Counting the Winters
by Erin Griffin
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Pairing: Emma/Regina (Remma/Swan Queen), Henry/Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty)
Summary: Emma counts the Winters as she journeys through Fairytale Land in search of Regina after the curse is broken.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.
Note: I don't know what is going to happen in the finale but I need this to keep me from fipping my shit before the show even airs. Thank you madameshocking for putting up with my questions about the show and its characters and helping me with the little details. also, for helping me feel better when I thought I couldn't keep a part of this story but helped me find another way. You really are the bestest of the bestest!
They measure time in Winters here. Sometimes I take note and make a list of things that have happened in those Winters.
It has been 148 Winters since I was born.
120 Winters since the curse was broken, 120 Winters since you disappeared, 120 Winters since I started a quest to look for you because Henry couldn't sleep at night and needed his mother.
119 Winters since a strange horse came from nowhere and kept following us. It made traveling a little easier, and Henry loved him and named him, but he freaked me out.
117 Winters before I realized that I haven't aged, Henry (and I'm guessing the horse), either.
115 Winters since my sister Preya Katheryn Charming was born.
111 Winters since I found the book in the rubble of the first casting of the curse, the last page stating that the Evil Queen had fallen into a deep sleep, encouraging me to continue looking for more clues in the libraries of the land.
100 Winters since Ruby was burned at the stake. I was too late...
97 Winters since Grumpy died.
80 Winters since king Charming, my father passed away.
79 Winters since Queen Snow passed away (it appears people really can die of a broken heart- unless of ourse they are me), 79 Winters since Queen Beth Katheryn was crowned after I refused.
72 Winters since Henry began to age again even though the horse and I still remained the same.
64 Winters since The Blue Fairy came to Henry and he essencially told her to fuck off for not helping you before you were evil (that's your son, and I hope in sleep you saw that somehow), 64 years since the Blue Fairy in her shame gifted Henry with a sword and told him of a land deep in thorns where someone slept. The thorns were so thick with magic that it took so much power just to see that an entire kingdom was there, and that only that sword could cut through the thorns
63 Winters since Henry and I took turns cutting through the thorns and found the sleeping woman. It wasn't you.
63 Winters since Henry's kiss awoke the sleeping woman, Briar Rose, 63 Winters since they married.
63 Winters since Henry and Briar Rose's daughter Regina Snow Mills was born.
55 Winters since the Ice Queen of the North waged war on Henry's kingdom and I joined the fight to protect him and his family.
51 Winters since the Ice Queen surrendered at my sword and offered my heart's desire if I let her go. (I told her that I hadn't found that in the near century I had been alive, but she gave me one thing that could have given me hope since we found out about the briars, a single red apple.)
51 Winters since I moved through the countryside as I wondered if this was crazy, even as I counted the Winters until I saw you again
45 Winters since I found Sydney, now a mirror, who showed me that where you were was dark, with the smallest stream of light coming in. I changed my search to the sounthern parts of this land again. The apple remained gleaming and red as ever
21 Winters since Queen Briar Rose passed away, 21 winters since Henry passed away (seriously, what is with the broken heart as a cause of death? Did this mean that my grandfather wasn't as in love with my grandmother as he claimed?)
21 Winters since I ran away back through the thorns of the Briar castle, by now abanoned and overgrown
20 Winters since I once again made it through the thorns, 20 Winters since I bit through the apple and fell into a deep sleep...
It was dark when Regina looked around, save for the smallest bit of light. She pushed upwards at glass only to find it latched shut. She knew right away that it was a glass coffin and kicked at it until the sensation that woke her forced her to hit through the glass completely. Emma. She didn't understand, but Emma Swan's face flashed behind her eyes before she'd woken up and then she felt herself fall into a blind panic. She lifted herself out of the glass, until a pink light stopped her movements. Nova. She recognized this fairy. Rather, she recognized Astrid, one of the nuns from Storybrooke. "Regina," she said softly, smiling sadly at her, "you're awake because the Savior needs you."
Regina nodded, "Emma," she said. The fairy nodded as well.
"There are some things I need to tell you first."
"Tell me as we walk away from here."
"As you wish," the fairy said as she turned around and began to lead the way out of the darkness.
It was a long and grueling road from the coffin to the castle overrun by thorns. Nova informed her that Emma held the only item that could cut through them. Regina sat beside its outer wall for a few days as she grieved the death of her son, of the life he had that she didn't get to see, even Snow, the little girl she had saved raher than the woman who had fought back all those Winters ago. Nova took the form of a human woman and kept by her side the whole time, and Regina hadn't even thought to ask why, let alone thank her. She just couldn't undestand how much she missed in that coffin, how much things will have changed since the curse was broken. Then, out of the blue, she stood and began to push through the thorns with her hands, enduring the cuts and scrapes through her now pale flesh. She heard the rips of fabric, and felt the buzzing of magic the thorns were surrounded by, but she was able to make them move under her hands. If it took Emma and Henry a full year to cut their way through for her, and who knew how many years just to find it, Regina was going to do what it took to do the same, even if it took her last breath. She was never a quitter and she wasn't about to start that habit now. Her fingers bled, her clothes were practically torn completely from the body, her body forgot what time was, let alone the fact that she was moving through it for twenty years. She needed the pain to realize she was alive. She let the thorns cover herself and Nove when she needed to rest and to heal, and then she would get up and do it all over again. And then, she saw it, the light of a clearing. She saw there in the middle of the thorns a large castle, which had vines across the entrance.
Nova, ever loyal, followed her through and gasped at the dead but strangely beautiful castle. Everything else around it seemed to live. Well, not everything. There were trees all around the land, one of which held a brown horse who sat next to the body of a woman that Regina knew so little and so well all at once. Emma lay with her hands out, what remained of the apple at the side of her right hand. Surprisingly, the horse knew to stay away from it. Next to the tree was a pack which must have been the last of Emma's personal affects. Regina recognized Henry's book, now old and weathered, as well as a small blanket with Emma's name on it, which also had seen a lot.
This woman was all she had now, if Nova were to leave her side once the quest was done, and if she had to, she would spend the rest of her days here, much like this horse had, surrounded by magic and what seemed like the pause of time. "Emma," Regina murmured once she got closer. The horse at the blonde's side eyed her suspitiousy, but then stood up, almost as if to greet her. Regina recognized him, even though it was covered from head to hoof with deeper cuts and scars than Regina had, as if he too had fought his way through the thorns to get to the woman.
"Hey, pretty boy!" she cooed to him, which made the horse toss his head. He'd recognized her as well, even after all the years he spent looking after Emma. She wanted to pat his nose in affecton, but she felt she didn't have the time to stop. Then looked back to the woman she had come to save. She hurried to her side and dropped to her knees. "Emma," she said again. "How could I play this role in the story?" She asked this of herself, but had gained a responce.
"You know you can save her," Nova said softly.
"But I..."
"The reign of the Evil Queen is long over. There is nothing left for you where you once were, and you have no desire to go back. I know that you know this is true, Regina. This is your Happily Ever After, but you have to be brave enough to take it. You have to believe that there is more in this world than what you've had so far, and that you deserve happiness as much as anyone else."
Regina looked down at Emma. She was exactly as the last time she saw her, though her features were scrunched in pain now, and Regina understood it. She understood loss too well without realizing that Emma always had, also. Emma had as well, and most of it was Regina's fault. But Regina knew that Emma was all she had now, all she wanted in this new time, and she knew it wasn't bravery that made her lean down and place her lips to the blonde's, but desparation. There was a strong buzzing that she felt around them, a wind moved through her hair, and a white hot light behind her eyes around them. Slowly Regina leaned back, and let out a startled gasp when she saw Emma looking at her through confused eyes, even as they showed all of the pain she felt. "Regina?"
"Emma," Regina responded, moving to place a hand on the blonde's cheek, stopping when she saw how raw and red her hands had been. Nova hadn't yet healed her that day as she had the past many years she had been moving through the briars.
"I... I tried to- I failed to find you."
"Maybe I was just meant to find you," Regina replied softly. Emma sat up as Regina sat in a more comfortable position on the grass. She allowed the sunny spots allowed by the tree behind them to fall upon her, warming her for the first time in far too many years.
Nova slowly took a few steps forward, and as she placed a hand over both of Regina's, she said, "The Savior's longing to end it all spoke to Regina's will to live, and it woke her up. Her determination to get to you, Emma, is why she was not killed by the briars. Regina's horse was reborn for the purpose of helping Emma in her quest. This is why he was always able to find you, why he has forgotten time, and how he too has gotten through the briars."
None of the women spoke for many minutes after this as the cuts on Regina's hands healed, making her hands seem brand new and all of her skin just as it had been before the journey through the briars. Emma's eyes suddenly tightened as her shoulders shook and tears began to fall. Regina took Emma's hands. "Don't you see that all that matters is that we found eachother again after all this time?"
"Henry... He joined me..."
"I know. Nova told me all about Henry's age stopping for so many years until it was time for his story with Briar Rose to begin. It was- Maybe... Sometimes, the stories aren't quite finished when we think they are, and sometimes, the finish a lot sooner than we would like for them to. Henry's story, it was his destiny to be the Prince to awaken the princess of this castle. Our story..." Regina used her thumbs to wipe the tears away. "Our story doesn't look to be over yet, but it can have a new chapter, if you'd like."
"I would, more than anything," Emma said, her eyes bouncing between Regina's even as more tears fell. "It took me so many years, so many Winters for me to realize this. It is all I want- to find you, to be with you." Regina nodded and gathered Emma into her. Emma's arms wrapped around Regina's middle tightly. "I'm just glad that you're okay," the blonde whispered. "She told me you were alive, but sometimes I just couldn't believe it. I just- I am so glad that I know." Emma heslitated before she said, "I love you, Regina."
Regina ran her fingers through Emma's hair and then placed it on the back of her Savior's head to bring the other woman in closer. "I am here. You did find me, and I found you. We'll be okay now." There was nothing but sniffling in the otherwise silence of the almost dead kingdom as Nova silently said her goodbye, having silently repaid the Blue Fairy's debt to Regina. Some moments later, Regina lay them both on the grass as she continued to stroke Emma's hair in the sun that never seemed to set. She looked into Emma's green eyes and the two were content to stay there for a while as they gathered the strength to cut their way back through the thorns with Emma's sword. They need yet to worry over where they would stay or what they would do, or even if time would begin to spin again for their bodies. All that matter was that they found eachother and the feel of eachother's breathing as they lay in eachother's arms. If they did nothing else for the rest of their time on the earth, that would still be their Happily Ever After.
End