Snakes and Tales
Part 1/4
A/N: This will be a Swan Queen story in four parts, featuring Henry getting to the truth a bit earlier than in the show. It replaces parts of 3x18-19, starting with the seance where they try to summon Cora from the dead for information about Zelena. I took out the CS and OQ, changed some stuff that I didn't like... and put in a double-headed snake instead to cause trouble.
Enjoy! Let me know what you think. Reviews will be snuggled.
Disclaimer: Don't own OUAT, blah blah.
Emma thought it was her fault when the bright blue column of swirling smoke above their heads disappeared and she expected Regina's criticism any second now.
The table jolted and Mary Margaret shrieked. It brought an abrupt end to their seance and the attempt to contact Cora. The five of them reclaimed their own hands and looked at each other wondering what had gone wrong with the spell now that things had calmed. She was new to magic and had no idea why they had failed, if her magic had interfered with the process. If anyone knew it'd be Regina.
"Do we try it again?" suggested Mary Margaret.
"No," Regina said quickly and shook her head. "There's no point. It worked, the portal opened but nothing came from it. My mother doesn't want to talk to me. I guess whatever secrets lie in her past she wants to keep buried there."
Hook apologised for something but Emma didn't see or hear what he said. She was still looking towards the woman at her left and the abject disappointment on her face. Regina leaned forward across the table to blow out both ends of the table. Every time her mother was mentioned she had the same expression on her face.
Emma recognised it as longing. A desperate seeking of parental approval. Even after all these years, after the hate and fighting and the distance, even after she became a mother herself Regina still sought to occupy a special place in Cora's heart. Emma could relate on some level, after growing up with no mother at all she knew that she would have been crushed if she had one who constantly dismissed her and never listened to anything she said.
It made her angry now. Cora had the chance to make amends with Regina last year and what did she do with the time? She convinced her daughter to join her quest for more dark powers by using Henry as bait. Regina almost lost everything because of it. Yet again Cora swooped in to ruin her daughter's life without a care in the world for what would actually make her happy.
Now they had performed rare magic to talk to the dead and Cora still wouldn't listen to her daughter.
"What if we do it again a different way?" said Emma. "I'll try harder and help you with my magic. I can-"
"No," snapped Regina, eyes flashing at her. "Did you not hear what I just said."
"Tell me about this seance magic then, the summoning of the dark forces of whatever."
Regina explained impatiently to her gifted-yet-untested student. "It was invented as a means to make contact with departed souls on the other side so that the living could seek justice on their behalf. It only works for someone who died at the hand of another still living person and the murder weapon is a key ingredient in the magic."
"Then it's your lucky day because I am ace at Clue," Emma joked. "Got any other dead relatives available?"
"You think this is funny? Oh yes, that's right, you have never lost anyone. I suppose you find it hilarious that my entire family is dead, except for a sister who is trying to kill me and a son who doesn't remember that I exist!"
Chastened by guilt, Emma softened her tone. "Hey. I'm sorry, that was a crap thing to say. Can you think of someone else we can contact who might know about your past?"
The others were taken aback by the idea. It was an obvious solution yet no-one else had pointed it out. Mary Margaret tilted her head and examined her daughter with a shrewd look. Emma missed it in this instance but she had felt similar inspections lately from her mother whenever she and Regina happened to be getting along in a civil manner. Right now it was like they were the only two in the room.
"Like who," said Regina sarcastically. "I have murdered many people with my own bare hands, you might as well take your pick. It has to be someone who knew my mother in her youth."
"What about your father?" said Emma.
Regina bit her lip. "No. Mother would not have told him anything from before she was married. If he knew he would have told me. He told me everything. We were close."
It nearly broke Emma's heart to hear Regina over-justifying her relationship with her father. It was almost like she was trying to show them all that she was indeed loved by someone. Emma thought she saw Regina's hand tremble before it disappeared out of sight into her lap. She wanted to take it in her own hand and put all of the compassion she felt into her grip.
No-one would see if she did it. But then why did she care if anyone saw? It's not like it meant anything like that. It was just that she wanted to offer support to… a friend. Regina was the mother of her son after all. They had been through a lot together. That's all. Regina was far too stubborn to accept help so Emma thought it might be better if she didn't risk getting rebuffed.
"What about my father? He may know something about your past." Mary Margaret's latest suggestion was delivered with full caution. She rubbed her hand across her rounded belly as she had been doing a lot lately, either to comfort herself or the baby or both.
"Why would he have known Cora?" said David.
Mary Margaret explained. "Well, she arranged the marriage. During the negotiations as to dowry and settlement, a full investigation into the prospective bride's family history would have been performed by the court on my father's behalf. He may know something that turned up, something that no-one else knew about."
"You want to summon the King? The one who was Regina's husband?" Hook raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "That's not likely to go wrong is it."
"Why?" said Emma.
Regina rose from her chair so fast that it tipped over. She stalked out of the room and the door slammed shut behind her with a flick of her wrist. The rest of them looked at each other, wondering if they ought to get out of her house (alive) while they still could.
Mary Margaret pushed herself up out of her own chair with difficulty. "Oof. It's okay, everyone, don't get up. Let the pregnant lady do everything herself. I'll go check on Regina and see if I can change her mind."
"You think you can convince her?" said David incredulously.
"We need answers."
For half a second Emma considered going after Regina herself. She wanted to but she didn't know what to say. It was awkward. It was weird even thinking that Regina had been married to… my grandfather. Ugh! She hadn't known her then of course because it was before she was born, and she didn't know many details about the marriage, but she knew enough from Henry's storybook to assume that it had not been a love match.
Ever since she had come to Storybrooke and met Regina, Emma was convinced that she was the most ridiculously passionate person she had ever met. All she ever did was let her feelings rule her judgement: revenge, grief, pain, sadness, and loss. Those had been her constant companions since her youth. But her extreme feelings were not limited to the negatives. Regina's love for her son knew no bounds and Emma was certain that there was nothing she would not do, no line she would not cross, when it came to Henry. It was awful that someone with such a capacity for love had ending up marrying as part of an unwanted arrangement by her own mother.
When Mary Margaret went out of the room, David and Hook and Emma were left alone.
"So," Hook smirked. "This ought to be an interesting family reunion. But I thought the King was assassinated in the other land. How are we to locate the murderer here?"
David sighed. "We don't need to. Regina either killed him herself, or arranged for it to happen."
Emma's eyebrows shot up. "She killed her ex-husband?"
"You don't know this already? That was in one of Henry's stories. I thought you'd read the book?"
"I um… skipped parts of it. How'd she kill him? What was the murder weapon?"
David scratched the back of his neck and stared at the ceiling, apparently either not knowing or unwilling to say what method the King had succumbed to death under.
Hook leaned back in his chair while they waited. "Let's hope she didn't throw him off a cliff then shall we? Things could get messy."
"Do not pet the two-headed snake!" Regina hissed. She slapped Emma's hand back away from the reach of sharp fangs. The Agrabahan viper was coiled up in it's box sitting in the middle of the table. The two heads bobbed in hypnotic circles watching Emma with two pairs of eyes as though goading her into trying again.
"I wasn't going to touch it," Emma grumbled, but she wasn't very convincing.
"Yes, you were! It's like you're a child," lectured Regina. "Whatever I tell you goes in one ear and out the other. Being too curious about magic will get you killed. From now on you are only allowed to touch the things that I explicitly tell you to touch."
Hook coughed into his only hand. "Mind if I watch?"
"Hook," David growled and gave the pirate a quelling glare, ever protective of his daughter.
Mary Margaret pushed her chair back from the table as far as it would go and eyed the deadly snake with fear. It was the same one that had killed her father. It was a magical species completely unknown to this world, Regina explained to them. That was why it was still alive after all this time. Apparently the former Evil Queen had kept it locked in a chest in her family vault. She had manipulated the Genie, now known as Sidney Glass, into planting the snake in the King's bedroom.
"... Its bite is unerringly accurate," said Regina, in her best David Attenborough impersonation. "Its venom contains a highly potent neurotoxin. Death occurs within minutes. Symptoms include localised pain, swelling, discolouration, difficulty breathing, and rapid onset of paralysis- "
Emma eyed her mother's increasingly white pallor. "Regina! Okay. We get it. Your pet snake is a badass. Can we please get back to summoning the dead with it."
The five of them closed their eyes and joined hands to form the required star-shape as would be seen from above to guide the requested soul through the portal to this world. Just like their first attempt, Regina's magic connected with the spirit world and the blue portal swirled over their heads. The snake hissed and reared its heads at the unnatural indoor weather phenomenon occurring above.
"King Leopold!" called Regina.
Emma opened her eyes and looked around the room, wondering what they were supposed to see if the dead guy did actually show up. This seance trick seemed a bit difficult to pull off, surely someone who had been killed would refuse to face their murderer again from the afterlife.
"King Leopold. Your presence is requested!"
Regina called his name repeatedly but there was no sign of Leopold so far. It seemed the ghosts were reluctant to talk tonight. Emma thought back to the time she'd played with a Ouija board as a kid. That had been just as not-useful as this.
"Father, please!" Mary Margaret joined in. "It's me, Snow. I need your help."
The roaring wind of the portal quietened and a filmy blue presence in the shape of a man floated down to hover in the air above the table. He was an older man, wearing Royal robes and a crown around his thinned white hair. Emma thought the image looked a bit like a bad hologram.
"It's good to see you, my beautiful daughter," said the King. His gaze passed over Mary Margaret's husband and grownup child. "I've watched your family grow with happiness."
"My family is in danger now, Father," said Mary Margaret, tears forming in her eyes. She gave him a rough overview of the threat to her unborn child. "Regina needs to ask you some questions about her past. Please talk to her."
The King's image turned to face his former wife. He showed no pleasure in seeing her. She had been avoiding looking at him until now when she met his eye contact with a defiant glare.
"And what does my wife, the Queen, wish to ask of me?"
Regina gritted her teeth. "Did you know anything about my mother before the day you came to the estate to propose?"
"Yes," the old man nodded solemnly. His blueish transparent form rose and fell in a gentle motion. "I knew your mother before you were born."
"And? Are you going to tell me how you knew her? Or should I guess."
"There is no need for such hostility. I no longer bear you malice for your part in ending my life many years ago and I will answer all of your questions in due time. But first, you must allow me to ask your apology so that I might rest for my eternity."
"You want my forgiveness?" Regina laughed humourlessly. "Perhaps you overestimate how much I want to save your grandchild's life."
"I don't think I do."
Emma and the others waited out the stalemate between the King and Queen. It was incredible to believe that these two had actually been married at some point. They were like strangers. Terribly ill-suited for each other. It was clear that there had never been any love on either side.
They were all waiting for Regina to give her assent to hearing the King's apology but Emma knew there'd be a snowstorm in hell before the stubborn woman would give in to doing anything she didn't want to. Mary Margaret shot her daughter a look that said, "Do something!", and she gestured with her head towards Regina.
"Er, King Leopold… um, Your Majesty?" Emma started out badly. She fished for something to say, something to convince him to go on without the apology to spare Regina having to hear it. But the King got the wrong idea and thought she was encouraging him to speak anyway.
"Very well," the ghost of Leopold sighed. "I shall say it without permission. I am sorry, Regina, for taking you as my wife in the full knowledge of never being able to love you. I did it for my child who needed a mother, and for myself. The Kingdom needed a mother too. I saw only too late the effect marriage had on you. Not all women are made for it. I will never forget the fear on your face on our wedding night. You were so young. If you felt any pain it ought to have been explained to you beforehand-"
Emma leaped up from her seat, horrified. "What the fuck! Is this supposed to be an apology?!"
All eyes snapped to her for the outburst. Emma was shaking with anger as she faced the ghost of her grandfather, a family connection she despised having right now. They needed answers. Her parents were in danger, as were her unborn sibling and Regina and Henry, and the entire town… instead of being useful this guy was bringing up the most painful and irrelevant of memories.
"You bastard!" she spat. "I guess they don't teach Kings how to issue apologies properly. Here's a clue for you: you're supposed to show contrition for your actions and you're supposed to acknowledge that you hurt the person not insult them further. It's probably not a thing in your backwards medieval morality but here, that disgusting thing you forced upon her? We call it 'rape' now and we'd throw your ass in jail for it."
"We were married," said the King. "I never hurt her."
"Does she look unhurt to you?!" Emma cried, holding her arm out in front of the former Queen. "She cursed an entire realm because of her pain. Her heart is a wreck and it's taken her years to turn her life around. The only reason she made it through is because she's strong. She got nothing but hate from everyone in your Kingdom. Did it occur to you to ask for her consent? Did you even care? Or did you just take what you thought you were entitled to."
Regina frowned. "Emma-"
"I have magic and I'm powerful as fuck because I'm the Saviour. I swear to god if you weren't dead already I'd figure out how to bring you here and let her kill you again so that I could help."
"Emma, SHUT UP," Regina snapped. She reached to grab the sleeve of Emma's blouse and dragged her back to her seat. Mary Margaret's face had blanched whiter than her fairytale namesake.
Emma felt the red haze of anger clear from her mind and realised with chagrin that she might have made things worse by yelling at the ghost from whom they needed answers. She sat in her seat and averted her eyes, avoiding the stares of her parents. No doubt they were curious about why she'd leaped to Regina's defense like that and it now made her feel self-conscious. She had not had an ulterior motive but the topic made her blood boil after some of the things she'd witnessed in different foster homes and on the streets because of her job. Some people didn't get it. There was no argument passionate enough, in her opinion, especially while these things kept happening to women.
Why hadn't she thought of it before? What exactly had Regina been through? Of course it didn't absolve all of the terrible things the Evil Queen went on to do. Her past didn't excuse her actions, but it did explain them somewhat.
"Leopold," said Regina stiffly. "You've made me an apology, which I… 'accept'. Now, tell me what I need to know about my mother and her firstborn child."