Title: Heroes and Villains (Tentative Title)
Summary: In reverse chronological order, the story of a supervillain, a superhero, and 2 roommates in love. SwanQueen Superhero AU. Happy Birthday Jess.
Warnings/Notes: This might be a little bit confusing as it is out of order and is more of a bunch of snippets of a larger story.
Disclaimer: This story is mine but OUAT isn't because then I'd die from the mortification of claiming ownership of what's been happening to the characters.
A/N: …I'm sorry people who are still looking for Past Imperfect updates. It's coming along… slowly. Slowly as in I haven't worked on it in months but I do have stuff written. *sweats* So anyways, this was requested in the form of showing me a tumblr prompt about a villain and superhero who were roommates without knowledge of each other and a "hey you". So, I mean... yeah. The story's world is also a rather large and this simple oneshot alone doesn't have enough breadth to cover all the characters and themes I would have loved to explore. Maybe I might write a more in-depth spinoff later on, but for now just fill in the blanks with your own headcanons. :)
Storybrooke had always been a contested area for the superpowered, but even with its thriving bed of villainy and corruption balanced with heartfelt crusaders, none of the battles it had witnessed could come close to the devastation left behind by the most recent finale.
The battle had wrecked quite a portion of the city not to mention the large numbers of people killed and injured as villain and hero threw it all against each other. It was unprecedented, such a collection of super-powered people collected on each side and in such an obvious way. There had always been battles, of course, but ever since the advent of the Evil Queen, civilian casualties had been rather limited. Some cynics even questioned whether Storybrooke could truly ever rebuild itself up to any semblance of its former prosperity
But even more of a question was the ensuing power vacuum and how the city would rebuild to fill it up.
The media hailed it as a new age as the Evil Queen had finally been removed from her throne while at the same time they mourned the disappearance of the Evil Queen's superhero counterpart, the White Knight. They announced the end of corruption and even alluded to an end to the need for superheroes at all.
Villainy is dead! They proclaimed in bold letters. The Evil Queen had been the root of all evil and with her and her many followers dead or cleansed of her control, things would be fixed.
Heroes are retiring their costumes! They added, citing the unmasked but still popular superhero couple Snow and Charming who were once more returning to a "life of normalcy" in a "reborn Storybrooke."
Henry didn't believe it at all.
He couldn't; not when he remembered the crisply dressed brunette lady who had always popped by the orphanage once every a few weeks in the beginning. The woman who had ignored the whispers that she was only coming in to look good for the press and who met him and suddenly began to visit more often. Henry could not believe an end to the existence of superheroes when there had been a woman who had looked at him with such care and longing and who shared stories of the everyday hero: the fireman, the officer, the educator, and even Henry himself.
And he couldn't believe the media which most of all, described horrors done by a lady who had visited him for the past few months with a secret smile and then a blonde friend in red leather that made the duo a trio sharing ice cream and secret smiles that they all knew existed. That same lady who visited him last week and quietly told him that she was the Evil Queen and that the blonde was the White Knight and that it was time to do what had to be done.
So, Henry did not believe when the media finally declared that the Evil Queen had been the one to cause the final battle, and neither did he believe their claims that the Evil Queen and the White Knight had killed each other in the end.
He did not believe that the Evil Queen was the villain.
He only knew that she was a hero…
And that his future mom (moms really, because he was smart enough to see that one coming), were alive and that he just needed to wait and believe.
They would come and get him.
(-)(-)(-)
"They won't miss me," Regina coughed. She tried to control her breathing, as each move sent flares of pain along her injuries. The calming hand running along her hair stilled before resuming their trek through her short locks.
"Don't say that," Emma breathed, shifting slightly so that Regina was placed more comfortably on her lap.
"Dear, I'm the Evil Queen," Regina reminded needlessly.
"And you saved my life and my—my parents' lives and you've done a lot for this city… You've gone way past that title I think," Emma argued softly. She sighed. "Do you think they made it?"
"Your parents? I've fought them enough to know that they have a habit of surviving everything that's thrown at them," Regina replied with a tone more fondly exasperated than she would ever admit to. "At any rate, we'll know soon enough if they were successful."
"I don't like this," Emma said, shaking her head. "Once she has your heart…"
"She has no chance," Regina interrupted, lifting a hand to stroke Emma's cheek. "Not when…" She pushed aside blonde hair and traced down from the jaw before letting her palm smooth over the scratched blood-covered white plates of her armor and down to her ungloved hands. They trembled.
"Some villain you are," Emma laughed shakily, gripping onto Regina's fingers tightly. "Putting all your hope into this."
Regina smiled slightly before stiffening. "She's got it," she announced tightly. "She'll be here soon."
She stood up quickly, her pain seeming to fade away into the background as she felt the familiar tug of her mother's magic wrap around her heart. She could sense her mother rapidly growing closer and her magic, stronger.
But Regina had had years of practice honing her own talent in manipulating hearts to do her bidding. She could only hope that this way could work too.
"It's over Mother," she called the moment the other villain had come within earshot. "You have lost all of your followers and now, even if you control me through my heart, there's nothing that can be done for you now."
Cora snarled and Regina hunched over with a cry as her heart was squeezed threateningly. She felt Emma gripping her arms desperately and blinked back the tears that threatened to escape. Suddenly, the pain vanished and she forced her head up to look at her mother who looked back at her with disturbing calmness. "You have always done so well Regina," she murmured quietly.
At such strange words of praise, Regina straightened up to gape at the Queen of Hearts.
"But…" Regina's jaw tightened at the qualifier. "Whenever you get to where you should be, you do something to ruin it all," Cora explained. "You had so much power over this city before giving it up because you fell in love with a…" a distasteful sneer was thrown Emma's way "hero."
"I didn't want this city to begin with," Regina snapped. "I—"
"Enough!" Cora's voice whipped the air. Then her voice softened. "Mother is here to help." She lifted the heart to her mouth and whispered her command.
Regina felt her muscles relax and begin to move without her permission. She whirled to face Emma who stared back at her calmly. Love blazed in her eyes. Regina stared at her, willing her to go as they had planned. They stood there, staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Why wasn't Emma doing anything? Did she believe in Regina so much that she thought Regina could do it alone? At that thought, Regina drew up the last vestiges of her magic and pushed it out, releasing herself if only briefly from her Cora's control.
"I won't kill her Mother," Regina stated, turning to face her mother.
Pain shot through her and she collapsed against Emma's body. Arms wrapped around her and she curled into the White Knight's grasp, fitting her head into the nook of her shoulder. She could almost feel the blood from their separate wounds seeping past each of their bandages and uniforms. "I will give you one more chance," Cora announced. "Before I might just have to erase this mistake I seem to have made."
Emma's hug tightened before loosening and she didn't move when Regina's hand reached forward and grasped the hilt of Emma's sword. Slowly, it was drawn out of its sheathe. Sweat beaded on the back of Regina's neck. Why aren't you doing anything? Regina tried to ask silently, her one free hand digging into Emma's back.
Emma stood still.
With a great deal of effort, Regina stopped her movements and pushed back away from Emma. "Em-ma," she forced out of numb lips. "Please."
In response, Emma smiled sadly at her and reached out to hold Regina's hand and the sword it held. Then, she guided the sword point to her stomach.
Regina's lip trembled. Because of course, Emma was the hero who didn't believe in True Love. She was a cynic in a family of optimistic heroes and who was willing to let herself die in order to let Regina finally defeat her mother rather than risk a fairytale because of course.
It seemed Regina would have to be doing this herself even if it meant she might tear herself apart in the process. As much as her mother had tried to quash it, Regina had always believed in love. And it seemed that in this one moment when Cora should have had the most power over Regina, Regina finally had the ability to make her own choice.
Regina moved her free hand over Emma's and saw the blonde's eyelids flutter shut. "You… idiot," she ground out before adjusting the angle of the blade and lunging forward.
Their mouths collided and felt more like a punch than anything, causing Emma's eyes to snap open but even as the pain registered, the kiss softened as they steadied each other and everything fell into place.
Light pulsed all around them and Regina watched wonder fill Emma's expression. The sword fell with a clatter and their hands settled hesitantly into familiar positions. A faint gasp escaped Regina's lips as she felt her heart suddenly begin thudding again in its correct and designated spot in her chest.
They would have to deal with Cora at some point soon, but for now, Regina knew for sure that they had finally defeated her mother. She only hoped from the faint taste of blood in her mouth that they would both be alive to witness it.
(-)(-)(-)
They fell into their normal pattern without even realizing it. Regina swung by the kitchen and started up a pot of coffee while Emma ducked into the bathroom to pull out a first aid kit. It was a familiar dance of splitting tasks and moving in sync to complete them. They were halfway towards meeting up in the common room area's couch when they came to a stop as they remembered that they were the host of a couple superpowered visitors.
"Maybe I should, uh, get more of our first-aid kits," Emma suggested into the awkward silence.
Regina sighed and placed down the extra linens she had grabbed from the closet and the heroes began chattering among themselves, loudly checking over each other and fussing like an extremely shrill puppy. No wait, that was just Snow over Charming.
Red Wolf looked abysmal and without a word, Regina nudged her and pointed the way towards the bathroom. With a grateful nod, the shifter hurried across the room, leaving bloody prints along the floor.
The rest of the surviving heroes were huddled together throughout the room. A few were in mourning: Nova was staring blankly at the floor and Cinder looked half-way towards setting herself on fire with her powers. One person, in her bright green garb turned practically gray, however, wasn't afraid to march up to Regina. Once there though, the brief fight in her eyes faded.
"I can't do this anymore, Regina," she said quietly. "We've defeated Gold, the Mad Hatter, practically all of your mother's allies… And I'm done. The Queen of Hearts has no more support. I don't think I can take this any further."
Regina could feel Emma approach her from behind. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the blonde hand out more of their first aid kits before stepping back into her personal space as if they were planets caught in each other's gravity. She wondered, briefly, if maybe taking all of her mother's support would be enough to stop her from destroying the city and ruining Regina's life once more.
No. She shouldn't even have to question that. Her mother could not be stopped just by losing all her support and even if she might've, Regina couldn't risk it. Not with Emma.
But it wasn't Regina who spoke up, but the ever optimistic Snow. "But Tink, this is for the good of the city," she argued. "We are here to protect the people and stop crime and we all know that the Queen of Hearts-"
"I'm not here to do that okay?" Tink interrupted. She sounded very, very tired. "I'm just a waitress who happens to have a power and was roped into helping this city just because I was born with an ability no one else has."
A soft breath, a half-gasp, was released beside her. Regina tilted her head just barely, unnoticed by the watchers to look at Emma. The blonde's face was blank, but then her hand reached out and grasped Regina's tightly.
"I think it's fine," Emma said gruffly, her voice hoarse. "We don't need all the heroes for this… cleanup."
Regina squeezed Emma's hand. "And I think… I have a plan," she offered.
"Good, let's get to it," Charming said bracingly.
Several sets of eyes looked his way and he grinned boyishly even as Snow dabbed at another of his wounds. "We're not going to leave our daughter to this fight," he explained easily.
Emma's smile was bright and Regina almost had to look away to stop herself from doing something very impulsive in front of the rest of the heroes. Tink drew her attention again. "Good luck Regina," she whispered, briefly squeezing Regina's free hand. "I'll still protect your identity and I hope you win this. You deserve to be free for yourself too."
(-)(-)(-)
She was fighting alongside superheroes and Regina couldn't bring it in herself to care too much about it. They were a blessing because she knew without a doubt that she would have been heavily overrun within the first few minutes. They had split up to deal with the separate villains but Cora… Cora was Regina's.
Her chest was burning, blood was filling her mouth, and her form-fitting suit was probably ripped, torn, and burned beyond repair. Her muscles felt strained and there was a weak pounding occurring behind her eyes—a sure sign that she had overused her powers. Gunfire and shouts echoed all around her as the rest of her allies (that still was a strange thing to call them!) fought their own battles but Regina ignored them, focusing on her own opponent.
Despite her injuries, Regina managed a grim, if bloody, smile as she faced them down. Her mother stood in front of her, her arm thrust into Regina's chest. A brief look of consternation flooded the other woman's gaze, causing Regina's smirk to widen even more. "If there's one thing you taught me Mother," she sneered. "It's to never bring my heart into a fight."
She reached up and yanked the hand out of her chest, both easing the burn that had resided in there and causing the burn of the cut on her side to twinge in a painful reminder of her other wounds. Magic flared up in her hands in the form of twin flames as she geared herself up to continue their previous battle. "Oh my darling," Cora sighed, stepping back suddenly. Her voice was leaden with utter disappointment, dripped with it, in fact. "You never learn."
Then she was gone.
Regina was so thrown she forgot what was happening around her and just stared at the empty space. Then the sounds of combat reasserted itself into the figurative vacuum of noise that had enveloped her. Regina whirled, assessing the situation and trying to see where her mother had gone.
There was Snow next to Charming as Regina expected. They were back to back. The archer was shooting with unerring precision her frozen arrows, leaving frigid swathes of white wherever they landed. Her husband was twirling a sword expertly through the air, his face steady despite the injuries he had accrued as he furiously protected his love from harm.
The Red Wolf was in her wolf form and her bloodstained teeth were bared in a snarl as she leapt, tearing through bodies. Despite her ferocity, she released a mournful keen in the air every once in a while as more lives were added to her conscience. Regina felt a twinge of guilt for pulling her friend once more into this fight, but most of her just hoped the blood matting her fur wasn't her own. She couldn't lose another person to her mother.
Several more of their group were lying still on the floor but Regina couldn't bring herself to check their bodies as her eyes sped up in their search of her surroundings. Her heart was pounding now as the sight she had expected to see refused to appear.
There was no sign of the familiar and expected form decked out in white.
And now, Regina could feel the fear she had been holding at bay rising up her throat. Because her mother had vanished and now Emma was gone.
Regina ran.
Bodies were flung out of her way without a thought. Where was Emma? She scoured her memory, trying to remember where the other had been or where the battle could have taken her. Regina let loose a fireball into someone's face and then finally caught a glimpse of white armor stained red with blood.
"White Knight!" she called.
Emma's eyes widened in unadulterated panic when she met her gaze and Regina could feel her stomach sink rapidly. There was Cora, her arm buried in Emma's chest. Emma's glimmering icy sword was on the floor and Regina scooped it up. Despite its powers, it still felt warm to her touch and she took comfort in that as she glared fearfully at the Queen of Hearts.
"Mother," she breathed, unable to speak any louder.
Her heart pounded in her ears and her mouth was dry. She couldn't let this happen. Her mother couldn't take Emma from her. But just like all the other times Cora had taken something from Regina, her legs refused to move, her mouth refused to speak, her body refused to react. All she could do was stand there and watch her mother take—
Then light blazed and Cora's arm seemed to be ejected from Emma's chest, bereft of any heart. All of them were stunned.
"I can't take-" Cora began.
"-my heart-" Emma finished softly.
A shout rang through the air; Snow's. "Mr. Gold and the other villains are dead!"
Regina, Emma, and Cora exchanged glances. The tide was turning.
Then, Regina flung Emma's sword at her mother.
Cora vanished.
(-)(-)(-)
The sting of alcohol on the cut on her face was not pleasant, but Regina rather thought it was preferable to the silence that had overtaken her and Emma's shared apartment since they had discovered each other's alter egos. It wasn't so much that they were surprised…
It was just an unpleasant confirmation of a long-held suspicion that both sides had denied for so often that they might as well have been surprised. They had avoided each other both in the apartment and in their movements through the city as superhero and supervillain. The silence had brought with it an uneasy silence in the city itself, something that confused Emma and Regina both though neither knew of the other's confusion.
Emma was concerned because it seemed all sorts of productivity both illicit and legal had been brought to a stop in Storybrooke and she knew Regina would never do something so drastic. Regina was concerned because she could see the effects but she couldn't track down what was sapping her city despite her extensive network.
But she knew now what the cause was and her trembles couldn't seem to stop. Emma continued to silently clean and bandage her wounds as she had done so when she had sneaked into the apartment only to come across a still-costumed, horror-struck Regina slumped on the floor. The trembles had become less violent but were still there even as they fell into their familiar routine and position.
"What happened?" Emma finally asked. Her voice was so quiet Regina almost thought she had imagined the question. "Who did this to you?" Emma asked louder, unmistakably speaking.
"The… Queen of Hearts," Regina finally muttered. Despite herself, her voice cracked in the middle of her proclamation.
"I thought she was gone," Emma answered as she found another wound to clean.
A brief bark of laughter escaped Regina's lips. "She'll never be gone," she replied truthfully. Her hands tightened into fists as Emma carefully wrapped the minor burn on her arm before finally the blonde's movements slowed and then stopped.
"Is she…?" she began hesitantly.
"She's the one behind what's happening with the city," Regina offered. "She's been gathering allies. Gold and his local gangs, Pan the Piper, the Mad Hatter…"
She trailed away when she saw Emma's shaking head. "No, I meant… Is she your mother?"
Regina stiffened and her mouth clamped shut but that was all the answer Emma needed.
"You can't fight her alone Regina," she warned her seriously. "Not if she's gathering an army like you say."
"I'm the Evil Queen," Regina muttered. "I have my own army."
"But do you have other supers?" Emma asked. "And I don't mean just the Red Wolf. Anyways, hasn't the Wolf been gone for years?"
"She didn't want to kill anymore," Regina explained. "I put her to other matters."
"Well, you need more support than just her even if you get her to join you," Emma pointed out.
"What, are you going to join me?" Regina scoffed.
"Yes," Emma said simply. She leaned forward, resting her forehead on Regina's. "I love you okay?" Her next words came in a rush. "I'm sorry that things got so awkward but I mean it's not every day you learn that your roommate and girlfriend is the Evil Queen and I just—"
Regina kissed her.
Emma kissed her back, forgetting whatever she had been saying and instead trying to find purchase with her hands on Regina's body. They only stopped when she accidentally brushed against one of the other woman's minor scratches and the flinch made her draw back. "I'm sorry," she apologized immediately.
"Don't apologize," Regina murmured, kissing her quickly again. "I was as much at fault as you were."
Emma grinned at her. "Well we should make up for it," she teased waggling her eyebrows.
Regina sighed indulgently at her but shook her head with a sad smile. "Maybe afterwards Emma," she murmured. "If there's an after…"
"There will be," Emma growled. She looked seriously at her girlfriend. "Because I'm not the only one who's going to be joining you."
Regina frowned at her before dawning comprehension and horror began growing in her gaze. "I am not going to work with Snow, Charming, and their veritable hoard of superheroes!"
(-)(-)(-)
The Evil Queen glared at the White Knight. How the mysterious and stubborn blonde kept managing to appear in the middle of her infrequent missions in her city both confused and frustrated her. "And you appear again," she stated, affecting boredom.
"What can I say?" The Knight attempted to shrug gracefully but she suddenly stopped, twitching slightly as if in pain. "I guess I have a lot of time on my hands."
Regina froze and her eyes narrowed. There was too much coincidence in those words and the strange, pained action for her to brush aside another hint as to the White Knight's identity. But it couldn't be…
The White Knight drew her sword and stared at her, eyes gleaming with disquieted curiosity. "When we talked that last time, at the… you know…"
"What about it?" Regina asked warily. She felt uncomfortably aware of how they were standing out in the open; they were hidden by the looming shadows of the large buildings of the city, but reporters like the ever popular Sidney always seemed to have noses for where they didn't belong. At least for now Sidney should still be on her side.
"Did you mean it?" The White Knight blurted out, sounding impossibly young.
Regina felt thrown by this sudden break from their normal banter and this glimpse into the armored superhero. "I said a great many things that time," Regina deflected.
"Did you mean it when you said I would have made a great supervillain?"
Regina stopped… and then laughed. There was no way the White Knight could have been anyone else but her, it seemed. Of all the people to fall for, the Evil Queen thought. "You are a very powerful woman," Regina admitted truthfully. "You... I think I would've loved to work with you if things had been different." Then, she added with a twist of her lips. "But right now? You could never be a villain.
"It's not because you were born a hero, but because you're too good a person to be anything but a hero."
Emma paused, seeming to absorb her statement. Then, "Thanks," the White Knight whispered quietly. Then, with cheery bravado. "Shall we fight, my Evil Queen?"
Regina smirked and threw a fireball in response.
They fought back and forth but it was not so much a fight as a dance. On one side was a barrage of fireballs and a dark smirk while on the other was an icy cold blade and cocky grin.
But soon they heard sirens, the police finally arriving on the scene and their fight grew more dangerous and more fitting to how they always fought before.
Then, in one smooth movement, the clear ice blade of the White Knight sliced through Regina's mask, leaving behind a faint cut on her cheek. Even as the mask started to fall, Regina's hands sent a burst of flame that caught on the Knight's own simple fabric handkerchief which had covered her lower face. The White Knight's eyes widened and she ripped off the flaming cloth from her face.
Their eyes met.
Neither side moved and neither side seemed that surprised.
"Of course it's you," Emma said softly, her sword falling to her side.
(-)(-)(-)
"Regina, I think your toaster broke," Emma called when she heard the door being opened, closed, and footsteps move further into the apartment.
The footsteps paused and then Emma heard them head in her direction. She didn't turn her head, instead preferring to focus on the pieces of machinery scattered across the table and the screwdriver currently gripped in the blonde's hand. Regina's footsteps came to a stop and there was a long, drawn out pause as the lawyer looked at the mess before her. A soft sigh. "What's wrong?"
Emma popped off another piece of the toaster and grunted.
"Really, Emma?" Regina asked impatiently.
"I wanted some toast," Emma explained.
An unimpressed silence filled the air. When Emma just popped off another part from the toaster, Regina rolled her eyes and moved past her and into the kitchen. "That gun dealer Gold seems to be stirring up trouble again," she stated idly. "I heard your department has been racking up a lot of his handiwork." She opened a cupboard and pulled out a chopping board. "Using this," she announced unnecessarily as she continued to gather more cooking implements.
Emma grunted and, having finally worked off all the parts, started (trying) to screw the toaster back together.
"Tink told me when I was getting some coffee earlier that there's a new variety of cookies that I might want to give to Henry. They seemed acceptable," Regina continued. Her voice was light and conversational, filler chatter to ease the obvious tenseness in Emma's body. She wasn't looking at the blonde either, just cooking with easy banality. It seemed to work as the blonde started turning more towards the brunette, her movements in putting the toaster back together becoming less aggressive.
"Though crime itself seems to be quieting for some reason. I'm slightly concerned. Storybrooke isn't normally an area that actually ever calms down does it?"
"Do you-" Emma stopped and coughed to clear her throat. Regina fell silent. "Have you ever had a suspect… or client I guess… just constantly evade your grasp? You keep facing them again and again but they keep escaping you?"
Regina blinked. "Well, yes," she offered. The slippery Mr. Gold whom the whole town knew dealt in the firearms funding the local gangs and thugs, Charming and Snow who had both been unmasked as heroes but escaped conviction and still roamed the streets in their alter egos once in a while though for the past several years far more rarely, and of course the most recent White Knight…
"What do you do if you learn stuff about them and they don't kill you when they had the chance?"
Regina whirled and her eyes scanned Emma's body as if searching for some injuries. "Wait. Chance to kill—Are you-?"
"I'm fine," Emma waved her off. "It's just… they're a lot different than I used to think, I guess…" Regina was silent, unsure of what she should say. "Have you ever been called a villain?" Emma asked listlessly.
Regina laughed darkly. "Oh you have no idea." She sobered up and peered at Emma curiously. "Why?"
"Do you think I would make a very good villain?"
Regina's eyebrows shot up. "Sometimes I wonder," she replied easily, truthfully. "But you make a far better hero, Emma."
Emma stared at her for a moment before ducking her head. "You too," she mumbled.
A hissing noise brought Regina's attention back to the food behind her and she turned.
"So, what's for dinner?" Emma's voice asked behind her and the topic was shoved aside to make the mood lighten once more.
(-)(-)(-)
The thing about the growing unrest in the unsavory parts of the city was that Regina had to go around more often instilling fear into the groups or even having to… dispose of those who had grown far too comfortable with their power. It was necessary to keep the fragile balance Regina negotiated between her control over the criminals and the law. A very annoying necessity really.
She eyed the warehouse doors with boredom before a flick of her wrist caused the doors to open with a click. A moment later, she was walking among the giant containers and boxes in an easily memorized route until she found the cozy office she needed on the second floor overlooking the area. Before anything could happen on the other side, she sent the door bursting open and strode through.
Fire blasted some of the men taking them off their feet, but quite a few dodged her attack. One in particular moved nimbly out of her way despite his limp.
"Gold," Regina hissed.
"Nothing against you, dearie," he replied cheerily. "There are just far more powerful forces at work."
There were several clicks as several guns were cocked and pointed her way.
Then the window shattered; a blur of white tumbled through the air past the shards of glass. The White Knight landed on her feet between the two groups, sword ready in hand. "Stop! I'm—" The blonde paused as she realized she had burst into something far different than she had been expecting. Instead of a simple gang bust like the Knight had probably expected, she had arrived in the middle of a trap for the Evil Queen.
"Dear, I'd advise you to run," Regina warned her before following her own advice and diving desperately through the opening the White Knight had created in the window. She clenched her fist and a vine twined around her arm, yanking her painfully away from the even more painful impact on the floor below the window.
Bullets sounded above her and she looked up in time to see a blur of white head towards her location. She instinctively lifted a hand and stopped the Knight from colliding into her not a moment too soon. The blonde's face was just a few inches away from her own and she stared past her mask into strangely familiar green eyes.
Shouts and the sound of more bullets being fired at them drew her attention away and with a gasp, she dropped the Knight the remaining foot of air she had left to fall. The blonde hit the floor with a groan and then scrambled to her feet. "What the hell is going on?" she asked furiously, leaping after Regina as the brunette dodged into the rows of containers.
"Nothing that has to do with you," Regina replied testily.
"I just got shot at because of you," came the affronted response.
"It's a shame they missed," Regina muttered under her breath.
A high, lilting note filled the air and Regina actually skidded to a stop, her boots squeaking across the floor. Her eyes were wide. Emma came to a stop as well, glancing around for any gunners as she did so. "What is it?"
"Pan," Regina hissed. "But there's no way he would be working with Gold unless…"
"Pan?" Emma repeated. "the Piper?" she mimed playing a flute. There was no gunfire, but the piercing note had changed into another. Then another. He was playing a song.
Regina nodded. "Do you, by any chance, have earplugs?" The only response was a shaking head.
"Then we have a problem," Regina stated.
The people who had been chasing them before had begun to scream. Interspersed in them was loud laughter and crying both hysterical and genuine as Pan's mental tricks did their work. A few guns went off, but they seemed to no longer be aiming at the duo anymore. Regina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could hear her mother now, each stern word, each sharp blow… Despite herself, she flinched in time with each phantom pain and drew in on herself.
A muffled clang interrupted her mother's lecture about her duty of gaining power. Then, a warm, calloused hand wrapped around one of her tense arms and pulled her forward, away from the blows if only briefly. The air closed around her and warmed very quickly as the hand moved from pulling to two hands pushing her into a pile of soft… somethings.
Regina opened her eyes to be greeted by a tight cavern of what felt like rolls of comforters. The music was more muffled now, and her mind was clearing. She turned and saw the White Knight, illuminated in the entrance of what turned out to be one of the many giant containers. The light was shrinking as the woman started to pull the door shut to block out the both of them from Pan's music.
Regina moved closer to the entrance as the door clanged shut, snapping the space into darkness. There was a thud and Regina followed the sound down to where the Knight was slumping down, gasping and trembling. "I didn't want to be born to this," she pleaded. "I didn't ask for my parents to be the great Snow and Charming."
And the Evil Queen's blood turned to ice.
The White Knight, someone whom she had reluctantly grown to respect, was the daughter of her long-time nemeses. The White Knight was the daughter of Snow and Charming. The woman in front of her was Snow's child.
Her eyes were adjusting to the dark now; she could see the faint outline of the shivering blonde. Pan's talent for drawing out one's greatest fears and dreams seemed to have done its job. "You're… their… child," Regina said hoarsely.
The superhero fell silent. Then, more coherently than before, "Yes."
Regina could have killed the White Knight in that moment, but she stopped. Her mouth moved soundlessly, remembering all-too-clearly her mother's words as they had just been ringing in her ears just moments earlier. She had refused her once before. But maybe she could finally stop listening to her in this life too.
The other woman was speaking again. "I never wanted to be a hero the way they wanted me to be. They always talked about, you know, how I was so special and how I'd be like them and save lives like they did or something." She couldn't even speak clearly, obviously still fairly shaken by Pan's influence.
Regina bit her lip and thought of her mother and her own expectations.
"I have a roommate," she began, crouching down beside the other woman. "She is a pain but sometimes she does things for me without even thinking about it. She has parents who apparently tried too hard, smothered her too much, and maybe even just believed too hard in her specific place in the world: a doctor. A savior. She chose her own path and has done equal good for this city than she would have as a doctor."
A rough laugh. "…I get that," the Knight whispered.
Regina continued, "I know a little boy. He dreams about superheroes every day but forgets about the everyday superheroes. He thought heroes were ones that flew in in costumes and shot lasers from their eyes. I told him about a man who could help stop people from growing disenchanted from the world by just talking to them." Her voice had become unconsciously soft and a lightness infused her tone as she thought of the child.
The White Knight blinked slowly. Her expressive eyes showing something more relaxed as she heard Regina's soft voice, driving away Pan's rapidly fading influence.
"There are many people in this world who expect things of you and me," Regina murmured softly, softly rubbing the White Knight's hand. "But Fate doesn't need to have a say in what you do."
"You sound a bit like my roommate," the White Knight said suddenly.
"Hm?" Regina questioned non-committedly.
"Yeah. She's brunette, very sassy. I think you'd like her." The White Knight's voice dropped. "She thinks I do good work."
"Well, you're certainly effective," Regina admitted. She paused and they fell into a lull of silence. Outside the faint strands of Pan's music continued to play, but seemed to be fading and had long since lost its effectiveness. "You would have made a great supervillain," Regina chuckled quietly, brushing the blonde's hair away from her face softly.
Those were the last words the blonde heard before they fell into a silent companionship as they waited out Pan's haunting melody.
(-)(-)(-)
"What happened to you?" Emma asked in horrified amazement as she staggered into apartment to the sight of Regina wincing and slowly disinfecting a cut on her arm.
"I was visiting the mall when it got… attacked," Regina explained. "Had to deal with, ahem, some delinquents trying to… loot the place." She looked up and blanched. "And what happened to you?"
"Pyromaniac and her best friend."
Regina's eyebrows shot up. "What, did you walk into her fires?"
"I have a habit of interrupting her, uh, sessions. She got mad about it. How about you?"
"I think one of the delinquents has it in for me," Regina murmured thoughtfully. "She certainly has shown up quite a bit in times in the times that I've gotten injured."
"Damn, that sounds serious do I need to look into her? What does she look like?"
"She always covers her face I'm afraid," Regina replied, shaking her hand. "But it's fine really—By the way come over here. I want to check those bandages. You went to the hospital for these right?—You have too much on your own plate at any rate and I can well deal with her. I repay her back for what she deals to me at any rate."
"Thanks. Yeah, the nurse said these weren't that bad though I'm not sure what he would count as bad considering he kept going on about his prosthetic hand and how he used to have a hook instead. And well, how about some traits I can look out for on whoever attacked you? Just in case I come across her."
"She's blonde and likes to wear white."
Emma wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. White. My mom wears it all the time and there's this, um, uniform that I have to wear sometimes and it's all white and I swear it's all her fault. Maybe it's genetic."
Regina smothered a chuckle. "That is quite a shame."
"Speaking of uniforms," Emma added distractedly as she watched Regina examine her bandages, "My pyromaniac has one. It's sometimes… distracting." She motioned at her chest.
"Do I need to get jealous?" Regina inquired, prodding one of Emma's arms and causing her to wince.
"Noooo, I have you already," Emma reassured her with what she hoped was a charming grin.
"Okay, okay, no need to look at me like that. You remind me of my old rival's husband." She hesitated. "Is the date still on for today?"
There had been no need to worry because Emma lit up. "Oh hell yes."
(-)(-)(-)
The White Knight had been doing an admirable job, cleaning up her city, Regina thought. The Evil Queen would have liked to just let her have at it, if it weren't for the fact that some of the superhero's activities took out some of the brunette's own contacts. While Regina had been planning for several months (coincidentally starting after she met Henry) to retire from being a supervillain, cleaning up loose ends had taken far longer than she had expected as both the White Knight and a sudden shift in the criminal community had forced her out of semi-retirement.
Regina was really quite tired of the superhero and how she kept appearing in moments that Regina didn't want her to. Apparently, it was a mutual desire.
"Okay, really?" the masked hero asked in irritation as she ran from around a corner and nearly crashed into the equally masked brunette. "It's great stopping whatever nefarious plans you have, but I know you're the villain that only shows their face to the public like this, like, super rarely. Even your rival Snow hasn't seen you as often as I have in the past months. Why are you always here?"
"I could say the same to you," Regina sneered. "Whenever I leave, you're there. Maybe you should stop stalking me."
"I'm not stalking you! You're stalking me!" the white figure argued.
Regina felt a muscle begin to twitch by her eye. "Like I would ever—"
A flash of blazing flames flew at Regina whose eyes widened. The Evil Queen twisted moving her arms to try to redirect the flames, but they stubbornly resisted her command. At the last moment, she threw up the palms of her hands and a purple shield wrapped around her.
The flames evaporated and Regina dropped her shield, already firing a fireball at the attacker. Emma too turned to whoever interrupted them. "Hey!" she yelled. "What are you doing?"
"That's the Evil Queen. The. Evil. Queen. What were you doing?" Baelfire replied angrily. "When I wanted us to patrol together I wasn't expecting to see you flirting with the Evil Queen."
"Okay—I mean, she wasn't doing anything," Emma faltered, but she didn't have time to think as another blur joined the fray. Emma went flying back and she cursed as she crashed through some doors and into the late-night shoppers still in the local mall.
Baelfire leaped through the new hole and quickly helped her up. "It's the Dragon Queen," he hissed horrified. "What the hell is she doing here?"
"I come over to visit you and this is how we start off?" the Dragon Queen asked the Evil Queen drily.
"First of all, this was a surprise visit. Second, you wanted to see how the city was running through our side," Regina scoffed, waving a hand. "Well here we are. This is Storybrooke at its… finest."
A sword sliced at them suddenly and they dodged to the side. The White Knight twisted her sword so the icy blade grazed The Evil Queen's suit. "No inviting more villains to our city!" she chastised.
"No need to be jealous, dear," Regina smirked, flames appearing in her hands again.
"Oh my god."
Despite the fact that they were about to battle themselves, the Dragon Queen and Baelfire both exchanged confused and slightly exasperated glances. And the media said that the city's Savior and Queen both hated each other.
(-)(-)(-)
"You get hurt too much in this job, I swear," Regina sighed as she wrapped up Emma's shoulder and the scrape apparently from a trigger happy suspect.
"What can I say?" Emma asked as she shrugged only to stop and hiss in pain as it aggravated her wound. "I guess I have too much time on my hands."
Regina rolled her eyes and pressed a quick kiss on the now fully-bandaged mark. "Maybe you need to start getting better at your job."
"You're the one who managed to get stabbed," Emma protested, lightly blushing at Regina's actions but not pushing it. Their relationship was new and she didn't want to scare Regina off by pointing out the display of affection. "I've never been stabbed." She frowned slightly. "I can't believe a lawyer like you got stabbed."
That had been Snow and a very lucky shot though all Emma knew was that an old case of Regina's had come back looking for revenge. Regina rolled her eyes. "Well I'm a very successful lawyer and thank goodness for small mercies. I don't even want to imagine it if you kept coming back here stabbed along with all your other injuries."
"Speaking of getting stabbed, I found one of your craft scissors in my red jacket. Are you trying to tell me something?"
"Yes. Please get rid of it," Regina sassed as she stepped away, past the counter dividing the common room area from the kitchen and began cleaning her hands. Emma packed up the first-aid kit and stood up to tuck it away in its spot again. "That jacket needs to be stopped."
"Ha. You love it. Were you visiting Henry?"
"Who else?" Regina glanced over her shoulder to see Emma giving her a very soft expression. "What?" she asked, bristling.
"I, well, I think you'd be a great mom," Emma blurted out before she turned red and fled to the bathroom, first aid kit in hand.
(-)(-)(-)
"Here," the Evil Queen said without preamble, throwing a wriggling sack onto the ground in front of the White Knight just as the blonde appeared before her, probably ready for another showdown.
"What the-?"
"Child abuser. An employee at the orphanage a block down. I witnessed him harming H-" she coughed. "-a child under his care myself."
The White Knight's eyes darkened and she looked disgustedly down at the rather charred-smelling person. "So I suppose you weren't here to steal children or something equally evil, huh," she sighed. "I guess even evil has its standards."
Regina tilted her head slightly as she appraised the Knight. "You believe me?"
"Yeah," the hero nodded. Not many people knew of her other superhero power, and she liked to keep it that way.
"Well then…" Regina said slowly, confusedly. "I suppose I shall be on my way."
"What, no witty repartee?" The White Knight asked. "No fight for the good of the city?"
"I have other business to take care of," Regina said, thinking of Henry, waiting for her just a few buildings away.
The sack started to totter to his feet. A white boot kicked out at a rather sensitive location and the sack dropped with a groan. "Well, don't let me interrupt your brief foray into heroism," the White Knight joked.
Regina smiled grimly. "I am no hero, my dear." Then she nodded to the blonde and vanished, taking care to leave no trace of where she was heading to next.
(-)(-)(-)
Living with a roommate was strange. Years before, Regina had managed to get her own private housing as a "gift" by her mother. She was free of her mother's control now but after a while living alone she came to realize that being free also meant she had to learn and adapt to a roommate's presence and habits if only to split the cost. And adapt she definitely had to do. Shoes and boots were left in odd places; she found a giant stash of bear claws and ice cream in the kitchen; and there just was another presence that could be felt everywhere from the bathroom to the bedroom.
And yet, Emma was a rather affable roommate and after a long day of work on either side, they always seemed to manage to at least share dinner at night: usually Regina's cooking, though sometimes a day of take-out.
"They're calling the newest superhero the 'White Knight,'" Emma read out loud from her newspaper with a perturbed expression on her face. She lowered it to look at Regina. "White. Knight."
"Cute," Regina smirked.
"…'face off with the Evil Queen'… 'new hope for the citizens of Storybrooke'… 'lost the battle, but may finally be the one to win this war'…" Emma looked up. "Well that sounds good… I guess." There was a gleam in her eyes and she looked like she wanted to smile very widely.
Regina looked slightly nauseous. "Didn't the Evil Queen absolutely embarrass the knight?"
Emma's grin vanished. "Hey, she did not! The…uh… White Knight did pretty well!"
"Well, I mean, the Knight is still alive," Regina acknowledged. She took a bite of her food.
Emma pouted. "I can't believe I know you. Don't tell me you're one of those Evil Queen fans?"
"There are Evil Queen fans?" Regina asked intrigued.
"Oh no no no, I'm going to nip this in the bud," Emma replied. She shook her fork threateningly at her roommate. "No roommate of mine… Though I do admit she's quite…" Her eyes glazed over.
Regina twitched. "Ahem, right. Well. You're the one who replied to my ad for a roommate," she pointed out.
Emma threw a napkin at her. "Shut up. You're done eating so gimme your dishes."
(-)(-)(-)
"You're… you're the Evil Queen!" the upstart new superhero sputtered, the cloth covering the lower half of her face muffling her voice.
Regina gave her best unimpressed look past her mask to the hero who had dared interrupt her meeting with the local gang leaders who were currently either absent having fled the scene or frozen solid on the floor. A sneer curled Regina's lips. Wonderful. Another superhero with ice powers. She had already had enough trouble with Snow before the hero had "retired"…
Then again, this superhero had long blonde hair as opposed to short black and she wore gleaming white armor and wielded a sword which was far different from the semi-retired superhero's own powers. "And who are you supposed to be?" Regina asked. She eyed the white garb distastefully. "Please don't tell me you're a Snow wannabe."
"God no!" the hero protested.
"No I suppose not," Regina scoffed. "All that white armor and that sword… You're a regular white knight."
"Aw thanks," the hero brightened.
"Now why don't you go climb trees and save cats," Regina added dismissively. "I have a city to run."
The Knight's demeanor hardened. "To rule more like," she growled.
"Are you going to stop me?" Regina asked silkily.
"Bring it," the White Knight challenged, raising her sword.
(-)(-)(-)
Regina slammed the door to her apartment, fuming as she marched in. Despite the loads of evidence ranging from eyewitness reports to even DNA matches she had managed to bring up, the superheroes Snow and Charming had, well, charmed their way out of the court once more. Regina had been sure that her case would finally bring a permanent end to the outlaw justice the duo meted out on a daily basis in Storybrooke.
If it weren't for the fact that she had fought him on several occasions in their super alter egos, she would have wondered if maybe his power actually did involve charming people as his name implied. Though, maybe he had both.
Still, it turned out that she had given too much faith on the unsteady justice system of the city as the popular couple had only been given a light slap on the wrist. Regina felt flustered and itched for action. She briefly considered whether it would be worth it to don her super gear but the amount of work waiting for her in that aspect of her life made her run an agitated hand through her hair.
No… she would have to put that aside for now. Not when she had so much to do with just this life.
Her jacket was slipped off, leaving her in her dress and disheveled hair. She glanced at the clock and sighed. The case had taken longer than she had expected and her plan on greeting her new roommate with a homemade meal was going to have to be cancelled. They would have to go with takeout.
There was a loud knock on the door and Regina quickly straightened herself. She hastily tried to smooth down her hair before she went to the door and opened it. A beautiful blonde stood there nervously. She found herself surprised for some reason even though she had seen enough pictures to recognize her. "You're my new roommate?" she asked.
The blonde stared at her for a moment in stunned sheepishness, tugging at her red leather jacket nervously. She then smiled a tiny almost awestruck smile. "Hi."
A/N: God, I really hope this story made sense. I wanted this to be a oneshot so it missed a lot of the in-between moments trying to keep this compact but man… There's just so much I wanted to explore…