Broken By the Rules of Love

Disclaimers: These characters are not mine. I'm only borrowing them for a bit of fun. I promise you if they were mine Swan Queen would become a canon on the show!

Author's Note: Huge thanks to SwansAndQueens for beta reading and for coming up with a great description for Regina's clothes once she "becomes" the Evil Queen again. I suck and describing such things and she did an awesome job! Most of that paragraph is hers!

Author's Note 2: I start out each chapter with the character the POV will be told in. So if you wonder why it says Emma to start with, that's why.

EMMA

Emma is mesmerized by the purple... thing that is rolling over Storybrooke. She wants to call it smoke or a cloud, but those descriptions just all sound so unbelievable to her own ears. Then again, two hours ago she didn't believe in the curse and certainly not in dragons! Never in a million years would she have guessed that Storybrooke held a sleeping dragon within its depths that less than an hour ago she had slain. She, Emma Swan, had vanquished a dragon, watching it turn to dust before her eyes... this entire situation was unbelievable, and yet there was no denying the truth of everything she had seen and done in the last two hours. For god's sake she'd even saved her son's life with true love's kiss! Not to mention the ramifications of the curse actually being real. She felt like laughing out loud at the absurdity of everything, and she wanted nothing more than some time to herself so she could sit down and try to process everything that was happening so quickly; but she didn't have that luxury.

Henry gripped her hand tighter, his little fingers digging into her own larger ones with fear as the purple storm cloud grew ever closer to them. She suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to pick Henry up and run, but she dismissed the thought a second later. Certainly nowhere she could run to would hide her from whatever was coming. She'd never get far enough, fast enough.

Bending down, she grabbed Henry under the arms and lifted him to her where she held him tightly. Briefly they met each other's gazes, and she saw her own fear reflected even more strongly in his eyes.

With frustration she turned to Doctor Whale and shouted, "What the hell is that thing!"

Doctor Whale only looked back at her with alarm and fear as he shook his head slowly.

"It's almost here!" Henry whispered fearfully, clinging to her with all his might.

Emma turned her gaze back to the window. It was seconds from engulfing the building. Would it seep through the windows, or would they be safe in here? She didn't know, but to Henry she said, "It's ok, Henry, whatever it is, I'm here and I'll protect you."

The boy said nothing else, just watched with horror as the purple cloud began to envelope the building until all Emma could see was the cloud outside the window. Storybrooke itself was obscured by it. Holding her breath, she waited to see if the cloud would somehow come inside the building...one second...two seconds...three, after ten seconds she almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then it started to seep in through the window, and moments later it looked as if it were coming through the very wall itself. Reflexively she gripped Henry tighter, and he buried his head in her neck.

"It's ok, Henry," she murmured comfortingly, keeping her voice calm and even despite her own fear.

Instinctively she started to back further away from the window and toward the bed Henry had been laying on such a short time ago. Glancing around, she noticed the rest of the people in the room were backing away as well, but there was nowhere for any of them to go. Within seconds they would all be enveloped in the purple cloud. Holding Henry, she shut her eyes as it washed over them and waited... after thirty seconds she opened her eyes and looked around... nothing had changed. At least nothing she could see. The cloud was gone, but she felt the same and with a quick look around the room, everything else looked the same. It was as if the cloud had never been there at all.

Slowly she felt Henry raise his head from her shoulder, their gazes met, and after a moment they shared a small half grin. "Well, that was sort of anti-climactic wasn't it kid?" She watched as Henry looked around the room as she had done moments before, checking to see if anything had visibly changed and letting out a small breath in relief when his eyes confirmed their safety.

"I thought you said it was something bad," Emma joked, putting him down and ruffling his hair playfully.

"I-I thought it was." Henry grinned.

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't. I've had enough revelations for one day. I don't think I can take one more crazy ass..." her words died on her tongue when she saw the Mother Superior step in front of her...

The diminutive woman had a glowing aura surrounding her, and in her hand she held the eternity ring Emma had always worn around her neck - but she wasn't just holding it, she wasn't holding it at all actually. It was hovering just above her palm with its own aura surrounding the ring, causing the silver ring to glow with a golden light. Emma blinked; surely she was seeing things... maybe the purple cloud had done something to her after all. Maybe it was driving her insane. Without thought, she reached up to her neck to find her necklace gone, it really was hers.

"I don't... how did you..." Emma began but was at a loss for words, her gaze full of disbelief and wonder as she stared at the now glowing ring hovering in the Mother Superior's palm.

When the small woman stepped toward her, she reflexively took a step back.

"Don't be afraid, Emma," the Mother Superior began, her voice quiet, a large smile on her face. "You have freed us all from the dark curse as it was foretold you would, but the battle is not yet over."

"Is that why you haven't gone back?" Henry asked, voice quiet but full of awe.

Emma put a hand on Henry's shoulder when he started to walk closer to the Mother Superior than she was now comfortable with. This woman was obviously much more than just a mother superior in the world she came from, and until Emma knew what her intentions were and what side she was playing on, she wasn't going to let Henry anywhere near her.

"You're the blue fairy aren't you?" Henry exclaimed, eyes lighting up with excitement.

"The blue what?" Emma wanted to tell Henry there was no such thing as fairies, but the past few hours had taught her that everything she thought she knew to be true, everything she had always believed in, wasn't the case. There were dragons, curses and other worlds that were real. Worlds she'd always believed to be fairy tales, but the fairy tales were true and her mind was ready to overload with the possibilities that presented.

"The blue fairy or Reul Ghorm as some would know me," the small brunette confirmed, holding Emma's gaze for a moment before catching Henry's. "You're a very smart boy, Henry."

"She's on our side, Emma!" Henry almost shouted with joy, "She won't hurt us, she's here to help!"

Emma couldn't help it; she still looked at the blue fairy... Jesus Christ, listen to me, I'm calling her the blue fairy... with suspicion and distrust, but the glowing woman only smiled at her warmly, and Emma couldn't help but feel a little bit better when she did. No doubt that was some sort of magic trick Emma thought with a snort.

"Your son is correct, Emma, I'm here to help you by giving you this."

She held the glowing ring towards Emma. This time Emma didn't take a step back, but she didn't take the ring either.

"My ring, how did you get that? I was wearing it."

"Rumpelstiltskin has brought magic back to Storybrooke. All of us who had magical powers in our world now have them here."

Emma tried to stop her mouth from dropping open, but she couldn't. She was sure she looked quite the idiot with her jaw hanging and her eyes wide with incredulity.

"You can't be serious!"

"I wish I weren't," the blue fairy said, her tone now regretful, "because even though myself and my sisters now have our powers back, so does Rumpelstiltskin and the Evil Queen."

Emma was afraid to ask but did anyway. "Your sisters?"

"Yes, the other fairies. They make up the sisters of the religious order here."

Emma wanted to pound her head against the brick wall.

"Well, if you all have your powers back and I broke the curse as I was meant to do, then you and your sisters can now go deal with Rumpelstiltskin and the Evil Queen," Emma said matter-of-factly, turning away from the blue fairy to go to the closet near Henry's hospital bed and retrieve his clothes. She was getting out of here. This was all crazy. She couldn't handle any of this. She did what she had to do to save Henry, but now? Now all she wanted to do was get away from here. She needed time, time to think about all this, time to figure out what it all meant.

Emma hadn't even heard the woman move, but suddenly she was in front of her causing Emma to stumble back in surprise.

"It's not that simple. My sisters and I are sworn not to interfere in these matters. In fact we couldn't even if we wanted to. You are the saviour, Emma; you are the one chosen to bring peace."

"This is crazy!" Emma burst out, her emotions getting the better of her as her anger caused tears to form, "I have slain a dragon, and I woke Henry with true love's kiss! True love's kiss for god's sake!" Emma emphasized, throwing her hands in the air, "And I broke the curse! But you're telling me that's not good enough! That my destiny is not yet fulfilled and I need to do more! I need to somehow defeat people who have magical abilities! How in the hell am I supposed to do that lady?"

Emma remembered to breathe when she felt Henry take her hand and squeeze it; she looked down at him, blinking back her tears.

"I believe in you, Em – mom," he told her, his face breaking out into a huge grin.

Emma smiled back at him, feeling her chest surge with emotion. No one had ever believed in her like Henry did. His faith was unwavering, hell the kid had swallowed what he knew to be poison in order to get her to believe in herself. He was right, she could do this. She had to do this. Look at everything she'd done so far. As unbelievable as it was, this was her family. Mary Margaret and David Nolan were her parents, Henry was her son, and Regina was her... Emma didn't know what Regina was. She had so many conflicting emotions for her, more so than ever before now that she knew Regina was indeed the Evil Queen. The one to curse them all to this world, the one to curse her to a life without her parents, yet, despite all that, Emma had seen a different side to Regina this past month. A side she always suspected was there, but was never sure about until now. A side Regina kept well hidden from everyone else behind a mask of superiority and disdain.

"Does my mom have to kill the Evil Queen?"

Henry's question brought Emma crashing back to reality, her introspection cut short by the picture that conjured in her mind.

"I'm not killing Regina!" Emma shouted vehemently, causing Henry to flinch.

Immediately she felt guilty and dropped to one knee, wrapping him in a hug.

"Henry," she started, meeting his gaze, "I am not going to kill your mother."

"But, you're my mom..." Emma was going to respond, but then she noticed his little face twist into a mask of confusion, "But, but she's my mom too," he finished, his tone conveying his confusion. "When she told me she loved me, she...she wasn't lying. Even though

everyone knew she was the Evil Queen, she wasn't lying... I don't want you to kill her anymore."

Emma embraced Henry again, stifling a sob that attempted to escape her. She had seen it, too. When Regina knelt before Henry she had been anguished, tearful, afraid, but also honest, heartbreakingly honest. Emma had always known Regina loved Henry, but now Henry finally saw it too, and she was relieved. Feeling him shiver in her arms, she stood to get his clothes.

"You're freezing kid; let me get you your clothes."

"Allow me," the blue fairy said, stepping forward. Waving her hand that wasn't holding the glowing ring, Emma found herself blinking a half dozen times before believing what her eyes were telling her. The blue fairy had magically dressed Henry in blue jeans, a t-shirt, sneakers and a small brown leather jacket that looked like a miniature version of the one she wore herself sometimes.

"Thanks!" Henry gushed.

Emma shouldn't have been amazed by how easily Henry was adjusting to all this, but she was. A part of her still couldn't help but think the purple cloud had knocked her senseless, and all this was just some hallucination, but she knew it wasn't. Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders, smothered her fear and faced the blue fairy.

"What do I have to do?"

"I can't interfere directly in what is to come, but I can give you this," the blue fairy began to explain, holding out the ring for Emma to take. This time Emma stepped forward and, with somewhat hesitant fingers, reached for the ring. She expected something when she touched it, maybe an electric shock or anything really, but there was nothing, it felt just as it always had, except it was glowing. "I have imbued this ring with magical properties. It will help you when you need it most."

Emma took the ring, and, as she did so, it stopped glowing. "I think I broke it," she half-joked, part of her wondering if she had.

The blue fairy laughed melodically. "You didn't break it. The magic is in there, but it will only glow when the magic is active, it's currently dormant."

Emma looked up and noticed the glow surrounding the blue fairy had also gone. "Are you currently dormant too?" she asked with a half smile.

The blue fairy smiled, "Magic is hidden in this world. Rumpelstiltskin may have brought it back, but it is not visible all the time as it was in our world."

"So how will I know when to use this thing then? How will I know when I need it most?"

"That will be up to you." The blue fairy smiled.

"Great," Emma mumbled, rolling her eyes. "And how do I use it when I think I need it most?"

"You will know."

Emma repressed a growl of frustration. "Wonderful. Is there anything you can tell me?"

"Wear it around your neck as you always have, when the time comes you will know what to do." With those words the blue fairy started to faintly glow again while at the same time Emma felt the ring disappear from between her fingers and reappear around her neck on the silver chain she kept it on. Once there, the blue fairy again lost her glow.

"Do I need to fight Regina?" Emma asked as she fingered the ring, afraid of the answer.

"Yes," the blue fairy responded, "but not in the way you might think. The Evil Queen has begun to change. With magic coming back to Storybrooke, she will face two paths open to her, she must choose one. A long time ago she faced the same choice, and she chose darkness. Most people in our world only ever get to make that choice once, but coming here has changed the rules. She has another chance. The choice will be hers."

"Then why did you tell her to go hide?" Emma asked. She wanted to ask what happened in Regina's past, but she knew the blue fairy wouldn't tell her.

"She cursed us all, Emma, that will not be forgiven easily, and people will want her punished for her crime."

Emma nodded her head, of course they would. Any sane person would. Even Emma wanted Regina to pay for what she did, for taking her parents away, for taking her whole world away. How would she have grown up differently if she had two parents who loved her? God, how differently would she have grown up in the world she was born into if she hadn't been sent here? So many questions and so little time to figure any of it out.

"And Rumpelstiltskin?" Emma spat out the name. She wanted him to pay even more than

Regina. He had sent her down to slay a dragon to retrieve a love potion they hadn't even needed! He'd sent her down there, possibly to her death, to retrieve a potion for him so he could get his powers back! If she had died down there, Henry would have died as well and he hadn't cared one damn about that. She wanted him to pay.

"You need to stop him. If he gets what he wants, nothing will ever be able to stop him again."

Emma felt her spine crawl at the implications. "What does he want?"

"Power."

"But he already has-,"

"Not just his own power. He wants all the dark magic that exists in this world to be his. As much as he'd like to, he can't take mine or my sister's, white and black magic are not compatible."

"Regina!" Emma almost shouted, panic creeping into her voice, "He's going to go after Regina isn't he?"

The blue fairy nodded her head once, "If he can get her black magic to combine with his, he will be more powerful than even myself. He will no longer have to play by the rules, and he will have the ability to destroy us all."

Emma gulped, her eyes going wide and her hand reaching for Henry's. Once she had it, she nodded at the blue fairy and started walking with determination towards the exit.

"Where are we going?" Henry asked, his own eyes wide and afraid.

"To find your mom."