My second story. This is an experimental chapter, please tell me if you are interested in more.
Woaaaaah, almost forgot disclaimer. Last time I checked I didn't own the characters. But I do enjoy using them for random stories.
"Regina. What brings you here?" Gold greeted her as she entered his shop. The brunette sashayed up to him in her usual regal manner. This would require every trick in the book.
"Belle told me you have something I need," she offered, looking him in the eye. There had been some friction between beauty and beast lately and everyone knew that Gold was desperate to win her back. He just couldn't decide between power and love. But just how far he was willing to go to retrieve her, Regina wondered.
"Well, as you know dearie, everything comes with a price," Rumpelstiltskin returned, his usual smug smile plastered onto his face.
"Actually I was hoping you'd do me a favour," Regina deadpanned. Gold smirked back.
"That's not how this works," he said.
"Then make an exception," Regina supplied, "I need a very specific potion that only you can give me,"
"And why would I do that?" Gold laughed, surprised that the Evil Queen would ever be this desperate. Regina prepared to deliver the blow.
"I heard things haven't been perfect between you and Belle recently," she said conversationally. "Life can be a bitch, can't it? Still, I'll just inform her that you're not willing to give me my chance at happiness and I'm sure she'll come round, in a couple of years."
She turned to leave and walk out of the shop and scarcely had her hand on the door handle before she heard Gold's voice behind her.
"Wait," he called from behind the counter, defeat and bitterness in his tone. Regina swivelled in her heels, a triumphant smile lighting her countenance.
"Got it," Regina announced as she entered Mary-Margaret's flat. Emma, Snow and David all looked up from the counter where they had been drinking their hot chocolates and waiting for the brunette's return. She placed the bottle in front of them and joined them. Emma picked up the strange liquid, a blob of whipped cream gracing the tip of her nose.
"Pathway to True Love" she read. "Sounds good."
"You sure it'll work?" David asked, looking at the bottle as the grimy contents seemed to bubble around like the simmering of a Neolithic bog.
"It's Golds, it's bound to work," Regina affirmed.
"What will it do?" asked Emma.
"It should open a magical portal in the ground that will lead me to my true love," Regina answered, contemplating the liquid that looked more like the leftovers thrown out from Granny's Diner. After a while, she stood and left the room, walking out to the empty street below. The others followed. They found Regina preparing to empty the contents onto the deserted road.
"Regina, wait," Snow called to her, causing the brunette to halt suddenly in her movements and cast a glare in her direction.
"What is it now?"
"I'm going with you," Snow stated, setting her chin in her stubborn way.
"Huh" Regina snorted, "No you're not."
"I am, Regina," Snow glared back in her most stubborn possible way and Regina knew there would be no negotiating. "Charming and I already agreed. I'm going, he's staying behind to take care of Henry. It's my fault that you lost your first love…"
"Don't I know that."
"…and then Robin left you. You don't even know where you're going to end up. It might be a completely different realm. It would be too dangerous to go on your own. Besides, it's your turn to find happiness and I am going to help," Snow finished, the determination only growing within her.
Regina looked at her expression and relented.
"Fine, on one condition,"
"Anything," said Snow immediately, totally invested in her new project.
"No whining."
Snow looked a little miffed but nodded her agreement.
"And me," piped in Emma.
Regina looked at her.
"What? I wanna come to." Emma appealed to her. "I promised you I'd get you your happy ending Regina, and if this is what it takes, I'm in."
Regina tried not to be touched by the Saviour's offer, deciding instead to play it off as irritation.
"Don't get in my way."
Leaving Henry in the care of David, she poured the bubbling concoction onto the tarmacked ground and watched as it seemed to be swallowed up into a swirling purple vortex. The Charmings did their hugging routine before they plunged feet first into the unknown.
The first thing Snow, Regina and Emma were aware of was the cold damp floor of a forest but it was not The Enchanted Forest. The trees were sparser and the air had a bite to it that was not present in the other land. They peeled themselves from the leaves and mud below them and looked around.
"What is this place?" Snow marvelled at the surroundings. It was evening in this world, and the stars above them did little to alleviate the dull colour of the sky. The trees were nothing more than blackish shadows in the light but in the distance, Emma caught sight of something brighter.
"Is that a fire?" she asked, squinting at the small speck of glowing orange concealed within the folds of the trees. Regina and Snow followed her gaze to the spectacle.
"If it is, we should make towards it," Snow decided, beginning to stride confidently into the depths of the forest.
"Wait, we don't know what's in this forest, you can't just go off like that. I'll light our own fire," Regina said, splaying her palm open and expecting the flames to burst into action. There was nothing.
"Your magic. It's gone." Emma stated the obvious. "Let me try."
Emma closed her eyes and focused on the thought of fire dancing in her palm. Nothing.
"It's not gone, I can feel it. It's just…different," Regina explained.
"Like I said," Snow continued, "follow the orange thing."
Regina sighed and relented, following her nemesis into the green folds of the forest and watching the faint speck of light in the distance getting brighter and brighter. As she climbed carefully through the undergrowth, she could hear the heavy breathing of her companions as they too struggled with the stray branches. There was magic around them, she could sense it, but it was not of a kind that she'd felt before. Instead it felt as ancient and majestic as the oaks and yews that surrounded her.
The glint in the distance became a glow, which became a bonfire as they drew closer and closer until Emma could feel the warmth on her cheek like the heat of a blush. The sheer colour and immensity of the fire hypnotised her utterly so that she barely paid any attention to the figures that stood silently around it, also entranced by its fierce beauty. As her gaze was more and more captivated by the flames, her eyes were drawn to its heart. There was a coffin resting on a pyre, engulfed entirely by the merciless inferno.
The three of them had halted about fifty metres from what was evidently a funeral, not wanting to interrupt but also frozen by the flames. Apart from the crackle of the burning wood as embers broke free from its body, all was silence. Even the wildlife seemed to have ceased in its pattern and the trees no longer creaked with the aging stiffness in their joints. The forest had paused in respect as death descended to claim a soul.
Please tell me what you think. -EM