Somehow, though her superpower could be flighty, with Regina she could always tell. More than that, she instinctively knew how to irritate, push, prod and stand up to Regina. Regina knew how to push every button inside her, how to smother her patience and instigate her fury. They hadn't known one another that long, not in the time she was from. They had Henry to connect them, sure, but there was more. She'd just never really questioned it till now.
Friends? Maybe. More than maybe if Regina had truly changed her vengeance-mad ways.
"Is there more?" Emma asked. "More than Gideon and Henry and us being friends? Are my parents okay?"
"I don't know."
Emma pulled back entirely, separating them. "What do you mean 'you don't know'?"
"Evil won in this world. We lost you. I've been down here," she made a helpless gesture, "I don't even know how long." She clasped both of Emma's hands in her own. "We need you. This town and your parents and Henry." She took in a deep, shaky breath. "And me."
Wonder brightened her fearful heart. She'd been about to leave Storybrooke before Henry was poisoned. Regina, terrified of losing him, had been willing to do anything to keep him. Emma didn't have the courage to hold the love Henry and Mary Margaret offered her. It seemed like too much. But, Regina admitting affection, it surprised her too much to scare her. She had a feeling she could be lost in that astonishment for a long time if she let herself.
"But, how could you lose? You're the…"
"Before you broke the curse, I didn't have magic. And when everything happened," Regina held up her wrists. "They put these on me to stop me from using it."
Emma touched one of the cuffs. "Can we get these off of you? Maybe pry them off with my sword?"
Regina laughed quietly. "God, I've missed you," she said, eyes glowing warmly. "No, my hope is that when you go back, if you can defeat Gideon, all of this will change. Henry said we wouldn't have very long."
"Yeah, yeah I should go. Kid said I had to be back in about twelve minutes. Don't know how long it's been. Look, I'll remember about Gideon. I promise."
"Emma?"
"Yeah?"
"Miss Swan," she said, playfully.
"Madame Mayor," Emma said in a similar tone.
And yeah, the more time she spent with this Regina, the easier it was to believe they'd eventually grown close.
Regina's eyes lost the faint, amused glow and became serious. Her soft fingers traced Emma's cheek. "There's something I have to tell you. Just in case."
Her hand dropped to Emma's shoulder. "In your future, Henry will be kidnapped. We'll have to leave Storybrooke and go to another land to find him. Somewhere on that trip," She broke off as she met Emma's eyes. "It was infuriating. Neal and Hook vying for your attentions. It was all I could do not to turn both of them to ashes. I didn't let myself acknowledge it. Not for a long time. And then, every day trying to gather the courage, not sure if I could trust myself, worried I'd lose what we had. Time just slipped away while I wrestled with all the questions. The only thing that should have mattered — ever — was telling you that I love you."
Emma blinked. "What? Wait, what?" She swayed backward under the weight of it, and staggered to regain her balance.
"My heart is yours. That's who you are, Emma Swan, the woman who won the heart of the evil queen and defended it so well, so persistently, that it healed. I'm sorry, I know that I shouldn't — not when there's so much on your shoulders today. I just...I had to tell you."
She didn't expect Regina to surge upward anymore than she'd predicted what Regina would say to her when she'd begun her admission. The brush of Regina's mouth meeting hers tingled, made her mind bow in surrender to the thundering pulse that started in her body.
"Emma," Regina said against her mouth and kissed her again. Emma's heart filled with electricity and each beat shot lightning bolts of pleasure all over. Her hands moved down her back, down her spine. Regina's skin just a layer away from being touched and cool against her hot fingertips. She pressed for more.
Regina tore away. "You have to go. Henry."
"What just happened?" She dragged a hand through her hair. "I don't know what to do with what just happened. And, you hate me back there," Emma said, pointing her thumb behind her.
"Not for much longer. Be patient with me. Believe in me. Please. Even if it's just friendship."
Emma collected her sword. She tapped the flat of it against her leg as she watched Regina for another moment. Emma stepped forward, seized her around the waist and pressed another, harder kiss to Regina's lips. Their bodies molded against one another.
She had wanted this, Emma realized. She'd wanted it since they met. "That didn't feel like friendship."
They breathed together for another moment.
"I have to go," Emma said, an apology. "I'll see you soon." She paused. "Say it back for me? I just really want to hear you say it back."
Regina's back straightened and her voice became commanding. "I will see you soon, Emma." She smiled. It began quietly, then broadened until it was luminous.
Emma felt herself stop again, though she had to go, she had to. She wanted to see that smile again, over and over. She wanted to cause that smile.
Maybe one day. Maybe soon. She pried herself away, turned, and dashed up the stairs.
###################################
When Emma stepped through the portal, Henry was checking his watch.
He let out a breath, relieved. "Geez, you cut it close, Ma. I don't know what it would do to time if I was trapped here and you were trapped back there."
At the moment, her mind was wedged stubbornly on one thought. "Your mother said she loves me."
"She told you?" He all but jumped in excitement. "Finally. You have no idea what it's like watching you two."
"So, then do I, in the future, love her? I mean, do you know? Am I, I don't know, breaking some universal rule by asking?"
Her son was so grown up, a teenager — fifteen? Sixteen? Dressed up a little like he was about to go to a prom. "I hope not, because someone really needs to talk to you. I don't think I'll remember this if time changes. Neither will mom. Just you. Ma, you act like you love her. You act like it all the time. All the time." He hugged her quickly, then stepped toward the portal. "Um, before I go, I'm sorry about shoving you."
"We...today — we save you right? Your mom said we do. Just, when you collapsed after eating the turnover...and at the hospital...I thought — I thought I'd lost you."
He had always believed in her, and his expression now showed only unwavering faith. "You and Mom always save me. Always."
"See you soon, kid." Emma said softly as he disappeared.
The tunnel stretched before her, unimpeded once again. Her fingers tightened on the sword hilt.
There'd be time to process it all, wade through the many feelings around what had happened in the future and in the complicated present.
For now, though, there was a dragon to fight.