Author's Note: For my good friend Mike, who was kind enough to make pictures that inspired this story. Also thanks Lisa who came up with the idea for Henry's unusual costume. Happy Halloween everyone :o)
Trick or Treat, Regina
"Nooooooo!" Regina's scream sounded through Neverland, behind her stood the Charming's, Neal, Henry and Hook looking at the scene in front of them. The Evil queen quivered before running forward looking over the edge of the cliff. Then she sank down to her knees letting out a sound that wasn't even human, but it was no doubt intoned with the pain she was feeling.
She heard Pan's laughter above her head, and looked up, her eyes dark as night and filled with hate. She didn't care if the jump killed her as he was floating above the cliff, she was taking him down that much was for sure. He would not get away with this, first he had taken Henry and now he had killed…Emma.
Surprised by the older woman's action and maybe her weight, Pan started to fall down fast. He had no other choice then to land, she was on top of him still, and for once she did not use magic. She was hitting him with an unstoppable rage, the pain in her heart driving her, hitting hard over and over. Charming rushed forward, getting her off him, Hook and Snow holding him so he could not get away. He smiled, but the smile was not the one of a boy, rather a demon, to him this was all a game. He had no sense of right and wrong or action and consequence.
Regina was crying, trying to break free from Charming's firm grip, but she couldn't it was impossible. She heard Henry's voice behind him as they had managed to free him before the final fight. He was appealing to his mother's better nature saying, "Can we please leave, I don't want to be here anymore, I want to forget this place, forget him."
"No one can leave Neverland unless I say so," said Pan with a triumphant laugh.
"You are wrong," he heard Tinker Bell said, her clothing no longer black, but green like she had been so long ago.
"Tink?" he said, looking at her with confused eyes, how could she be green, how could she have wings?
She walked in front of Regina saying, "Please say it, that you believe in me."
"I believe in you and in fairies, I am so sorry about everything," Regina whispered, tears in her eyes as she clung to Charming, this time Snow did not shoot her a glare. It was not the time she knew. The brunette then looked at Pan, holding him in a magical grip so tight it almost chocked him saying, "I curse you so you are stuck on this island and can never leave, you will never be happy again, and no one will come here."
"Can she do that?" Neal asked Snow, looking at her with wondering eyes.
"Her broken heart knows no limit," Snow said with a shrug. To be fair she wanted Pan Dead for killing her little girl.
"I see," he said, sighing. This was not how things were meant to go at all. First his papa had died in the battle and now by the looks of it Emma also.
"We can't even bring her home, we don't know where her body lies," Snow's voice was shivering now.
"Can we please go," Regina's voice was cold and hard, as she looked at Tinkerbell that nodded, making sure to sprinkle pixie dust on them. Regina managed to lift herself of the ground quite gracefully and fly away, Henry quickly followed, so did Snow, David James, Hook, Neal and Tink. She knew she would never come back to this island ever.
She flew up next to Regina saying, "I'm sorry."
"It was not your fault, she was foolish to fight him in the air, I should have protected her better with my powers," she sighed heavily, swallowing hard.
"Will you be okay?" Tink asked, seemingly worried.
"Of course, it is not like I…loved her or anything," Regina flew faster now, tears running down her face.
"Oh Regina, I cannot believe how wrong I were," Tink said in a sympathetic tone.
"She was my lion," Regina whispered. She was sobbing now, the rest would never get how she could cry as hard as she did and still keep on flying.
"Mom, you got to stop this," Henry sad looking at his mother, she had been crying herself out of tears for the past couple of weeks, ever since they got back from Neverland. She had even put her coffin in her family mausoleum. She had some objections from the Charming's on that, she really didn't care though. She wanted her as close as she could. What Henry found ironic was that the coffin was empty and even thought the funeral had been nice it just wasn't the same without her body. He supposed the coffin was just there so his mother could have somewhere private to grieve.
"I…can't," she whispered, she felt so drained from it all.
"It's not easy on me either, on any of us," he said, his tone so soft. He had never seen her falling apart like this before.
"Just leave me be," she groaned.
"But I need your help, you are the only mother I have now," he tried.
"Help with what, why can't your father help you?" she asked. Looking at him only reminded her of Emma now.
"My Halloween costume, you always make it for me, it is in like three days," he said, his eyes lightning up.
"How can you even think about that after…" she stopped, sighing, adding, "So what do you wish to be this year, Henry?"
"I want to be the wicked witch of the west, you know form the Oz the great and powerful," he said with a bright smile on his lips.
"You are sure you do not wish to be a wizard like your grandfather?" she said with a frown.
"No I want to be a witch like you, you are cooler, plus the wicked witch has a green face and all, please mom," he begged her.
"Alright, if that is what you want, that is what I will make," she said and smiled warmly at him. If nothing else it would get her mind of Emma, no matter how weird his request was in her eyes.
"Awesome, thanks mom, you are coming with tricking and treating right?" he said hopefully. They had done that for as long as he remembered, she even dressed up in a fancy costume every year.
"You sure you don't want to go alone, I mean you are a big boy now," she felt her heart grew because he asked her.
"Wouldn't be the same without you, but would it be okay if dad came with us?" he asked.
"I can agree to that, now run along so I can call Neal and sew this costume," he said with a soft laugh. He nodded and ran upstairs. Regina found her phone and called Neal saying, "Are you aware that your son wish to go dressed as the wicked witch of the west on Halloween?"
"I believe he mentioned it, I must say I am surprised, he's not turning gay or anything?" said Neal, she could picture him making a face.
"Hardly, he just like witches and now magic, so if he is the witched witch and wants you to come, you'll have to be Oz and I Gilda," she sighed heavily.
"Emma would have fit as Gilda," he said as he finished her thoughts.
"Don't…I am really trying here," she whispered.
"You really loved her didn't you? He questioned, they had never really thought about it until then.
"I….have to go, just make sure you are dressed like Oz on Halloween," she said and hung up the phone. She sighed, looking at a note she had caught Emma writing in Neverland. Where she had found pen and paper she would never know.
"One, two, Regina is coming for you. Three, four, you better open the door. Five, six, here for a kiss. Seven eight it's really late. Nine ten for her to love again."
She knew it to be a remake of the riddle from the movie a nightmare on Elm Street. It had scared her out of her mind when she had seen it; she had told Emma when she snapped the note from her, asking her the meaning of it. The blonde confronting her about it, saying she loved her and Regina objecting walking away. Why hadn't she admitted that she did do that, kissing her? A tear ran down her face as she whispered, "Emma, I love you."
"I love you too," it sounded behind her, she turned, there was no one there. It had to be her mind playing a trick on her.
Regina let out a gasp as the kitchen window blew wide open and a wind made sure all the papers and drawings on the refrigerator fell to the floor, except one note flew into her hands. Meeting with Miss Swan regarding the security of the Halloween party in town, Miss. Swan wanted to have similar costumes. She had completely forgotten about it, she didn't even feel like going anymore.
Tears started to fall from Regina's eyes as she whispered, "If you were here you would have been Gilda, I can't be her, I just can't, I'll be Evanora instead."
She could see fog on the window writing out, "I am still here, Regina, don't forget me."
"I never could," she whispered as she called upstairs, "Henry, would you hurry or you will be late for school."
"I am coming mom!" she heard him calle. She sighed again putting the note aside knowing she would have to pull herself together, if nothing else for Henry. Their Henry.
Once she was at the office she started hearing her phone ring, nothing unusual by that though, after all people did call her. She was the Mayor of the town and therefore used to all types of complaints from all the town's residents. However the ringtone that now was playing was the one she had set for Emma to always be alerted whenever she called her. First due to their fighting she had used one that she disliked, but as her feelings had changed from hate to love it was now call me maybe. The blonde would never know that Regina actually at some point had thrown a coin into the wishing well wishing for Emma to be hers. She picked up hearing nothing of course, then calling Snow asking, "Emma's phone where is it?"
"It was with Emma when...What is going on, Regina?" Snow's voice sounded confused.
"Clearly me going insane," the brunette muttered handing up. This was not happening; clearly Emma could not call her from the grave. She tried calling back, nothing at all. She walked over to the mirror on the wall looking into it, gasping seeing Emma's reflection behind her. Turning around she saw no one. This hadn't even happened when Daniel died, that she saw his reflection or hear him when he was not there.
The brunette ran out of her office in a hurry, leaving her secretary to look after her with confused eyes. She got into her car driving full speed to mausoleum, feeling her hair rise seeing Emma's yellow bug outside it. Who was doing this to her and why? She called Neal saying, "If this is your idea of a joke this is so not funny!"
"Regina, what are you talking about?" he asked her confused.
"Parking Emma's damn bug outside my mausoleum, that is a really cruel prank even for you," she spat.
"I didn't do it, I don't even know where the keys to that car are," he said calmly.
"Then how do you explain it?" she asked him.
"I can't," he said.
"Whatever Neal," he said, gasping in terror, the phone dropping to the ground as the windows in the car got fogged and spelled out, "It wasn't him, I drove the car myself."
A scream of terror left her lips as the fog vanished as quickly as it had come.
"Emma," she whispered, shivering like a leaf in terror. What was going on, was she really doing this?
"Regina," came the answer in the dull wind, making her fall to her knees, she was crying now.
"Please, please, don't let me lose my mind, if this is my mind playing tricks on me, make it stop," she whispered, head in hands, continuing to shiver, crying hard, howling out due to the pain of her broken heart. Startling she could feel a pair of hands on her shoulders, her hands went to lie on top of them, Emma's. She didn't dare turning, afraid she was hallucinating. Afraid her mind had gone crazy from grief.
She felt the blonde's hot breath against the top of her head as she bent down to kiss it. She smiled, her breath coming in jolts, she did not care if it was real or not, she only cared that for a short second she felt Emma's hands in her own and felt her presence.
Smiling she got up and walked towards Emma's car, stroking it over the hood whispering, "I never minded the wreck, in fact I don't care what you drive as long as you come back to me."
No answer, she knew Emma was gone, sighing she leaned against the hood of her car wondering if there was any chance at all Emma had made the fall and was still alive. No that couldn't be so it was too high.
The scene played over again in her head like it had so many times before the last couple of weeks. Emma getting magic lessons from her and pixie dust from Tink. They had gone into Pan's camp to free Henry when all hell had broken loose. Rumple had died in the process in the chaos and Emma had gone after Pan as fast as she could use magic. He was using a knife against her. Regina had run after cursing that she could not fly. In slow motion she had seen him hit Emma had in the side twice, her pained expression and her falling fast.
"I need you," she whispered, a shiver ran through her, slowly getting in the car, Emma's car, the keys in the ignition even. She wasn't thinking straight, she turned the key and stepped on the gas, driving fast, away. She needed air to breathe; she needed to get away from all this. She couldn't do this without Emma there was no one to talk to, no one to argue with. No one to raise Henry with…Unless you counted Neal, but it wasn't the same. She looked at the trees she passed, considering to drive into one of them. Stepping on the break so hard that the car made a jump. She got out, and screamed until she was empty, then she got back in and drove the car home. The brunette ran upstairs and lay down on the bed, a bed Emma never had been in, but she wished she had.
"You may be a lost girl, but I am a lost Queen," Regina pictured in her head how those words had made Emma smile. She wasn't all bad, neither of them were.
"Gosh I fucked up, I should never have kissed him," the blonde admitted, blushing shyly.
"No, you should have kissed me," Regina had spoken without thinking. She blushed also, even more than Emma.
Emma had laughed off this, smiling even, spite the situation they had found themselves in. Not far away from the rest. She had come closer saying, "What are you saying, you want me?"
"When did I not," Regina had spoken back; she had nothing to lose, not anymore. Emma smiled and quite confident leaned in for a kiss moments before Snow and Charming came through the bushed and he looked at them and said, "So here you are."
"Christ dad, ever heard about knocking," Emma rolled her eyes.
"We're in the middle of the jungle," said he confused, while Snow glared at Regina that rolled her dark eyes.
"Whatever," Emma said, hearing Hook say, "Easy there, Swan."
"Oh go to hell," she answered and walked further into the forest, Regina had just shrugged and followed her. Charming looked at Snow with confused eyes, she just rolled hers.
In the end Regina ended up falling asleep, exhausted from her battling emotions, of confusion of everything that was driving her utterly insane. Even though it was in the late afternoon, she would end up sleeping until the next morning. She didn't feel like getting out of bed then either, what woke her was however weird.
Much as usual the middle-aged woman had gone to bed by herself, falling asleep while reading a book. That was really nothing new, what however were was that during the night the little lap on her nightstand had been turned off and the book had been put aside, bookmark in it and everything. She only noticed this because she had gone to the bathroom during the night and she then had to turn on the light.
Come morning she had a feeling she was not alone in bed, but someone was there spooning her, she was sure she could even feel an arm around her holding her ever so tight, and the warm breath of that person against her neck. What was even weirder was that she didn't mind as she felt so safe and comforted by it.
"Miss Swan," she whispered, not daring to open her eyes.
"Good morning, beautiful," her voice should have crept her out, still it did not.
"Am I dreaming or is this real?" she whispered.
"It is as real as you want it to be, Regina," was the answer she would get. The brunette opened her eyes and noticed she was all alone. She sighed, had she even been there at all.
Neal, Henry and Regina would sit around the dining table joking and talking the very same night. Over taco's, Emma's favorite Regina knew. Henry had told her so. Neal seemed to be going a bit too close to the brunette as a window blew open causing a wind to blow inside and topple over one of the candles. Regina used her powers to prevent a fire. Looking up it was like she could see Emma's refection standing behind Neal's chair. She gasped, her face turning white.
"Regina, are you okay?" Neal asked, looking at the woman by the end of the table. Her face white as snow, her jaw dropping, her eyes wide.
"I…you should leave now, I shouldn't have asked you over for dinner," said she, seeing the hurt in Emma's face in the doorway to the kitchen.
"Mom?" Henry questioned confused.
"I need a moment," she said and ran upstairs in a hurry. Leaning looking in the mirror again, seeing Emma saying, "He was sitting in my chair, where I should have been sitting."
"But you are not here," Regina answered, tears in her eyes.
"Screw you Regina!" her eyes would show hurt and anger as she vanished.
Regina just stood there, not knowing what to feel or think. Every sign showed Emma should be alive, even though she should be dead. Was she a ghost or was it her imagination. It had to be the latter it was the most logical explanation she figured. Gathering herself to go downstairs to Neal and Henry to finish the dinner.
"Trick or treat, trick or treat, give us something good to eat," Henry said as soon as Snow and Charming opened the door.
"Why don't you look nice," said Snow, smiling at her grandson dressed as a witch, and gave Regina and Neal a polite nod.
"I can do magic too," he said, producing a fireball and made it go away.
"Very nice, did your mom teach you that?" she asked polite as Charming went to get the candy.
"No, I learned from watching her, what do you think mom?" said Henry said, turning to look at his mother for approval.
"I think you should use more time on your homework, even if that was impressive," she said, giving him a genuine smile.
"Well you are all adorable," said Snow, making Regina roll her dark eyes.
Charming came back and handed over handy to their pumpkin baskets. Regina thanked them as did Neal and Henry and exchanged a few words with Snow before they were on their way. Next stop was Archie's where they also got candy and compliments for their costumes as well. They stopped by a few more houses, before they ended at Granny and Red. This was their usual end stop where they usually had a cup of coffee and cocoa before they went home. Regina rang the door bell and they were about to go inside when she turned to look over her shoulder. Red looked at her with worried eyes asking, "Something wrong?"
"I have the funny feeling that someone has followed us all night," said Regina, shaking it off as she went inside.
"Well it is Halloween, so how have your night been?" Red asked with a smile.
"I would say we have gotten what we came for," she said, holding up and overfilled basked with candy. Neal and Henry's were of course filled as well.
"Looks like you three have been having a great night, you seem to be bonding with Neal," Red commented looking over at father and son sitting inside with Granny.
"He is….a good man," said Regina with a nod.
"But he is not Emma?" Red asked her.
"That he is not," said Regina with a very heavy sigh.
"I'm sorry, Regina, I know it must be hard for you," Red gave her a comforting hug.
"It is what it is," she said with a shrug, joining her family that was telling Granny about all the places they had been.
It was about an hour later that Henry and Regina was returning to the Mayoral mansion, and now she knew for sure they were being followed. She turned to look at a woman in white, in fact the costume she had wanted to see Emma in. She sighed telling Henry to wait inside, before she walked toward the woman, wearing a wail so her face would not be seen. Anger arouse as she asked, "Why are you following me?"
"I wanted to spend Halloween with my family," there it was, Emma's voice, making her go backwards.
"What is this, what are you doing to me?" Regina's voice was shivering; clearly she must be a ghost. After all wasn't Halloween the night where the dead could mingle with the living.
"I….I didn't die in Neverland, you only assumed me to be, I saw the coffin," she removed her wail so she could see her face, her cheeks red from the cold outside, her grey eyes shining ever so clear.
"The fall….how did you survive?" Regina's voice was shivering now.
"Fairies, dust prevented me from dying, I have been travelling back to you, but I only managed to manifest myself fully tonight, I sent you messages, my presence so you would know I was okay," Emma said.
"No you made me doubt my sanity, I thought I was talking to a ghost," Regina snapped, turning her back on her. Emma's hand on her shoulder, this time for real as she said, "Regina."
"I cried…I was sure I lost you," she whispered still not turning.
"I know, I was watching over you," Emma said as she had all the way.
"Your magic…for you to do that, it had to have become stronger," said Regina.
"It has, after all I learned from the best, you," a small laughter escaped her lips.
Regina turned, daring to touch her face; she was real for sure, all flesh and blood, not hallucination. Overwhelmed her tears started to fall as she hugged her tight. Emma leaned her head on her shoulder whispering, "So what will it be tonight, trick or treat?"
"Over the past period of time you have played enough tricks on me, tonight I would like a treat," she answered.
"I can live with that, as I can live with you, the question is can you live with me, Madam Mayor?" said Emma, kissing the top of her head.
"Yes I can live with you until the end of time, I'm so glad this is not a dream," she said, smiling, her heart beating hard from happiness.
"Good, shall we go inside; it is a very cold night?" Emma commented.
"It is, but I am sure there are ways we could get warm," Regina said in a teasing way.
"I have no doubt about that, after Henry's bedtime of course," Emma answered, again laughing.
"Of course, or maybe I should use a sleeping spell, a small trick, after all it is Halloween," said she, dragging Emma towards the door.
"That it is, and I can agree to that," said Emma, smiling ever so brightly.
"Thank you for coming back to me, without you I felt so lost," said Regina, leaning her back against the front door.
"And with you I felt found, you made sure I was no longer a lost girl, I had someone to fight for, to come home to," Emma pressed her cold lips against Regina's hot, kissing her. The brunette pulled her closer finding this was the best Halloween she had had in years. She could hardly wait to endure her treat.
Thank you so much for reading, would love to hear your thoughts :o)